Image Analysis of Adventitious Root Quality in Wild Sage and Glossy Abelia Cuttings after Application of Different Indole-3-Butyric Acid Concentrations

Adventitious root (AR) formation is a key step in stem cutting propagation of economi-cally important woody ornamentals. Inadequate environmental and hormonal conditions can lead to the production of an insufficient or modest number of ARs in stem cutting, with a consequent decrease in quality. The aim of this research was to optimize wild sage and glossy abelia autumn stem cutting propagation protocols, using image analysis to assess the effects of different IBA concentrations and cultivars on AR quality. For both taxa, the treatments were: four IBA concentrations: 0, 1250, 2500 and 5000 mg L−1 and two cultivars: ‘Little Lucky’ (cv1) and ‘Yellow’ (cv2) from Lantana, and ‘Canyon Creek’ (cv1) and ‘Eduard Goucher’ (cv2) from Abelia. Results show that IBA application is not needed to enhance rooting ability; however, IBA concentration is an important factor determining the best overall AR quality in both taxa. In wild sage applying 5000 mg L−1 IBA improved AR quality in ‘Little Lucky’, increasing the root number, total length, surface area and number of forks and crossings, but decreased quality in ‘Yellow’. In glossy abelia ‘Edouard Goucher’, 5000 mg L−1 IBA increased the root number, but 1250 mg L−1 IBA improved AR quality; ‘Canyon Creek’ did not perform as well as cv2 at these concentrations. This study confirms that sensitivity to IBA dosage varies among species and their cultivars. Findings may help the commercial nursery industry produce higher quality cuttings

Infliximab in recalcitrant severe atopic eczema associated with contact allergy.

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Xylella fastidiosa in Olive in Apulia: Where We Stand

A dramatic outbreak of Xylella fastidiosa decimating olive was discovered in 2013 in Apulia, Southern Italy. This pathogen is a quarantine bacterium in the European Union (EU) and created unprecedented turmoil for the local economy and posed critical challenges for its management. With the new emerging threat to susceptible crops in the EU, efforts were devoted to gain basic knowledge on the pathogen biology, host, and environmental interactions (e.g., bacterial strain(s) and pathogenicity, hosts, vector(s), and fundamental drivers of its epidemics) in order to find means to control or mitigate the impacts of the infections. Field surveys, greenhouse tests, and laboratory analyses proved that a single bacterial introduction occurred in the area, with a single genotype, belonging to the subspecies pauca, associated with the epidemic. Infections caused by isolates of this genotype turned to be extremely aggressive on the local olive cultivars, causing a new disease termed olive quick decline syndrome. Due to the initial extension of the foci and the rapid spread of the infections, eradication measures (i.e., pathogen elimination from the area) were soon replaced by containment measures including intense border surveys of the contaminated area, removal of infected trees, and mandatory vector control. However, implementation of containment measures encountered serious difficulties, including public reluctance to accept control measures, poor stakeholder cooperation, misinformation from some media outlets, and lack of robust responses by some governmental authorities. This scenario delayed and limited containment efforts and allowed the bacterium to continue its rapid dissemination over more areas in the region, as shown by the continuous expansion of the official borders of the infected area. At the research level, the European Commission and regional authorities are now supporting several programs aimed to find effective methods to mitigate and contain the impact of X. fastidiosa on olives, the predominant host affected in this epidemic. Preliminary evidence of the presence of resistance in some olive cultivars represents a promising approach currently under investigation for long-term management strategies. The present review describes the current status of the epidemic and major research achievements since 2013

Halophyte common ice plants: A future solution to arable land salinization

The problems associated with the salinization of soils and water bodies and the increasing competition for scarce freshwater resources are increasing. Current attempts to adapt to these conditions through sustainable agriculture involves searching for new highly salt-tolerant crops, and wild species that have potential as saline crops are particularly suitable. The common ice plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.) is an edible halophyte member of the Aizoaceae family, which switches from C3 photosynthesis to crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) when exposed to salinity or water stress. The aim of this review was to examine the potential of using the ice plant in both the wild and as a crop, and to describe its ecology and morphology, environmental and agronomic requirements, and physiology. The antioxidant properties and mineral composition of the ice plant are also beneficial to human health and have been extensively examined

Principali patogeni e difesa

Olive as other woody perennial crops can be affected by several systemic pathogens, including bacteria, fungi and several vector-borne viruses. The most important olive diseases, caused by different pathogens, are described in this text. Pathogen biology, diagnostic technique and control strategies are reported for each disease. The main and widespread bacterial disease, caused by Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. savastanoi, is the olive knot. As concerns the most important and widespread fungal diseases, in this text are described the olive leaf spot, Verticillum wilt, cercosporiosis, anthracnose, fruit rot, parasitic brusca, root rot, sooty mold and wood rot. Infections caused by viruses are generally symptomless and do not result in diseased plants. Although, viruses do not cause detrimental disease on olive varieties, the infected olive trees represent a reservoir of virus inoculum for other crops, where these viruses are known to cause severe disease. Detection of these viruses represent an important critical step in the sanitary improvement of this crop. Recently, molecularbased assays have been effectively implemented to detect at least 8 of the 15 viruses known to infect this crop. Sanitation program using in vitro culture of shoot tip and thermotherapy have been recently described to recover virus-free plantlets.Realizzato nell'ambito del progetto "Ricerca ed Innovazione per l'Olivicoltura Meridionale", finanziato dal MiPAAFMiPAAF - Ministero delle politiche agricole alimentari e forestal

A new variant of Xylella fastidiosa subspecies multiplex detected in different host plants in the recently emerged outbreak in the region of Tuscany, Italy

The vector-borne bacterial pathogen Xylella fastidiosa is widely distributed in the Americas; in the last decade it has emerged as a serious threat for agricultural crops, natural environment and landscape in Europe. Following the first EU outbreak in 2013 in southern Italy, associated with a severe disease in olive trees, annual mandatory surveys are now in place in the Member States, leading to the discovery of bacterial outbreaks in different countries. Among the latest findings, an outbreak has been reported in the Italian region of Tuscany, with infections identified in seven different plant species. In this work, we report the isolation and the genetic characterization of isolates associated with this newly discovered outbreak. Multilocus sequence typing approach revealed the occurrence of isolates harbouring a new sequence type, denoted ST87, genetically related to strains of subsp. multiplex, but different from the genotypes of this subspecies previously characterized in Europe. Five cultured strains were successfully recovered from four of the seven host plants, an important achievement for advancing the studies on genomics and pathogenicity of these isolates and thus assess their potential threat for European agriculture

Presence of viruses in croatian olive groves

Tijekom 2005. i 2006. godine, prvi puta u Hrvatskoj je provedeno testiranje biljnog materijala masline na prisutnost virusa. Uzorci za testiranje su sakupljani na tradicionalnim maslinarskim područjima iz komercijalnih nasada masline, na dvadeset i pet lokaliteta. Uzorci su testirani na prisutnost osam vrsta virusa: ArMV, CMV, CLRV, OLV-1, OLV-2, OLRV, OLYaV i SLRV. Rezultati analiza provedenih primjenom RT-PCR metode, potvrdili su nazočnost virusa na oko 25 % uzoraka, a ukupno je potvrđena nazočnost četiri vrste virusa: OLYaV - Olive leaf yellowing-associated virus, CMV - Cucumber mosaic virus, OLV-2 - Olive latent virus 2 i SLRV – Strawberry latent ringspot virus. Nazočnost virusa CMV je utvrđena na uzorcima sorata Istarska bjelica i Lastovka, SLRV na sortama Levantinka i Oblica, OLV-2 na sorti Lastovka, te OLYaV na sortama Bjelica, Istarska bjelica, Lastovka i Levantinka. Uzorci sorata Buža, Perišićeva mastrinka i Rosulja bili su negativni na nazočnost virusa.During the years 2005 and 2006, testing of the olive plant material on the presence of olive viruses was conducted for the first time in Croatia. The samples for testing were collected from twenty five locations in commercial olive orchards, from traditional olive growing areas. All samples were teseted on the presence of eight virus types: ArMV, CMV, CLRV, OLV-1, OLV-2, OLRV, OLYaV and SLRV. The results of analyses conducted by using the RT-PCR method, confirmed the presence of viruses in 25% of samples, and four virus types were confirmed: OLYaV - Olive leaf yellowing-associated virus, CMV - Cucumber mosaic virus, OLV-2 - Olive latent virus 2 and SLRV – Strawberry latent ringspot virus. Presence of CMV was confirmed on Istarska bjelica and Lastovka samples, SLRV was confirmed on Levantinka and Oblica samples, OLV-2 was confirmed on Lastovka samples, OLYaV was confirmed on Bjelica, Istarska bjelica, Lastovka and Levantinka samples. Samples of Buža, Perišićeva mastrinka and Rosulja cultivars were free from tested viruses

First Report of ‘CandidatusLiberibacter asiaticus’ Associated with Huanglongbing in Sweet Orange in Ethiopia

Huanglongbing (HLB) is a serious disease of citrus worldwide. Three different ‘Candidatus Liberibacter’ species are associated with HLB: ‘Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus’, ‘Ca. L. africanus’, and ‘Ca. L. americanus’ (1). ‘Ca. L. africanus’ and its vector, Trioza erytreae, are both heat sensitive, and when present, occur in citrus when temperatures remain below 30 to 32°C. In Africa, ‘Ca. L. africanus’ and T. erytreae have been reported in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Burundi, Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Cameroon, and Madagascar (1). Inspection of citrus trees in orchards and budwood sources in nurseries located in the warmer citrus-growing areas of Tigray and North Wollo in northern Ethiopia revealed nearly 100 trees with symptoms of leaf yellowing with a blotchy mottle pattern, dead branches, and decreased fruit quality and yield. Two symptomatic sweet orange budwood trees and three symptomatic orchard plants were sampled in April 2009, along with three healthy-looking sweet orange plants. DNA was extracted from 200 mg of desiccated leaf midribs using the CTAB method (4) and subjected to conventional PCR using the primer pairs A2/J5 (2) and OI2/23S1 (3) that amplify the ribosomal protein gene in the rplKAJL-rpoBC operon and the 16S/23S ribosomal intergenic regions, respectively, of ‘Ca. L. africanus’ and ‘Ca. L. asiaticus’. Positive PCR reactions were obtained for all five symptomatic samples with both primer pairs. PCR amplicons of 703 bp (A2/J5) and 892 bp (OI2/23S) recovered from two of these samples were purified, cloned, and sequenced. BLAST analysis revealed that the nucleotide sequences we obtained for the ribosomal protein (GenBank Accessions Nos. GQ890155 and GQ890156) shared 100% identity with each other and 99% identity with sequences of ‘Ca. L. asiaticus’ from Brazil (DQ471904), Indonesia (AB480161), China (DQ157277), and Florida (CP001677). Similarly, the 16S/23S ribosomal intergenic sequences (GU296538 and GU296539) shared 100% identity with each other and 99% identity with homologous ‘Ca. L. asiaticus’ sequences from Brazil (DQ471903), Indonesia (AB480102), China (DQ778016), and Florida (CP001677) and contained two tRNA genes as occurs in ‘Ca. L. asiaticus’ but not in ‘Ca. L. africanus’ (3). To our knowledge, this is the first report of ‘Ca. L. asiaticus’ in Africa. The presence of ‘Ca. L. asiaticus’ is a threat for warmer citrus-growing areas of Africa that are less favorable for ‘Ca. L. africanus’ and T. erytreae. In areas where ‘Ca. L. asiaticus’ was confirmed, symptomatic trees must be promptly eradicated and surveys to determine spread of the disease and its vectors are necessary

Lateralized declarative-like memory for conditional spatial information in domestic chicks (Gallus gallus)

Declarative memory is an explicit, long-term memory system, used in generalization and categorization processes and to make inferences and to predict probable outcomes in novel situations. Animals have been proven to possess a similar declarative-like memory system. Here, we investigated declarative-like memory representations in young chicks, assessing the roles of the two hemispheres in memory recollection. Chicks were exposed for three consecutive days to two different arenas (blue/yellow), where they were presented with two panels, each depicting a different stimulus (cross/square). Only one of the two stimuli was rewarded, i.e., it hid a food reward. The position (left/right) of the rewarded stimulus remained constant within the same arena, but it differed between the two arenas (e.g., reward always on the left in the blue context and on the right in the yellow one). At test, both panels depicted the rewarded stimulus, thus chicks had to remember food position depending on the previously experienced contextual rule. Both binocular and right-eye monocularly-tested chicks correctly located the reward, whereas left-eye monocularly-tested chicks performed at the chance level. We showed that declarative-like memory of integrated information is available at early stages of development, and it is associated with a left hemisphere dominance

Intercepted isolates of Xylella fastidiosa in Europe reveal novel genetic diversity

After the first confirmed outbreak of Xylella fastidiosa in the European Union (EU), associated with an olive disease denoted olive quick decline syndrome, mandatory surveys are now carried out in the member States and inspections increased at EU entry points such as ports. Such activities led to the interception of X. fastidiosa-infected coffee plants in consignments originating from Central America. Similarly, the geographic expansion of the olive decline epidemic area of the Apulia region (southern Italy) prompted investigations to identify new host plants. Here we report the interception of three novel bacterial sequence types in Italy, based on multi-locus sequence typing, that cluster with different X. fastidiosa subspecies, illustrating the risk of the introduction of additional pathogen genetic diversity into Europe. In the epidemic area of Apulia, new foci as well as host plant species positive with X. fastidiosa, including cherry, myrtleleaf and rosemary, were found to be all infected with the same sequence type of this bacterium (ST53, or CoDiRO strain). This work highlights the limited knowledge of X. fastidiosa phylogenetic and phenotypic diversity, the risk of novel X. fastidiosa introductions via contaminated plant material, and corroborates other studies indicating that the Apulia epidemic emerged from a single introduction of this pathogen into the region