Nectria galligena as the cause of a collar rot disease in organically grown Topaz apple trees

Symptoms resembling collar rot were detected in organically managed Topaz trees aged 3-10 years, occur-ring one to several years after planting of the orchard. Trees were killed within the same growing season in which symptoms were first observed. The disease commonly progressed as a complete covered canker at the base of the tree trunk. Isolation attempts were negative for Phytophthora and other Oomycetes, but con-sistently yielded Nectria galligena. The possibility of latent (endophytic) infections of N. galligena as the cause of delayed collar rot symptoms is briefly discussed

Grocery retailing in Germany : situation, development and pricing strategies

Over the last four decades, the German food-retailing sector has been subject to continuous structural change. Most important has been the combination of increasing concentration with rising store size and the growing role of discounters implementing an aggressive EDLP pricing strategy. Thus, consumers have benefited from intensive price competition, despite the higher market share of leading food retailers. The analysis of market conduct, in terms of price formation and pricing strategies, reveals a typical situation of imperfect competition. The law of one price certainly does not hold for individual foods. Price levels and pricing strategies diverge substantially across firms and store types. There are successful retailers with an EDLP strategy, as well as others with a HiLo strategy. A major lesson to be learned from the German experience is that increasing concentration in food retailing does not necessarily imply that more market power is exerted at the expense of consumers. Competitive markets are compatible with a high level of concentration as long as a strong competitive fringe, for example discounters, challenges the large chains in food retailing

Diplodia seriata, cause of black fruit rot in organically grown apples in Holland, Belgium and Northern Germany

A fruit rot resembling Gloeosporium infections but appearing on fruits prior to harvest was noticed in organic apple orchards in Holland, Belgium and Northern Germany in 2007. Infections were most commonly observed on ‘Elstar’, but other cultivars were also affected. Fruit colonisation progressed in two steps, whereby a latent stage of sunken black lesions in immature fruits gave rise to a rapidly spreading firm brown rot upon fruit ripening. Isolation experiments from both stages consistently yielded a single species of fungus identified as Diplodia seriata, formerly known under the teleomorph name Botryosphaeria obtusa. Lesions of D. seriata were also seen on leaves as necrotic light brown spots surrounded by a purple halo, and occasionally on small twigs as cankers. Fruit mummies on apple twigs were heavily colonised by D. seriata and are thus likely to carry inoculum for fruit infections during late summer or in the following growing season

Grocery retailing in Germany: Situation, development and pricing strategies

Like many other industrialised countries Germany has experienced a powerful concentration process in food retailing. There are some issues, however, which make Germany a special case in Europe and among industrialised countries in general. This holds true in terms of market structure and concentration, market development and pricing strategies. The market share of hard discounters like Aldi and Lidl has grown continuously in recent decades and the market share of discounters in general has reached a magnitude that is well above that found in other European countries. This has led to robust price competition in German food retailing. Along with this development, it has been very difficult for inward foreign direct investment (FDI) to gain ground in the German food retailing industry. One example was the market entry by Wal-Mart which, given its initial ambitious goals, was not successful. On the other hand, German hard discounters have strongly affected outward FDI by other German food retailers. In the process of expanding into other markets abroad, these companies have had a positive impact on exporting by the German food industry. This article describes and analyses these major trends in German food retailing in detail. It is organised as follows. The structure of food retailing is described and explained in Section 2. Section 3 deals with the importance of inward and outward FDI in German food retailing. It is discussed in both sections how increased concentration in food retailing affects the marketing chain. Price competition is intense in Germany, and studies of food pricing strategies have used scanner data. Therefore a special case study in Section 4 is the analysis of food pricing strategies in Germany based on scanner-data evidence. The analysis shows that the pricing behaviour of food retailers is characterised by the every-day-low-pricing (EDLP) strategies of discounters and the high-lowpricing (HiLo) strategies of their major competitors. The main elements of pricing policies are indicative of firms' market power: repeated price discounts for major food brands, frequent changes of loss leaders, the dominant role of psychological pricing, and a strong price rigidity for all other foods which are not on special offer. --

Grocery retailing in Poland: Structural changes and foreign direct investment

The development of the Polish food retailing sector is very interesting. With the transition from a socialist to a market economy, structural change in the retailing sector has been especially rapid and the new open markets in Poland have attracted foreign investors throughout the economy in general and in the foodretailing sector in particular. This article describes and analyses the major trends in Polish food retailing. It is organised as follows. The structure of food retailing is described and explained in Section 2, first at the store-type level and then at the firm level. How the powerful concentration process in food retailing has affected the marketing chain is also discussed. Inward foreign direct investment (FDI) in Polish food retailing is covered in Section 3. Given the special importance of FDI in the Polish economy during the transition process, an analysis is carried out of the determinants of FDI in retailing within a cross-country dataset and with a particularly detailed look at FDI in Poland. The results are summarised in Section 5. --

Dioxin sources to the aquatic environment: Re-assessing dioxins in industrial processes and possible emissions to the aquatic

Releases of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/PCDFs) from industrial or thermal processes to the aquatic environment are considered small compared to emissions to air today. However, industrial processes have occasionally released PCDD/PCDFs into local aquatic environments. . PCDD/PCDF formation and releases were re-examined based on investigations conducted before the introduction of water quality regulations in Japan. Emphasis was given to PCDD/PCDF formation in various industrial processes such as the manufacture of acetylene and caprolactam.In acetylene production, PCDD/PCDFs are formed in the oxidative process using chlorine to remove impurities, with PCDFs formed with the particular chlorine pattern with 1,2,7,8-TetraCDF, 2,3,7,8-TetraCDFs and 1,2,3,4,7,8-HexaCDF as maker congeners and low PCDDs levels. This indicates that acetylene production residues contain organochlorines.In caprolactam production, formation of PCDD/PCDFs in the cyclohexane photonitrosation process has been confirmed and the emission factor for PCDD/PCDF releases to water from for caprolactam manufacture was estimated with an emission factor for releases to the aquatic environment of 0.25 ± 0.04 μg-TEQ/t.A range of additional processes with PCDD/PCDF release were also found during the Japanese survey. Overall, the formation processes were placed in two categories: A) chemical synthesis processes and B) flue gas treatment of high temperature processes. The final effluent water met the PCDD/PCDF limits by applying advanced treatment for PCDD/PCDF removal such as activated carbon treatment. The survey shows that industrial processes involving elemental chlorine or other processes that facilitate chlorination or use chlorinating chemicals should be assessed and controlled for PCDD/PCDFs and other unintentional POPs releases to water. In such surveys, chemicals from the chlorine and organochlorine industry should also be assessed for PCDD/PCDFs and other unintentional POPs contamination as proposed by the UNEP Toolkit. The current study can contribute to the Stockholm Convention implementation of Article 5 of the Stockholm Convention to take measures to reduce the release of UPOPs from anthropogenic sources with the goal of their continuing minimization and, where feasible, ultimate elimination

Organochlorine pesticides residues and PCBs in benthic organisms of the inner shelf of the São Sebastião Channel, São Paulo, Brazil

Trinta e sete amostras de bentos da área interna do Canal de São Sebastião, Brasil, foram coletadas entre Abril de 1994 e Agosto de 1998 e analisadas quanto aos níveis de resíduos de 17 pesticidas organoclorados os congêneres dos PCBs. Os níveis de resíduos de organoclorados e PCBs foram baixos( ng/g) e encontrados com maior freqüência nas amostras de crustáceos. DDE foi o resíduo de pesticida encontrado com mais freqüência apresentado um máximo de 9,7 ng/g seguido dos isômeros de HCHs com um máximo de 17,1 ng/g. No caso dos PCBs os congêneres mais pesados foram os predominantes: CB 138, 153, 170, 180 e 183. O valor máximo de PCBs totais foi de 17,4 ug/g numa amostra de crustáceo. Níveis maiores de PCBs estão associados aos hábitos alimentares e introduções pontuais de esgotos e água de drenagem urbana. Apesar dos níveis observados estarem abaixo dos recomendados para consumo humano pela EPA e da FDA( U.S.A) ,eles demonstram que mesmo em área marinhas costeiras sem agricultura intensiva ou atividades industriais de porte , estes compostos orgânicos persistentes sintéticos ( POPS) estão presentes em níveis mensuráveis.Thirty seven benthic samples of the inner shelf area of São Sebastião, Brazil, were collected between April 1994 and August 1998 and analysed for seventeen chlorinated pesticide residues and PCBs congeners. Pesticide residues and PCBs congeners levels were low (ng/g) and predominantly found in the crustacean samples. DDE was the most frequently residue with a maximum of 9,7 ng/g followed by HCHs with maximum of 17,1ng/g. As for the PCBs, the heavier congeners predominate: CB 138,153,170, 180 and 183. Maximum total PCBs was 17,4 ug/g in a crab sample. Higher levels of PCBs are related to feeding habits and local inputs of raw sewage or land runoff. Although EPA and FDA (U.S.A) below the guidelines for human consumption propose these levels, they do show that even in marine areas without intense agricultural or industrial activities these compounds are present at detectable levels