Behavioral responses of leafroller larvae to apple leaves and fruit

Larvae of Epiphyas postvittana and Planotortrix octo were released onto branches cut from apple trees, and allowed to colonize a range of types of artificial nests. Both species exhibited similar strong preferences for nests comprising leaf-leaf or leaf-fruitlet combinations, followed by nests comprising leaf-plastic leaf, leaf-plastic fruitlet or plastic leaf-fruitlet combinations. Nests involving fresh plant material alone (shoot, fruitlet or leaf alone) were also colonized to a lesser extent, but no larvae were found on nests consisting of plastic leaves or fruitlets alone or in combinations of the two. In another experiment, more E. postvittana larvae colonized nests with leaf and fruitlet combinations, compared to leaf and glass ball, or leaf and treated wax ball combinations, where the wax had been in contact with fresh apples or fruitlets. Choice tests, conducted using larval traps, showed that larvae were caught in traps baited with odors collected and released by wax which had been in contact with mature apples and leaves. Chloroform extracts from apple skin also caught larvae in choice tests. These results suggest that both physical and chemical cues are important to leafroller larval establishment.     

Phenolic acid content – a criterion for selection of resistant apple cultivars against Podosphaera leucotricha (Ell. and Ev.) Salmon

Development of powdery mildew (Podosphaera leucotricha) on five popular cultivars of apple, viz., Scarlet Gala, Golden spur, Mollies Delicious, Red Fuzi and Red Chief was studied to determine incidence–severity relationship. The disease was confined primarily to the vegetative terminal shoots early in the season which also traversed later onto other leaves. Several biochemical changes occur in the trees due to fungal/microbial infection. We studied the qualitative/quantitative changes in phenolic acids in apple-powdery mildew pathosystems. Scarlet Gala and Red Chief are very rich in phenolic acids, and had shown resistances to the pathogen but those with low amount of phenolic acids, viz., Golden spur, Mollies Delicious, and Red Fuzi, were highly susceptible. Thus, the quantity of phenolic acids (secondary metabolites) has been taken as a biochemical parameter in screening apple cultivars for resistance/susceptibility against powdery mildew of apple.     

Strategies for Map-Based Cloning in Apple

The apple, Malus × domestica Borkh, is one of the most important temperate fruit crops grown around the world. Although the apple is a diploid (2n = 34), it originated as an allopolyploid and has a relatively small genome size of 750 Mb/haploid. The apple is self-incompatible, highly heterozygous, and displays a juvenile period of 6 to 10 years or more. These characteristics contribute to long-term and difficult efforts to breed new cultivars of apple. However in the past 15 years, significant advances have been made to develop molecular markers linked to traits of economic interest for apple. In turn, these molecular markers have been used to map, clone, and isolate genes. Efforts to pursue map-based cloning in apple have been quite successful in identifying and characterizing target genes, particularly those controlling disease and pest resistance. Strategies of chromosome walking and chromosome landing have provided viable approaches to locate, isolate, and clone some of these genes. In this review, we provide detailed information for these strategies and their use to clone some of these target genes controlling qualitative traits.     

硝酸盐供应水平对平邑甜茶幼苗生长、光合特性与15N吸收、利用的影响

以霍格兰营养液为培养基质,采用¹⁵N同位素示踪技术,研究不同浓度¹⁵NO₃^--N (0、2.5、5、10和20 mmol·L^-1,分别以N₀、N₁、N₂、N₃和N₄表示)对平邑甜茶幼苗生长、光合作用、¹⁵N吸收、利用及分配的影响.结果表明:与其他处理相比,N₂处理幼苗叶绿素含量、叶面积及各器官干质量最大.叶片净光合速率(P_n)随¹⁵NO₃^--N浓度的增加显著增大,但¹⁵NO₃^--N浓度超过N₂处理后P_n略有下降.处理20 d时,N₂处理幼苗根系活力最大,根系长度、根系总表面积和根尖数也显著高于其他处理.各处理间¹⁵N分配率差异显著,N₂处理幼苗各器官间¹⁵N分配率最均衡,¹⁵N利用率也较高;随¹⁵NO₃^--N浓度增加,各处理幼苗全氮量和¹⁵N吸收量呈先升高后降低的趋势,且在N₂处理时最大,分别为103.77和21.57 mg.处理12 d后,叶片硝酸还原酶(NR)活性以N₂处理最高,N₄处理最低,至第16天时,N₄处理较N₂处理降低了84.9%.因此,¹⁵NO₃^--N供应过低抑制幼苗光合作用及氮素吸收,¹⁵NO₃^--N供应过高则抑制幼苗体内硝态氮同化及根系生长,均不利于苹果幼苗生长及氮素营养吸收利用,适量供氮有利于苹果幼苗的生长、光合作用的提高,以及氮素的吸收、利用和分配.     

Mechanisms of woolly aphid [Eriosoma lanigerum (Hausm.)] resistance in apple

Abstract:  The sourcing of new resistant accessions and understanding their resistance mechanisms are significant aspects of a breeding strategy for durable resistance. Resistance of a number of apple accessions to the woolly apple aphid (WAA) [ Eriosoma lanigerum (Hausm.)] was assessed based on the biological parameters of the insect. Two experiments were conducted under glasshouse conditions in two consecutive years during January–February of 2002 and 2003. In Expt 1 in 2002, settlement, development and survival of the aphids were assessed on five apple accessions [Roter Eiserapfel (RE), Freiherr von Berlepsch (FvB), Braeburn (B), Willie Sharp (WS) and Royal Gala (RG)]. RG was the most susceptible and WS the most resistant accession to WAA. RG and WS were included as references in Expt 2 in 2003, with 11 further accessions ( Malus floribunda 821 OP (open-pollinated) G01-078 (MF), Korichnoe Polosatoje OP G01-104 (KP), Geneva (G), Raritan (R), Malus 6 (M-6), Twenty Ounce (TO), Winter Majetin (WM), Aotea (A), Irish Peach (IP), Court Pendu Plat (CPP) and Colonel Vaughan (CV). Daily reproductive rate and colony establishment were added to the three paramaters assessed in Expt 1. The overall results showed resistance in G, MF, WS and KP to settlement and development with low survival at the larval stage of the aphid, whereas R showed resistance in all the parameters tested. RG and CPP have proved to be susceptible while A, WM, TO, M-6, IP and CV were partially resistant.     

DNA methylation profiles differ between field- andin vitro-grown leaves of apple

A reliable method has been previously developed to detect cytosine methylation at the 5′-CCGG-3′ sequence using isoschizomers (Msp I and Hpa II) and a modified amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) technique. With this method, DNA methylation profiles were investigated in leaf tissues of apple (Malus × domestica cv. Gala) grown under two different growth conditions, field and tissue culture. A total of 1,622 AFLP bands were detected using 32 pairs of primers, and these banding patterns were assembled into three groups. Type I AFLP bands were present in both EcoR I/Hpa II and EcoR I/Msp I lanes. Type II bands were present in the EcoR I/Msp I lanes, but not in EcoR I/Hpa II lanes. Type III bands were present in EcoR I/Hpa II lanes, but not in the EcoR I/Msp I lanes. For leaf tissues of field- and in vitro-grown apples, the ratios of types I, II, and III to the total number of amplified fragments were 70 %, 24 %, and 6 %, and 71 %, 23 %, and 6 %, respectively. Although the ratios of the three types of banding patterns were similar in both leaf tissues, a few bands specific to either field-grown trees or in vitro-grown shoots were observed. This study provided evidence that changes in methylation occurred in apple leaf tissues subjected to tissue culture growth conditions.     

Origins and close relatives of a semi-domesticated neotropical fruit tree: Chrysophyllum cainito (Sapotaceae)

? Premise of the study: Understanding patterns and processes associated with domestication has implications for crop development and agricultural biodiversity conservation. Semi-domesticated crops provide excellent opportunities to examine the interplay of natural and anthropogenic influences on plant evolution. The domestication process has not been thoroughly examined in many tropical perennial crop species. Chrysophyllum cainito (Sapotaceae), the star apple or caimito, is a semi-domesticated species widely cultivated for its edible fruits. It is known to be native to the neotropics, but the precise geographic origins of wild and cultivated forms are unresolved. ? Methods: We used nuclear ribosomal ITS sequences to infer phylogenetic relationships among C. cainito and close relatives (section Chrysophyllum). We employed phylogeographic approaches using ITS and plastid sequence data to determine geographic origins and center(s) of domestication of caimito. ? Key results: ITS data suggest a close relationship between C. cainito and C. argenteum. Plastid haplotype networks reveal several haplotypes unique to individual taxa but fail to resolve distinct lineages for either C. cainito or C. argenteum. Caimito populations from northern Mesoamerica and the Antilles exhibit a subset of the genetic diversity found in southern Mesoamerica. In Panama, cultivated caimito retains high levels of the diversity seen in wild populations. ? Conclusions: Chrysophyllum cainito is most closely related to a clade containing Central and South American C. argenteum, including subsp. panamense. We hypothesize that caimito is native to southern Mesoamerica and was domesticated from multiple wild populations in Panama. Subsequent migration into northern Mesoamerica and the Antilles was mediated by human cultivation.     

福寿螺的寄主植物及其对福寿螺体重的影响

为了明确福寿螺对寄主植物的选择性,进一步掌握其可能的危害及入侵暴发机制,对稻田水域及周边的24科43种植物进行了室外取食试验,分别在取食后3、5d对受试样品及成螺称重,比较其无选择条件下的取食偏好性及其对成螺增长率的影响。结果表明:福寿螺对受试的24科43种植物(样品)的根、茎、叶、果实以及块根(茎)均能取食,对水生(湿生)和陆生植物没有偏好性;在取食过程中,优先取食细嫩的植株和部分,硬老部分需经水浸泡软化后才能被取食;辣椒、苦瓜等果实的辣苦味对福寿螺无驱避作用;取食率与体重增长率呈显著正相关,取食越多生长越快;但体重与植物的总酚含量呈负相关。福寿螺的广食性、取食量、植物总酚含量、植物丰盛度等种群和生态系统特征是影响其快速扩散的重要原因,同时可以借助福寿螺对植物的不同利用类型防范其扩散和危害。     

Avoiding conflicts between insect and weed biological control: selection of non-target species to assess host specificity of cabbage seedpod weevil parasitoids

Abstract:  Classical biological control of insect pests and weeds may lead to potential conflicts, where insect pests are closely related to weed biological control agents. Such a conflict may occur in the classical biological control of the cabbage seedpod weevil, Ceutorhynchus obstrictus (Marsham) in North America, which belongs to the same subfamily, Ceutorhynchinae, as a number of agents introduced or proposed for introduction against non-indigenous invasive weed species. We propose a step-by-step procedure to select non-target species and thereby to develop a non-target species test list for screening candidate entomophagous biological control agents of a herbivore pest insect in a way that would simultaneously evaluate non-target potential on weed biological control agents and other non-target species. Using these recommendations, we developed a non-target test list for host specificity evaluations in the area of origin (Europe) and the area of introduction (North America) for cabbage seedpod weevil parasitoids. Scientifically based predictions on expected host–parasitoid interactions and ecological information about the ecological host range in the area of origin can help avoid conflicts, while still allowing the introduction of safe and effective agents against both insect pests and weeds.     

钙处理对红富士苹果酶促褐变的影响

渗钙处理能够明显保持红富士苹果的硬度,且褐变度明显低于对照,渗钙对酶促褐变的抑制作用是通过影响PPO活性和LOX活性起作用的,果实褐变的早期发动与LOX活性相关密切,后期褐变则主要是PPO起作用。