Effectiveness of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi inoculated on Canavalia ensiformis L. in Calcaric Histosol soils

Introduction. In recent years, significant results have been obtained in Cuba in the joint management of efficient strains of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and Canavalia ensiformis L., in different types of soils. However, there are no reports about the effectiveness of strains of AMF in Calcaric Histosol soils, which are highly represented in the central and eastern areas of the country. Objective. The objective of this research was to compare the effectiveness of four AMF strains inoculated in C. ensiformis seeds in in Calcaric Histosol soils. Materials and methods. Plants through seed coatings inoculated and a non-inoculated control were evaluated; C. ensiformis L. was used as plant host in a complete randomized design with four repetitions per treatment during two consecutive years. Sixty days after C. ensiformis seeding, the biomass production; N, P and K contents; percentage of total mycorrhizal colonization; and the reproduction of mycorrhizal spores were evaluated. Results. For all variables, there was a positive and differentiated response between the different strains, and the highest values (p≤0.05) were obtained with the inoculation of Rhizoglomus intraradices / INCAM-11. The high amounts of spores produced by the inoculation with R. intraradices / INCAM-11 were indicative of to the possibilities of using Jackbean as a way to introduce efficient strains in this edaphic condition. Conclusion. The results obtained allow to include Calcaric Histosol soils, with pH>7.5, in the group of soils in which R. intraradices / INCAM-11 behaves as an efficient strain

Escalado de la producción del biofertilizante Fertilaz y su validación agrícola

Este trabajo propuso desarrollar la producción del biofertilizante Fertilaz. Se seleccionaron criterios para el escalado teniendo en cuenta la no similitud geométrica de los fermentadores de 42 y 500 L. La efectividad téc- nica del bioproducto resultante se evaluó en plantas in vitro de plátano cv. INIVIT PV 06-30 en fase de aclimati- zación y en dos cultivares de boniato (INIVIT B-50 y CEMSA-78-354), Fertilaz se aplicó por aspersión, a razón de 20 Lha-1. Se ejecutaron cinco riegos durante el ciclo del boniato, se aplicó por aspersión y con una norma parcial de 250 m3 ha-1. El riego se suspendió 15 días antes de la cosecha. Los resultados mostraron que, bajo las condiciones establecidas, se obtuvo crecimiento bacteriano con cinética similar en las dos escalas. Las fermentaciones concluyeron a las 12 horas de iniciado el cultivo. A los 60 días, después de la plantación, se observó una respuesta positiva del desarrollo, ya que siempre se realizaron, al menos, tres aplicaciones sobre el sustrato, cada siete días. Se disminuye en 25 kg ha-1 la dosis de fórmula completa (0.75 t ha-1) recomendada para el cultivo del boniato. La producción del biofertilizante puede llevarse a cabo en un fermentador de tipo tanque agitado de 500 L (volumen efectivo de 350 L), durante 12 h, a 178 rpm y flujo 110 Lmin-1, que garantiza una concentración de 1x109 UFC ml-1. Palabras clave: azotobacter chroococcum, escalado, plátano, boniato

Necessity of mycorrhizal re-inoculation in the transplantation of banana in areas with precedent of inoculated canavalia with AMF

From being the banana, a mycotrophic crop and previous results on the potential of green manure inoculated as a way to mycorrhizal economic crops, this work was developed in order to assess whether a precedent Canavalia ensiformis cultivation, inoculated with efficient strains of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculation, it is necessary the banana inoculation, ‘FHIA-18’ (AAAB) cultivar in the transplant field. Four treatments were evaluated: a control without application of fertilizers and other organic-mineral fertilizers (100% FOM), both without canavalia and two other treatments that are used above canavalia inoculated AMF and half also received organic-mineral fertilizer applications: (50% FOM), one of which, the banana was reinoculated in the transplant field and the other one not. The experimental design used, was randomized blocks, with four replications. The experiment ended after three productive cycles (mother plant, stems 1 and 2). Canavalia inoculated treatments and 50 % of FOM, guaranteed high yields and satisfactory nutritional content similar to that received 100 % of FOM and significantly higher than those obtained with the control treatment. This together with the values of colonization percentages and pores at both high and inoculated treatments were no significant differences between them, indicated not only the effectiveness of mycorrhizal inoculation but rather green manure inoculation was successful to inoculate bananas and re-inoculation of the same was not needed on the transplant

Response of cultivars of malanga (Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Schott) to dry rot

Malanga (Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Schott) is an important food crop for over 400 million people in the tropics and subtropics. In order to determine the response of different varieties of malanga Xanthosoma to dry rot, a series of experiments were conducted in the period between 2012 and 2014. The experiments were performed on loamy Soil at the National Research Institute in Tropical Crops and Roots (INIVIT). We determined the incidence and severity of damage, yields and percent of losses at harvest. The lowest values of incidence and the highest total return was achieved in clons ‘INIVIT MX-95-2’, ‘INIVIT MX-95-1’ and ‘INIVIT MX-2007’. Clones of malanga Xanthosoma belonging to the group purple, showed lower incidence that of white and yellow groups. These results will allow selecting cultivars of malanga with greater resistance to the dry rot and with this to diminish the losses in the harvest

Assessment of plasma chitotriosidase activity, CCL18/PARC concentration and NP-C suspicion index in the diagnosis of Niemann-Pick disease type C : A prospective observational study

Niemann-Pick disease type C (NP-C) is a rare, autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disease caused by mutations in either the NPC1 or NPC2 genes. The diagnosis of NP-C remains challenging due to the non-specific, heterogeneous nature of signs/symptoms. This study assessed the utility of plasma chitotriosidase (ChT) and Chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 18 (CCL18)/pulmonary and activation-regulated chemokine (PARC) in conjunction with the NP-C suspicion index (NP-C SI) for guiding confirmatory laboratory testing in patients with suspected NP-C. In a prospective observational cohort study, incorporating a retrospective determination of NP-C SI scores, two different diagnostic approaches were applied in two separate groups of unrelated patients from 51 Spanish medical centers (n = 118 in both groups). From Jan 2010 to Apr 2012 (Period 1), patients with ≥2 clinical signs/symptoms of NP-C were considered 'suspected NP-C' cases, and NPC1/NPC2 sequencing, plasma chitotriosidase (ChT), CCL18/PARC and sphingomyelinase levels were assessed. Based on findings in Period 1, plasma ChT and CCL18/PARC, and NP-C SI prediction scores were determined in a second group of patients between May 2012 and Apr 2014 (Period 2), and NPC1 and NPC2 were sequenced only in those with elevated ChT and/or elevated CCL18/PARC and/or NP-C SI ≥70. Filipin staining and 7-ketocholesterol (7-KC) measurements were performed in all patients with NP-C gene mutations, where possible. In total across Periods 1 and 2, 10/236 (4%) patients had a confirmed diagnosis o NP-C based on gene sequencing (5/118 [4.2%] in each Period): all of these patients had two causal NPC1 mutations. Single mutant NPC1 alleles were detected in 8/236 (3%) patients, overall. Positive filipin staining results comprised three classical and five variant biochemical phenotypes. No NPC2 mutations were detected. All patients with NPC1 mutations had high ChT activity, high CCL18/PARC concentrations and/or NP-C SI scores ≥70. Plasma 7-KC was higher than control cut-off values in all patients with two NPC1 mutations, and in the majority of patients with single mutations. Family studies identified three further NP-C patients. This approach may be very useful for laboratories that do not have mass spectrometry facilities and therefore, they cannot use other NP-C biomarkers for diagnosis