Characterising the interactions between major nematode pathogens and the host coffee plant

Coffee is a hugely significant agricultural crop, produced by millions of growers worldwide. Production is threatened by numerous pests, pathogens, and increasingly unpredictable climactic conditions such as prolonged periods of drought. Nematode pests, distributed on a global scale, damage production by causing reduced coffee bean yield, and can cause plant death. The work described here investigates the interaction between the two major nematode species Meloidogyne incognita and Pratylenchus coffeae and commercially grown coffee cultivars. Various aspects of plant health under infection were measured in order to characterise the tolerance status of each cultivar to the two nematode species. The effect of drought on these cultivars was also investigated. Variable tolerances to infection and drought were observed between cultivars through photosynthetic rate, fresh weight and leaf water content measurements. Robusta cultivars exhibited strong resistance to nematode infection and reproduction in roots. Drought stress was observed to be a greater limiting factor to plant growth than nematode infection. The Robusta cultivar FRT49 and Arabica both showed stable photosynthetic rate measurements under infection and drought treatments, implying good performance in the field under these stresses. Stronger photosynthetic performance at lower soil moisture was seen in FRT79, suggesting that this cultivar may be useful in selective breeding for a drought tolerant rootstock. Reduced P. coffeae populations in FRT65 roots under drought conditions also suggest that this cultivar may have application in limiting the proliferation of this species in the field, although at the cost of coffee bean yield. The observations made here into the early stages of nematode infection and coffee plant development can be used to inform the application of specific cultivars in breeding programs aimed at producing new nematode and drought tolerant rootstock material

Place-Based Pathways to Sustainability: Exploring Alignment between Geographical Indications and the Concept of Agroecology Territories in Wales

Geographical Indications (GIs) are regarded as important endogenous rural development mechanisms by the European Union. GIs have proven successful for some producers in some regions, delivering higher added value and safeguarding a product’s identity and heritage through the notion of terroir. Within the context of a gradual “greening” of GIs, this paper opens up questions about what potential they might have for transitions to agroecology territories, which are spaces engaged in a transition process towards sustainable agri-food systems. Using the Food and Agricultural Organization’s 10 elements of agroecology as a lens, we discuss whether GIs can serve as levers in delivering sustainable agri-food transitions, drawing on the case of the devolved nation of Wales. We base our narrative on a content analysis of GI product specification documents and data from interviews with GI stakeholders. Our case study illustrates that the discourse within the regulatory framework of some Welsh GIs has shifted from one of technicality towards the integration of some agroecology elements in more recent GI product specifications. In this respect, we argue that there is evidence of a “first generation” and “second generation” assortment of GIs in Wales. However, any potential for levering an overall transition within this scheme towards an agroecology territory remains constrained by the piecemeal embedding of agroecology. The incorporation of agroecology is emerging primarily from the ground-up—driven by independent organizational and place-based collective action, but unaccompanied, as yet, by any parallel shift amongst supporting administrative and regulatory authorities. We also discuss the importance of reflexive governance if GIs are to be viable pathways for sustainability transitions. As such, the capacity for GIs to facilitate quality-led place-based food systems that enhance increasingly threatened environmental resources is contingent upon stakeholders adopting a territorial, reflexive governance approach

Diurnal and circadian regulation of wood formation in Eucalyptus trees

Wood is one of the most important products of world trade, due to its countless uses as a source of timber, fibre, and renewable energy. In addition to its economic importance, the formation of wood represents a global carbon sink which reduces the excess atmospheric CO2 that contributes to global warming. The formation of wood or xylogenesis is a complex example of cell differentiation, controlled by multiple interacting environmental factors and the coordinated expression of hundreds of genes. Genomic studies have proved a valuable tool in identifying the genes associated with xylogenesis. The expression of these genes has been shown to under strict spatial regulation in a developmental-stage specific fashion. Despite recent advances in the understanding of this process, there remains much to learn about the cellular, molecular and developmental processes involved. While the spatial regulation of wood formation has been well described, less attention has been devoted to the temporal regulation of this process. Most organisms are known to match their activities to the daily oscillation of night and day in what is known as a diurnal rhythm. A subset of these diurnal rhythms are termed circadian rhythms, and persist in the absence of environmental time cues, with a period of approximately 24 hours. Circadian rhythms are endogenous in nature, being generated by a small number of central oscillator genes, and illustrate an organism's ability to measure time. Circadian rhythms are found across a wide taxonomic spectrum, and are believed to confer an adaptive benefit, possibly due to the ability to anticipate regular changes in the external environment. As wood formation is a major sink for the products of light driven photosynthesis, it represents a likely target for circadian control in plants. A large proportion of photosynthesis genes themselves are known to be under circadian control, as are several cell wall formation genes. Most studies of temporal rhythms in plants, however, have used the herbaceous model species Arabidopsis, which does not have a woody stem. It is likely, therefore, that the circadian control of many wood formation genes remains to be discovered. We used a spotted cDNA mIcroarray carryIng 2608 elements to quantitatively measure daily changes in transcript abundance in the wood-forming tissues of a fast growing, Eucalyptus hybrid. Eucalyptus is a large genus of tree species, many of which are of great economic importance, and are widely grown in plantations for solid timber and pulp production. We found that almost ten percent of the genes on the microarray showed significant daily changes in expression (-loglOP>3.74). These genes included Eucalyptusorthologues of the Arabidopsis central clock genes CCA1 (CIRCADIAN CLOCK ASSOCIATED 1) and GIGANTEA (GI) which cycled with a period and phase matching that seen in Arabidopsis. The remaining genes were involved in pathways including carbohydrate metabolism, hormone signalling, transcription regulation and wood formation. The types of genes that were seen to be diurnally influenced, suggests a role for circadian control of various important plant metabolic pathways, including aspects of carbon allocation to wood formation.Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2008.Geneticsunrestricte

A cost benefit analysis of forestry seed orchard establishment in Sappi Forests, South Africa.

Master’s Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Forest tree seed produced in specialised seed orchards is the primary source of reproductive material for plantation forest regeneration in South Africa. Forestry seed orchards consist of stands of genetically superior trees planted together under management that encourages flowering and cross pollination. Their primary objective is to produce abundant genetically improved seed for sowing. Sappi has produced seed from its own seed orchards since 1995. In this study the costs and benefits of new and existing seed production orchards for Sappi Forests was examined from an economic perspective in the South African plantation forestry context. The impact of nursery seed use efficiency on seed orchard economic feasibility was also examined. Data regarding seedling production, seed orchards and plantations across Sappi’s land holdings in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga were collected from multiple Sappi Forests databases including their Forest Management System, Timber Management System and Sappi Nursery databases. Analysis was undertaken to evaluate the net present values (NPV) of benefits, costs and benefit cost ratios (BCRs) associated with the seed orchard programme versus the use of unimproved planting material. Projected revenue increases from increased timber production were assessed. A number of discount rates typically used in South African forestry economic analyses were evaluated. Findings indicated that BCRs were >1 for both current and future proposed seed orchards, with the seed programme overall having a NPV of over half a billion rand, a BCR of 20 and an IRR of 62.5% at a 6% interest rate. A proposed new orchard had a NPV of R 175 million. It was found that increases in seed use efficiency could lead to increased timber production worth R 2 – 8 million per year under various scenarios. This research concurs with similar studies on the subject that establishment of seed orchards is an excellent investment for forestry managers. Based on this research, it is recommended that new seed orchards be pursued where selections of higher genetic gain than those in current seed orchards are available, and demand for the species is over a large land area. Further, nursery improvements that lead to increased seed use efficiency can be motivated based on increased timber production when there are limited quantities of the highest value seed

Passport to neoliberal normality? A critical exploration of COVID-19 vaccine passports.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic governments across the world including in France, Canada, Lithuania, Austria, Italy, and Ireland imposed ‘vaccine passports’ on the premise that they would curtail transmission of the virus, reduce COVID-19 related mortalities, and enable society to return to neoliberal normality. However, vaccine passports raise several important and troubling issues that have not been given sufficient attention within the social sciences. Therefore, this article offers a critique of vaccine passports. It is structured into three key themes: (a) scientifically and ethically problematic, (b) the death of the social and the ‘Other’, and (c) digital surveillance and freedom. The article begins by exploring how vaccine passports make little scientific sense and further entrench some unvaccinated peoples’ sense of political and medical mistrust. It then discusses how they amplify social divisions, creating the unvaccinated Other in society and intensifying the neoliberal shift towards a post-social, contactless world. The paper closes with an outline of how vaccine passports were cast as enabling a return to neoliberal normality and freedom, hinging upon an assumption of harmlessness while cementing the negative ideology of capitalist realism

Equity of access to treatment on the Cancer Drugs Fund:A missed opportunity for cancer research?

AbstractUsing mixed-methods, we investigated the CDF in the South West of England (3193 cancer patients treated through the CDF, April 1st 2011–March 31st 2013) for evidence of: (1) equitable access across socioeconomic groups, age groups, sex, and Cancer Network; (2) time-to-treatment by socioeconomic group; and (3) the perception of the CDF as fair, using semi-structured interviews with oncology consultants.There was no evidence of inequitable access to anti-cancer therapy for those in more deprived areas. For all cancer types, there was a lower proportion of women in the CDF cohort than in the Cancer Registry reference population (e.g., melanoma, CDF 36.8% female, reference population 48.7%; difference 11.9%, 95% CI 3.1–20.7%). There was a lower proportion of older patients in the CDF compared with the reference population (e.g., colorectal cancer, CDF 6.9% ≥80 years, reference population 30.1%; difference 23.2%, 95% CI 20.2–26.2%). Interviewed oncologists felt differences in performance status, not age, influenced referral to the CDF, with neither deprivation, nor gender contributing.Our study suggests that the CDF has differential access by age and sex, but not by deprivation. The absence of high quality CDF data represents a missed opportunity to fully evaluate equity of access and the real-world costs and outcomes of novel anti-cancer drugs