Search Results
Abstract
Intact roots of 109 radish (Raphanus sativus L.) cultivars were analyzed for glucosinolates (GS’s) and found to contain primarily 4-methylthio-3-butenyl-GS with small amounts of 4-methylsulfinylbutyl-, 4-methylsulfinyl-3-butenyl-, and 3-indolylmethyl-GS’s. Cultivars included oil radishes (ssp. oleifera) and food radishes (ssp. radicola) available in European, European-American, Japanese, and Korean markets. Regarding total GS’s, 80% or more of the red European-American radishes had 100-199 pmole/100 g, the Korean 100-299, and the Japanese 200-399. No correlation was found between root size and 4-methylthio-3-butenyl-, 3-indolylmethyl-, or total GS’s. Japanese radish peelings contained significantly greater concentrations of these 3 constituents than did the peeled root.
Abstract
An isolate of Thielaviopsis basicola (Berk. & Br.) Ferraris from Ilex crenata Thunb. was highly pathogenic to susceptible hollies while the isolate from Pelargonium × hortorum L.H. Bailey was less pathogenic. Various ratios of pine bark and sphagnum peatmoss did not suppress T. basicola on susceptible hollies. Of the cultivars tested, I. crenata ‘Helleri’ and I. pernyi Franch were most susceptible, while I. aquifolium L. × I. cornuta Lindl. and Paxt. ‘Nellie R. Stevens’, I. cornuta ‘Burfordii’ × I. peryni ‘Lydia Morris’, and I. cornuta ‘Burfordii Nana’ were the most resistant to T. basicola. I. crenata ‘Helleri’, grown in a medium with a pH of 5.0 or 6.0, had less black root rot development than similar plants in a medium with a pH of 6.5.
Abstract
Selections of apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) from the cooperative breeding program for disease resistance were evaluated in 3 tests for resistance to the European red mite. Field-collected detached leaves used to determine infestations of motile mites throughout the growing season, dormant twigs used to determine overwintering eggs, and in situ examination of artificially infested leaves of greenhouse-growing whip grafts indicated good sources of resistance. Selections with less hairy leaves supported fewer mites than selections with an abundance of hairs. Selection PRI 1677-2, 1957-1, 2023-1, 2175-7 and 2175-25 show consistently good resistance to the European red mite warranting their use in vegetative propagation or use as parents in breeding for resistance.
Abstract
Nectary development in cytoplasmic male sterile (cms) Brassica campestris L. was partially restored through 3 cycles of selection for nectary size and number. No major anatomical differences between nectaries of normal and cms plants were apparent under light and scanning electron microscopes (SEM). Half-sib family analysis of nectary development showed negligible additive genetic variance but a prominent maternal effect. Differential response to selection observed in 3 pedigrees suggests the possibility of capitalizing on nuclear-cytoplasmic diversity for the improvement of nectary function.
Some sweet corn (Zea mays L.) hybrids and inbreds can be severely injured by applications of postemergence herbicides. An association was observed between the responses of sweet corn hybrids and inbreds to nicosulfuron and mesotrione, and F2 families derived from a cross of a sensitive (Cr1) and a tolerant (Cr2) sweet corn inbred segregated for response to these two herbicides. These observations prompted us to examine the inheritance of sensitivity in sweet corn to multiple postemergence herbicide treatments with different modes of action and to determine if there was a common genetic basis for cross-sensitivity to these herbicides. The sensitive and tolerant inbreds, progeny in the F1, F2, BC1, and BC2 generations, and BC1S1, BC2S1, F2:3 (S1:2) and F3:4 (S2:3) families were screened for responses to eight herbicide treatments. Based on segregation of tolerant and sensitive progeny and segregation of family responses, our data indicate that a single recessive gene in Cr1 conditioned sensitivity to four acetolactate synthase (ALS)-inhibiting herbicides (foramsulfuron, nicosulfuron, primisulfuron, and rimsulfuron), a 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD)-inhibiting herbicide (mesotrione), a growth regulator herbicide combination (dicamba + diflufenzopyr), and a protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO)-inhibiting herbicide (carfentrazone). Based on highly significant positive correlations of phenotypic responses among BC1S1, BC2S1, F2:3, and F3:4 families, the same gene (or closely linked genes) appeared to condition responses to each of these herbicide treatments. The dominant allele also conditions tolerance to bentazon [a photosystem II (PSII)-inhibiting herbicide] although another gene(s) also appeared to affect bentazon tolerance.
Abstract
Seeds of cabbage (Brassica oleracea (Capitata group) contain 10-fold more glucosinolates than do cabbage heads (dry basis). Seeds give rise to relatively greater amounts of goitrin and lesser amounts of SCN ion than do heads. In spite of these differences, seeds of 50 cabbage cultivars are shown to have fair predictive value for glucosinolate patterns in the corresponding heads.
Models indicate that ozone inhibits carbon assimilation largely in the upper canopy, due to light and ozone gradients. We document yield reductions and ozone gradients in Casselman plum in open-top ozone fumigation chambers. Ambient air (12 hr mean ozone = 0.050 ppm), charcoal filtered air (0.034 ppm) and ambient air plus added ozone (0.094 ppm) were circulated in the chambers. Additional trees grew outside the chambers (0.058 ppm). Outside the chambers large vertical and horizontal gradients in ozone within the canopy were documented, but these were absent in the chambers. Ozone decreased leaf photosynthesis by 31% and 58%, and fruit yield by 20% and 66%, in the ambient and ozone enriched relative to filtered chambers. Despite altered gradients, yield and photosynthesis of exposed leaves were similar inside and outside the chambers in ambient air. Compensatory changes in leaf function may be involved.
Mutation of a cytochrome P450 (CYP) gene on the short arm of chromosome five, referred to as nsf1 or ben1, conditions sensitivity to certain P450-metabolized herbicides in corn (Zea mays L.). Previous research has shown that the sweet corn inbred Cr1 is sensitive to nicosulfuron, mesotrione, and at least seven other P450-metabolized herbicides with five different modes of action. Although the nsf1/ben1 CYP gene has not been sequenced from Cr1, a QTL that conditions cross-sensitivity to P450-metabolized herbicides was detected in a segregating population of Cr1 × Cr2 (herbicide tolerant) on the short arm chromosome five in tight linkage disequilibrium with the nsf1/ben1 CYP locus. Sweet corn hybrid cultivars and inbreds that had been identified in previous research as being susceptible to injury from P450-metabolized herbicides were tested in this study to determine if they were allelic with Cr1 for cross-sensitivity to nicosulfuron and mesotrione. These cultivars and inbreds were developed by 12 independent commercial breeding programs. These cultivars include sugary, sugary enhancer, and shrunken-2 endosperm types that are grown for processing and fresh consumption in markets throughout North America and in other temperate climates throughout the world. Each hybrid cultivar, their F2 progeny, and progeny from testcrosses of cultivars with Cr1 and Cr2 were evaluated for responses to mesotrione and nicosulfuron. Each inbred line, progeny from crosses of inbreds with Cr1 and Cr2, and F2 progeny from crosses of inbreds with Cr1 were also tested. Based on segregation of progeny from testcrosses with Cr1 and Cr2 and the F2 generation, 45 sweet corn hybrid cultivars and 29 sweet corn inbreds, including lines from each of the 12 breeding programs, appeared to be sensitive to nicosulfuron and mesotrione as the result of a gene that is the same as or very closely linked to the gene in Cr1. None of the cultivars or inbreds appeared to be sensitive to these herbicides as a result of other independent genes; however, additional genes that modify responses to these herbicides may be present in a few cases. The presence of a gene conditioning sensitivity to nicosulfuron and mesotrione, and probably to several other P450-metablolized herbicides, provides an explanation for varied levels of injury and inconsistent responses of sweet corn hybrid cultivars under differing environmental conditions. This information provides a basis from which an industry-wide concern with herbicide sensitivity in sweet corn can be addressed by various methods, including the elimination of an allele rendering germplasm sensitive.
Growers have indicated that changes in soil quality under production in high tunnels is an important problem, but these have not yet been quantified or critically assessed in the central Great Plains of the United States. We conducted surveys of grower perceptions of soil quality in their tunnels (n = 81) and compared selected soil quality indicators (salinity and particulate organic matter carbon) under high tunnels of varying ages with those of adjacent fields at sites in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa in the United States. Fourteen percent of growers surveyed considered soil quality to be a problem in their high tunnels, and there were significant correlations between grower perceptions of soil quality problems and reported observations of clod formation and surface crusting and to a lesser extent surface mineral deposition. Grower perception of soil quality and grower observation of soil characteristics were not related to high tunnel age. Soil surface salinity was elevated in some high tunnels compared with adjacent fields but was not related to time under the high tunnel. In the soil upper 5 cm, salinity in fields did not exceed 2 dS·m−1 and was less than 2 dS·m−1 under 74% of high tunnels and less than 4 dS·m−1 in 97% of high tunnels. The particulate organic matter carbon fraction was higher in high tunnels than adjacent fields at 73% of locations sampled. Particulate organic matter carbon measured 0.11 to 0.67 g particulate organic matter per g of the total carbon under high tunnels sampled. Particulate organic matter carbon in the soil was also not correlated to age of high tunnel. Soil quality as measured in this study was not negatively impacted by use of high tunnel structures over time.