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From the 1540s through the 1570s, some French travellers started to write in a distinctive cosmographical genre of singularités, a term that brought together the exotic and unusual with the factuality of first-person observation. Especially influential examples include the learned apothecary Pierre Belon du Mans' Les observations de plusieurs singularités et choses mémorables trouvées en Grèce, Asie, Judée, Égypte, Arabie et autres pays estranges (1553). In the context of this special issue, the author offers Belon as a "hard" case for pushing the boundaries of "pilgrimage science". The straightforward claim is that he depended on genres describing voyages to the Levant, extending back to fifteenth-century accounts by best-selling authors such as Hans Tucher, Felix Fabri, Bernhard von Breydenbach, and Arnold von Harff. More significantly, framed as a case in the formation of natural history as a discipline, Belon's account of the balsam grove of Matarea lets us see how the practices of layering of observation into a fact could not separate science from pilgrimage. To make this point, Oosterhoff begins with the scholarship on Matarea and fact-making, before taking up the manner in which Matarea's balsam was related in pilgrimage narratives from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. He pauses briefly on the Renaissance topical theory that underpinned natural history, and examines Belon's account itself as an archetypic case, one embedded in later natural histories – in much the same way that pilgrimage accounts drew upon one another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Balsam seedlings were inoculated with root-knot nematodeMeloidogyne javanicaRace-2 andMacrophomina phaseolinaeither individually or concomitantly, as well as sequentially with an interval of 15 days between the nematode or fungal inoculations to determine whether the interaction was concomitant or sequential. The greater reduction in plant growth characters was observed in the plants inoculated withM. javanicaandM. phaseolina, either concomitantly or sequentially as compared to their individual inoculation. However, the highest reduction in plant growth characters were recorded in the plants inoculated withM. javanicaRace-2 15 days prior toM. phaseolinafollowed by concomitant-inoculatedM. javanicaRace-2 andM. phaseolina, andM. phaseolina15 days prior toM. javanica. The number of galls/root system and the reproduction factor of the root-knot nematode was reduced in the presence of root-rot fungus. The intensity of root-rot caused byM. phaseolinaincreased in the presence of root-knot nematodeM. javanicaas compared to whenM. phaseolinawas inoculated individually. Moreover, stem and collar-rot symptoms caused byM. phaseolinaappeared only in the presence of root-knot nematode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pathogenic effect of root-knot nematode Meloidogyne arenaria was studied on balsam (Impatiens balsamina) by inoculating the different inoculum levels of root-knot nematode. It was observed that the inoculum levels up to 2000 J2 of root-knot nematode did not show significant reduction in plant growth characters as compared to control. Although the significant reduction in plant growth characters was recorded at and above 3000 J2 of root-knot nematode, progressive increase in the host infestation as indicated by the number of galls as well as the population of root-knot nematode was recorded with an increase in the level of inoculum. However, the rate of nematode multiplication was reduced with the increase in the inoculum density of M. arenaria. It can be concluded from these results that the damaging threshold level of M. arenaria on balsam was found to be as 3000 J2/plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An investigation was conducted to study the effect of biofertilisers (Glomus fasciculatum, Azospirillum brasilense, Azotobacter chroococcum and Micro Phos) and pesticides (carbofuran and bavistin) on the management of root-rot and root-knot disease complex of balsam. The individual application of biofertilisers (G. fasciculatum, A. brasilense and A. chroococcum) significantly improved the plant growth parameters viz., length, dry weight and number of flowers compared to untreated-uninoculated plants. The simultaneous inoculation of plant with Meloidogyne javanica and Macrophomina phaseolina in the pots treated with either of the biofertilisers (G. fasciculatum, A. brasilense and A. chroococcum) and pesticides (carbofuran/bavistin) significantly improved the plant growth parameters and reduced the reproduction factor, number of galls and intensity of root-rot compared to untreated-inoculated plants. On the other hand, the plants treated with Micro Phos neither significantly improved the plant growth parameters nor reduced the reproduction factor, number of galls and intensity of root-rot. Among the biofertilisers and pesticides, carbofuran was found to be the most effective in the management of disease complex of balsam followed by bavistin, G. fasciculatum, A. brasilense and A. chroococcum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The penetration of second stage juveniles of Meloidogyne javanica started within 12 hours after inoculation and the rate of penetration gradually increased with the passage of time up to the fifth day in the plants inoculated with root-knot nematode alone and up to the sixth day when plants were infected with root-knot nematode and root-rot fungus. Mostly, the penetration of second stage juveniles of Meloidogyne javanica took place in the meristematic region but in some cases the juveniles also penetrated into the root tips and oriented themselves near the stellar region almost parallel to the longitudinal axis of the roots. The life cycle of Meloidogyne javanica on balsam was completed within 25 days, whereas the duration of the life cycle and fecundity of females was adversely affected in the presence of fungus (Macrophomina phaseolina) and it took about 33 days to complete the life cycle, i.e. the presence of Macrophomina phaseolina delayed the life cycle of the root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne javanica) by eight days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anti-fungal activity of two alkaloids isolated from bulbs of Zephyranthes citrina was observed against 10 fungi, viz, Aternaria solani, A. triticina, Curvularia lunata, C. maculuns, Cercospora malvacearum, Erysiphe sp., Fusarium udum, Helminthosporium pisi, H. speciferum and Ustilago cynodontis. Different concentrations (200, 400, 600, 800, 1000 µg/ml of alkaloids (A and B) were used. Spore germination was inhibited at 600, 800, 1000 µg/ml. B alkaloid was used against Erysiphe cichoracearum causing powdery mildew in balsam (Impatiens balsamina) in the field as pre- and post-inoculation treatments at 1000, 1500, 2000 µg/ml doses. The extract was effective in both pre- and post-inoculation treatments. Foliar application of this alkaloid resulted in inducing synthesis of phenolic acid in the leaves of balsam. Maximum phenolics were detected in the leaves treated with 1500 µg/ml in both pre- and post-inoculation treatments. The increase in the production of phenolics in treated leaves of balsam can be correlated with the induction of resistance in treated plants against powdery mildew. The significant efficacy of the alkaloid under field conditions opens the possibility of its use by farmers for also controlling other diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]