Reducing Botrytis cinerea incidence in unheated tomato greenhouses in real time using a wireless sensors network.

The objective was to investigate the influence of ventilation on the humidity conditions in unheated tomato greenhouses and the consequences for Botrytis cinerea control and generate the necessary knowledge to build a warning system for this problem. Two different natural ventilation treatments were randomly assigned to the greenhouses. One treatment was permanent ventilation (PV), with the vents open during the day and night, while the other was classical ventilation (CV), in which the vents were open during the day and closed during the night. On a second stage and supported by a wireless network of air relative humidity and temperature sensors a rules based engine with defined setpoints will be developed to make available a early warning system via SMS, e- mail and Web. This will allow the growers to act only when needed, making possible to reduce chemical use, lowering both production costs and environmental impacts

Besnoitia besnoiti impact on fertility of cattle exploited in Mediterranean pastures (Alentejo)

Besnoitia besnoiti impact on fertility of cattle exploited in Mediterranean pastures (Alentejo) Summary Besnoitia besnoiti is a bovine parasite endemic in many tropical and subtropical areas whose prevalence in the Mediterranean countries such as Portugal seems to be increasing. Most infections are mild or subclinical, characterized by the formation of numerous cutaneous and sub-cutaneous microcysts, lowering the quality of skins for the leather industry. Male sterility or impaired fertility is a common sequela in breeding bulls, and is one of the most negative aspects of the disease in animals that survive infection. Our objective was to investigate if asymptomatic Besnoitiosis leads to bovine infertility, by comparing seminal parameters pre and post-thawing, in vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo rates between asymptomatic infected (n=3) and uninfected (n=5) bulls, exploited in an extensive production system in Alentejo-Portugal. Skin biopsies were submitted to histopathological analyses to identify B. besnoiti cysts in sires. Semen was collected by electroejaculation and sperm quality parameters before cryopreservation and after thawing were analyzed using ANOVA. The quality of semen collected from asymptomatic infected and uninfected bulls presented no differences before cryopreservation. From all the post-thawed sperm quality parameters (motility and hypoosmotic swelling test; post-swim-up motility, activity, concentration and agglutination; fertilization and embryo rates) evaluated, only post-thawed (51.0±36.3 vs. 42.3±10.6%, P£0.05) and post-swim-up (36.3±18.8 vs 25.1±12.0 %, P£0.009) motility were significantly different between asymptomatic infected and uninfected bulls, respectively. Semen from asymptomatic Besnoitia besnoiti infected bulls may maintain fertilization ability. However the presence of these animals in herds represents a risk of spreading the disease leading to further economic losses. Key words: Besnoitia besnoiti, bovine besnoitiosis, infertility, Portugal

Assessing foraging strategies of herbivores in Mediterranean oak woodlands: a review of key issues and selected methodologies.

Montados are agro-silvo-pastoral ecosystems, typical of the Southwest Iberian Peninsula, of high socio-economic and conservation importance,where grazing is a dominant activity. Montados are characterized by na open tree canopy of Quercus sp. and a diverse undercover of shrubs and grasslands that constitute the plant food resources for grazing animals. Plant food resources of Montados are highly variable, both spatially and seasonally, in quantity and quality. Reliable and easy to use methods to monitor grazing are necessary to allow proper understanding of foraging strategies of grazing animals and to set sustainable grazing management. We describe the main characteristics of the plant food resources available for grazing animals, striking its variability, and revise the potential of using N-alkanes and saliva

Whole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19

Critical COVID-19 is caused by immune-mediated inflammatory lung injury. Host genetic variation influences the development of illness requiring critical care1 or hospitalization2,3,4 after infection with SARS-CoV-2. The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) study enables the comparison of genomes from individuals who are critically ill with those of population controls to find underlying disease mechanisms. Here we use whole-genome sequencing in 7,491 critically ill individuals compared with 48,400 controls to discover and replicate 23 independent variants that significantly predispose to critical COVID-19. We identify 16 new independent associations, including variants within genes that are involved in interferon signalling (IL10RB and PLSCR1), leucocyte differentiation (BCL11A) and blood-type antigen secretor status (FUT2). Using transcriptome-wide association and colocalization to infer the effect of gene expression on disease severity, we find evidence that implicates multiple genes—including reduced expression of a membrane flippase (ATP11A), and increased expression of a mucin (MUC1)—in critical disease. Mendelian randomization provides evidence in support of causal roles for myeloid cell adhesion molecules (SELE, ICAM5 and CD209) and the coagulation factor F8, all of which are potentially druggable targets. Our results are broadly consistent with a multi-component model of COVID-19 pathophysiology, in which at least two distinct mechanisms can predispose to life-threatening disease: failure to control viral replication; or an enhanced tendency towards pulmonary inflammation and intravascular coagulation. We show that comparison between cases of critical illness and population controls is highly efficient for the detection of therapeutically relevant mechanisms of disease