Characterization and classification of pequi trees (Caryocar brasiliense Camb.) based on the profile of volatile constituents using headspace solid-phase microextraction - gas chromatography - mass spectrometry and multivariate analysis

In order to determine the variability of pequi tree (Caryocar brasiliense Camb.) populations, volatile compounds from fruits of eighteen trees representing five populations were extracted by headspace solid-phase microextraction and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Seventy-seven compounds were identified, including esters, hydrocarbons, terpenoids, ketones, lactones, and alcohols. Several compounds had not been previously reported in the pequi fruit. The amount of total volatile compounds and the individual compound contents varied between plants. The volatile profile enabled the differentiation of all of the eighteen plants, indicating that there is a characteristic profile in terms of their origin. The use of Principal Component Analysis and Cluster Analysis enabled the establishment of markers (dendrolasin, ethyl octanoate, ethyl 2-octenoate and β-cis-ocimene) that discriminated among the pequi trees. According to the Cluster Analysis, the plants were classified into three main clusters, and four other plants showed a tendency to isolation. The results from multivariate analysis did not always group plants from the same population together, indicating that there is greater variability within the populations than between pequi tree populations.

Ontario Tender Fruit Grower’s Marketing Board Fonds, 1960, 1967, 1969-1977, 1980-1981, 1987

The Ontario Tender Fruit Marketing Board operates under the Farm Producers Marketing Act. It covers all tender fruit farmers who produce either fresh or canned products. Today the board has over 500 grower-members. Tender fruit in the Niagara region includes: peaches, pears, plums, grapes and cherries. The fruits are used in a number of different ways, from jams and jellies to desserts, sauces and wine. Peaches were first harvested along the Niagara river in 1779. Peter Secord (Laura Secord’s uncle) is thought to be the first farmer to plant fruit trees when he took a land grant near Niagara in the mid 1780s. Since the beginnings of Secord’s farm, peaches, pears and plums have been grown in the Niagara region ever since. However, none of the original varities of peach trees remain today. Peaches were often used for more than eating by early settlers. The leaves and bark of the tree was used to make teas for conditions such as chronic bronchitis, coughs and gastritis. Cherries have been known to have anti-inflammatory and pain relieving properties. Like peaches and cherries, pears had many uses for the early pioneers. The wood was used to make furniture. The juice made excellent ciders and the leaves provided yellow dyes. Plums have been around for centuries, not only in the Niagara region, but throughout the world. They have appeared in pre-historic writings and were present for the first Thanksgiving in 1621. The grape industry in Ontario has also been around for centuries. It began in 1798 when land was granted to Major David Secord (brother-in-law to Laura Secord) slightly east of St. David’s, on what is Highway No. 8 today. Major Secord’s son James was given a part of the land in 1818 and in 1857 passed it onto Porter Adams. Adams is known to be the first person to plant grapes in Ontario1. Tender fruits are best grown in warm temperate climates. The Niagara fruit belt, stretching 65km from Hamilton to Niagara on the Lake, provides the climate necessary for this fruit production. This belt produces 90% of Ontario’s annual tender fruit crop. It is one of the largest fruit producing regions in all of Canada.

Tree Fruit (peach) Nursery - Report done for the University of Guelph

A report done by Donald Ziraldo on the topic of Tree Fruit, specifically peach, in nurseries. The report was likely done while he was a student of the University of Guelph in the 1970s.

Technologies for biological containment of GM and Non-GM crops

International Perspective The development of GM technology continues to expand into increasing numbers of crops and conferred traits. Inevitably, the focus remains on the major field crops of soybean, maize, cotton, oilseed rape and potato with introduced genes conferring herbicide tolerance and/or pest resistance. Although there are comparatively few GM crops that have been commercialised to date, GM versions of 172 plant species have been grown in field trials in 31 countries. European Crops with Containment Issues Of the 20 main crops in the EU there are four for which GM varieties are commercially available (cotton, maize for animal feed and forage, and oilseed rape). Fourteen have GM varieties in field trials (bread wheat, barley, durum wheat, sunflower, oats, potatoes, sugar beet, grapes, alfalfa, olives, field peas, clover, apples, rice) and two have GM varieties still in development (rye, triticale). Many of these crops have hybridisation potential with wild and weedy relatives in the European flora (bread wheat, barley, oilseed rape, durum wheat, oats, sugar beet and grapes), with escapes (sunflower); and all have potential to cross-pollinate fields non-GM crops. Several fodder crops, forestry trees, grasses and ornamentals have varieties in field trials and these too may hybridise with wild relatives in the European flora (alfalfa, clover, lupin, silver birch, sweet chestnut, Norway spruce, Scots pine, poplar, elm, Agrostis canina, A. stolonifera, Festuca arundinacea, Lolium perenne, L. multiflorum, statice and rose). All these crops will require containment strategies to be in place if it is deemed necessary to prevent transgene movement to wild relatives and non-GM crops. Current Containment Strategies A wide variety of GM containment strategies are currently under development, with a particular focus on crops expressing pharmaceutical products. Physical containment in greenhouses and growth rooms is suitable for some crops (tomatoes, lettuce) and for research purposes. Aquatic bioreactors of some non-crop species (algae, moss, and duckweed) expressing pharmaceutical products have been adopted by some biotechnology companies. There are obvious limitations of the scale of physical containment strategies, addressed in part by the development of large underground facilities in the US and Canada. The additional resources required to grow plants underground incurs high costs that in the long term may negate any advantage of GM for commercial productioNatural genetic containment has been adopted by some companies through the selection of either non-food/feed crops (algae, moss, duckweed) as bio-pharming platforms or organisms with no wild relatives present in the local flora (safflower in the Americas). The expression of pharmaceutical products in leafy crops (tobacco, alfalfa, lettuce, spinach) enables growth and harvesting prior to and in the absence of flowering. Transgenically controlled containment strategies range in their approach and degree of development. Plastid transformation is relatively well developed but is not suited to all traits or crops and does not offer complete containment. Male sterility is well developed across a range of plants but has limitations in its application for fruit/seed bearing crops. It has been adopted in some commercial lines of oilseed rape despite not preventing escape via seed. Conditional lethality can be used to prevent flowering or seed development following the application of a chemical inducer, but requires 100% induction of the trait and sufficient application of the inducer to all plants. Equally, inducible expression of the GM trait requires equally stringent application conditions. Such a method will contain the trait but will allow the escape of a non-functioning transgene. Seed lethality (‘terminator’ technology) is the only strategy at present that prevents transgene movement via seed, but due to public opinion against the concept it has never been trialled in the field and is no longer under commercial development. Methods to control flowering and fruit development such as apomixis and cleistogamy will prevent crop-to-wild and wild-to-crop pollination, but in nature both of these strategies are complex and leaky. None of the genes controlling these traits have as yet been identified or characterised and therefore have not been transgenically introduced into crop species. Neither of these strategies will prevent transgene escape via seed and any feral apomicts that form are arguably more likely to become invasives. Transgene mitigation reduces the fitness of initial hybrids and so prevents stable introgression of transgenes into wild populations. However, it does not prevent initial formation of hybrids or spread to non-GM crops. Such strategies could be detrimental to wild populations and have not yet been demonstrated in the field. Similarly, auxotrophy prevents persistence of escapes and hybrids containing the transgene in an uncontrolled environment, but does not prevent transgene movement from the crop. Recoverable block of function, intein trans-splicing and transgene excision all use recombinases to modify the transgene in planta either to induce expression or to prevent it. All require optimal conditions and 100% accuracy to function and none have been tested under field conditions as yet. All will contain the GM trait but all will allow some non-native DNA to escape to wild populations or to non-GM crops. There are particular issues with GM trees and grasses as both are largely undomesticated, wind pollinated and perennial, thus providing many opportunities for hybridisation. Some species of both trees and grass are also capable of vegetative propagation without sexual reproduction. There are additional concerns regarding the weedy nature of many grass species and the long-term stability of GM traits across the life span of trees. Transgene stability and conferred sterility are difficult to trial in trees as most field trials are only conducted during the juvenile phase of tree growth. Bio-pharming of pharmaceutical and industrial compounds in plants Bio-pharming of pharmaceutical and industrial compounds in plants offers an attractive alternative to mammalian-based pharmaceutical and vaccine production. Several plantbased products are already on the market (Prodigene’s avidin, β-glucuronidase, trypsin generated in GM maize; Ventria’s lactoferrin generated in GM rice). Numerous products are in clinical trials (collagen, antibodies against tooth decay and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma from tobacco; human gastric lipase, therapeutic enzymes, dietary supplements from maize; Hepatitis B and Norwalk virus vaccines from potato; rabies vaccines from spinach; dietary supplements from Arabidopsis). The initial production platforms for plant-based pharmaceuticals were selected from conventional crops, largely because an established knowledge base already existed. Tobacco and other leafy crops such as alfalfa, lettuce and spinach are widely used as leaves can be harvested and no flowering is required. Many of these crops can be grown in contained greenhouses. Potato is also widely used and can also be grown in contained conditions. The introduction of morphological markers may aid in the recognition and traceability of crops expressing pharmaceutical products. Plant cells or plant parts may be transformed and maintained in culture to produce recombinant products in a contained environment. Plant cells in suspension or in vitro, roots, root cells and guttation fluid from leaves may be engineered to secrete proteins that may be harvested in a continuous, non-destructive manner. Most strategies in this category remain developmental and have not been commercially adopted at present. Transient expression produces GM compounds from non-GM plants via the utilisation of bacterial or viral vectors. These vectors introduce the trait into specific tissues of whole plants or plant parts, but do not insert them into the heritable genome. There are some limitations of scale and the field release of such crops will require the regulation of the vector. However, several companies have several transiently expressed products in clinical and pre-clinical trials from crops raised in physical containment.

A new method for inoculation of fruit with Guignardia citricarpa, the causal agent of citrus black spot

Citrus black spot (CBS) is a fungal disease, caused by Guignardia citricarpa, that has a high economic impact on citrus. Although G. citricarpa has been associated with black spot of citrus, an adequate pathogenicity test is still not available. Thus, our objective was to develop and evaluate a simple, safe, and practical pathogenicity test. We used fruits from Pera-Rio and Valencia sweet orange trees from two different orchards, located in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Inoculation was performed by placing six disks colonized by G. citricarpa, onto the peel of healthy fruits, previously bagged. In the Pera-Rio sweet orange grove, initial symptoms of the false melanose type resulting from the inoculations were observed 55 days after inoculation (dai). In the Valencia grove, initial symptoms also of the false melanose type resulting from the inoculations occurred 73 dai. A total of 92.8% and 86.6% of the Pera Rio and Valencia fruits inoculated, respectively, showed symptoms of CBS. Citrus black spot symptoms were not observed in any of the control fruits.

Liming and quality of guava fruit cultivated in Brazil

An experiment was conducted on guava trees Psidium guajava L. (cv. Paluma) grown in the Experimental Citrus Culture Station of Bebedouro, SP, on dystrophic, acid Typical Hapludox in order to assess the effects of application of increasing lime doses to the soil on the quality of guava fruits on the basis of the physicochemical changes observed in the fruits after harvesting. The treatments consisted of increasing lime doses applied before planting, considering 0, 1.85, 3.79, 5.56 and 7.41 t ha(-1), applied in August 1999. Leaf calcium content was assessed at flowering time. After fruit harvesting, calcium content in the pulp, total weight, transverse diameter, length, pulp weight, % pulp, Brix degrees (degrees Brix), titratable acidity, and fruit ratio were determined. Loss of fruit fresh mass, firmness and color were determined daily during a period of 8 days of storage. Lime application to an acid Red Latosol before guava tree planting did not affect the physical characteristics of the fruits but provided a lower loss of fresh matter and greater fruit firmness when the fruits presented Ca levels close to 0.99 g kg(-1). It is important to conduct new studies of the effects of liming on guava fruit quality under different edaphic-climatic conditions and on different guava tree genotypes. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Application of plant growth regulators at pre-harvest for fruit development of 'PÊRA' oranges

O trabalho objetivou avaliar os efeitos de auxinas e giberelinas, combinados e aplicados em pré-colheita no desenvolvimento e na taxa de queda natural de frutos de laranjeira 'Pêra'. Foram utilizadas árvores de laranjeira (Citrus sinensis Osbeck) cultivar Pêra com 5 anos de idade. Os tratamentos foram: GA3 + 2,4-D 12,5mg L-1 de cada; GA3 + 2,4-D 25mg L-1; GA3 + 2,4-D 37,5mg L-1; GA3 + NAA 12,5mg L-1; GA3 + NAA 25mg L-1; GA3 + NAA 37,5mg L-1; NAA + 2,4-D 12,5mg L-1; NAA + 2,4-D 25mg L-1; NAA + 2,4-D 37,5mg L-1 e testemunha (água). Durante todo o período experimental foram realizadas três aplicações a intervalos de 45 dias. As variáveis avaliadas foram: Taxa de queda natural dos frutos (%), comprimento (mm), diâmetro (mm) e massa fresca dos frutos (g). Nenhum dos tratamentos proporcionaram alterações no desenvolvimento final dos frutos, mas reduziram a taxa de queda natural em comparação com a testemunha em até 78,05%, inibindo a abscisão dos frutos em até três meses.

High levels of genetic differentiation and selfing in the Brazilian cerrado fruit tree Dipteryx alata Vog. (Fabaceae)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Frugivory and habitat use by fruit-eating birds in a fragmented landscape of southeast Brazil

To investigate the movement of seeds transported by fruit-eating birds in an agricultural, fragmented landscape of the Atlantic forest of southeast Brazil, I asked which bird species are the main seed dispersers in such environment, and how they use the available habitats (small forest fragments, forest thickets, live fences, isolated trees, and active pastures) where they are most likely to drop the seeds they swallow the relative importance of fruit-eating birds as seed vectors was evaluated based on the number of fruit species eaten, the number of visits, and visitation rate to fruiting plants. Habitat use was accessed by recording the habitats where birds were seen or heard during walks conducted throughout the study area. Sixteen plant species were observed during 308.3 plant-hours. Forty-one bird species were observed eating fruits in a total of 830 visits to fruiting plants. Sayaca Tanagers (Thraupis sayaca) and Pale-breasted Thrushes (Turdus leucomelas) ate the greatest number of fruit species, were the most frequent plant visitors in terms of number and rate of visits, and had a broad range of habitat use. These two species and the Rusty-margined Guan (Penelope superciliaris), which is able to swallow large fruits with large seeds that smaller bird species cannot cat, likely have a great contribution to the movement of seeds throughout this highly degraded landscape.

Effects of irrigation and nitrogen levels on qualitative and nutritional aspects of fig-trees (Ficus carica L.)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Boron translocation in coffee trees

Boron deficiency in coffee trees ( Coffea arabica) is widespread, however, responses to B fertilizer have been erratic, depending on the year, method, and time of application. A better understanding of B uptake, distribution, and remobilization within the plant is important in developing a rational fertilization program. Field and greenhouse experiments were conducted to study B distribution and remobilization in coffee trees. Boron was provided either in the nutrient solution or sprayed on the leaves of trees grown under adequate or transient B deficiency. There was clear evidence for B translocation via symplast ( remobilization) to coffee grains, even in well-nourished plants. When 10 B was present in the nutrient solution during most part of fruit filling, from 33 to 40% of the B found in coffee fruits was absorbed during this period, depending on the timing and duration of the B deficiency treatment. In the field, when B was sprayed once on the leaves, around 4% of the fruit B was derived from the foliar fertilizer. Boron remobilization within coffee trees is limited in well nourished plants, but it can be significant during periods of temporary B deficiency in plants otherwise well nourished with B. The implications of these findings for B fertilization practice, are discussed.

Oviposition pattern and within-season spatial and temporal variation of pre-dispersal seed predation in a population of Mimosa bimucronata trees

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Self-fertility and polyembryony in South American yellow trumpet trees (Handroanthus chrysotrichus and H. ochraceus, Bignoniaceae): a histological study of postpollination events

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Amino Acids on Mango Yield and Fruit Quality at Submedio Sao Francisco Region, Brazil

Farmers of the Submedio Sao Francisco Region (Brazil) have been spraying amino acids on mango trees with the objective of increasing panicle length and improving fruit retention and quality. This study, done in two experiments, tested the effect of amino acids sprayings at concentrations of 0.0%; 0.02%; 0.04% and 0.06%, on mango plants, 'Tommy Atkins', on the budding phase (panicles with 5 cm), fruit set and fruit growth (5 cm diameter). They were carried out from June to October in 2003, that is the natural period for harvest in the region, and from January to May, in 2004. There were no statistical differences in the first experiment among treatments regarding panicle length and fruit production, probably due to an appropriate management of nutrition, water and plant growth regulators, besides climatic conditions, mainly temperature and solar radiation. In the second experiment, significant increments in the panicle length of 13.37%, 11.70% and 21.4% were observed with amino acids concentrations, compared to the control. Increasing amino acids doses also enhanced the number of fruits per plant, thirty days before the harvest, in 16.17%, 45.32% and 37.38%, respectively, compared to the control, but there were no significant statistical differences. Characteristics of fruit quality during storage, as weight loss, total soluble solids, total titratable acidity and pulp firmness were not significantly affected by amino acids spraying. Changes on those variables were registered as a consequence of fruit ripening. Amino acids sprays lightly delayed the evolution of skin luminosity and Hue of pulp, but the differences could not be visually identified. The concentrations of amino acids were not efficient for improving the natural concentrations of these substances in the leaves, which could be the reason for the non significant effects on the variables analyzed.

Fruiting phenology of palms and trees in an Atlantic rainforest land-bridge island

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)