1,721,026 research outputs found
Effect of 1-methylcyclopropene on kiwifruit softening
No full textPremature softening induced by ethylene is a serious commercial problem limiting the storage life of kiwifruit. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of 1-MCP in extending storage and shelf life and preventing postharvest softening of kiwifruit. Exposure to 100 nl l-1 1-MCP at room temperature for 12 h or at low temperature ( 5°C) for 24 h was applied with a single or double treatment before or/and after storage. The fruit were also treated with a single application at 250 nl l-1 1-MCP. Following storage at 0°C, the fruit were kept at 20°C. The results show that exposure to 100 and 250 nl l-1 1-MCP delayed softening in kiwifruit after shelf life. An application before storage was more effective than treatment after storage. Double treatment was slightly more effective compared to a single application. Furthermore, a single application of 1-MCP at room and low temperature was equally effective in delaying the loss of firmness. In a separate experiment, kiwifruit were treated three days after harvest, after curing, with 100 nl l-1 1-MCP at room temperature for 12 h and stored in air at 0°C with or without ethylene absorber. Following storage, the fruit were kept at 20°C. 1-MCP treated fruit were significantly firmer than untreated fruit after storage and shelf life. Kiwifruit treated and stored without ethylene absorber had comparable or superior values of firmness to untreated fruit stored with ethylene absorption. In both trials, 1-MCP had no effects on soluble solids content and acidity. No significant differences were observed in fruit rot, caused by Botrytis cinerea
Greenhouse assays on the control of the bacterial canker of kiwifruit (Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae)
No full textBACKGROUND: Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa) is the etiologic agent of the bacterial canker of kiwifruit, the most severe disease of Actinidia spp. This pathogen was firstly recorded in Japan and in China. The initial occurrence in Italy dates back to 1992, but the most important outbreak was in 2008. From that year, Psa has spread worldwide with a devastating virulence causing substantial losses to kiwifruit production in China, Italy, New Zealand, Chile, France and Portugal. OBJECTIVE: Screening the existing compounds with different mode of action for their efficacy in controlling Psa on Actinidia deliciosa (cv. Hayward) grown in controlled conditions. METHODS: Products were grouped according to their active ingredients and mode of action in the following categories: Copper compounds, plant extracts, disinfectants, resistance inducers, filming agents and biological control agents (BCAs). The experiments were performed on potted A. deliciosa (cv Hayward) vines grown in controlled greenhouse conditions. Inoculation was experimentally performed by spraying each plant till run off with a suspension of a highly virulent, biovar 3 Psa strain. Disease control and phytotoxicity were monitored for 15 and 30 days after inoculation. RESULTS: Copper compounds and resistance inducers (acibenzolar-S-methyl, Fosetyl-Al) showed the most promising results. However, few other compounds, such as some plant extracts and disinfectants (Verdeviva), provided some protection. Also biological control agents (BCAs), containing living microorganisms, partially controlled the disease. CONCLUSION: Copper compounds and resistance inducers can be possibly combined to develop a more robust and effective control strategy in open field. In addition, BCAs seem interesting, particularly in specific phenological stages when other control methods cannot be used, although results require further validation
Combined Use of PlantToon (R) and I-AD to Characterize Fruit Ripening Homogeneity in 'Abbe Fetel' Pears
No full textIn pears the knowledge of the ripening stage and the homogeneity of the fruit at harvest is extremely important since pears are normally collected in a single harvest and immediately refrigerated. The fruit grading into commercial and maturation classes is performed only before marketing to avoid fruit bruising. Therefore, it is very important to adopt in the field all the cultural techniques that allow producing fruit of homogeneous ripening. To fulfill this objective and to identify the best cultural techniques for reducing fruit ripening heterogeneity, the 3D software PlantToon (R) and the Index of Absorbance Difference (I-AD) were used. PlantToon (R) reproduces the tree structure, the scaffold, the number of bearing shoots and fruit in the different canopy position. The I-AD is an index that allows non-destructively monitoring of the fruit ripening stage on the tree. The study was performed in Ferrara area (Italy) on 'Abbe Fetel' pear trees trained as spindle and Bibaum (R) (bi-axes) during a three-year trial (2011-2013) characterized by three different fruit loads. The results pointed out that fruit ripening in spindle trees was more heterogeneous than from Bibaum (R) trees and that high fruit load induced fruit ripening heterogeneity. The knowledge of the fruit ripening reached at harvest and of fruit homogeneity could drive decisions about storage and marketing strategies
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Promoting Strawberry (<i>Fragaria</i> × <i>ananassa</i>) Stress Resistance, Growth, and Yield Using Native Bacterial Biostimulants
Full text linkStrawberry production is challenged by several abiotic and biotic stresses, such as drought, soil salinity, and the angular leaf spot (ALS) disease caused by Xanthomonas fragariae. In recent decades, the development of commercial products containing combinations of different Plant-Growth-Promoting (PGP) microorganisms has been one of the main focuses of agricultural research. However, their results are often erratic depending on crop species, environmental conditions, and competition among the different strains or indigenous plant microbiota. The use of beneficial microorganisms selected from the crop-specific microbiota may help overcome this limitation, promoting their utilization for sustainable agriculture. The culturable bacteriota of strawberry plants was screened to identify PGP activities in vitro. Bacterial isolates were tested in vivo on strawberry plants in both optimal and stress (X. fragariae infection or salinity) conditions, allowing the selection of strains of Pseudomonas fluorescens, Stenotrophomonas rhizophila, and Agrobacterium rubi whose application showed a significant increase in plant growth and fruit production (up to seven-fold), even under stress conditions, and the ability to control ALS by over 50%. Potential synergistic effects among PGP isolates were tested by coordinated inoculation. However, plant growth and fruit quality were not promoted, except for fruit weight and size, by coordinate inoculation in comparison to m23 and m27 single-strain treatment
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Role of Metcalfa pruinosa as a Vector for Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae
Full text linkAfter 20 years of steady increase, kiwifruit industry faced a severe arrest due to the pandemic spread of the bacterial canker, caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa). The bacterium penetrates the host plant primarily via natural openings or wounds, and its spread is mainly mediated by atmospheric events and cultural activities. Since the role of sucking insects as vectors of bacterial pathogens is widely documented, we investigated the ability of Metcalfa pruinosa Say (1830), one of the most common kiwifruit pests, to transmit Psa to healthy plants in laboratory conditions. Psa could be isolated both from insects feeding over experimentally inoculated plants, and from insects captured in Psa-infected orchards. Furthermore, insects were able to transmit Psa from experimentally inoculated plants to healthy ones. In conclusion, the control of M. pruinosa is recommended in the framework of protection strategies against Psa
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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