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The utility of alumina-buffered phosphorus (Al-P) fertilizers for supplying phosphorus (P) to bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) in soils with low-P availability was evaluated. Plants were grown at low-P fertility (about 100 kg·ha–1, low-P control; LPC), with conventional P fertilization (205-300 kg·ha–1 annually, fertilizer control; FC), or with one of two Al-P sources (Martenswerke or Alcoa) in 2001–03. The two Al-P fertilizers were applied in 2001; no additional material was applied in 2002-03. Plants grown with Martenswerke Al-P had similar shoot dry weight, root dry weight, root length, leaf P concentration, and fruit yield compared with plants grown with conventional P fertilizer in both 2002 and 2003 seasons. Bell pepper grown with Alcoa Al-P had similar shoot dry weight, root dry weight, root length, leaf P concentration, and fruit yield compared with plants grown without P fertilizer in both seasons. Alcoa Al-P continuously released bioavailable P for 2 years between 2001 and 2002, while Martenswerke Al-P continuously released bioavailable P at least 3 years between 2001 and 2003. These results indicate that some formulations of Al-P can serve as long-term P sources for field vegetable production.
The application of plastic mulches, row cover or a combination of the two were evaluated from 1987 to 1991 for reducing early blight of tomatoes and Alternaria leaf spot of okra. Early blight on early season tomatoes (TU-80-130, New Yorker and Floradade) was significantly reduced by the application of black plastic mulch (BM) or BM plus spunbonded polyester row cover (RC) compared to bare soil. Early blight evaluation of late season tomato (Better Boy) showed that BM significantly reduced the incidence and number of lesions per leaf on the fruit clusters compared to bare soil, but the spunbonded polyester RC treatment didn't improve disease reduction of the BM. Alternaria 14 spot of Clemson Spineless okra in 1989 was severe on plant grown in bare soil compared to those grown on BM, BM plus VisPore row cover, clear plastic mulch (CM) and CM plus VisPore RC treatments. These soldier indicted that the application of agriplastic techniques could be used as a new crop management option in an IPM program to reduce the application of foliar fungicides or application of biological control agents.
The renowned horticultural artist and plant breeder Luther Burbank worked with many species of plants. During his 50-year career, he introduced more than 800 cultivars, including more than 150 accessions of plums (Prunus spp.) in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Burbank preferred using wide, interspecific crosses to create a vast range of phenotypic variation and then artificially select from the extremes. Although a great artist, Burbank was a substandard scientist because he was derelict in pedigree note-taking. Although many of his introductions are extinct, hobbyists, enthusiasts, and international collections retain nearly a third of the economically viable cultivars he bred. For a century, many of his hybridizations remained inscrutable mysteries until modern genomic and computational tools developed their resolution and statistical power. Today, genotyping by sequencing (GBS) is a useful tool for pedigree reconstruction in the absence of reliable records. GBS can inform principal component analyses, identity by descent (IBD) kinship, and phylogenetic admixture, revealing complex relationships among taxa. In this study, whole genome sequencing was performed on 53 Prunus taxa used by Burbank in his breeding experiments in the most comprehensive genetic survey of his work to date. Exact parent–offspring relationships between this population may be impossible to discern due to years of back crossing, sibling mating, and open pollination. However, the proportion of genomic similarity among these taxa provides information on the relatedness of the genotypes in Burbank’s Prunus experiments, defining four primary lineages within his breeding population. These lineages comprised primarily P. salicina and P. simonii but also have influences from P. americana, P. cerasifera, P. domestica, and P. rivularis. The prevalence of P. simonii in Burbank’s Prunus introductions appears to have been vastly underreported, indicating that some of the seedstock founders of his breeding population could have been P. salicina × P. simonii hybrids at the inception of his career. This research has implications for pedigree reconstruction and prioritizing conservation in collections curation for future studies.
Cultivar and planting site are two factors that often receive minimal attention, but can have a significant impact on the quality of apple (Malus ×domestica) produced. A regional project, NE-183 The Multidisciplinary Evaluation of New Apple Cultivars, was initiated in 1995 to systematically evaluate 20 newer apple cultivars on Malling.9 (M.9) rootstock across 19 sites in North America. This paper describes the effect of cultivar and site on fruit quality and sensory attributes at a number of the planting sites for the 1998 through 2000 growing seasons. Fruit quality attributes measured included fruit weight, length: diameter ratio, soluble solids concentration (SSC), titratable acidity (TA), flesh firmness, red overcolor, and russet. Fruit sensory characteristics rated included crispness, sweetness, and juiciness, based on a unipolar intensity scale (where 1 = least and 5 = most), and acidity, flavor, attractiveness, and desirability based on a bipolar hedonic scale (where 1 = dislike and 5 = like extremely). All fruit quality and sensory variables measured were affected by cultivar. The two-way interaction of cultivar and planting site was significant for all response variables except SSC, TA, russet, crispness, and sweetness ratings. The SSC: TA ratio was strongly correlated with sweetness and acidity sensory rating, but was weakly correlated with flavor rating. The results demonstrate that no one cultivar is ideally suited for all planting sites and no planting site is ideal for maximizing the quality of all apple cultivars.