‘Superior Seedless’ grapevine grafted on three rootstocks grown on calcare- ous soil under diluted brackish water irrigation. II. Expression of antioxidant genes

Grapevine rootstocks that can absorb brackish water and maintain satisfactory growth of the grapevine scion might be a feasible management practice in areas suffering scarce water resources. The objective of this study was to evaluate the expression of antioxidant genes in ‘Superior Seedless’ leaves grafted on R110 (Vitis berlandieri x V. rupestris), 41B (V. berlandieri x V. vinifera) and P1103 (V. berlandieri x V. rupestris) in response to diluted brack- ish water irrigation at three levels: 1.5, 3.0 and 5.0 dS m-1 in addition to the 0.8 dS m-1 control. Results revealed that after salinity exposure for two weeks, the transcript levels of APX, Mn-SOD and MDAR increased in ‘Superior Seedless’ leaves grafted on the different rootstocks. However, their expression levels in response to salinity were noticeably higher in plants grafted on P1103 and R110 compared to 41B. The expression of CAT gene showed obvious enhanced level in plants grafted on P1103 in response to salt exposure. Meanwhile, the expres- sion of CAT gene in ‘Superior Seedless’ scion grafted on 41B or R110 showed almost unchanged level in control and stressed conditions. Down-regulation of CuZn-SOD was recorded in leaves of ‘Superior Seedless’ grafted on P1103. Slight up-regulation of this gene in response to saline condition was recorded when scion was grafted on 41B or R110. The expression of GPX was enhanced in scion grafted on P1103 and 41B. On the other hand, scion grafted on R110 showed decreased expression of GPX in response to salt treatment. Grapevine root- stocks that have V. rupestris and V. berlandieri in their parentage are good can- didates for salinity tolerance.

‘Superior Seedless’ grafted on three selected grapevine rootstocks grown on calcareous soil under diluted brackish water irrigation. I. Growth performances

Mixing brackish water with conventional quality water for irrigation in ratios to maintain satisfactory vigor of grapevines might be a feasible man- agement practice. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of three grape rootstocks that are used worldwide and locally; R110, 41B and P1103, irrigated with three salinity levels: 1.5, 3.0 and 5.0 dS m-1 in addition to the 0.8 dS m-1 control. A randomized complete block design was used with three blocks of 12 pots each. ‘Superior Seedless’ grafted on P1103 showed bet- ter performance regarding chlorophyll content, stem length and number of young leaves and even growth after bud break. It does seem that grapevine rootstocks that have either V. rupestris or V. berlandieri in their parentage are good candidates for salinity tolerance. It can be concluded that irrigation with diluted brackish water can be practiced for a certain period of time (two months from April to June); according to our findings under conditions of the experiment, to be followed by irrigation with good quality water in order to flush excessive salts out of the root zone.

Effect of different types of mulches on 'Newton' tomato yields and fruit cracking under plastic greenhouse conditions

This study was conducted at Al-Balqa` Applied University research station to investigate the effect of different types of mulches on ‘Newton’ tomato yields and fruit cracking incidence under greenhouse conditions. The experiment consisted of seven treatments (black plastic, tuff gravel, clear plastic, compost, crushed stone, shredded wood, and the control); a randomized complete block design with three replicates was used. Different mulch types showed significant effects on early, medium, late, and total yields/ha of the tomato fruits. Higher early and medium yields were obtained using black and clear plastic. Compost resulted with the highest total yield. Results of this study clearly showed that mulching improves total tomato yields under greenhouse conditions. In addition, larger fruits were obtained by applying mulching. Tomato cracking was also slightly affected by the mulch types used in this study

Management model for the logistics and competitiveness of SMEs in the city of Barranquilla

In Colombia, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the most powerful engines of economic development, since they generate a high volume of jobs in the national territory, while diversifying productive, commercial, and service activities. In order to propose a model for logistics management as a component for the competitiveness of SMEs, a qualitative study is proposed that will allow us to collect from a structured review of recent literature, identifying the elements to be taken into account for logistics management in order to provide timely support and open space for continuous improvement. The proposed model is structured in six main blocks: characterization of processes according to the activity of the SME, external factors of influence, internal factors of influence, feeding of information, monitoring and control of operations, and feedback between support areas. The above elements have been analyzed and suggested taking into account the specific aspects of SMEs in the country, and taking into account the peculiarities of these small productive cells

Business process management and supply chain collaboration: a critical comparison

The link between a firm and supply chain (SC) members has been recognised as one of the key issues for ensuring business success and achieving competitive advantage. Indeed, working across organisational boundaries is required to accomplish effective responses to customers’ needs. Our preliminary research confirmed that there are positive relationships between business process management (BPM), supply chain collaboration (SCC), collaborative advantage and organisational performance. This study is a step further and uses a multiple case design to illuminate the results and gain a greater understanding from extensive discussions about these relationships. By means of semi-structured interviews, the three main issues were identified as: (1) the link between BPM and organisational performance; (2) the link between BPM and SCC; and (3) the contextual factors and benefits achieved from working collaboratively with SC partners. The different scenarios of the link between BPM and SCC were developed in a taxonomy, and the case studies were used to illustrate the experience of intra- and inter-organisational practices in the developing economy of Thailand. The case studies’ results explain in depth that both BPM and SCC are important for improving organisational performance and competitiveness. BPM not only improves organisational performance directly, but also assists with collaborative activities that in turn help to improve internal capabilities. Additionally, the comparisons in issues relating to firm size, industry type, relationship closeness and relationship length were also included in this study

Examining tactical IT-business alignment

The goal of strategic IT-business alignment has been to deploy IT applications that support business strategy. In spite of voluminous "strategic" IT plans and numerous studies on strategic IT-business alignment, accounts of wasted IT investments and deployment of business-irrelevant applications are rampant, indicating lack of alignment at the tactical level, that is, lack of execution-level processes addressing issues of resources, objectives and implementation-priority matching, between IT and the business. We answer the question: What are the aspects and outcomes of tactical IT-business alignment? We (1) identify six aspects of tactical IT-business alignment, and (2) show how they lead to four outcomes - implementation of planned applications, execution of IT-enabled aspects of business strategy, increased credibility of the IT function and increased business value from IT projects. Our results are based on qualitative primary data (45 hours of interviews with 28 IT and functional managers and company documents) from four organizations