Cross-pathogenicity of Rhizoctonia solani strains on pasture legumes in pasture-crop rotations

In Australia, in the past, pasture legumes were rotated mainly with cereals, but increasingly these rotations now involve pasture legumes with a wider range of crops, including legumes. This increasing frequency of the leguminous host in the rotation system may be associated with increased root rots in legumes in the current pasture-crop rotations. The primary aim of this study was to see whether the pathogenicity on pasture legumes of strains of Rhizoctonia solani sourced from lupins and cereals (common crops in rotation with pastures) is associated with increased incidence of root rots in pasture legumes in the disease conducive sandy soils of the Mediterranean regions of southern Australia. The second aim was to determine sources of resistance among newly introduced pasture legumes to R. solani strains originating from rotational crops as this would reduce the impact of disease in the pasture phase. Fifteen pasture legume genotypes were assessed for their resistance/susceptibility to five different zymogram groups (ZG) of the root rot pathogen R. solani under glasshouse conditions. Of the R. solani groups tested, ZG1–5 and ZG1–4 (both known to be pathogenic on cereals and legumes) overall, caused the most severe root disease across the genotypes tested, significantly more than ZG6 (known to be pathogenic on legumes), in turn significantly >ZG4 (known to be pathogenic on legumes) which in turn was >ZG11 (known to be pathogenic on legumes including tropical species). Overall, Ornithopus sativus Brot. cvs Cadiz and Margurita, Trifolium michelianum Savi. cvs Paradana and Frontier and T. purpureum Loisel. cv. Electro showed a significant level of resistance to root rot caused by R. solani ZG11 (root disease scores ≤1.2 on a 1–3 scale where 3 = maximum disease severity) while O. sativus cvs Cadiz and Erica showed a significant level of resistance to root rot caused by R. solani ZG4 (scores ≤1.2). O. compressus L. cvs Charano and Frontier, O. sativus cv. Erica, and T. purpureum cv. Electro showed some useful resistance to root rot caused by R. solani ZG6 (scores ≤1.8). This is the first time that cvs Cadiz, Electro, Frontier, Margurita and Paradana have been recognised for their levels of resistance to root rot caused by R. solani ZG11; and similarly for cvs Cadiz and Erica against ZG4; and for cvs Charano, Erica, and Electro against ZG6. These genotypes with resistance may also serve as useful sources of resistance in pasture legume breeding programs and also could potentially be exploited directly into areas where other rotation crops are affected by these R. solani strains. None of the tested genotypes showed useful resistance to R. solani ZG1–4 (scores ≥2.0) or ZG1–5 (scores ≥2.5). This study demonstrates the relative potential of the various R. solani ZG strains, and particularly ZG1–4, ZG1–5, ZG4 and ZG6 to attack legume pastures and pose a significant threat to non-pasture crop species susceptible to these strains grown in rotation with these pasture legumes. Significantly, the cross-pathogenicity of these strains could result in the continuous build-up of inoculum of these strains that may seriously affect the productivity eventually of legumes in all rotations. In particular, when choosing pasture legumes as rotation crops, caution needs to be exercised so that the cultivars deployed are those with the best resistance to the R. solani ZGs most likely to be prevalent at the location.     

Pathogenicity for Chickens of a Paramyxovirus Type 1, Isolated from Racing Pigeons in Sweden

Strains of paramyxovirus type 1 (PMV-1) have been isolated from diseased racing pigeons in Sweden. One of these isolates was selected for studies of the pathogenicity and contagiousness in chickens. The same isolate was previously found to have a high intravenous pathogenicity index (IVPI) in 6 weeks old chickens. In three experiments it was found that the PMV-1 isolate was very pathogenic for 1 week old chickens but not pathogenic for 120 day old pullets inoculated intranasally and ocularly. Symptoms in the young chickens were similar to those seen in the neurotropic form of Newcastle disease. The mortality was high and the incubation period 5–11 days. The disease easily spread to young chickens kept in contact with diseased birds. The microscopic examination revealed an interstitial nonpurulent pneumonia and a nonpurulent encephalitis in the young chickens. In the pullets the only finding was a mild encephalitis. PMV-1 was recovered from all young chickens but not from the pullets. Both the chickens and the inoculated pullets developed antibodies to PMV-1.     

Monitoring an invasive perennial at the landscape scale with remote sensing

Summary   Worldwide, invasive weeds threaten agricultural, natural and urban ecosystems. In Australia's agricultural and grazing regions, invasive species often establish across extensive areas where weed management is hampered by an inability to detect the location and timing of an outbreak. In these vast landscapes, an effective detection and monitoring system is required to delineate the extent of the invasion and identify spatial and temporal factors associated with weed establishment and thickening. In this study, we utilize a time series of remote sensing imagery to detect the spatial and temporal patterns of Prickly Acacia ( Acacia nilotica ) invasion in the Mitchell grass plains of North Queensland. We develop a spectral index from Landsat images which is applied to images from 1989 to 2004, in combination with a classification mask, to identify locations and monitor changes in Prickly Acacia density across 29 000 km² of Mitchell grass plains. The approach identified spectral and temporal signatures consistent with Prickly Acacia infestation on 1.9% of this landscape. Field checking of results confirmed presence of the weed in previously unrecorded locations. The approach may be used to evaluate future spread, or outcomes of management strategies for Prickly Acacia in this landscape and could be employed to detect and monitor invasions in other extensive landscapes.     

Post‐glacial history and introgression in Abies (Pinaceae) species of the Russian Far East inferred from both nuclear and cytoplasmic markers

Aim The main aim of the present study is to infer the post‐glacial history of Abies species from north‐east Asia and to test the hypotheses that coastal Abies populations suffered less from climatic fluctuations during Pleistocene glacial periods than their more continental counterparts, and that Sakhalin was a major area of introgression. Location Natural ranges of the fir species Abies nephrolepis, Abies sachalinensis and Abies holophylla in the Russian Far East, and of Abies gracilis, which is endemic to the Kamchatka Peninsula. Methods Nineteen populations were sampled for allozyme analysis. Seventeen of these populations were also screened for variation at two paternally inherited chloroplast DNA microsatellite loci (cpSSR) and variation at one maternally inherited mitochondrial marker (nad4‐3/4). Finally a subset of 11 populations was analysed with amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP). Comparisons were made with already available Abies sibirica data. For all sets of markers, we estimated genetic diversity and differentiation using an analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA). Population clustering was assessed with a Bayesian approach implemented in structure v.2.3. Results Among the three major species, A. sibirica, A. nephrolepis and A. sachalinensis, A. sachalinensis demonstrated the highest cytoplasmic and nuclear diversity and the most continental species, A. sibirica, the lowest. Both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA markers revealed the presence of a transitional zone on Sakhalin Island between A. nephrolepis and A. sachalinensis of south Sakhalin. The structure analysis delivered very clear results confirming the admixed origin of A. sachalinensis, with a genetic contribution from A. nephrolepis. No variation in cytoplasmic markers was found in A. gracilis, suggesting the occurrence of a recent bottleneck. Main conclusions There is a clear reduction of genetic diversity in Abies species from the Pacific coast into the continent. The higher diversity in A. sachalinensis could have two causes: a larger effective population size in the islands due to relatively stable climatic conditions and consequently less pronounced demographic fluctuations in population size and/or hybridization with continental and Japanese populations. Sakhalin Island is a major transitional zone for conifer species. Finally, the fir from Kamchatka, A. gracilis, should be regarded as a separate species closely related to the A. nephrolepis–A. sachalinensis complex.     

A simulation approach for power calculation in large cohort studies based on multistate models

Realistic power calculations for large cohort studies and nested case control studies are essential for successfully answering important and complex research questions in epidemiology and clinical medicine. For this, we provide a methodical framework for general realistic power calculations via simulations that we put into practice by means of an R‐based template. We consider staggered recruitment and individual hazard rates, competing risks, interaction effects, and the misclassification of covariates. The study cohort is assembled with respect to given age‐, gender‐, and community distributions. Nested case‐control analyses with a varying number of controls enable comparisons of power with a full cohort analysis. Time‐to‐event generation under competing risks, including delayed study‐entry times, is realized on the basis of a six‐state Markov model. Incidence rates, prevalence of risk factors and prefixed hazard ratios allow for the assignment of age‐dependent transition rates given in the form of Cox models. These provide the basis for a central simulation‐algorithm, which is used for the generation of sample paths of the underlying time‐inhomogeneous Markov processes. With the inclusion of frailty terms into the Cox models the Markov property is specifically biased. An “individual Markov process given frailty” creates some unobserved heterogeneity between individuals. Different left‐truncation‐ and right‐censoring patterns call for the use of Cox models for data analysis. p‐values are recorded over repeated simulation runs to allow for the desired power calculations. For illustration, we consider scenarios with a “testing” character as well as realistic scenarios. This enables the validation of a correct implementation of theoretical concepts and concrete sample size recommendations against an actual epidemiological background, here given with possible substudy designs within the German National Cohort.