Long-term response of Sultana vines to harvest pruning

The effect of harvest-pruning of the grapevine cv. Sultana, i. e. severing from the vine at harvest time the canes which carry most of the fruiting shoots, was investigated in two experiments. After seven and five seasons respectively, yields of dried fruit had not decreased significantly on harvest-pruned vines, although there were trends towards lower yield and reduced vegetative growth. Compared with a standard 30 cm-wide trellis, 45 cm- or 90 cm-wide trellises did not affect vine performance significantly. Advantages of wide trellis to the harvest system based on harvest-pruning are discussed.It was concluded that harvest-pruning will not lead to increasingly severe reductions in productivity, but that losses of up to 15 per cent could possibly occur. Measures which may help to avoid such losses are described.Langzeitreaktion von Sultana-Reben auf den „Ernteschnitt"Von Reben der Sorte Sultana wurden zur Zeit der Traubenlese sämtliche Tragruten abgeschnitten, die ja die meisten fruchtenden Triebe besitzen. Die Auswirkungen dieses Holzschnittes, der die Einsparung von Handarbeit bei der Ernte bezweckt, wurden in zwei Versuchen geprüft. Nach sieben bzw. fünf Vegetationsperioden war die Rosinenausbeute an den zur Lese geschnittenen Reben nicht signifikant zurückgegangen, wenngleich Tendenzen zu geringerem Traubenertrag und vermindertem Holzzuwachs vorhanden waren.Gegenüber einer Standarddrahtrahmenerziehung mit einem Abstand von 30 cm zwischen den beiden Tragrutendrähten beeinflußte ein Drahtabstand von 45 oder 90 cm die Entwicklung der Reben nicht signifikant. Die Vorteile des weiten Drahtabstandes für das auf dem Holzschnitt basierende Erntesystem werden diskutiert. Es wird gefolgert, daß der Ernteschnitt nicht zu fortschreitenden schweren Ertragseinbußen führt, daß jedoch unter Umständen Verluste bis zu 15% auftreten können. Maßnahmen zu ihrer Vermeidung werden beschrieben

Scanning electron microscopy of the developmental stages of the Sultana inflorescence

Development of the inflorescence primordium of Sultana, as observed in the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), is described. The technique is simple and requires no elaborate tissue preparation. Interpretation of inflorescence development is easy and precise because of the resolution and depth of field of the SEM. The first evidence of differentiation of floral parts was observed in spring for Sultana under Australian conditions.Rasterelektronenmikroskopische Untersuchungen über die Entwicklungsstadien der Sultana-InfloreszenzDie Entwicklung der Infloreszenzprimordien von Sultana wird aufgrund rasterelektronenmikroskopischer Beobachtungen beschrieben. Die angewandte Technik ist einfach und erfordert keine langwierige Vorbehandlung des Untersuchungsmaterials. Das hohe Auflösungsvermögen und die große Tiefenschärfe des Rasterelektronenmikroskopes erleichtern das Verständnis der genauen Infloreszenzentwicklung. Die ersten Anzeichen für die Differenzierung von Blütenteilen wurden bei Sultana unter australischen Bedingungen im Frühjahr festgestellt

Effect of various combinations of trellis, pruning, and rootstock on vigorous Sultana vines

The combined effects of three trellis, three pruning, and three rootstock treatments were tested on vigorous Sultana vines (Vitis vinifera L.) growing in a lighttextured, nematode- and phylloxera-free, virgin soil of the Australian Murray Valley.Vines on Salt Creek rootstock outyielded vines on 1613 C rootstock or on their own roots by about 40 per cent during the first four cropping seasons after planting, which preceded the experiment, and by about 30 per cent during the four seasons of the experiment, because they had more and larger bunches.A wide, high trellis with two cane-wires 1.2 m apart and 1.5 m above ground level, a narrow, high trellis (0.3 m X 1.5 m) and a narrow, low trellis (0.3 m X 1.0 m) were compared. On the wide trellis, the foliage canopy was divided naturally into two halves. In the season following the trellis conversion, vines on the wide trellis yielded slightly better than those on either of the narrow trellises, possibly because there was less mould damage. In the subsequent seasons, the wide trellis was much more productive. lt produced 40 to 50 per cent more crop because the vines had more bunches with more berries per bunch, while the concentration of sugar or acids remained unaltered. The amount of pruning wood was also somewhat greater. For the three pruning treatments, vines were given 126, 196, or 266 nodes (i. e. 9, 14, or 19 canes of 14 nodes each). In the later years of the experiment, the lightest pruning level could not be maintained on the narrow trellis, and pruning weight tended to become smaller. Yield increased disproportionately with increasing nodenumber; a two-fold increase in the number of nodes led to only a 20 per cent increase in yield.There were few interactions between the trellis, pruning, and rootstock treatments. The beneficial effects of wide trellis, Salt Creek rootstock and of light pruning, at least up to the level of 196 nodes per vine, tended to be additive. Thus lightly pruned Sultana vines on Salt Creek rootstock grown on a wide trellis with split canopy produced twice as much fruit as the conventionally treated Sultana, i. e. an own-rooted vine with 126 nodes grown on a narrow, low trellis.lt is concluded that Sultanas benefit from wide trellis through an effect on bud fruitfulness which leacls to more berries per vine, and through better photosynthetic activity which allows f4ll maturation of this increased crop potential. The economic implications of using wicle trellises and Salt Creek rootstock are discussed.Der Einfluß verschiedener Kombinationen von Drahtrahmen, Rebschnitt und Unterlage auf starkwüchsige Sultana-RebenDer vereinte Einfluß von drei Drahtrahmen-Typen und drei Schnittarten auf wurzelechte Sultana-Reben und auf Sultana, gepfropft auf den Unterlagen Salt Creek und 1613 C, die in einem leichten, Nematoden- und Phylloxerafreien Urboden des australischen Murray-Bewässerungsgebietes wuchsen, wurde untersucht. Alle Resultate wurden der Varianzanalyse unterworfen.In den ersten vier Ertragsjahren nach der Pflanzung, die dem Versuch vorausgingen, war der Ertrag von Sultana auf Salt Creek um 40°/o höher als derjenige von wurzelechten oder auf 1613 C gepfropften Reben. In den folgenden vier Versuchsjahren betrug dieser Unterschied etwa 30°/o. Mehr und größere Trauben waren der Grund hierfür.Die drei Drahtrahmen hatten die folgenden Dimensionen: Ein weiter, hoher Rahmen mit zwei Drähten, die mit 1,2 m Abstand 1,5 m über dem Boden angebracht waren; ein enger, hoher Rahmen (0,3 m X 1,5 m) und ein enger, niedriger Rahmen (0,3 m X 1,0 m) mit einem weiteren Draht für das Blattwerk. Am weiten Drahtrahmen teilte sich das Blattwerk spontan in zwei Hälften. In der ersten Vegetationsperiode nach dem Erstellen der Drahtrahmen war der Ertrag am weiten Rahmen etwas besser, vermutlich wegen des geringeren Fäulnisbefalles. In den folgenden drei Vegetationsperioden brachten die Reben am weiten Drahtrahmen um 40 bis 50°/o höhere Erträge, da mehr und größere Trauben vorhanden waren, während Beerengröße, Zucker- und Säuregehalt unverändert blieben. Auch das Gewicht des Schnittholzes war etwas größer. Die Reben wurden zu 9, 14 oder 19 Tragruten von je 14 Knospen, demnach zu 126, 196 oder 266 Knospen, geschnitten. Am engen Drahtrahmen konnte man die höchste Knospenzahl in den letzten Jahren des Versuches nicht erhalten, und auch das Triebgewicht wurde kleiner. Im allgemeinen hatte die Verdopplung der Knospenzahl nur einen 20prozentigen Anstieg im Ertrag zur Folge.Wechselwirkungen zwischen den Behandlungsarten Drahtrahmen, Schnitt und Unterlage kamen nur vereinzelt vor. Die vorteilhaften Einflüsse von weitem Drahtrahmen, Salt Creek-Unterlage und von höheren Knospenzahlen, wenigstens bis zu 196 Knospen je Rebe, waren additiv. Infolgedessen war der Ertrag der zu 196 Knospen geschnittenen Sultana auf Salt Creek und auf weitem Rahmen zweimal so groß wie derjenige der wurzelechten Sultana auf engem Rahmen mit 126 Knospen.Es wird geschlossen, daß Sultanaknospen am weiten Drahtrahmen fruchtbarer sind und daß folglich im nächsten Jahr die Reben mehr Traubenbeeren tragen, die überdies durch Verbesserung der Photosynthese völlig ausreifen können. Die ökonomischen Verhältnisse für den Gebrauch von weiten Drahtrahmen werden diskutiert

The relationship between vegetative and reproductive development in the mango in northern Australia

Vegetative and reproductive growth was recorded on mature mango trees (cultivar Kensington) over two years in northern Australia. There were four vegetative growth flushes during each year, but not all shoots grew during each flush. Observations on the flowering of shoots of known age showed that the older shoots produced most inflorescences. Microscopic examination of terminal buds showed that floral initiation occurred within a month of the commencement of the flowering flush under these tropical conditions. The main vegetative growth flushes occurred prior to flowering between March and May, and during flowering and early fruit development in July and August. © 1986 CSIRO. All Rights Reserved

Environment and Rural Affairs Monitoring & Modelling Programme - ERAMMP Report-56: Suitability of Satellite Data and LiDAR for Mapping Hedges

The Welsh Government (WG) uses data on hedges and field boundaries for a variety of purposes including scheme delivery, environmental monitoring and regulatory compliance. Hedge data are currently acquired mainly through a combination of aerial photography and field visits. Considerable cost savings may be possible, if optimising the use of satellite data enables the number of field visits to be reduced. This project explored the potential for high resolution satellite data to provide accurate spatial data on hedge location and length. A number of methods of hedge mapping were tested, including manually digitising hedges and more automated methods using Skysat Imagery Products data from Planet Labs Inc.1 and LiDAR. The key findings of the project were: A. Aerial photography was a better source of data for manually digitising hedges than the Planet Skysat data available for this project. This is because the aerial photography has higher spatial resolution (25cm compared to ~50cm) and the Planet Skysat data used in this project was collected in winter and was badly affected by shadows. Note, for the purposes of this project, only Planet Skysat data collected in the winter were available, however, it is highly likely that multi-temporal Planet Skysat data would improve results further. B. For two of the three sites, the spatial accuracy of the Planet Skysat data was too low to map hedges, without spending additional effort manually geo-correcting images. C. Automated methods using LiDAR show promise, but there are issues with producing a final ‘clean’ vector data set that require additional work. LiDAR-based methods could be deployed in a number of ways depending on requirements. D. Automated methods using LiDAR and aerial photography could be deployed in a number of ways depending on whether the aim is to measure some attributes of hedge condition, or hedge location and length. E. Methods using automated detection of new hedges using LiDAR data, followed up by manual checking against aerial photography, may be able to capture the best aspects of different approaches

Formal change impact analyses for emulated control software

Processor emulators are a software tool for allowing legacy computer programs to be executed on a modern processor. In the past emulators have been used in trivial applications such as maintenance of video games. Now, however, processor emulation is being applied to safety-critical control systems, including military avionics. These applications demand utmost guarantees of correctness, but no verification techniques exist for proving that an emulated system preserves the original system’s functional and timing properties. Here we show how this can be done by combining concepts previously used for reasoning about real-time program compilation, coupled with an understanding of the new and old software architectures. In particular, we show how both the old and new systems can be given a common semantics, thus allowing their behaviours to be compared directly

Characterisation of Thinopyrum bessarabicum chromosomes through genome-wide introgressions into wheat

Thinopyrum bessarabicum (2n = 2x = 14, JJ) is an important source for new genetic variation for wheat improvement due to its salinity tolerance and disease resistance. Its practical utilisation in wheat improvement can be facilitated through development of genome-wide introgressions leading to a variety of different wheat–Th. bessarabicum translocation lines. In this study, we report the generation of 12 such wheat–Th. bessarabicum recombinant lines, through two different crossing strategies, which were characterized using sequential chromosome single colour and multi-colour genomic in situ hybridization (sc-GISH and mc-GISH), multi-colour fluorescent in situ hybridization (mc-FISH) and single nucleotide polymorphic (SNP) DNA markers. We also detected 13 lines containing different Th. bessarabicum chromosome aberrations through sc-GISH. Through a combination of molecular and cytological analysis of all the 25 lines containing Th. bessarabicum recombinants and chromosome aberrations we were able to physically map 1150 SNP markers onto seven Th. bessarabicum J chromosomes which were divided into 36 segmental blocks. Comparative analysis of the physical map of Th. bessarabicum and the wheat genome showed that synteny between the two species is highly conserved at the macro-level and confirmed that Th. bessarabicum contains the 4/5 translocation also present in the A genome of wheat. These wheat–Th. bessarabicum recombinant lines and SNP markers provide a useful genetic resource for wheat improvement with the latter having a wider impact as a tool for detection of introgressions from other Thinopyrum species containing the J or a closely-related genome such as Thinopyrum intermedium (JrJrJvsJvsStSt) and Thinopyrum elongatum (EeEe), respectively