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Effective genetic resistance to common bacterial blight [Xanthomonas campestris pv. phaseoli (Smith) Dye] is not present in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) cultivars grown in Ontario. Foliar symptoms and seed yield of white pea bean breeding lines from a P. vulgaris/P. acutifolius interspecific cross in the presence and absence of common blight were evaluated. In inoculated plots, seven of the 20 breeding lines did not differ significantly in severity of foliar symptoms from the most resistant controls, XAN 159 and XAN 161. The most susceptible lines tended to have the highest yield when grown under disease-free conditions (r = 0.61 and 0.49 at two locations). However, the susceptible lines showed an average yield loss of 25% when disease-free and inoculated plots were compared, while resistant lines had little or no yield loss. The most severely infected lines tended to have the greatest loss in yield (r = 0.72 and 0.53 at two locations). A resistant breeding line from this study is available as OAC 88-1.
ePortfolios are gaining popularity in academic communities worldwide. Purposes of ePortfolios include: converting student work from paper to digital format, thereby allowing it to be centrally organized, searchable, and transportable throughout their academic lives and careers; promoting student centered learning and reflection; improving advising; and career planning and resume building. Pennsylvania State University is investing in the use of ePortfolios in course work throughout the university system. To facilitate these efforts, the university provides all students and faculty with 500 MB of hosted web space to create and share their portfolios. One of the courses using ePortfolios is Horticulture 120, Computer Applications for Landscape Contracting, in the Landscape Contracting program. Outcomes of implementing ePortfolios include increased availability of student work to potential employers, enhanced recruiting through displays of student work, and enabled reflection on completed work. Students showed improved quality in project work because their projects would be publicly available through the Internet to potential employers, faculty, family, and other students.
Meiotic studies in Musa L. have been hampered by: 1) time-consuming efforts required to find the correct stages of cell division; 2) rigidity of the microsporocyte cell wall that makes preparation of smears difficult; and 3) poor staining of prophase chromosomes. This study describes an improved technique to examine meiosis in Musa. The procedure involves dissection of microsporocytes from the anthers, centrifugation to obtain large number of microsporocytes, enzymatic digestion of cell walls and treatment of cells with acetic-alcohol that results in spontaneous bursting of the protoplasts and release of chromosomes. Previous meiotic studies in Musa used acetocarmine that stained only highly condensed metaphase and anaphase chromosomes easily but not the relaxed prophase stages. In this study, we found that silver nitrate, Giemsa and Leishmans' stain were also effective for staining Musa chromosomes. Silver staining was most effective for the less contracted prophase chromosomes. By providing an improved procedure to examine all the meiotic stages in Musa, this technique will be useful to develop pachytene karyotypes, characterize new hybrids and identify nuclear restitution mechanisms that are important in breeding schemes.
A polypropylene fabric containing control-release pellets of the herbicide, trifluralin, can be oriented in the soil to regulate the distribution of plant roots. In 1990, trenches were dug near 10-year-old red oak (Quercus rubra L.) and 10-year-old yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera L.) and fabric containing trifluralin control-release pellets and polypropylene fabric alone were installed vertically to redirect root growth. Roots grew alongside trifluralin fabric and fabric alone and did not penetrate either fabric 38 months after installation. Shoot growth of yellow poplar was reduced about 47% each year by the trifluralin fabric treatment compared to control. Red oak shoot growth was not affected by trifluralin fabric. Leaf water potential was not affected by treatment in either species. Trifluralin residues in trifluralin fabric decreased from 23.3% to 22.0% from July 1990 to October 1993. During this time, trifluralin levels increased from 0.4 to 3.6 mg·kg-1 in soil sampled 0 to 15 cm below trifluralin fabric. These results suggest that controlled-release trifluralin will provide persistent inhibition of root and shoot growth of some species and will not migrate significantly in the soil. Chemical names used: α,α,α-trifluoro-2,6-dinitro-N-N-dipropyl-p-toluidine (trifluralin).
Feedback from employers, internship supervisors, and graduate schools tells us that we are doing a good job of teaching students academically/technically, but our graduates require greater training in communications, critical thinking/problem solving, and leadership/management. Because of their long-term importance to our graduates, we call these “career skills.” To address this issue a task force was established, and over a 2-year period, this group defined the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences [CALS (University of Arizona, Tucson)] Students Career Skills Competencies and vetted them through college faculty and more than 50 companies. We divided the CALS Student Career Skills Competencies into three categories: 1) communication skills, 2) critical thinking/problem solving skills, and 3) leadership/management skills. We are currently asking each degree-granting unit in the college how they do, or will, incorporate these competencies into their curricula, with the idea of incorporating the competencies into existing courses first, to avoid increasing the number of required credit hours for graduation and time to degree. Our goal is that by graduation, each student should have had multiple opportunities to hone each of these competencies.
Inhibition of the growth of fungal pathogens has been related to levels of a β-1,3-endoglucanase (EC 3.2.1.39) (GLU) in citrus as well as other plant species. Our long-term objective is to transform Citrus spp. to express enhanced levels of GLU with the aim of increasing resistance to fungal pathogens. We have purified a β-1,3-endoglucanase from nonembryogenic Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck cv. Valencia callus to electrophoretic homogeneity by means of pH precipitation and ion exchange chromatography. The protein has an apparent M r of 32.5 and a pI > 10. The enzyme hydrolyzes laminarin (Laminaria digitata) optimally at pH 5 and 50°C. The enzyme will hydrolyze any glucan polymer with a β-1,3 linkage whether soluble or insoluble and the rate of hydrolysis is proportional to the relative abundance of β-1,3 linkages. The enzyme does not hydrolyze cellulose or starch. Product characterization by thin-layer chromatography indicates that the enzyme is an endohydrolase. Initial attempts to sequence the protein indicated that it was N-terminally blocked. Therefore the protein was hydrolyzed using AspN, the fragments separated by SDS-PAGE, blotted onto nitrocellulose, and one of the fragments was sequenced. Amino acid sequence analysis indicated that the protein shared homology with a number of β-1,3-endoglucanases. Antibody to the purified protein was raised in rabbits and used to screen an amplified cDNA library prepared from Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck cv. Valencia callus. One of the positive clones was selected and sequence analysis indicated that the clone was homologous with other β-1,3-endoglucanases.
‘Hass’ avocado (Persea americana Mill.) is characterized by excessive flower and fruit abscission, resulting in extremely low fruit set. Low outcrossing rates might be a factor contributing to low yields. It is hypothesized that self-fertilized flowers and resulting fruit abscise at a much higher rate than fruit that are the product of outcrossing. However, significant relationships between outcrossing rates and yields have only been established in a few avocado studies. The objective of this research was to investigate the importance of outcrossing to yield in a commercial ‘Hass’ orchard containing ‘Bacon’, an effective pollinizer of ‘Hass’. Microsatellite markers were used to determine the rate of outcrossing of fruit persisting to harvest on ‘Hass’ trees. Experiments were conducted during sequential on- and off-crop years. During both years, outcrossing rates were not related to yield or alternate bearing. These results indicate that outcrossing was not the primary factor affecting flower and fruit persistence and ultimately yield in this orchard for the two sequential years of this research.
The authors report a quantitative genetic analysis of avocado (Persea americana Mill.) growth rate, flower abundance, and fruit set. The data are based on a total of 204 different genotypes of progeny of ‘Gwen’ avocado. Each was replicated four times, with two replicates planted in each of two locations in southern California (Irvine and Riverside). Data were collected over 4 years (consecutive) on tree height, canopy diameter, and trunk diameter, representing three distinct measures of growth rate. Growth data were found to fit a linear regression over years, so the slope (growth rate) was used in the analyses. In addition, 2 years of data on flower abundance and 1 year on fruit set were also collected. Quantitative genetic analyses of these data showed that broad-sense heritability (H) was 35.5%, 30.3%, and 26.6% for tree height, canopy diameter, and trunk diameter respectively; and 33.8% and 23.0% for flowering abundance and fruit set respectively. No genotype-by-location effect was noted for growth rate; however, flower abundance and fruit set showed a relatively weak genotype-by-location effect (21.9% and 17.1% respectively). The H estimates are low, probably as a result of sources of uncontrolled environmental error associated with variation in initial planting dates, but fall within the range that should permit quantitative trait locus analyses. The authors also found a moderate positive correlation between tree growth rates and fruit set, but none between growth rates and flower abundance. Different pollen parents have significantly different impacts on tree growth rates, flower abundance, and fruit set.
The years 1995 and 1996 were low chill years in California with respect to stone fruit dormancy. Advancing reproductive budbreak and flowering was accomplished in `Bing' cherry (Prunus avium) by single-spray treatments of a surfactant {a polymeric alkoxylated fatty amine [N,N-bis 2-(omega-hydroxypolyoxyethylene/polyoxypropylene) ethyl alkylamine]} and potassium nitrate in combination when applied at “tightbud,” ≈ 42 days (1 Feb. 1995) before full bloom and with surfactant and potassium nitrate in combination when 10% green calyx was apparent, 33 days before full bloom. Applying 2% surfactant (v/v) + 6% potassium nitrate (w/v) was most effective in advancing bloom, speeding progression through bloom, and advancing fruit maturity when applied at tightbud stage. Surfactant (2% or 4%) applied with 25% or 35% calcium nitrate (w/v) on 2 Feb. 1996 significantly advanced full bloom compared to nontreated controls. Fruit maturity (1995) was somewhat advanced by surfactant–nitrate treatments, but fruit set and final fruit weight were equivalent among treatments. No phytotoxicity was noted in foliage or fruit. In California, marginal and insufficient winter chilling often causes irregular, extended, or delayed bloom periods, resulting in poor bloom-overlap with pollenizers. As a result, flower and fruit development may be so variable as to have small, green and ripe fruit on the same tree, making harvest more time consuming and costly. Data indicate that this surfactant, in combination with a nitrogenous compound, has potential to advance reproductive budbreak and advance maturity in sweet cherry without reducing fruit set or fruit size. Advancing the ripening time of sweet cherry even 2 to 3 days can increase the price received per 8.2-kg box by $10 to $20.
In 1994, we established that a surfactant, Armothin (AR), reduced fruit set when applied as 3% and 5% AR at 100 gal/acre with a Stihl mistblower to `Loadel' clingstone peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch]. In 1995 we compared 3% AR at volumes of 100 and 200 gal/acre (935 and 1870 L.ha-1, the volumes most commonly used by tree fruit growers in California) applied with commercial airblast sprayer; overthinning resulted with the latter. In 1996, we applied 3% AR at 100 gal/acre and 1% AR at 200 gal/acre. In 1995, differential applications of 3% AR at 100 gal/acre (two-thirds of the material applied to either the upper or lower canopy) reduced fruit set in the upper canopy in proportion to the amount of chemical applied (twice as much fruit set reduction with twice as much chemical); fruit set in the lower canopy was reduced by an equal amount regardless of amount of chemical used. Salable yields, equivalent to those obtained by hand thinning, and improved fruit size were achieved with all treatments of 3% AR at 100 gal/acre in 1995 with a 76% reduction in hand thinning. Following a low-chill winter (1995-96) with a protracted bloom, flower bud density (return bloom) was significantly greater in 1995 AR-treated trees. In 1996, treatment with AR did not result in fruit set reduction due to the protracted bloom and poor weather conditions before and after bloom. Nonetheless, 1% AR at 200 gal/acre applied in 1996 increased salable yield and increased final fruit mass. Return bloom in 1997 was equal among 1996 treatments.