To enhance the genetic resource base of Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench, a tetraploid was developed by treating seeds with different concentrations of colchicine. For further multiplication, in vitro micropropagation through adventitious shoot induction and proliferation was achieved. Shoot buds were induced directly on adaxial surface of mature leaf tissues growing on MS medium supplemented wit...

The South American tomato pinworm (Tuta absoluta) has recently invaded Europe and is rapidly spreading in the Afro-Eurasian continent where it is becoming a major pest on tomato crops. Laboratory tests were undertaken to evaluate the potential of 29 European strains of Trichogramma parasitoids to control T. absoluta. In addition to the host itself, the host plant (tomato) was used during the la...

Powdery mildew is a fungal disease found in a wide range of plants and can significantly reduce crop yields. Bacterial strain LJ02 is a biocontrol agent (BCA) isolated from a greenhouse in Tianjin, China. In combination of morphological, physiological, biochemical and phylogenetic analyses, strain LJ02 was classified as a new member of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. Greenhouse trials showed that L...

The effects of intercycle cover crops on Rotylenchulus reniformis population densities in pineapple were evaluated in one greenhouse and two field experiments. In the greenhouse, Crotalaria juncea, Brassica napus, and Tagetes erecta were planted for 3 months and then incorporated. These treatments were compared to weedy fallow with or without 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D) in three soils (Makawao ...

ABSTRACT Late leaf spot (LLS), caused by Phaeoisariopsis personata, is a foliar disease of groundnut or peanut (Arachis hypogaea) with high economic and global importance. Antifungal and chitinolytic Bacillus circulans GRS 243 and Serratia marcescens GPS 5, selected among a collection of 393 peanut-associated bacteria, were applied as a prophylactic foliar spray and tested for control of LLS. C...

The ultimate climate emergency is a 'runaway greenhouse': a hot and water-vapour-rich atmosphere limits the emission of thermal radiation to space, causing runaway warming. Warming ceases only after the surface reaches approximately 1400 K and emits radiation in the near-infrared, where water is not a good greenhouse gas. This would evaporate the entire ocean and exterminate all planetary life....

Greenhouse environment has the characteristics such as multipleinput, multiple-output, nonlinearity, and difficulties of establishing its accurate mathematical model. Therefore, in order to make the greenhouse environment control more effective and accurate, an expert system of variable universe fuzzy control based on BP neural network has been proposed. In this method an appropriate universe i...

Greenhouse-grown l-year-old sweet orange trees [Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck cv. Valencia] on cold-hardy trifoliate orange [Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf.] and cold-sensitive citron (C. medica L.) rootstocks were exposed to cold-acclimation conditions and freeze-tested at -6.7C for 4 hours in a temperature-programed walk-in freezer room. Nonhardened trees generally did not survive the freeze, whe...

The atmospheres of terrestrial planets are expected to be in long-term radiation balance: an increase in the absorption of solar radiation warms the surface and troposphere, which leads to a matching increase in the emission of thermal radiation. Warming a wet planet such as Earth would make the atmosphere moist and optically thick such that only thermal radiation emitted from the upper troposp...