CREA Journals (Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria)
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Lathrobium magrinii sp. n. from the cave “Grotta dell’Arnale” in Latium, Italy (Coleoptera Staphylinidae) – 236th Contribution to the knowledge of the Staphylinidae
Get PDFLathrobium magrinii sp. n. from the cave “Grotta dell’Arnale” in Latium, Italy is described and figured. It is
very closely related to L. auruncum Bordoni & Magrini from Aurunci Mountains
Pathogenicity of Beauveria bassiana (Bals.-Criv.) Vuill. and Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschn.) Sorokin against Galleria mellonella L. and Tenebrio molitor L. in laboratory assays
Get PDFThe pathogenicity of 23 isolates of Beauveria bassiana (Ascomycota, Hypocreales: Cordycipitaceae) and four of Metarhizium anisopliae (Ascomycota, Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae) was tested against Galleria mellonella (Lepidoptera: Galleriidae) and Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) larvae in laboratory assays, using 2•106 conidia mL-1 fungal suspensions. The commercial myco-insecticide Naturalis (Intrachem Bio Italia, Italy), containing the ATCC 74040 B. bassiana strain, was included in the assays for comparison. Mycosed larvae were counted 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 14 and 17 days after inoculation and the cumulative mortality data were used to calculate mean survival time (MST) and lethal times (LT50 and LT95). No difference between B. bassiana and M. anisopliae were detected in the pathogenicity against the two insect species. However, a wide variability occurred among fungal isolates within species. The two B. bassiana isolates AL1 and ALB55 killed G. mellonella larvae within the shortest time (MST of 2.2 and 2.3 days, respectively), as well as the ALB55 did against T. molitor larvae (MST of 2.8 days). Naturalis was superior to these two B. bassiana isolates, causing a MST of 1.1 day or shorter on the insect larvae. Overall, G. mellonella resulted more sensitive than T. molitor, as showed also by the non-inoculated controls, for which MSTs were 7.7 and 8.4 days, respectively. Due to the rapid and effective insecticide action, the ALB55 B. bassiana isolate can be considered as a new promising candidate for the microbial pest control
Erroneous host identification frustrates systematics and delays implementation of biological control
Get PDFMisidentifications of pests and their natural enemies and misinterpretations of pest-natural enemy associations have led to the failure of a number of biological control projects. In addition to misidentification, more complicated kinds of errors, such as mistakes in establishing host records of parasitoids, have resulted in inaccurate host-parasitoid lists of even well-known pest species. Here we discuss a particular problem of misinterpretation caused by complicated host-natural enemy habitats. Six examples are presented illustrating that mistakes in collection of host material can easily result in attribution of natural enemies to a wrong host species. To prevent such mistakes, it is advised that (1) extreme care should be taken when collecting host material in the field, (2) collected material should be partly dissected in order to check for potential contamination with non-host material, (3) supposedly new parasitoid-host associations inferred from specimens that emerged in the laboratory should be confirmed by field observations, (4) assignment of parasitoids to new hosts should only be done after consulting taxonomic specialists for the host and parasitoid
Anoplophora chinensis (Forster) (Coleoptera Cerambycidae) in the outbreak site in Rome (Italy): experiences in dating exit holes
Get PDFAnoplophora chinensis is a poliphagous woodboring beetle native to Eastern Asia, and is a serious pest accidentally introduced into Europe. Currently two infested areas are present in Italy and other infestations have occurred in the past in other European countries, while interceptions in entry ports are made yearly by National Plant Protection Organizations of the European Community. A. chinensis is a quarantine invasive pest, and strong measures are applied worldwide to prevent its introduction, spread and to eradicate its populations. The presence of exit holes of adult beetles on infested trees is one of the most important diagnostic signs to detect an A. chinensis infestation. Exit holes are visible on the bark surface of infested trees for several years, but the hole is after that enclosed by the reaction tissue (callus) of the plant; thus, after some years the exit hole is no longer visible. Such injuries produced by beetle activity can be recognised after many years by inspection of the wood after cross-sectioning of the tree. It is possible to date the time of occurrence of the injury using the annual growth ring method for tree age analyses. Surveys conducted on the wooden material collected in the infested site in Rome indicate that the first A. chinensis adult emergences from infested trees of the city occurred in 2002. Since the species takes in the infested site 1 or 2 years for juvenile development, we can speculate that the first introduction of A. chinensis into the city of Rome took place in the years 2000 or 2001
NDSU EarlyGEM: Incorporating Tropical and Temperate Elite Exotic Germplasm to Increase the Genetic Diversity of Short-Season Maize
Get PDFThe NDSU EarlyGEM or the Early Germplasm Enhancement of Maize (Zea mays L) is a long-term incorporation program designed to increase the genetic diversity of US northern maize hybrids. Exotic GEM breeding crosses derived from two temperate accessions, three tropical accessions and a tropical hybrid along with temperate US lines B73, Mo17, and Iowa Stiff Stalk Synthetic (BSSS) used as checks, were adapted to short-seasons and incorporated via a modified backcross (BC) procedure. The objective of this research was to test whether exotic derived crosses could be quickly adapted and incorporated to increase the genetic diversity of early maturing maize hybrids as compared to temperate US check lines. Exotic testcrosses with testers belonging to opposite heterotic groups were tested in five North Dakota environments and two years (2009 and 2010). Among 236 experimental testcrosses, 64 were statistically not different (LSD, 0.05) to industry hybrids for grain yield. BC derived lines from BR52051, CHO5015, DKB844 produced hybrids with low grain moisture at harvest
Re-annotation of the maize oligonucleotide array
Get PDFThe microarray technology has become an established approach for large-scale gene expression analysis with mature protocols for sample, microarray, and data processing. The maize oligonucleotide array (maizearray) is one of the few microarray platforms designed for genome-wide gene expression analysis in Zea mays L. Many datasets addressing various genetic, physiological and developmental topics generated with this platform are available. The original 57,452 microarray probes were compiled based on expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Meanwhile the maize genome sequence became available providing the possibility for an improved annotation of the microarray probe set. In this study we determined the genome positions of all maize array probes to obtain current gene annotations and generated current Gene Ontology (GO) annotations. These new data allow tracing redundancy of the probe set and interfering cross-hybridizations, and doubled the number of genes with functional GO data. Our re-annotation will largely improve the functional analysis of available and future datasets generated on this microarray platform
Quantitative trait loci for metal accumulation in maize leaf
Get PDFMaize, as a major crop, has been investigated for decades for metal accumulation, but not in the context of leaf ionome to identify putative genetic factors participating in the control of metal accumulation. Our objectives were to analyze variation for copper (Cu), iron (Fe), potassium (K), manganese (Mn), magnesium (Mg), and strontium (Sr) concentrations in leaves of a maize mapping population, and to detect and determine the effects of quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with the metal concentrations. Ear-leaf samples at the beginning of the silking stage was taken for elemental analysis (ICP-OES) of 290 F4 lines of a biparental population (B84×Os6-2) grown in field trials in Croatia. The population and parents differed significantly in Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, and Sr concentrations. The population was mapped using sets of 56 SNP and 65 SSR polymorphic markers. Eleven significant QTLs were detected for all six metal concentrations. Of them, QTLs for Cu, Fe, and Mg were colocalized on chromosome 5 in the region of ys1 gene. Significant dominant effect of these QTLs supports the involvement of ys1 in accumula¬tions of these metals. Some QTLs had no obvious candidate genes offering the possibility of identifying unknown genes that affect metal accumulation
Adaptation of evaluation criteria to changing agriculture practice in maize and their impact on variety registration
Get PDFIn the past 50 years, great progress has been made in improving plant yield, harvest security, disease resistance and crop quality. Although high fertilizer input, pesticide availability, better varieties and adapted crop husbandry have made this progress possible, intensive agriculture has important drawbacks. Growing crops such as silage and corn maize cause unwanted side effects in several European countries, such as N- and P- losses to ground water, loss of biodiversity, smaller rotations, higher disease pressure, lower soil fertility and worsened soil structure. In the future, breeders will have to ameliorate these negative effects while maintaining high productivity. The question arises, “Are the currently cultivated crops such as maize (in most cases, a restricted variety assortment) adapted for future agriculture, or do we need other crops or other types of varieties?” This presentation will address the different aspects of future variety testing for maize (silage and grain) and which parameters have to be judged in light of intensive ecological agriculture. In particular the paper describes i) the European regulation concerning variety testing ii) value for cultivation and use iii) current evaluation criteria for silage and grain yield in Belgium, and iv) introduction of new criteria such as to give a more precise evaluation of maize performance and approved in variety testing. The evaluation criteria should be balanced between parameters for yield, harvest security (resistance to lodging and stalk rot), disease resistance and quality. The choice of the standard varieties also greatly determines the level needed for admission
MaizeGDB – Past, Present, and Future
Get PDFThe Maize Database turns
twenty this year. Many of us
trace our academic roots
back to Emerson: we can
do likewise for MaizeGDB