Comportamiento en conservación de cultivares de manzana ‘Reineta del Canadá’

Apple (Malus domestica Borkh) cultivars ‘Reinette du Canada’ (RC) and ‘Reinette Grise du Canada’ (RG) have been declared throughout the European Community as protected designation of origin (PDO) ‘Manzana Reineta del Bierzo’. The aim of this research was to find out the influence of storage technique on quality of PDO apple cultivars ‘RC’ and ‘RG’, and to evaluate the absence of traditional post-harvest treatments in these high quality cultivars in order to reduce pesticide residues in fruit. Apples were kept in standard cold storage or in controlled atmosphere (CA). At harvest time and during storage, fruit from each treatment and storage technique was analysed to determine quality parameters as well as disorder incidence. CA storage has been useful to delay the maturity process of PDO apple cultivars ‘RC’ and ‘RG’ and to reduce the incidence of storage disorders. Apple cultivars had different behaviour so ‘RG’ cultivar showed lower weight loss (5.1%), shrivelling (6.4%) and bitter-pit (11%) than ‘RC’ cultivar (8.3%, 60.8% and 34%, respectively) at the end of storage. The response of both cultivars to the treatment was quite different, so ‘RG’ adapted better than ‘RC’ to the absence of postharvest treatments. Untreated ‘RG’ showed more brightness, total soluble solids (TSS) and TSS:titratable acidity values than treated ‘RG’, factors that could improve consumer acceptance. Effectiveness of postharvest treatment in terms of bitter-pit was lower in ‘RG’ than in ‘RC’. These results indicate that ‘RG’ would adapt better to storage without the use of chemical postharvest treatments.Los cultivares de manzana (Malus domestica Borkh) ‘Reineta del Canadá’ (RC) y ‘Reineta Gris del Canadá’ (RG) han sido declarados en la Unión Europea como Denominación de Origen Protegida (DOP) ‘Manzana Reineta del Bierzo’. El objetivo de este trabajo fue averiguar la influencia de la técnica de conservación en la calidad de los cultivares de la DOP ‘Manzana Reineta del Bierzo’, ‘RC’ y ‘RG’, así como evaluar la ausencia de los tradicionales tratamientos postcosecha en estos cultivares de alta calidad con objeto de reducir los residuos finales en el fruto. Las manzanas fueron almacenadas en frío normal o en atmósfera controlada. En recolección y durante la conservación frigorífica se determinaron los parámetros de calidad y la incidencia de enfermedades. La técnica de atmósfera controlada fue útil para retrasar la maduración de los cultivares DOP ‘Manzana Reineta del Bierzo’ ‘RC’ and ‘RG’ y para reducir la incidencia de alteraciones durante conservación. Los cultivares tuvieron diferente comportamiento, de manera que ‘RG’ mostró menor pérdida de peso (5.1%), arrugamiento (6.4%) y bitter-pit (11%) que ‘RC’ (8.3%, 60.8% y 34%, respectivamente) al final de la conservación. La respuesta de los cultivares ante el tratamiento fue diferente, pues ‘RG’ se adaptó mejor que ‘RC’ a la ausencia de tratamientos. ‘RG’ no tratada mostró mayor brillo, sólidos solubles totales (TSS) y TSS:Acidez titulable que ‘RG’ tratada, lo cual podría aumentar la aceptación por parte del consumidor. La eficacia de los tratamientos postcosecha en el control de bitter-pit fue menor en ‘RG’ que en ‘RC’. Estos resultados indicarían que ‘RG’ se adaptaría mejor a una conservación sin tratamientos químicos postcosecha

Egg development and toxicity of insecticides to eggs, neonate larvae and adults of Xylotrechus arvicola, a pest in Iberian grapevines

Xylotrechus arvicola (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) is a xylophagous species that is becoming an important pest in vineyards in the Iberian Peninsula. The most sensitive stages are adult and egg, but their neonate larvae can also be attacked during the first 24 h after hatching and before entering the wood. Adults were evaluated for seven days against the insecticides spinosad, Beauveria bassiana, imidacloprid and chlorpyrifos and neonate larvae (< 24 h) and eggs of different ages against the described insecticides, as well as flufenoxuron and pyriproxyfen. All insecticides were applied in a Potter tower at a maximum and minimum commercial dose, and showed significant differences both among insecticides as between the applied doses. Most of the hatching occurs eight days after oviposition by X. arvicola females. Chlorpyrifos had a quick and total control of eggs of different ages, neonate larvae and adults in both dosis applied, but its effectiveness could cause serious effects on other non-target species. Pyriproxifen and flufenoxuron had the best ovicidal control when the age of eggs increases and, B. bassiana also had a good ovicidal control, due its capacity to invade the eggs actively through their shell and proliferate inside them. Biological insecticides such as B. bassiana and spinosad, with a total control on adults and good rates of mortality of neonate larvae and eggs can be a great instrument to biological control of this pest

Biometric traits of Xylotrechus arvicola adults from laboratory and grape fields

Xylotrechus arvicola is a pest in vineyards on the Iberian Peninsula. The action of the larvae, associated to the spread of wood fungi, causes a direct and indirect damage in the crop. This article presents biometric traits of X. arvicola population adults captured in three grape fields with Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) from the Iberian Peninsula and one population of this beetle obtained in the laboratory. The aim of the study was to observe the influence of sex and environment on the size of adults. The adults showed intersexual differences for the length and width of the pronotum, the length and width of the elytra and total length. The wild females were larger than wild males and the males from grape fields were slender than wild females. The environment affected the size of the adults. The laboratory adults reached the greatest body size. The size of the adult reflects the volume of material that had been used as host where the insect had developed. The captured adults in PDO Toro, with Bush Vines Training System (BVTS) were larger than the other PDOs, leading to bigger galleries and exit holes, which could affect the structural resistance of the plant and increase pathogenic fungi infection. However, BVTS facilitates the renovation of attacked branches, which is more difficult and slower in the Bilateral Cordon Training System (BCTS)

Analysis of the mechanical properties of wood attacked by Xylotrechus arvicola (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) larvae, and its influence on the structural properties of the plant

Xylotrechus arvicola is an invasive insect on Vitis vinifera in the main wine-producing regions of the Iberian Peninsula. X. arvicola larvae bore into the grapevine wood and make galleries, which cause structural damages to the plant. The aim of this study was to investigate how grapevine wood infested by larvae affects the mechanical properties of the plant in comparation with those of uninfested wood. Samples of grapevine wood uninfested and infested by larvae were collected from vineyards. Compression and flexural strengths as well as simulated structures of grapevine wood in field, in relation to harvest weight by variety, were used to quantify the wood mechanical properties. Infested wood endured a lower strength and normal tension, and exhibited a reduction in the structural capacities in the simulation of harvest weight of 'Cabernet-Sauvignon' variety (up to 62.0 %). 'Tempranillo' (despite its high mechanical slenderness values) and 'Cabernet-Sauvignon', were the varieties that showed a higher resistance on trunks and branches, respectively. A lower bending moment was observed on the infested branches of all varieties. Changes in the mechanical properties of infested wood suggest a decrease in mechanical resistance of wood attacked by larvae that could contribute to the rupture of the infested grapevine over time. Grapevine wood attacked by X. arvicola larvae could be more sensitive to mechanical external factors in vineyards such as strong winds, harvest weight and vibration exerted by harvesting machines

Phenomenology of ultrafine particle concentrations and size distribution across urban Europe

The 2017-2019 hourly particle number size distributions (PNSD) from 26 sites in Europe and 1 in the US were evaluated focusing on 16 urban background (UB) and 6 traffic (TR) sites in the framework of Research Infrastructures services reinforcing air quality monitoring capacities in European URBAN & industrial areaS (RI-URBANS) project. The main objective was to describe the phenomenology of urban ultrafine particles (UFP) in Europe with a significant air quality focus. The varying lower size detection limits made it difficult to compare PN concentrations (PNC), particularly PN10-25, from different cities. PNCs follow a TR > UB > Suburban (SUB) order. PNC and Black Carbon (BC) progressively increase from Northern Europe to Southern Europe and from Western to Eastern Europe. At the UB sites, typical traffic rush hour PNC peaks are evident, many also showing midday-morning PNC peaks anti-correlated with BC. These peaks result from increased PN10-25, suggesting significant PNC contributions from nucleation, fumigation and shipping. Site types to be identified by daily and seasonal PNC and BC patterns are: (i) PNC mainly driven by traffic emissions, with marked correlations with BC on different time scales; (ii) marked midday/morning PNC peaks and a seasonal anti-correlation with PNC/BC; (iii) both traffic peaks and midday peaks without marked seasonal patterns. Groups (ii) and (iii) included cities with high insolation. PNC, especially PN25-800, was positively correlated with BC, NO2, CO and PM for several sites. The variable correlation of PNSD with different urban pollutants demonstrates that these do not reflect the variability of UFP in urban environments. Specific monitoring of PNSD is needed if nanoparticles and their associated health impacts are to be assessed. Implementation of the CEN-ACTRIS recommendations for PNSD measurements would provide comparable measurements, and measurements of <10 nm PNC are needed for full evaluation of the health effects of this size fraction

Cloud condensation nuclei activation properties of Mediterranean pollen types considering organic chemical composition and surface tension effects

Wind-dispersed pollen grains emitted from vegetation are directly injected into the atmosphere being an important source of natural aerosols globally. These coarse particles of pollen can rupture into smaller particles, known as subpollen particles (SPPs), that may act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and affect the climate. In this study, we characterize and investigate the ability of SPPs of 10 Mediterranean-climate pollen types to activate as CCN. A continuous flow CCN counter (CCNC) was used to measure the activation of size-selected (80, 100 and 200 nm dry mobility diameter) particles at different supersaturations (SS). Hygroscopicity parameter (κ) for each SPP type and size has been calculated using κ-Köhler theory. Organic chemical speciation and protein content has been determined to further characterize pollen solutions. Furthermore, the surface activity of SPPs has also been investigated by using pendant drop tensiometry. All studied SPP samples show critical supersaturation (SSCrit) values that are atmospherically relevant SS conditions. Hygroscopicity κ values are in the range characteristic of organic compounds (0.1–0.3). We found that organic speciation and protein content vary substantially among pollen types, with saccharides and fatty acids being the only organic compounds found in all pollen types. A clear relationship between SPP activation and its organic composition was not observed. This study also reveals that all SPPs investigated reduce the surface tension of water at high concentrations but at diluted concentrations (such as those of activation in the CCNC), the water surface tension value is a good approximation in Köhler theory. Overall, this analysis points out that pollen particles might be an important source of CCN in the atmosphere and should be considered in aerosol-cloud interactions processes.This work was supported by BioCloud project (RTI2018.101154.A.I00) funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, FEDER “Una manera de hacer Europa” and NUCLEUS project (PID2021-128757OB-I00) funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and NextGenerationEU/PRTR. This work received support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program through projects ACTRIS.IMP (grant agreement No 871115) and ATMO_ACCESS (grant agreement No 101008004), by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through projects ELPIS (PID2020-120015RB-I00) and ACTRIS-España (CGL2017-90884REDT)). By the Junta de Andalucía Excellence, project ADPANE (P20-00136), AEROPRE (P-18-RT-3820) and by University of Granada Plan Propio through Visiting Scholars (PPVS2018-04), Singular Laboratory (LS2022-1) programs and Pre-Competitive Research Projects Pre-Greenmitigation3 (PP2022.PP34). Funding for open access charge, University of Granada/CBUA. Andrea Casans is funded by Spanish ministry of research and innovation under the predoctoral program FPI (PRE2019-090827) funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, FSE “El FSE invierte en tu futuro”. Fernando Rejano is funded by Spanish ministry of universities through predoctoral grant FPU19/05340. Juan Andrés Casquero-Vera is funded by FJC2021-047873-I, MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and NextGenerationEU/PRTR. Elisabeth Andrews is funded in part by NOAA cooperative agreements NA17OAR4320101. Thanks to the NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory for the use of the CCN counter.Peer reviewe

The Aguablanca Ni–(Cu) sulfide deposit, SW Spain: geologic and geochemical controls and the relationship with a midcrustal layered mafic complex

The Aguablanca Ni–(Cu) sulfide deposit is hosted by a breccia pipe within a gabbro–diorite pluton. The deposit probably formed due to the disruption of a partially crystallized layered mafic complex at about 12– 19 km depth and the subsequent emplacement of melts and breccias at shallow levels (<2 km). The ore-hosting breccias are interpreted as fragments of an ultramafic cumulate, which were transported to the near surface along with a molten sulfide melt. Phlogopite Ar–Ar ages are 341– 332 Ma in the breccia pipe, and 338–334 Ma in the layered mafic complex, and are similar to recently reported U–Pb ages of the host Aguablanca Stock and other nearby calcalkaline metaluminous intrusions (ca. 350–330 Ma). Ore deposition resulted from the combination of two critical factors, the emplacement of a layered mafic complex deep in the continental crust and the development of small dilational structures along transcrustal strike-slip faults that triggered the forceful intrusion of magmas to shallow levels. The emplacement of basaltic magmas in the lower middle crust was accompanied by major interaction with the host rocks, immiscibility of a sulfide melt, and the formation of a magma chamber with ultramafic cumulates and sulfide melt at the bottom and a vertically zoned mafic to intermediate magmas above. Dismembered bodies of mafic/ultramafic rocks thought to be parts of the complex crop out about 50 km southwest of the deposit in a tectonically uplifted block (Cortegana Igneous Complex, Aracena Massif). Reactivation of Variscan structures that merged at the depth of the mafic complex led to sequential extraction of melts, cumulates, and sulfide magma. Lithogeochemistry and Sr and Nd isotope data of the Aguablanca Stock reflect the mixing from two distinct reservoirs, i.e., an evolved siliciclastic middle-upper continental crust and a primitive tholeiitic melt. Crustal contamination in the deep magma chamber was so intense that orthopyroxene replaced olivine as the main mineral phase controlling the early fractional crystallization of the melt. Geochemical evidence includes enrichment in SiO2 and incompatible elements, and Sr and Nd isotope compositions (87Sr/86Sri 0.708–0.710; 143Nd/144Ndi 0.512–0.513). However, rocks of the Cortegana Igneous Complex have low initial 87Sr/86Sr and high initial 143Nd/144Nd values suggesting contamination by lower crustal rocks. Comparison of the geochemical and geological features of igneous rocks in the Aguablanca deposit and the Cortegana Igneous Complex indicates that, although probably part of the same magmatic system, they are rather different and the rocks of the Cortegana Igneous Complex were not the direct source of the Aguablanca deposit. Crust–magma interaction was a complex process, and the generation of orebodies was controlled by local but highly variable factors. The model for the formation of the Aguablanca deposit presented in this study implies that dense sulfide melts can effectively travel long distances through the continental crust and that dilational zones within compressional belts can effectively focus such melt transport into shallow environments