Lepidopter Parasitoidea

Parasitoids have a long history of pest management, specially for control of economical important lepidopteran pests, such as Noctuidae, Tortricidae, and Pyralidae. The two major parasitoids super families Trichogrammatidae and Braconidae in relation to biocontrol of lepidopteron pests are important. In this chapter: (i) the mass production of the moth egg parasitoid, Trichogramma brassicae Bezdenko, 1968 (Hymenoptera, Trichogrammatidae), which has been known to occur in Iran and attack many important hosts Lepidoptera, such as the chickpea pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner, 1808), Carob moth, Ectomyelois ceratoniae (Zeller, 1839), and the codling moth, Cydia pomonella (Linnaeus, 1758) in the region and (ii) biology and parasitism behavior of Bracon (Glabrobracon) variator Nees, 1811, as larval ectoparasitoid of Cydia johanssoni Aarvik and Karsholt, 1993 (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), a seed feeder of Anagyris foetida Linnaeus, 1758 (Fabaceae) at forest habitats in Western Iran, are discussed. Host development was arrested immediately upon parasitism. The dissected capsules show each adult female lay three eggs close to host larvae inside seed case. Video films and photographs of the behavior as research documents were recorded. Both aestivation and hibernation of the parasitoid occur in the parasitization rate on C. johanssoni averaged 18.77% ± 3.80, during second generation of the parasitoid wasp, B. (G.) variator

The Impacts of Water Pricing and Non-Pricing Policies on Sustainable Water Resources Management: A Case of Ghorveh Plain at Kurdistan Province, Iran

As with other regions of Iran, due to excessive extraction of groundwater for intense agricultural activity, Ghorveh plain, a water-scarce irrigation district in the west of Iran, has faced a serious water crisis during the last decade. The present study investigates the impacts of two scenario policies, namely, non-price policy (as a supply-oriented policy) and water pricing policies (as a demand-oriented policy) on agricultural sector of Ghorveh Plain, using positive mathematical programming (PMP). The model was calibrated by using farm-level data for the crop years in 2016–2017. Our findings indicate that applying water supply constraint policy will change the land use and cropping pattern to the crops with higher water productivity. The increase of water resource constraints can lead to the increase of water economic return which indicates a rising value of water resources shortage, warning the producers of the agriculture sector to allocate water to the crops with higher economic value under the water resources shortage conditions. In addition, the findings underline that in a situation where the price of irrigation water is low due to the low elasticity of water demand in the agriculture sector, formulating the economic instruments such as rising water prices does not solely suffice to achieve sustainable water resource management. However, mixed scenarios emphasized that the water distribution policies should be aligned with the increases in water cost. © 2019 by the authors

Drought Responses in Six Hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) Cultivars

[EN] Drought is one of the major causes of reduction of crop yields worldwide, a problem that will increase in the next decades due to climate change. We describe here an initial attempt to define biochemical markers associated to water stress in several hazelnut cultivars, by measuring the levels of common osmolytes and the generation of secondary oxidative stress, in plants subjected to water stress, and after recovery from the stress treatment. Proline (Pro) appears to be a reliable marker in this species, as its accumulation in leaves correlates well with the degree of stress affecting the plants. Differences between cultivars in relative Pro accumulation and oxidative stress suggested that some cultivars are more tolerant than others and could be selected for cultivation in drought-affected areas.Shahi-Gharahlar, A.; Fatahi, MR.; Zamani, Z.; Al Hassan, M.; Boscaiu Neagu, MT.; Vicente Meana, Ó. (2016). Drought Responses in Six Hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) Cultivars. BULLETIN OF UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES AND VETERINARY MEDICINE. 73(2):259-261. doi:10.15835/buasvmcn-hort:12288S25926173

The effect of methyl jasmonate and sodium silicate on the mineral composition of Solanum lycopersicum L. grown under salinity stress

Soil and water salinities have become a major problem for agricultural activities as they can negatively affect crop yield in different ways. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and sodium silicate (Si) on the content of selected mineral elements in the leaves of tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum L.) under salinity stress. A fully randomized block experimental design was used with three factors, including three levels of salinity (0, 4, and 6 dS m−1), Si (0, 4, and 8 mM), and MeJA (0, 5, and 7.5 µM). Main plots were allocated to the three levels of salinity and the subplots were devoted to MeJA and Si levels. An increase in MeJA concentration was related to an 8.5% increase in leaf P content. When MeJA was applied at high salinity levels, the Na, Ca, and Mn concentrations decreased, but Fe increased. The application of 8 mM Si reduced the concentration of Cl by 50% at a salinity level of 4 dS m−1 in plants not treated with MeJA. The triple interaction of the factors was significant for K, Mg, and Cl (p < 0.01). Furthermore, the treatments used did induce significant differences in leaf Zn and N concentrations. The results indicate that MeJA and Si can partially mitigate the adverse impacts of salinity stress and contribute to an increased uptake of nutrients under saline conditions

Effect of feeding fermented and non-fermented palm kernel cake on the performance of broiler chickens: a review

Palm kernel cake (PKC) is a by-product of oil extraction from palm fruits and has been included in poultry diets as an alternative to soybean meal and yellow corn. Due to its high content of fibre, coarse texture and gritty appearance, the use of PKC in poultry nutrition is limited. In order to increase the nutritive value of PKC, there is a tendency nowadays to create solid state fermentation (SSF) by using cellulolytic microbes. This paper reviews the impact of feeding fermented and non-fermented PKC on the performance of broiler chickens. Recent studies have reported that SSF by cellulolytic microorganisms improved the nutritive value of PKC. The nutrient digestibility has been increased significantly in PKC fermented using Paenibacillus polymyxya ATCC 842 or Weisella confusa SR-17b. The availability of valine, histidine, methionine and arginine was 70.42%, 71.50%, 71.92% and 81.15%, respectively, in PKC fermented using P. polymyxa ATCC 842. The digestibility of crude protein (CP) increased by 61.83% and 59.90% in PKC fermented using P. polymyxya ATCC 842 or W. confusa SR-17b, respectively. In addition, body weight gain (BWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) improved significantly in broilers fed 15% fermented PKC compared to those fed 15% non-fermented PKC (2000.43 g versus 1823.23 g and 1.75 versus 1.91, respectively). The intestinal Enterobacteriaceae decreased (4.03 CFU/g) and lactic acid bacteria increased (5.56 CFU/g) in birds fed 15% PKC fermented by P. polymyxa ATCC 842. Therefore, fermented PKC can be included in a broiler diet up to 15%, replacing part of soybean and yellow corn in the diet, leading to a decrease in the overall cost of poultry feeding

Characterization of individual stacking faults in a wurtzite GaAs nanowire by nanobeam X-ray diffraction

Coherent X-ray diffraction was used to measure the type, quantity and the relative distances between stacking faults along the growth direction of two individual wurtzite GaAs nanowires grown by metalorganic vapour epitaxy. The presented approach is based on the general property of the Patterson function, which is the autocorrelation of the electron density as well as the Fourier transformation of the diffracted intensity distribution of an object. Partial Patterson functions were extracted from the diffracted intensity measured along the [$000\bar{1}$] direction in the vicinity of the wurtzite $00\bar{1}\bar{5}$ Bragg peak. The maxima of the Patterson function encode both the distances between the fault planes and the type of the fault planes with the sensitivity of a single atomic bilayer. The positions of the fault planes are deduced from the positions and shapes of the maxima of the Patterson function and they are in excellent agreement with the positions found with transmission electron microscopy of the same nanowire