Efecto de diferentes regimenes de riego sobre la carga frutal, tama\uf1o de fruta y rendimiento del olivo cv. Sevillana

In order to determine the effects of different regulated deficit irrigation (RDC) strategies in olives ( Olea europea L.), four irrigation treatments were applied, for three seasons, in an eight-year-old orchard of cv. 'Sevillana' olives, growing in the locality of Tierras Blanca, San Felipe, V Region, Chile (32\ub047' S; 70\ub042' W; 800 m above sea level). Treatments were: T1, irrigated at 100% of crop evapotranspiration (ETc) for the entire season; T2, 100% ETc from beginning of shoot growth until the end of fruit growth stage II and 40% ETc during stage III; T3, 100% ETc from beginning of shoot growth until the end of fruit growth stage II and 25% ETc during stage III; and T4, 60% ETc throughout the entire season. Both stem water potential and stomatal conductance were affected by RDC, especially when 40 and 25% ETc were applied. During fruit stage III, water stress did not affect the fruit-bearing load, however during this stage severe water stress affected the final fruit weight. Water stress during the whole season (60% ETc), produced a strong reduction on the fruit-bearing load of the season of high production, which seems to have its origin in the previous season. According to the results, the best strategy for RDC in olives seems to be moderate stress (application of 40% Etc) in phase III of fruit growth.Con el objetivo de determinar el efecto de diferentes estrategias de riego deficitario controlado (RDC) en olivos ( Olea europea L.), se aplicaron cuatro tratamientos de riego, en tres temporadas, a un huerto de ocho a\uf1os de edad, del cv. Sevillana, ubicado en la localidad de Tierras Blancas, San Felipe, V Regi\uf3n (32\ub047' lat. Sur, 70\ub042' long. Oeste, 800 m.s.n.m). Los tratamientos fueron: T1, regado con el equivalente al 100% de la evapotranspiraci\uf3n del cultivo (ETc) durante toda la temporada; T2, 100% de la ETc desde brotaci\uf3n hasta el t\ue9rmino de la fase II de crecimiento del fruto y 40% durante la fase III; T3, 100% de la ETc desde brotaci\uf3n hasta el t\ue9rmino de la fase II de crecimiento del fruto y 25% durante la fase III; y T4, 60% de la ETc durante toda la temporada. Tanto el potencial h\ueddrico xilem\ue1tico como la conductancia estom\ue1tica se vieron afectados por la aplicaci\uf3n de riego restringido, especialmente cuando se aplicaron 40 y 25% de la ETc. D\ue9ficit h\ueddricos durante la fase III de crecimiento de frutos no afectaron la carga frutal, sin embargo restricciones h\ueddricas severas durante esta fase tuvieron incidencia en el peso final del fruto. D\ue9ficit h\ueddricos durante toda la temporada (60% ETc), produjeron una fuerte reducci\uf3n en la carga frutal de la temporada de alta producci\uf3n, la que parece tener su origen en el a\uf1o anterior. De acuerdo a los resultados, la mejor estrategia RDC en olivo parece ser un estr\ue9s moderado (aplicaci\uf3n del 40% de la ETc) en la fase III de crecimiento del fruto

Manejo de Riego por Goteo en Uva de Mesa cv. Thompson Seedless Cultivada en Suelos de Textura Fina

The objective of this trial was to evaluate the effect of three drip irrigation frequencies on table grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) cv. Thompson Seedless planted on a clay loam textured soil (Fluventic Haploxeroll). The drip irrigation frequencies were established considering daily crop evapotranspiration (ETc), estimated by evaporation pan and adjusted using a crop coefficient (Kc). The treatments corresponded to a water application each time the accumulated daily ETc was equivalent to 6 h (T6), 12 h (T12), and 18 h of irrigation (T18). The largest soil wet bulb size was obtained with T18. This treatment also produced greater berry weight and size. Stem water potential was higher in T18 (P 64 0.05) than in the other treatments. These results can be explained, given the soil texture characteristics (clay loam), by a better water/air balance with a less frequent irrigation regime.El objetivo de este ensayo fue evaluar el efecto de tres frecuencias de riego por goteo sobre un parronal de uva de mesa (Vitis vinifera L.), cv. Thompson Seedless, plantado en un suelo de textura franco arcillosa (Fluventic Haploxeroll). Las frecuencias de riego se establecieron considerando la evapotranspiraci\uf3n (ETc) acumulada del cultivo, determinada por el m\ue9todo de la evaporaci\uf3n de bandeja y corregida por un coeficiente de cultivo (Kc), y expresada como acumulaci\uf3n de horas de riego equivalentes. Los tratamientos correspondieron a regar cada vez que la ETc acumulada correspondiera a 6 h (T6), 12 h (T12) y 18 h de riego (T18). El mayor tama\uf1o de bulbo de suelo h\ufamedo se obtuvo con el T18. Este tratamiento present\uf3 mayor peso de poda y calibre de bayas a la cosecha. El potencial h\ueddrico xilem\ue1tico fue m\ue1s alto (P 640,05) en el tratamiento T18 que en los otros tratamientos. Estos resultados se podr\uedan explicar, dadas las caracter\uedsticas texturales del suelo, por un mejor equilibrio agua-aire en el suelo en el tratamiento regado con menos frecuencia

Health for sale: the medicinal plant markets in Trujillo and Chiclayo, Northern Peru

Traditional methods of healing have been beneficial in many countries with or without access to conventional allopathic medicine. In the United States, these traditional practices are increasingly being sought after for illnesses that cannot be easily treated by allopathic medicine. More and more people are becoming interested in the knowledge maintained by traditional healers and in the diversity of medicinal plants that flourish in areas like Northern Peru. While scientific studies of medicinal plants are underway, concern has arisen over the preservation of both the large diversity of medicinal plants and the traditional knowledge of healing methods that accompanies them. To promote further conservation work, this study attempted to document the sources of the most popular and rarest medicinal plants sold in the markets of Trujillo (Mayorista and Hermelinda) and Chiclayo (Modelo and Moshoqueque), as well as to create an inventory of the plants sold in these markets, which will serve as a basis for comparison with future inventories. Individual markets and market stalls were subjected to cluster analysis based on the diversity of the medicinal plants they carry. The results show that markets were grouped based on the presence of: (1) common exotic medicinal plants; (2) plants used by laypeople for self-medication related to common ailments ("everyday remedies"); (3) specialized medicinal plants used by curanderos or traditional healers; and (4) highly "specialized" plants used for magical purposes. The plant trade in the study areas seems to correspond well with the specific health care demands from clientele in those areas. The specific market patterns of plant diversity observed in the present study represent a foundation for comparative market research in Peru and elsewhere

Transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic analysis of UV-B signaling in maize

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Under normal solar fluence, UV-B damages macromolecules, but it also elicits physiological acclimation and developmental changes in plants. Excess UV-B decreases crop yield. Using a treatment twice solar fluence, we focus on discovering signals produced in UV-B-irradiated maize leaves that translate to systemic changes in shielded leaves and immature ears.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using transcriptome and proteomic profiling, we tracked the kinetics of transcript and protein alterations in exposed and shielded organs over 6 h. In parallel, metabolic profiling identified candidate signaling molecules based on rapid increase in irradiated leaves and increased levels in shielded organs; pathways associated with the synthesis, sequestration, or degradation of some of these potential signal molecules were UV-B-responsive. Exposure of just the top leaf substantially alters the transcriptomes of both irradiated and shielded organs, with greater changes as additional leaves are irradiated. Some phenylpropanoid pathway genes are expressed only in irradiated leaves, reflected in accumulation of pathway sunscreen molecules. Most protein changes detected occur quickly: approximately 92% of the proteins in leaves and 73% in immature ears changed after 4 h UV-B were altered by a 1 h UV-B treatment.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>There were significant transcriptome, proteomic, and metabolomic changes under all conditions studied in both shielded and irradiated organs. A dramatic decrease in transcript diversity in irradiated and shielded leaves occurs between 0 h and 1 h, demonstrating the susceptibility of plants to short term UV-B spikes as during ozone depletion. Immature maize ears are highly responsive to canopy leaf exposure to UV-B.</p

Traditional medicinal plant use in Northern Peru: tracking two thousand years of healing culture

This paper examines the traditional use of medicinal plants in Northern Peru, with special focus on the Departments of Piura, Lambayeque, La Libertad, Cajamarca, and San Martin. Northern Peru represents the center of the old Central Andean "Health Axis," stretching from Ecuador to Bolivia. The roots of traditional healing practices in this region go at least as far back as the Moche period (AC 100–800). Although about 50% of the plants in use reported in the colonial period have disappeared from the popular pharmacopoeia, the plant knowledge of the population is much more extensive than in other parts of the Andean region. 510 plant species used for medicinal purposes were collected, identified and their vernacular names, traditional uses and applications recorded. The families best represented were Asteraceae with 69 species, Fabaceae (35), Lamiaceae (25), and Solanaceae (21). Euphorbiaceae had twelve species, and Apiaceae and Poaceae 11 species. The highest number of species was used for the treatment of "magical/ritual" ailments (207 species), followed by respiratory disorders (95), problems of the urinary tract (85), infections of female organs (66), liver ailments (61), inflammations (59), stomach problems (51) and rheumatism (45). Most of the plants used (83%) were native to Peru. Fresh plants, often collected wild, were used in two thirds of all cases, and the most common applications included the ingestion of herb decoctions or the application of plant material as poultices

Elevated circulating levels of succinate in human obesity are linked to specific gut microbiota

Gut microbiota-related metabolites are potential clinical biomarkers for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Circulating succinate, a metabolite produced by both microbiota and the host, is increased in hypertension, ischemic heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. We aimed to analyze systemic levels of succinate in obesity, a major risk factor for CVD, and its relationship with gut microbiome. We explored the association of circulating succinate with specific metagenomic signatures in cross-sectional and prospective cohorts of Caucasian Spanish subjects. Obesity was associated with elevated levels of circulating succinate concomitant with impaired glucose metabolism. This increase was associated with specific changes in gut microbiota related to succinate metabolism: a higher relative abundance of succinate-producing Prevotellaceae (P) and Veillonellaceae (V), and a lower relative abundance of succinate-consuming Odoribacteraceae (O) and Clostridaceae (C) in obese individuals, with the (P + V/O + C) ratio being a main determinant of plasma succinate. Weight loss intervention decreased (P + V/O + C) ratio coincident with the reduction in circulating succinate. In the spontaneous evolution after good dietary advice, alterations in circulating succinate levels were linked to specific metagenomic signatures associated with carbohydrate metabolism and energy production with independence of body weight change. Our data support the importance of microbe-microbe interactions for the metabolite signature of gut microbiome and uncover succinate as a potential microbiota-derived metabolite related to CVD risk

Nutraceutical therapies for atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting large and medium arteries and is considered to be a major underlying cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Although the development of pharmacotherapies to treat CVD has contributed to a decline in cardiac mortality in the past few decades, CVD is estimated to be the cause of one-third of deaths globally. Nutraceuticals are natural nutritional compounds that are beneficial for the prevention or treatment of disease and, therefore, are a possible therapeutic avenue for the treatment of atherosclerosis. The purpose of this Review is to highlight potential nutraceuticals for use as antiatherogenic therapies with evidence from in vitro and in vivo studies. Furthermore, the current evidence from observational and randomized clinical studies into the role of nutraceuticals in preventing atherosclerosis in humans will also be discussed

Disease: A Hitherto Unexplored Constraint on the Spread of Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) in Pre-Columbian South America

Although debate continues, there is agreement that dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) were first domesticated in Eurasia, spreading from there to other parts of the world. However, while that expansion already extended as far as Europe, China, and North America by the early Holocene, dogs spread into (and south of) the tropics only much later. In South America, for example, the earliest well attested instances of their presence do not reach back much beyond 3000 cal. BC, and dogs were still absent from large parts of the continent – Amazonia, the Gran Chaco, and much of the Southern Cone – at European contact. Previous explanations for these patterns have focused on cultural choice, the unsuitability of dogs for hunting certain kinds of tropical forest prey, and otherwise unspecified environmental hazards, while acknowledging that Neotropical lowland forests witness high rates of canine mortality. Building on previous work in Sub-Saharan Africa (Mitchell 2015) and noting that the dog’s closest relatives, the grey wolf (C. lupus) and the coyote (C. latrans), were likewise absent from South and most of Central America in Pre- Columbian times, this paper explores instead the possibility that infectious disease constrained the spread of dogs into Neotropical environments. Four diseases are considered, all likely to be native and/or endemic to South America: canine distemper, canine trypanosomiasis, canine rangeliosis, and canine visceral leishmaniasis caused by infection with Leishmania amazonensis and L. colombiensis. The paper concludes by suggesting ways in which the hypothesis that disease constrained the expansion of dogs into South America can be developed further

BacHBerry: BACterial Hosts for production of Bioactive phenolics from bERRY fruits

BACterial Hosts for production of Bioactive phenolics from bERRY fruits (BacHBerry) was a 3-year project funded by the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) of the European Union that ran between November 2013 and October 2016. The overall aim of the project was to establish a sustainable and economically-feasible strategy for the production of novel high-value phenolic compounds isolated from berry fruits using bacterial platforms. The project aimed at covering all stages of the discovery and pre-commercialization process, including berry collection, screening and characterization of their bioactive components, identification and functional characterization of the corresponding biosynthetic pathways, and construction of Gram-positive bacterial cell factories producing phenolic compounds. Further activities included optimization of polyphenol extraction methods from bacterial cultures, scale-up of production by fermentation up to pilot scale, as well as societal and economic analyses of the processes. This review article summarizes some of the key findings obtained throughout the duration of the project