Root and tuber crops (RTCs) are the second-most important carbohydrate commodity after cereals. Many species of RTCs vegetatively propagated, making their shoot tips preferred material to be conserved for future uses. Shoot tip cryopreservation provides an tool support long-term conservation plant genetic resources. Over past four decades, significant efforts have been undertaken move from rese...

Metals have strong influence on development and growth of crops. To simulate how cereal crops are affected and/or tolerated from heavy metal contamination by disposal of unregulated wastes as soil amendments, the nutrient culture experiment was conducted with barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), rice (Oryza sativa L.) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) at control (0), 1, 5, and 10 μM of copper (Cu), zinc...

The two most economically important plant-parasitic nematodes infesting cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) in the United States are the root-knot (Meloidogyne incognita) and the reniform (Rotylenchulus reniformis) nematode. The common means of managing these pests is use of in-furrow or seed-treatment nematicides, or by rotation with non-host crops or resistant cultivars of crops grown in rotation. Un...

Plants grown in lead contaminated soils can accumulate lead from the adherence of dust and translocation into the plant tissue. In order to evaluate the potential health hazard due to the consumption of plants grown in residential gardens contaminated by lead, a survey of the lead concentrations in a typical array of edible vegetables, fruits and herbs was conducted. Samples of garden plants ha...

The effects of a yard waste compost amendment and crop establishment on nematode populations and yields of suscep­ tible vegetable crops were determined in two tests in Florida in sites infested with the root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita. Main plot treatments consisted of 269 mt/ha of a yard waste com­ post applied as a mulch, 269 mt/ha of the compost incorporated into the soil, and an ...

Drought stress is a dominant constraint to crop production. Breeding crops with adapted root systems for effective uptake of water represents a novel strategy to increase crop drought resistance. Due to complex interaction between root traits and high diversity of hydrological conditions, modeling provides important information for trait based selection. In this work we use a root architecture ...