Responses of four winegrape varieties to managed water stress and partial defoliation in an arid environment

In viticulture, the imposition of managed water deficits is a strategy which has been used to increase both water use efficiency and winemaking quality in arid climates. Partial defoliation early in the season is another innovative practice that may also be used as an aid in regulating yield components and improving fruit quality. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of managed water stress and early season partial defoliation on crop yield and quality in two autochthonous (‘Frappato’ and ‘Nero d’Avola’) and two international varieties (‘Syrah’ and ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’) growing in an arid environment. The four treatments were: (i) no leaf removal, un-irrigated, (ii) no leaf removal, irrigated at 30 % of estimated crop evapotranspiration (ETc), (iii) partial leaf removal, un-irrigated, and (iv) partial leaf removal, irrigated at 30 % of estimated ETc. The results confirm the effectiveness of partial defoliation in yield management which leads to smaller clusters. Managed water stress was also an effective strategy for reducing berry size, improving must quality and generally enhancing anthocyanin accumulation.

ANTHOCYANIN PROFILE AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF FRESHLY SQUEEZED POMEGRANATE (PUNICA GRANATUM L.) JUICES OF SICILIAN AND SPANISH PROVENANCES

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L., Punicaceae) fruit is traditionally consumed in several countries, especially in Middle East, and has gained increasing popularity all over the world due to its assumed health benefits. Juices derived from the arils of the seeds were shown to be rich in anthocyanin glucosides, typically composed of cyanidin, delphinidin, and pelargonidin. The aim of the present study was the characterization of diverse Sicilian and Spanish pomegranate accessions regarding their anthocyanin and total polyphenol contents using the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent. The anthocyanin profiles were determined by HPLC-DAD and LC-MS, and color parameters were characterized using the CIELAB coordinates. Antioxidant activities were measured using a fluorimetric assay, and expressed as ORAC values. The anthocyanin and polyphenol contents were correlated with their antioxidant activities. Results obtained were correlated and evaluated for the identification of the most suitable accessions to be selected for cultivation, juice processing, and further breeding

Sustainable use of citrus waste as organic amendment in orange orchards

The use of citrus waste (peel, CW) as organic fertilizer was investigated on soil microbiota and on soil physico-chemical and hydraulic characteristics. The biotic components on CW and the effect on nutritional status, leaf chlorophyll content, fruit set and production of "Tarocco" orange trees were also identified. The citrus waste was supplied to an experimental orchard at different doses: 45 kg m(-2) (with and without Ca(OH)(2) addition) and 90 kg m(-2). The study was conducted in three consecutive years (2015-2017) on 20-year old orange trees at the experimental farm of the University of Catania (Italy). The main results of the study confirm that the use of CW as a biofertilizer offers a great opportunity for sustainable sweet orange production

Influence of Different Rootstocks on Fruit Quality and Primary and Secondary Metabolites Content of Blood Oranges Cultivars

Blood oranges have high concentrations of bioactive compounds that are beneficial to health. In Europe, the cultivation of blood oranges is increasing due to their excellent nutritional properties. In Citrus crops, rootstocks play an important role in juice and can increase the content of bioactive compounds. The morphological, qualitative and nutritional parameters were analyzed in cultivars ‘Tarocco Ippolito’, ‘Tarocco Lempso’, ‘Tarocco Tapi’ and ‘Tarocco Fondaconuovo’ grafted onto Citrus macrophylla and Citrus reshni. ‘Tarocco Lempso’ grafted onto Citrus macrophylla obtained the highest values of weight (275.78 g), caliber (81.37 mm and 76.79 mm) and juice content (162.11 g). ‘Tarocco Tapi’ grafted onto Citrus reshni obtained the most interesting qualitative parameters (15.40 °Brix; 12.0 MI). ‘Tarocco Lempso’ grafted onto Citrus reshni obtained the most intense red juice (a* = 9.61). Overall, the highest concentrations of primary metabolites were in proline, aspartate, citric acid, and sucrose. The results showed that ‘Tarocco Ippolito’ juice grafted onto Citrus reshni had the highest levels of total hydroxycinnamic acids (263.33 mg L−1), total flavones (449.74 mg L−1) and total anthocyanins (650.42 mg L−1). To conclude, ‘Tarocco Lempso’ grafted onto Citrus macrophylla obtained the best values of agronomic parameters, and the cultivars grafted onto Citrus reshni obtained significantly higher concentrations in primary and secondary metabolites

GASOLINE: a Cytoscape app for multiple local alignment of PPI networks

Comparing protein interaction networks can reveal interesting patterns ofinteractions for a specific function or process in distantly related species. In thispaper we present GASOLINE, a Cytoscape app for multiple local alignments ofPPI (protein-protein interaction) networks. The app is based on thehomonymous greedy and stochastic algorithm. GASOLINE starts with theidentification of sets of similar nodes, called seeds of the alignment. Alignmentsare then extended in a greedy manner and finally refined. Both the identificationof seeds and the extension of alignments are performed through an iterativeGibbs sampling strategy. GASOLINE is a Cytoscape app for computing andvisualizing local alignments, without requiring any post-processing operations.GO terms can be easily attached to the aligned proteins for further functionalanalysis of alignments. GASOLINE can perform the alignment task in fewminutes, even for a large number of input networks

Tree-to-tree variation in plant-based measurements as indicators of orange water status

A study was conducted in order to determine the sensitivity of measured indicators of the plant water status in a citrus orchard. In ten adult orange (Citrus sinensis) trees, grafted on sour orange (C. aurantium) rootstocks and drip irrigated every second day, sap flow by Granier TDP probes, leaf and xylem water potential, gas exchange and leaf and canopy thermal imaging were hourly monitored all over the day. The evaluations were performed during two separate clear-sky days with different environmental conditions, respectively in the summer and autumn seasons. Variations of environmental components (reference evapotranspiration, solar radiation, vapour pressure deficit and temperature) were recorded. Each measurement tecnique resulted effective to perceive continuous plant water status at the proper scale (treeand orchard level). In particular, transpiration rate, water deficit stress indicators, stomatal conductance and closure were related to diurnal changes in ET0 and net radiation. Tree-to-tree variations in the diurnal dynamics of tree gas exchange were evaluated to develop up-scaling rules of tree-level water consumption measurements