Stable isotope signatures of Zn have shown great promise in elucidating changes in uptake and translocation mechanisms of this metal in plants during environmental changes. Here this potential was tested by investigating the effect of high Zn concentrations on the isotopic fractionation patterns of Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. Plants were grown for 40 d in a nutritive solution co...

Successful sexual reproduction of a plant with prolific seed production requires appropriate timing of flowering and concomitant change of architecture (e.g. internode elongation and branching) to facilitate production of the optimal number of flowers while enabling continued resource production through photosynthesis. Florigen is the prime candidate for a signal linking the two processes. Grow...

North American pawpaw [Asimina triloba (L.) Dunal] is a temperate climate member of the Annonaceae used as an ornamental and specialty tree fruit crop. Micropropagation could provide a clonal propagation method for plant production and contribute to germplasm preservation. A pawpaw culture was established that has produced shoot-bud clusters for over six years when maintained on a plant growth ...

An efficient protocol for direct shoot organogenesis has been developed for the medicinal plant Aerva lanata (L.) Juss. ex Schult. Regeneration was achieved from leaf segments of 20 days old in vitro plantlets raised on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing 0.25-2.0 mg L(-1) thiadiazuron (TDZ), 3% sucrose, and 0.8% agar. After 21 days of culture incubation, maximum number of shoot organoge...

Besides their role in nitrogen supply to the host plants as a result of symbiotic N fixation, the association between legumes and Rhizobium could be useful for the rehabilitation of metal-contaminated soils by phytoextraction. A major limitation presents the metal-sensitivity of the bacterial strains. The aim of this work was to explore the usefulness of Sinorhizobium meliloti originated from a...

Diaphorina citriKuwayama (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) carriesCandidatus liberibacter spp., the putative causal agents of Huanglongbing. D. citri reproduces and develops only on the ßushing shoots of its rutaceous host plants. Here we examined whetherD. citri is attracted to host plant odors and a mixture of synthetic terpenes. Tests conducted in a vertically oriented Y-tube olfactometer showed that b...

An efficient regeneration system was developed for Kigelia pinnata L., a multipurpose tree belonging to the family Bignoniaceae. The nodal segments were cultured in vitro, and the optimum concentrations of plant growth regulators for callus induction were determined. The friable organogenic calli were derived from the basal cut end of the nodal segments. The highest yield of morphogenic callus ...

A successful protocol was established for micropropagation in two selected varieties of exotic ornamental plants, Calathea crotalifera. The effects of different sterilization techniques, explant type, and the combination and concentration of plant growth regulators on shoots induction were studied. The axillary shoot buds explants sprouted from rhizomes in soil free conditions showed high induc...