The effect of a bacteriophage cocktail (EcoShield™) that is specific against Escherichia coli O157:H7 was evaluated against a nalidixic acid-resistant enterohemorrhagic E. coli O157:H7 RM4407 (EHEC) strain on leafy greens stored under either (1) ambient air or (2) modified atmosphere (MA; 5% O2/35% CO2/60% N2). Pieces (~2 × 2 cm2) of leafy greens (lettuce and spinach) inoculated with 4.5 log CF...

Leaves are the plant's solar panel and food factory, and leaf traits are always key issues to investigate in plant research. Traditional methods for leaf trait measurement are time-consuming. In this work, an engineering prototype has been established for high-throughput leaf scoring (HLS) of a large number of Oryza sativa accessions. The mean absolute per cent of errors in traditional measurem...

UNLABELLED PREMISE OF THE STUDY Specific leaf area (SLA) is a critical component of the leaf economics spectrum, and many functional leaf traits have been empirically demonstrated to covary with SLA. However, a complete understanding of how change in leaf size influences SLA has not yet emerged. • METHODS To help develop a more complete understanding of the determinants of variability in S...

there are various factors affecting the fighting fish larval survival including nutrition, substrate, water quality, pathogen and stress. experiments were conducted to study the effect of substrate and live feed on larval survival of fighting fish fry. nine small glass aquaria (60 cm × 30 cm × 30 cm) were used as breeding tanks. equal pieces (80 cm2) of rigifoam (t1), polythene (t2) and banana ...

Drought is the main selection agent in Mediterranean ecosystems and it has been suggested as an important evolutionary force responsible for population diversification in these types of environments. However, population divergence in quantitative traits can be driven by either natural selection, genetic drift or both. To investigate the roles of these forces on among-population divergence in ec...

Leaf litter decomposability is an important effect trait for ecosystem functioning. However, it is unknown how this effect trait evolved through plant history as a leaf 'afterlife' integrator of the evolution of multiple underlying traits upon which adaptive selection must have acted. Did decomposability evolve in a Brownian fashion without any constraints? Was evolution rapid at first and then...

Gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus L.), a popular bulbous cut flower, has high demand in both domestic (Pakistani) as well as international markets. Five potential, exotic cultivars of gladiolus, ‘Cantate’, ‘Corveira’, ‘Eminence’, ‘Essential’ and ‘Fado’ were evaluated to determine the cultivar effects on yield and quality, to compare their relative performance and recommend their suitability for...