Moroccan Journal of Agricultural Sciences
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Assessment of the main causes of sorting gaps in the Citrus packinghouses of Berkane, Morocco
Full text linkSorting gaps are one of the main challenges that the Citrus industry is facing worldwide. In Morocco, the rates of sorting gaps reach levels exceeding 40% on average. In Berkane area, the rate of Clementine sorting gaps in packinghouses is an important concern to exporters and their characterization is not well studied. The present study covered five clementine packinghouses of Berkane area out of the 20 packinghouses inventoried in the zone during the 2019/2020 export campaign between October 20th, 2019, and January 20th, 2020. In each packinghouse, the sorting gaps were examined and characterized to separate the different categories of sorting gaps types and determine the sorting gaps rate. The objective of this study is to characterize the frequent causes of Clementine sorting gaps and analyze the effect of the packing period on the importance of the rate of different types of causes of sorting gaps. Also, the evolution of gap rates at the station level was analyzed to show the similarities and differences between the overall sorting gaps rates and the sorting gaps rates by type of defects per packinghouse. Results showed an average of sorting gaps rates of about 38.4% of total Clementine fruit received in packinghouses. Depending on the packaging period, the rates of sorting gaps varied from one packinghouse to another and from one type of gaps to another. The gaps caused by insects presented high levels in the area and at all Berkane studied packinghouses. Fruits processed in the period from October 20th to November 20th, 2019 recorded a very high rate of sorting gaps with 44.5% followed by the period from December 20th, 2019 to January 20th, 2020 with a rate of 40% and the period from October 20th to November 20th, 2019 with 31%. In quest of conceiving strategies to reduce Sorting gaps rates, it is of utmost importance to understand the main factors influencing these rates in all Clementine handling and producing stages.
Keywords: Sorting gap, Citrus fruits, Packinghouse, Causes, Berkane
Application of extended photoperiod in lentil: Towards accelerated genetic gain in breeding for rapid improved variety development
Full text linkThe application of extended photoperiod is a simple method that allows accelerating plant growth and development. Genetic improvement is one of the main applications of this technique. We tested this method in lentil by comparing an extended photoperiod treatment of 22 h light at 25-28 °C and 2 h dark at 12-18 °C in a growth chamber and a conventional control treatment under a glasshouse of 10 h/14 h to 12 h/12 h day/night photoperiod and 15°C to 32°C minimum and maximum temperature during the experiment period. Statistically different results were obtained for the two treatments. Promising results were obtained for segregating genetic material (F2 populations) derived from crosses. In fact, we were able to get 3-4 generations a year using a single seed descent method under the extended photoperiod treatment instead of one single generation under the control treatment. Lower number of days to maturity and higher average growth rate for F2 lines were obtained for the extended photoperiod method compared to the glasshouse-based conventional method with 84 and 172; 0.68 and 0.33 cm/day, respectively. Likewise, for wild accessions of L. orientalis, number of days to maturity was 115 and 225 for the extended photoperiod method and the glasshouse-based conventional method, respectively. Slight plant mortality and reduced seed viability were observed. This could be fixed through light characteristics optimization. The obtained results highlight the potential of this method to speed breeding and pre-breeding in lentil. The use of this simple but efficient technique in breeding programs is important for rapid development of high yielding, biotic and abiotic stresses resistant and climate change resilient varieties.
Keywords: Speed breeding, development cycle, segregating accessions, L. orientalis, generation tim