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In west–central Florida, strawberries (Fragaria ×ananassa Duch.) are harvested from early December to late March. The peak harvest occurs at the end of the season and lasts ≈1 month, usually from late February to mid-March. As the peak harvest progresses and temperatures increase, fruit become smaller and the soluble solids content (SSC) of fruit declines. The main objective of this study was to determine whether the progression of peak harvest results in a decline in SSC independent of temperature. In 2007 and 2008, recently opened flowers were tagged in the field on the first week into the peak bloom (WPB) and for 3 additional weeks thereafter. Three days after tagging, plants were transplanted to one of two constant temperature environments (15 or 22 °C). At maturity, the weight, SSC, and fruit development period (FDP) of tagged fruit were recorded. Fruit SSC was lower at the higher temperature (5.2% at 22 °C versus 6.5% at 15 °C) in both years. In 2007, SSC was not correlated with WPB, and in 2008, SSC was positively correlated with WPB at constant temperatures. In addition, the coefficient of determination (r 2) for a regression of SSC on mean temperature over the period 8 days before harvest was 0.73 for fruit harvested from fields between 2003 and 2009. These results indicate that rising temperature is a major factor responsible for the late-season decline of SSC in strawberry fruit in a subtropical production system.
Abstract
Polyurethane foam plugs commonly are used as collars or supports to grow plants in solution culture. Despite their utility, these foam plugs can be quite toxic to plants, particularly to small seedlings. We have observed tissue injury in tests using plugs to support lettuce, red beet, and potato plants in solution culture. Typically, the injury is initiated on the hypocotyl or stem tissue in direct contact with the foam, and appears within 30 hr as a brownish discoloration on the tissue surface. This discoloration can be followed by complete collapse of affected tissue and eventual death of the seedling. When injury does not progress beyond surface browning, the seedling survives but growth is slowed. In this paper, we report on different treatments that can be used to remove the toxicity of these plugs so they can be used in plant research.
Hydroponic greenhouse tomato production’s popularity has grown in the United States to meet the demands for year-round availability of fresh tomatoes. Although Salmonella has been the cause of several foodborne illness outbreaks linked to tomatoes, the potential for contamination in hydroponic production is not well understood. The objectives of this study were to determine whether biweekly inoculation of Salmonella in a hydroponic tomato nutrient solution would lead to Salmonella survival and contamination of the tomato fruit and plants, hydroponic nutrient film technique (NFT) troughs, and water receptacles. An avirulent strain of Salmonella Typhimurium was used to contaminate the nutrient solution at a concentration of 105 colony-forming units (CFU)/mL. Inoculation was conducted on day 0 and biweekly until the termination of project at 12 weeks; samples were filtered and plated on selective media. Leaves and biofilm coupons were collected on day 0 and every 2 weeks postinoculation. Leaf samples were analyzed using culture methods. The biofilm coupons were analyzed using tape fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) method. Fruit samples were collected 6 weeks postinoculation until termination of project and analyzed using culture methods. Typical Salmonella morphology of colonies on plates streaked from overnight cultures from plant samples were confirmed by automated ribotyping. A 2-log10 reduction of cells was observed in water samples 2 days post initial inoculation. Reduction continued over the 2-week period with few cells surviving until the next inoculation. S. Typhimurium was observed on the surface of the root systems. However, a splash incident resulted in low-level contamination of selected leaves and fruit samples. The results of the study indicate that although contaminated hydroponic nutrient solution led to surface contamination of roots, such an event may not pose a high risk of contamination of hydroponically grown fruit.
Japanese persimmon (Diospyros kaki L. `Jiro') was transformed using a disarmed strain of Agrobacterium tumefaciens, EHA101, carrying the binary plasmid vector, pDU92.710. The T-DNA region of pDU92.710 contained the kanamycin resistance gene (nptII), the β-glucuronidase gene (uidA), and a synthetic reconstruct of cryIA(c) encoding the insecticidal crystal protein fragment of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki HD-73. Leaf discs made from leaves of shoot cultures were cocultivated with Agrobacterium and cultured on a callus-induction medium containing kanamycin and cefotaxime. Among 720 infected leaf discs, 17 putative transformed callus lines showing kanamycin resistance were obtained after 8 weeks of culture. When these were cultured on a regeneration medium containing kanamycin, 15 formed adventitious buds. Of the 15 shoot lines, 11 grew well on a shoot-proliferation medium containing kanamycin, while 4 lines did not grow well. Of the 11 shoot lines, 10 showed GUS activities by fluorometric assay and were subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Southern analyses. Except for two lines, all results were consistent with a stable integration of T-DNA into the persimmon genome. The production of CryIA(c) protein in transformed shoot lines was confirmed with Western analysis using anti-CryIA(c) serum. Insect bioassays were conducted with 10 lines showing GUS activity. Many of these lines showed high significant mortality of the test insects, Plodia interpunctella Hüber and Monema flavescens Walker, when compared to nontransformed controls.
Interest in the potential of sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas) for the production of industrial products is increasing. As part of an effort to evaluate the potential of sweetpotatoes for starch and anthocyanin production in the southeastern United States, a 5 × 5 North Carolina mating design II (NCII mating design) was developed to estimate the relative importance of general and specific combining abilities for dry matter (DM) content, total monomeric anthocyanin (TMA) concentration, fresh yield, and total DM and anthocyanin yields. All five traits had significant general combining abilities (GCA). Yield and DM yield had significant specific combining abilities. Significant differences among parents were observed for all traits. Yield, DM content, DM yield, and TMA yield were significantly impacted by spatial gradients within the field, but TMA concentration was not. Many trait-pairs of interest had either genotypic and/or phenotypic correlations. Phenotypic and family mean correlations among yield, DM content, and DM yield; as well as among yield, TMA, and TMA yield suggested that improving one trait will not negatively impact other traits of importance.
The broad-band characteristics of microwave-powered E lamps (Fusion Systems Corp.) were determined in an EGC growth chamber with a water-cooled light cap and a plexiglass barrier. Radiation measurements were made from 0.29 to 3) μm with an Eppley PSP pyranometer and from 3 to 50 μm with an Eppley PIR pyrgeometer. Photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) was measured with a LI-COR quantum sensor. At full power, the lamps provided over 1700 μmol m-2 s-1 of PPF, 47.8 kW m-2 from 0.29 to 3 μm, and 678 W m-2 from 3 to 50 μm, and at half power, 650 μmol m-2 s-1 of PPF, 17.1 kW m-2 from 0.29 to 3 μm, and 404 W m-2 from 3 to 50 μm at a distance of 1.2 m. Spectral measurements were made every 2 nm from 250 to 792 nm with an Optronics Lab Model 752 spectroradiometer under a single bare lamp. Based on total irradiance between 250 and 792 nm, the distribution of irradiance from 250-280, 280-320, 320-400, 400-700, and 700-792 nm was 0, 0, 1.5, 88.1, and 10.5% for the E lamp and 0, 0.6, 7.8, 73.6, and 18.2% for a mid-day June sun at Beltsville, MD respectively. The phytochrome photoequilibrium for E lamps was calculated at 0.76 as compared to 0.72 for sunlight.
The objective of this study was to determine which combination of three types of irrigation systems, three fertilization method, and four growing media produced optimum growth of flowering vinca, Catharanthus roseus. Irrigation systems used included ebb-and-fl ood, drip, and pulse; fertilization methods included slow release, prepackaged, and custom mixed; and the four growing media were peatmoss:perlite:vermiculite (1:1:1, by volume), peatmoss:rockwool (1:1, by volume), and 0.6-cm diameter shredded rubber or fabric from waste tires: vermiculite:peatmoss (1:1:2, by volume). Four replications of five plants each were used in each of the 36 treatment combinations. Plants were potted 29 and 30 May 1996 in 10-cm containers, grown for 10 weeks, and harvested 6 Aug. 1996. The drip-irrigated benches were irrigated once per day for 15 s. Pulse-irrigated benches were watered twice per day for 6 s. This resulted in the drip- and pulse-irrigated plants receiving a similar volume of water daily. Ebb-and-fl ood benches were filled once per day with drainage occurring 15 min after filling. Ending plant heights and dry weights indicated that those plants in the prepackaged fertilizer/drip or ebb-and-fl ood irrigation/shredded tire fiber growing medium were comparable to plants grown in the peatmoss:rockwool medium with the same fertilizer and irrigation methods.
Phedimus kamtschaticus (Fischer) were grown in three experimental crushed brick-based green roof substrates (GRSs) with increasing organic matter (OM) content (10%, 20%, and 40% by volume) and a commercially available blend, Rooflite®, in single-pot replicates in a growth chamber for 6 months. Three unplanted replicates of each substrate were included in the design and received identical irrigation volumes as planted replicates. Three destructive harvests indicated that increased substrate OM increased plant root and shoot biomass; however, plants grown in Rooflite® demonstrated greater succulence in the second and third destructive harvests despite similar substrate OM content. By the end of the growth study, there was no difference in dry weight accumulation between the Rooflite® and 40% OM treatment despite the difference in succulence between the two treatments. Substrate volumetric water content (VWC) ranged from 22.5% to below 5% during three consecutive periods of imposed water stress with no differences in evapotranspiration (ET), indicating plants were accessing substrate water previously assumed to be unavailable. Cumulative water loss (normalized for plant dry weight) indicated a likely shift into crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) around 60-hour postirrigation. Planted treatments (n = 6) lost more water cumulatively (P < 0.05) compared with the unplanted controls (n = 3), although there were no differences in total water loss between substrate treatments.