To feed the world's growing population, increasing the yield of crops is not the only important factor, improving crop quality is also important, and it presents a significant challenge. Among the important crops, horticultural crops (particularly fruits and vegetables) provide numerous health compounds, such as vitamins, antioxidants, and amino acids. Essential amino acids are those that canno...

Title of Document: THE MICROBIAL ECOLOGY AND HORTICULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY OF ORGANICALLY AND CONVENTIONALLY MANAGED APPLES. Andrea R. Ottesen, PhD, 2008 Directed By: Professor, Dr. Christopher S. Walsh, Plant Sciences and Landscape Architecture Objectives Organically and conventionally managed apple trees (Malus domestica Borkh) were evaluated for three growing seasons (2005-2007) to examine th...

Research on the healthy and restorative effects of green space has been rapidly expanding over the past decades, and the field is fast moving toward maturity (van den Berg and van den Berg, 2014; Capaldi et al., 2015). Findings converge in showing that regular contact with green space can enhance well-being and alleviate stress, and may even mitigate income-related health inequalities regarding...

There is increasing evidence that gardening provides substantial human health benefits. However, no formal statistical assessment has been conducted to test this assertion. Here, we present the results of a meta-analysis of research examining the effects of gardening, including horticultural therapy, on health. We performed a literature search to collect studies that compared health outcomes in...

Volemitol (D-glycero-D-manno-heptitol, alpha-sedoheptitol) is an unusual seven-carbon sugar alcohol that fulfills several important physiological functions in certain species of the genus Primula. Using the horticultural hybrid polyanthus (Primula x polyantha) as our model plant, we found that volemitol is the major nonstructural carbohydrate in leaves of all stages of development, with concent...

1. This document is HS-872, one of a series of the Horticultural Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Publication Date: April 2002. Please visit the EDIS Web site at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu. 2. Ed Stover, assistant professor, Horticultural Sciences Department, Indian River Research and Education Center, ...

Molecular cytogenetic techniques, such as in situ hybridization methods, are admirable tools to analyze the genomic structure and function, chromosome constituents, recombination patterns, alien gene introgression, genome evolution, aneuploidy, and polyploidy and also genome constitution visualization and chromosome discrimination from different genomes in allopolyploids of various horticultura...

The direct toxicity of insecticidal soap, horticultural oil, Azatin, an extract from the Neem tree containing azadiractin, and BotainiGard, a commercial formulation of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana, was assessed on adults of four species of coccinellids--Hippodamia convergens (Guérin-Ménéville), Coleomegilla maculata (DeGeer), Harmonia axyridis Pallas, and Cryptolaemus montrouz...