Vegetable, Fish and Mineral Oils Control Grapevine Powdery Mildew

Laboratory, greenhouse and field experiments were performed on vegetable, fish and mineral oils to evaluate their phytotoxic effects on grapevine and their effectiveness in the control of grapevine powdery mildew. None of the oils tested showed detectable phytotoxic effects at concentrations of 2% or less applied up to 4 times per week. In greenhouse trials, the efficacy of paraffin oil, refined rapeseed oil and partially refined fish oil against powdery mildew was similar to that obtained with the standard fungicides (tebuconazole or colloidal sulphur). In field trials, the three oils tested (paraffin oil, crude soya oil, and fish oil: 1% in aqueous emulsion) were at least as effective as the standard fungicide Quinoxifen, with crude soya oil being the most effective. The oils used in the field trials were also effective for controlling eriophyd mites such as Calepitrimerus vitis

African mountain thistles: generic delimitation problems analyzed with NGS

Póster presentado en el III Simposio Anual de Botánica Española celebrado en el Institut Botànic de Barcelona, 25-26 de noviembre de 202

First record of the alien pest Rhaponticum repens (Compositae) in the Iberian Peninsula

First record of the alien pest Rhaponticum repens (Compositae) in the Iberian Peninsula.- Rhaponticum repens is reported for the first time for the flora of the Iberian Peninsula. The species is native from Central Asia and has become invasive in Argentina, Canada, Europe and the USA. It was detected for the first time in abandoned fields from Vilablareix, near the city of Girona (Catalonia, Spain) and in the valley of the Vinalopó in Alicante (Valencia, Spain), where it was collected as early as in 1959 but misdentified. Molecular data, based on nrDNA region ITS, suggest that the reported populations may be closely related to plants from the United States. Due to the extremely noxious character of the species and the possible relationship of Spanish plants with the invasive American populations, some kind of monitoring is recommended.Rhaponticum repens (Compositae), una nueva planta alóctona para la Península Ibérica.- Se cita por primera vez la especie Rhaponticum repens para la flora de la Península Ibérica. Rhaponticum repens es una especie nativa de Asia central que actúa como invasora en diversos países como Argentina, Canadá o los Estados Unidos. Se ha encontrado por primera vez en campos de cultivo abandonados en el pueblo de Vilablareix, cerca de la ciudad de Girona (Cataluña, España) y en el valle del Vinalopó (Valencia, España), donde fue recolectada y mal identificada en 1959. Los datos moleculares, obtenidos a partir de la región ITS del nrDNA, sugieren que estas poblaciones podrían estar relacionadas con plantas invasoras de Estados Unidos. Debido al carácter extremadamente invasor de la especie, y a su posible origen secundario a partir de las poblaciones norteamericanas, se recomienda el seguimiento de estas poblacione

Repeatedly Northwards and Upwards: Southern African Grasslands Fuel the Colonization of the African Sky Islands in Helichrysum (Compositae)

The Afromontane and Afroalpine areas constitute some of the main biodiversity hotspots of Africa. They are particularly rich in plant endemics, but the biogeographic origins and evolutionary processes leading to this outstanding diversity are poorly understood. We performed phylogenomic and biogeographic analyses of one of the most species-rich plant genera in these mountains, Helichrysum (Compositae-Gnaphalieae). Most previous studies have focused on Afroalpine elements of Eurasian origin, and the southern African origin of Helichrysum provides an interesting counterexample. We obtained a comprehensive nuclear dataset from 304 species (≈50% of the genus) using target-enrichment with the Compositae1061 probe set. Summary-coalescent and concatenation approaches combined with paralog recovery yielded congruent, well-resolved phylogenies. Ancestral range estimations revealed that Helichrysum originated in arid southern Africa, whereas the southern African grasslands were the source of most lineages that dispersed within and outside Africa. Colonization of the tropical Afromontane and Afroalpine areas occurred repeatedly throughout the Miocene-Pliocene. This timing coincides with mountain uplift and the onset of glacial cycles, which together may have facilitated both speciation and intermountain gene flow, contributing to the evolution of the Afroalpine flora.This work received financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (PID2019-105583GB-C22/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and the Catalan government (“Ajuts a grups consolidats” 2021SGR00315 and FI grant to C.B.-G. 2022FI_B 00150). The Ph.D. thesis was carried out under the Ph.D. program “Plant Biology and Biotechnology” of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Additional support was provided by the Czech Science Foundation GAČR project no. 20-10878S to R.S. and F.K. and long-term research development project (RVO 67985939) of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Additional funds were obtained from the Norwegian Programme for Development, Research and Higher Education (NUFU; project AFROALP-II, no 2007/1058) and the Research Council of Norway (project SpeciationClock, no 274607) to C.B.Abstract 1. Introduction 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Taxon Sampling 2.2. DNA Extraction, Library Preparation, Target Capture, and Sequencing 2.3. Molecular Data Processing and Phylogenetic Analyses 2.4. Divergence Time Estimation 2.5. Ancestral Range Estimation 3. Results 3.1. Alignment Processing and Filtering 3.2. Phylogenetic Analyses 3.3. Divergence Time and Ancestral Range Estimation 3.4. Number, Type, and Directionality Estimation of Biogeographical Events 4. Discussion 4.1. Utility of Target-Enrichment Strategies in Reconstructing the Radiation of Helichrysum 4.2. The Early History of Helichrysum and Colonization of Madagascar 4.3. Repeatedly Northwards 4.4. Repeatedly Upwards 5. Conclusions Supplementary Materials Author Contributions Funding Data Availability Statement Acknowledgments Conflicts of Interest Reference

Comunicación corta. Susceptibilidad de Phoenix theophrasti frente a Rhynchophorus ferrugineus y su control mediante el uso de Steinernema carpocapsae en una formulación con quitosano

The invasive red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Oliv. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is the most destructive pest of palms in the world. It has been reported on 19 palm species belonging to 15 different genera. The host status of theCretan Date Palm, Phoenix theophrasti, remains unclear. Therefore, the present study was carried out to ascertain the host status of this protected palm species. Additionally, the efficacy of entomopathogenic nematodes in a chitosan formulation to control this pest in P. theophrasti was assessed. Our results showed that healthy 4-yr-old P. theophrasti palms were not infested by adult females after 9 days exposure in a population density of 3 adults per plant. However, infestation was successful when neonate larvae were artificially introduced in palms. Therefore, natural populations of P. theophrasti could be at risk. Gummy secretion was observed in both naturally and forced infested palms indicating the existence of antibiosis in this species. Curative applications with the entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema carpocapsae in a chitosan formulation in early infested P. theophrasti palms managed to reduce insect’s activity and could help the palms to recover.El picudo rojo de las palmeras, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Oliv. (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) es la plaga de palmerasmás destructiva del mundo. Se ha citado en 19 especies de palmeras pertenecientes a 15 géneros diferentes. El estatus de la palmera datilera de Creta, Phoenix theophrasti como huésped del picudo rojo no está claro. Este estudio se llevó a cabo para determinar la respuesta de la palmera datilera de Creta frente al ataque de este curculiónido. Además se evaluó la eficacia de una formulación del nematodo entomopatógeno Steinernema carpocapsae con quitosano para su control. Fue imposible infestar palmeras de 4 años de edad con hembras adultas tras 9 días de exposición con 3 hembras por planta. Sin embargo, la infestación fue exitosa cuando las larvas neonatas se introdujeron artificialmente en las palmeras. Por lo tanto, las poblaciones naturales de P. theophrasti podrían estar en riesgo. Se observó una secreción de goma, tanto en las palmeras infestadas de forma natural, como en las forzadas, que indica la existencia de antibiosis. Las aplicaciones curativas con los nematodos entomopatógenos en P. theophrasti redujeron la actividad de los insectos y podrían ayudar a esta especie de palmera en su recuperación

Short communication. Susceptibility of Phoenix theophrasti (Palmae: Coryphoideae) to Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and its control using Steinernema carpocapsae in a chitosan formulation

The invasive red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Oliv. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is the most destructive pest of palms in the world. It has been reported on 19 palm species belonging to 15 different genera. The host status of theCretan Date Palm, Phoenix theophrasti, remains unclear. Therefore, the present study was carried out to ascertain the host status of this protected palm species. Additionally, the efficacy of entomopathogenic nematodes in a chitosan formulation to control this pest in P. theophrasti was assessed. Our results showed that healthy 4-yr-old P. theophrasti palms were not infested by adult females after 9 days exposure in a population density of 3 adults per plant. However, infestation was successful when neonate larvae were artificially introduced in palms. Therefore, natural populations of P. theophrasti could be at risk. Gummy secretion was observed in both naturally and forced infested palms indicating the existence of antibiosis in this species. Curative applications with the entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema carpocapsae in a chitosan formulation in early infested P. theophrasti palms managed to reduce insect’s activity and could help the palms to recover.El picudo rojo de las palmeras, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Oliv. (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) es la plaga de palmerasmás destructiva del mundo. Se ha citado en 19 especies de palmeras pertenecientes a 15 géneros diferentes. El estatus de la palmera datilera de Creta, Phoenix theophrasti como huésped del picudo rojo no está claro. Este estudio se llevó a cabo para determinar la respuesta de la palmera datilera de Creta frente al ataque de este curculiónido. Además se evaluó la eficacia de una formulación del nematodo entomopatógeno Steinernema carpocapsae con quitosano para su control. Fue imposible infestar palmeras de 4 años de edad con hembras adultas tras 9 días de exposición con 3 hembras por planta. Sin embargo, la infestación fue exitosa cuando las larvas neonatas se introdujeron artificialmente en las palmeras. Por lo tanto, las poblaciones naturales de P. theophrasti podrían estar en riesgo. Se observó una secreción de goma, tanto en las palmeras infestadas de forma natural, como en las forzadas, que indica la existencia de antibiosis. Las aplicaciones curativas con los nematodos entomopatógenos en P. theophrasti redujeron la actividad de los insectos y podrían ayudar a esta especie de palmera en su recuperación