Caracterização de Puccinia hemerocallidis causadora do primeiro surto de ferrugem de lírio-de-um-dia na Europa

Daylily (Hemerocallis spp.) is an ornamental plant widely used in gardens. Daylily rust, caused by the fungus Puccinia hemerocallidis, has disseminated through all continents only in the 21th century, except in Europe, where it has been considered a quarantine disease by the European Plant Protection Organisation. In Portugal, since November 2015, typical rust symptoms were observed in daylily plants in gardens in Lisbon, Alentejo, Algarve and Madeira, attaining high prevalence, incidence and severity. The causal agent was identified as P. hemerocallidis and the Koch’s postulates were fulfilled. Phylogenetic data suggest that this fungus may have been introduced from North America. Using flow cytometry, the genome size of the P. hemerocallidis populations present in Portugal was estimated to be 345 Mbp (0.3533 pg DNA/1C). For such analysis Rhamnus alaternus was validated as a DNA standard, exhibiting a nuclear content of 0.680 pg DNA/2C. The identification of this disease in diverse locations in Portugal represents a threat to European breeding and nursery industries, since there are the appropriate conditions for inoculum maintenance and propagation from Portugal to the rest of Europeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Dynamics of change in a ‘female farming system’, Mbanza Kongo/ Northern Angola

The inhabitants of the Zaire Province of northern Angola, belonging to different subgroups of the Bakongo, offer an interesting case to study social and agricultural change in what Boserup would call a traditional ‘female farming system’. Since the 1930s, several factors have produced multiple dynamics of change – sometimes abrupt and other times gradual – in both livelihoods and the gender relations of agricultural production. Of these, the paper is going to highlight late colonial intervention, the anticolonial war, the long civil war, the economic boom after the end of the war and the recent economic crisis. While colonial interventions reinforced women’s role as food producers, the wars acted in the opposite direction by increasing the participation of (non-conscripted into the military) men in agriculture for those who took refuge in the then Republic of Congo. The economic boom that followed the end of the civil war opened income-earning opportunities out of agriculture for young men, but the recent fall in the international oil price reversed this trend, and agriculture – as a sole occupation or combined with casual off-farm jobs – became again a way out of hunger and povertyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A gafa da oliveira é causada por fungos de diversas espécies, com distinta distribuição geográfica, virulência e preferência pela cultivar

A gafa da oliveira é o principal fator fitopatológico limitante da produção de azeitona em Portugal, ao causar a queda ou mumificação dos frutos, com consequente quebra de produção e/ou depreciação da qualidade do azeite. Apresenta incidência a nível nacional entre 30 e 50%, com uma severidade média de 14%. A gafa é causada por diversas espécies de fungos pertencentes ao género Colletotrichum, sendo C. nymphaeae e C. acutatum sensu stricto as mais virulentas, enquanto C. godetiae e C. fioriniae apresentam virulência intermédia e C. gloeosporioides (entre outras, pouco frequentes) se apresenta menos virulenta. No centro e sul de Portugal prevalece C. nymphaeae, enquanto em Trás-os-Montes C. godetiae é mais frequente. As variações na virulência dependem no entanto da interação com a cultivar. Por exemplo, em ‘Cobrançosa’, C. godetiae apresenta maior virulência do que C. acutatum s.s., contrariando a média geral. As variações na virulência destes agentes patogénicos, a sua interação com as cultivares de oliveira, a sua distribuição geográfica e as recentes dinâmicas populacionais deverão ser tidas em conta e compreendidas para a implementação de medidas de proteção do olivalinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The use of flow cytometry for fungal nuclear DNA quantification

Genome size information is sparse across fungi, with information being available for less than 2000 species. So far, most records have been obtained using static, microscopebased cytometry methods or derived from genome sequencing projects. Flow cytometry is now considered the state-of-the-art method for obtaining genome size measurements, and appropriate methods and DNA standards are available, enabling the analysis of most genome size ranges in a rapid, robust and inexpensive way. The average fungal genome size is 60 Mbp, but sizes vary across phylogeny, ranging from 2.2 (Encephalitozoon romaleae) to 3706 Mbp (Jafnea semitosta). In several fungal clades, genome size expansion seems to accompany evolution either to plant mutualism or to plant parasitism (particularly biotrophy), and fungi that interact with plants seem to have larger genomes than saprobes and those that interact with animals. Whereas flow cytometry for nuclear DNA quantification is routinely employed in plant sciences for genome size and ploidy studies, its use in fungal biology is still infrequent. Appropriate standards, methods and best practices are described here, with the aim of stimulating a more generalized and widespread use of flow cytometry for fungal genome size measurementinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Response to anthracnose in a tarwi (Lupinus muyabilis) collection is influenced by anthocyanin pigmentation

Anthracnose, caused by Colletotrichum lupini, is a major limiting factor for lupin production. Tarwi or Andean Lupin (Lupinus mutabilis) is generally regarded as susceptible to anthracnose, but the high protein and oil content of its seeds raise interest in promoting its cultivation in Europe. In this study we evaluated the response to anthracnose of 10 tarwi accessions contrasting in anthocyanin pigmentation, by comparison to white lupin (Lupinus albus), using a contemporary Portuguese fungal isolate. A severity rating scale was optimized, including weighted parameters considering the type of symptoms and organs a ected. All tarwi accessions were classified as susceptible, exhibiting sporulating necroses on the main stem from seven days after inoculation. Anthracnose severity was lower on anthocyanin-rich tarwi plants, with accession LM34 standing out as the less susceptible. Accession I82 better combines anthracnose response and yield. In global terms, disease severity was lower on white lupin than on tarwi. Although based on a limited collection, the results of the study show the existence of genetic variability among L. mutabilis towards anthracnose response relatable with anthocyanin pigmentation, providing insights for more detailed and thorough characterization of tarwi resistance to anthracnoseinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Genetic and genomic diversity in a Tarwi (Lupinus mutabilis Sweet) germplasm collection and adaptability to Mediterranean climate conditions

Lupinus mutabilis (tarwi) is a species of Andean origin with high protein and oil content and regarded as a potential crop in Europe. The success in the introduction of this crop depends in part on in depth knowledge of the intra-specific genetic variability of the collections, enabling the establishment of breeding and conservation programs. In this study, we used morphological traits, Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat markers and genome size to assess genetic and genomic diversity of 23 tarwi accessions under Mediterranean conditions. Phenotypic analyses and yield component studies point out accession LM268 as that achieving the highest seed production, producing large seeds and e ciently using primary branches as an important component of total yield, similar to the L. albus cultivars used as controls. By contrast, accession JKI-L295 presents high yield concentrated on the main stem, suggesting a semi-determinate development pattern. Genetic and genomic analyses revealed important levels of diversity, however not relatable to phenotypic diversity, reflecting the recent domestication of this crop. This is the first study of genome size diversity within L. mutabilis, revealing an average size of 2.05 pg/2C (2001 Mbp) with 9.2% variation (1897–2003 Mbp), prompting further studies for the exploitation of this diversityinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Urban and rural household energy consumption and deforestation patterns in Zaire province, Northern Angola: A landscape approach

Angola has been labelled a “petro-state”, since independence, due to its oil-wealth and the country’s economic dependence on its revenues. Considering that oil availability and price could be a factor reducing deforestation and forest degradation through accelerating energy-transition, our objective was to study the energy consumption patterns and the role of woody biomass as a source of income of rural villagers and urban poor dwellers practicing agriculture, living in one of the oil-rich provinces. We used a “people and pixels” approach, combining interviews with households’ heads with remote sensing analysis of land use/cover change. Our findings revealed that while kerosene is the main energy source for cooking and lighting in the city, in rural areas it is firewood and flashlights, respectively, and that the selling of firewood and/or charcoal is practiced by few households. Contrary to what has been reported about other Angolan regions and African countries, satellite imagery analysis showed that deforestation around Zaire province capital city and surrounding rural villages is comparatively small. Bearing in mind that the consumption of biomass for domestic household needs is reduced, other drivers of deforestation/forest degradation must be considered. Nonetheless, the high domestic use of kerosene contributes to the exhaustion of its limited global supplies and to increasing greenhouse gas emissions, disregarding the country’s potential to produce renewable energyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Petro-Landscapes: Urban Expansion and Energy Consumption in Mbanza Kongo City, Northern Angola

Original ResearchAngola is a resource-rich country, which experienced a major urban concentration of the population owing to a long civil war followed by an oil-related economic boom. The majority of the population, however, remains without access to basic services such as potable water, sanitation or electricity. Despite the economic and social exclusion of the majority of the citizens, how does its oil wealth translate into the energy consumption patterns of poor urban households in the capital city of one of its oil-rich provinces? Research conducted in around 300 households of Mbanza Kongo city of Zaire province—whose livelihoods relied on odd jobs and/or peri-urban agriculture—showed that contrary to much received wisdom most of the poor urbanites do not use either fuelwood or charcoal as their main source of energy, and thus do not contribute to deforestation or forest degradation. Unexpectedly, a major impetus for deforestation is house construction. Attention must be paid to diverse drivers of deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. The major expansion of urban areas is an important factor; here we mapped one World Heritage city in Angola through remote sensinginfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Best practices in plant cytometry

Editorialinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Yield and seed chemical composition of Lupinus mutabilis in Portugal

Lupinus mutabilis Sweet (tarwi), being cultivated for thousands of years in the Andean region, is regarded as a potential crop for Europe, especially because of its high protein and oil content. The objective of this study was to revise the productivity and seed composition analyses of several tarwi accessions conducted over several years, in a Mediterranean environment (Lisbon, Portugal), in order to select more suitable lines. The productivity, although low (bellow 2 t/ha, in average), and variable (ranging from 0.26 to 6.0 t/ha), indicates that it should be possible to obtain lines with productivity levels high enough to make of this species a non-irrigated autumn-sown legume crop. These results are more encouraging when compared with the lower yields obtained in central Europe, where indeterminate growth also often causes unsurpassed difficulties. The chemical composition of tarwi seeds obtained in this Mediterranean environment reaches very high levels both in the protein content (up to 50%) and in oil (up to 19%). It is possible to select plants for higher oil levels with little reduction on the protein content. Seeds seem to have a slightly lower protein content than when obtained under central European conditions, but with oil contents consistently higher. Presently, the main obstacles to be transposed in order to make tarwi a crop for the Mediterranean area are: to increase cold and frost tolerance, in order to adapt it to colder winters than those in coastal areas; to increase seed yield and oil content (without reducing protein); to increase resistance to pests and diseases and a better competition against weeds; and to optimise the plant architecture in order to maximise pod and seed set without compromising productive flexibility (so much necessary to face the typical Mediterranean climate interanual variability)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio