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Two experiments were conducted to assess the ability of a water-absorbing synthetic polymer to reduce water stress injury of seedlings of Pinus pinea L. under greenhouse and field conditions. In both experiments, two rates of hydrated hydrogel, corresponding to 200 and 400 cm3 of stored water, and a control treatment without hydrophilic polymer were tested. Survival periods for the pine seedlings were 1.4 and 2.0 times longer for the 200- and 400-cm3 treatments, respectively, than for a control treatment in a greenhouse assay. In the field assay, only differences in seedling survival between both hydrogel treatments and control were measured. Leaf water potential values of control plants were significantly lower than hydrated polymer treatments in both experiments. From these results, we conclude that the use of hydrophilic polymers may be an important method of increasing the success of reforestation in semiarid regions.
We have compared the ethylene and polyamine metabolism of senescing flowers from two cultivars of carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.), one showing climacteric (`Arthur') and the other non climacteric behavior (`Killer'). `Arthur' carnations showed the first symptoms of senescence at day 7, coinciding with maximum ethylene and CO2 production, a peak in the ethylene-forming enzyme (EFE) activity, and a 7-fold increase in free ACC content in respect to the initial value. In `Killer' carnations, however, onset of senescence was 15 days after harvest, and no ethylene or CO2 peak was detected. The lack of ethylene production was due to a constantly low level of free ACC and a low EFE activity. Free polyamine distribution was similar in the two cultivars at the preclimacteric stage, with the spermidine content being about three times that of putrescine. But as senescence progressed, this situation was reversed in `Arthur' carnation, with a predominance of putrescine during the senescence, while it was maintained in `Killer', with no significant changes during senescence. No free spermine was found at any stage of senescence in either cultivar. Thus, a correlation exists between ACC level, distribution of polyamides, and longevity of cut carnation flowers. Chemical name used: 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC).
The international fresh citrus market now demands high-quality, seedless fruit that must also be easy to peel for consumer convenience, especially when considering new mandarin varieties. High quality varieties that historically perform well in Florida are generally seedy. Florida is therefore losing market-share to `Clementine' and other seedless varieties produced in Mediterranean climates, including Spain, Morocco, and California. In our ongoing program, somatic hybridization and cybridization via protoplast fusion are now playing a key role in strategies to develop competitive seedless mandarin hybrids adapted to Florida. Somatic hybridization is being used to combine elite diploid parents to produce high quality allotetraploid breeding parents that can be used in interploid crosses to generate seedless triploids. Several thousand triploid mandarin hybrids have been produced under the direction of F.G. Gmitter, Jr. Some of our allotetraploid somatic hybrids are producing fruit with direct cultivar potential, i.e., 'Valencia' sweet orange + `Murcott' tangor. New somatic hybrids produced in our program will be discussed, including `Page' tangor + `Dancy' mandarin, `Page' tangor + `Kinnow' mandarin, and `Hamlin' sweet orange + LB8-9 tangelo. Somatic cybridization is being used to transfer CMS (cytoplasmic male sterility) from the seedless `Satsuma' mandarin to other seedy varieties via mtDNA transfer, in efforts to make them seedless. New somatic cybrids produced in our program that contain the `Satsuma' CMS include `Murcott' tangor and `Kinnow' mandarin. Details of these results and other progress will be discussed.