Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) is a widely used leafy vegetable belonging to the family Asteraceae (2n = 18). It is nutritionally rich with medicinal property and well known for its high vitamin A content, and minerals like calcium and iron. This is the only crop which is rich in Lactupicrin and act as an anticancerous as well as, suitable candidate for the production and delivery of therapeutic p...

Nasonovia ribisnigri is a key pest of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) in Brazil that requires alternative control methods to synthetic pesticides. We report, for the first time, the occurrence of Paecilomyces niveus as an entomopathogen of the aphid Nasonovia ribisnigri in Pinhais, Paraná, Brazil. Samples of mummified aphids were collected from lettuce crops. The fungus P. niveus (PaePR) was isolat...

The infectious hepatitis B virus represents 42 nm spherical double-shelled particles. However, analysis of blood from hepatitis B virus carriers revealed the presence of smaller 22 nm particles consisting of a viral envelope surface protein. These particles are highly immunogenic and have been used in the design of hepatitis B virus vaccine produced in yeast. Upon expression in yeast, these pro...

The survival and growth of Listeria monocytogenes on fresh lettuce (Lactuca sativa), cucumber (Cucumis sativus) epidermis and parsley (Petroselinum sativum) under different relative humidity (RH) conditions and storage temperatures was studied. Inoculated vegetable pieces were stored at 10C for 7 days, 20C for 5 days, and 30C for 24 h, and at 53 and 90% RH. L. monocytogenes was enumerated perio...

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on the antioxidant status, photosynthesis, mineral content and growth of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) under different soil salinity conditions. Increasing salinity in the soil decreased plant growth, photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, chlorophyll content, and mineral uptake compared to soil wi...

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) seeds have poor shelf life and exhibit thermoinhibition (fail to germinate) above ∼25°C. Seed priming (controlled hydration followed by drying) alleviates thermoinhibition by increasing the maximum germination temperature, but reduces lettuce seed longevity. Controlled deterioration (CD) or accelerated ageing storage conditions (i.e. elevated temperature and relative...

Hybridization and introgression between crops and wild relatives may have important evolutionary and ecological consequences such as gene swamping or increased invasiveness. In the present study, we investigated hybridization under field conditions between crop lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and its wild relative prickly lettuce (L. serriola), two cross-compatible, predominantly autogamous and insect...

The forces required to puncture intact lettuce (Lactuca sativa) seed and pericarp, endosperm and embryo were measured by the Instron Universal Testing Machine. It required about 0.6 newton to puncture the endosperm in seeds imbibed in the dark at 6, 12 and 24 hours. Endosperm of seeds imbibed in the light or in dark with gibberellic acid required about 4.2 newtons at 6 and at 12 hours and only ...

Grand Rapids lettuce seeds (Lactuca sativa L.) with 6 to 8% water content show no light-induced germination responses, whereas in seeds with 15% or more water content, germination is promoted or retarded by red and far red light respectively. By adjusting seed water content, persistent potentiated responses to light are induced in the seeds at seed water levels much below that required for germ...