16 research outputs found
An improved embryo-rescue protocol for hybrid progeny from seedless Vitis vinifera grapes × wild Chinese Vitis species
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What can crop stable isotopes ever do for us? An experimental perspective on using crop carbon stable isotope values for reconstructing water availability in semi-arid and arid environments
This study re-assesses and refines the use of crop carbon stable isotopes (Δ13C) to reconstruct past water availability. Durum wheat, six-row barley, and sorghum were experimentally grown at three crop growing stations in Jordan for up to three years under five different irrigation regimes: 0% (rainfall only), 40%, 80%, 100%, and 120% of the crops’ optimum water requirements. Results show large variation in carbon stable isotopes for crops that received similar amounts of water, either as absolute water input or as percentage of crop requirements. We conclude that C3 crop carbon stable isotope composition can therefore be best interpreted in terms of extremely high values showing an abundance of water versus low values indicating water-stress. Values in between these extremes are problematic and best interpreted in conjunction with other proxies. C4 crop isotopes were not found to be useful for the reconstruction of water availability
Agronomic and physiological traits associated with breeding advances of wheat under high-productive Mediterranean conditions. The case of Chile
Univ Talca, Fac Ciencias Agr, Talca, Chile; del Pozo, A (del Pozo, Alejandro)Wheat yields in Chile have increased significantly during the last four decades as a consequence of plant improvement and better crop husbandry. Central Chile is characterised by high-yield Mediterranean conditions, where precipitation received by the crop in most years does not represent a major limitation to productivity. This study assesses the changes in agronomic and physiological traits of spring cultivars released in the country between 1920 and 2000. A total of 95 spring bread wheat accessions, representing 20 old and 75 modern cultivars (released before and after 1960, respectively) were tested in a humid Mediterranean-type climate, with irrigation. Modern genotypes exhibited higher grain yield, harvest index, number of grains per ear and sedimentation values and lower height, test weight, wet gluten content and hardness index. No differences were found for days to heading, and ear length, whereas kernel weight decreased with the Green Revolution. Principal component (PC) analysis using ten agronomic traits clearly separated modern from old cultivars. Grain yield, a trait not included in PC analysis, was highly correlated with the first PC (r= 0.80, P < 0.0001), where modern cultivars presented lower plant height, higher harvest index and better grain quality, as indicated by the higher sedimentation values and lower hardness index values. The year of release of cultivars was related negatively to plant height and positively to harvest index, number of grains per ear and sedimentation value. In a further study, changes in photosynthetic and transpirative traits were investigated in a subset of 14 genotypes covering the same 80-year range. Differences in grain yield across genotypes were related positively to stomatal conductance and transpiration rates of the flag leaves during grain filling and negatively to oxygen isotope composition and (to a lesser extent) carbon isotope composition in kernels. The results suggest that the higher grain yield of modern varieties is related to higher stomatal conductance and transpiration. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
DNA analysis in charred grains of naked wheat from several archaeological sites in Spain
Modeling the Effects of Light and Sucrose on In Vitro Propagated Plants: A Multiscale System Analysis Using Artificial Intelligence Technology
Contribution of BH3-domain and Transmembrane-domain to the Activity and Interaction of the Pore-forming Bcl-2 Proteins Bok, Bak, and Bax
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Boom and bust at a medieval fishing port: dietary preferences of fishers and artisan families from Pontevedra (Galicia, NW Spain) during the Late Medieval and Early Modern Period
Here, we present an investigation of dietary habits in a town whose history is strongly connected to a single food product: fish. Pontevedra (Galicia, Spain) controlled a big part of fish commerce in the Iberian Peninsula during the Late Medieval period, only losing its position with the beginning of modern era. Burials from the churches of Santa MarĂa (thirteenth to seventeenth centuries AD), the necropolis of fishers, and San BartolomĂ© (thirteenth to fifteenth centuries AD), with a parish mostly made up of craftspeople, were studied to address questions of diet and subsistence practices. A total of 89 samples, including 63 humans, 18 terrestrial and 8 marine animals, were analysed for isotopic composition of bone collagen (δ13C and δ15N). The results show that domestic herbivores were fed a fodder almost exclusively based on C3 plants, while dogs and a cat consumed significant quantities of fish. Humans ate a similar, mixed terrestrial/marine diet, but probably also with an important contribution from C4 plants, most likely millet, or, from c. AD 1600 onwards, maize. Fishermen and their families buried at Santa MarĂa could have had preferential access to exported target sea products enriched in 15N (salted sardine, conger eel, hake and octopus), while other marine products may have been more common on the rest of the town’s tables. The decline in fishing activity in the sixteenth–seventeenth centuries appears to have been accompanied by a diversification of diet. The dietary habits of the middle-class urban inhabitants of Pontevedra are closely connected to its economic history and environmental changes