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The propagation of fruit trees, particularly peaches, nectarines and canning clingstone, has reached highly specialized levels since the 1960s. Over the years, the classic seed rootstocks have been replaced by numerous rootstocks produced in vitro, expanding the range of technical solutions for the different soil and climatic growing conditions of several areas. Thanks to the new genotypes from international breeding programs, it was thus possible to renew the cultivated varietal platform several times. Propagation techniques have also undergone an evolution, adopting solutions aimed at shortening nurseries’ production cycles by using June budding or micrografting. Finally, there are different types of plants available for peach growers. Bare root plants, potted trees of different sizes with several mixture also activated by bio agents are suitable for the different growing and training systems to be adopted. In order to guarantee trueness to type and plant health and to counteract the introduction and spread of dangerous harmful organisms in Europe, at EU level, production and marketing of plant propagation materials is also regulated by mandatory standards for peach trees, although it is possible to join to voluntary certification schemes which ensure higher guarantee to the plants. All these issues are being discussed in the current article.

A large portion of modern olive plantings is dominated by one main cultivar (‘Arbequina’) planted at super high density (SHD, 1,500 tree ha‑1), leading to a dangerous reduction in olive biodiversity. Very few cultivars have growth and productive patterns that suit the SHD system requirements. Partial intensification and mechanization with several cultivars may represent the safest and easiest alternative. The efficient use of limited natural resources, such as water, in SHD systems, requires precise management. Continuous plant-based sensing is a promising approach to managing water, mainly tested on the cultivar ‘Arbequina’. In this study, we evaluated the sensitivity of two promising indicators of plant water status in two Sicilian olive cultivars differ in their level of drought tolerance: 1) the minimum daily output pressure (Ppmin) measured with the leaf patch clamp pressure (LPCP) probe and 2) the maximum daily relative growth rate difference (RGRrange) measured with fruit gauges. Based on the indicators trends, we defined four water status conditions and related them to specific midday stem water potential (Ψstem) thresholds. In addition, the relation between Ppmin and RGRrange highlighted a greater tendency of the more drought tolerant cultivar to maintain leaf turgor under water deficit. This was accompanied by an increase in daily variations of leaf turgor and fruit shrinkage, not observed in the less drought tolerant cultivar. These results suggest tailoring plant-based water management protocols on cultivar-specific physiological responses to water deficit.

The long-lived and evergreen olive tree dominates the Mediterranean landscape, representing an agroecological and cultural symbol and a genetic heritage of inestimable value. Sicily, for historical, geographical, and cultural reasons, has a very rich and distinctive olive germplasm. In this work, a large survey was conducted to discover, collect, and characterize the genetic diversity of centennial monumental olive trees from historical sites, such as the Greek Temple Valley (Agrigento), ancient gardens, or farmland present in the western part of the island. Trees were chosen based on their height, trunk, stump size, and presumed age; particularly, only olive trees with an age estimated at more than 400 years old were taken into consideration. For the morphological characterization, the leaf, fruit, and endocarp traits were analyzed. For the molecular characterization, 11 polymorphic microsatellite markers largely used for fingerprinting analysis were used. Reference cultivars were included in the analysis for comparison. Nuclear DNA was extracted from different parts of the plant (young leaves of shoots taken from the canopy and young leaves taken from suckers, which arose from the basal part of the tree) to check if the trees were grafted and to explore their diversity. Most of the monumental trees have been grafted at least one time during their long life, and some genotypes showed unique genetic profiles combined with peculiar phenotypic traits. Suckers (rootstock of the trees) showed a strict genetic relationship with an ancient monumental oleaster tree, also included in the study. “Patriarch” (original mother plants) trees of local cultivars were also identified. This research revealed a high level of the still unexplored genetic diversity of the Sicilian olive germplasm and highlighted its importance as a gene reservoir, which could support new breeding programs for the evaluation and possible selection of traits linked to putative resilience to abiotic and biotic stresses (particularly Xylella fastidiosa subsp. pauca ST53 or soil- borne diseases or insects). The results will be useful for improving the conservation process, enriching existing collections of olive genetic resources, and supporting on-farm conservation projects.

Field lacrosse requires sudden directional changes and rapid acceleration/deceleration. The capacity to perform these skills is dependent on explosive muscle force production. Limited research exists on the potential of sprint interval training (SIT) to impact explosive muscle force production in field lacrosse players. The purpose of this study is to examine SIT, concurrent to field-lacrosse-specific training, on the rate of torque development (RTD), contractile impulse, and muscle function in female high school field lacrosse players (n = 12; 16 ± 1 yrs.). SIT was performed three times per week, concurrent to field-lacrosse-specific training, for 12 weeks. Right lower-limb muscle performance was assessed pre-, mid-, and post-SIT training via isometric and isokinetic concentric knee extensor contractions. Outcomes included RTD (Nm·s−1), contractile impulse (Nm·s), and peak torque (Nm). RTD for the first 50 ms of contraction improved by 42% by midseason and remained elevated at postseason (p = 0.004, effect size (ES) = −577.3 to 66.5). Contractile impulse demonstrated a training effect across 0–50 ms (42%, p = 0.004, ES = −1.4 to 0.4), 0–100 ms (33%, p = 0.018, ES = 3.1 to 0.9), and 0–200 ms (22%, p = 0.031, ES = −7.8 to 1.6). Isometric (0 rad·s−1) and concentric (3.1 rad·s−1) strength increased by 20% (p = 0.002, ES = −60.8 to −20.8) and 9% (p = 0.038, ES = −18.2 to 0.0) from SIT and field-lacrosse-specific training, respectively (p < 0.05). SIT, concurrent to field-lacrosse-specific training, enhanced lower-limb skeletal muscle performance, which may enable greater sport-specific gains.

Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) may reduce health risks associated with chronic exposure to smoke and their potential benefits have been the matter of intense scientific debate. We aimed to replicate three published studies on cytotoxic and inflammatory effects of cigarette smoke and ENDS aerosol in an independent multi-center ring study. We aimed to establish the reliability of results and the robustness of conclusions by replicating the authors’ experimental protocols and further validating them with different techniques. Human bronchial epithelial cells (NCI-H292) were exposed to cigarette whole smoke and vapor phase and to aerosol from ENDS. We also assessed the inflammatory cytokines interleukin-6 and interleukin-8 and the remodeling mediator matrix metalloproteinase-1. We replicated cell viability results and confirmed that almost 80% of cytotoxic effects are due to volatile compounds in the vapor phase of smoke. Our findings substantiated the reduced cytotoxic effects of ENDS aerosol. However, our data on inflammatory and remodeling activity triggered by smoke differed significantly from those in the original reports. Taken together, independent data from multiple laboratories clearly demonstrated the reduced toxicity of ENDS products compared to cigarettes.

Olive tree (Olea europaea L) represents one of the most important evergreen tree species. In Sicily agroforestry systems based on the olive tree, named traditional olive orchard, are common and often are grown together to other tree crops, such as vineyards, or with cereals or forages. This last are usually grown in the interspace between rows and particularly in olive groves were planting density is rather low (less than 200 trees/ha). To increase crop efficiency and to reduce costs of harvesting, by using proper machines, in the last 20 years in the olive industry have been developed new planting systems: Intensive (up to 400 trees/ha), and the Superintensive (up to 2000 trees/ha). Within the project LIFE15 OLIVE4CLIMATE has been evaluated the balance, in terms of biomass and of carbon sequestration, for the above olive orchard systems. The biomass of orchard was evaluated both in the above- and in the below-ground tree components. The dry matter of the vegetation removed by pruning was evaluated as well. The enlargement of trunk cross sectional area, the dry matter accumulated in the cover crop and the root biomass were measured as well. By the data currently collected resulted that carbon sequestration efficiency in the Traditional olive orchards is greater than in the Superintensive ones and this, affects the carbon sequestration efficiency in the two orchard systems studied.

Measurement(s)Abundance center dot Nematoda center dot environmental factorTechnology Type(s)Elutriative Centrifugation center dot computational modeling techniqueFactor Type(s)geographic locationSample Characteristic - OrganismNematodaSample Characteristic - Environmentsoil environment center dot climateSample Characteristic - LocationEarth (planet) Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data: 10.6084/m9.figshare.11925843 As the most abundant animals on earth, nematodes are a dominant component of the soil community. They play critical roles in regulating biogeochemical cycles and vegetation dynamics within and across landscapes and are an indicator of soil biological activity. Here, we present a comprehensive global dataset of soil nematode abundance and functional group composition. This dataset includes 6,825 georeferenced soil samples from all continents and biomes. For geospatial mapping purposes these samples are aggregated into 1,933 unique 1-km pixels, each of which is linked to 73 global environmental covariate data layers. Altogether, this dataset can help to gain insight into the spatial distribution patterns of soil nematode abundance and community composition, and the environmental drivers shaping these patterns.

Olivicoltura a basso impatto ambientale per contrastare le variazioni climatiche in Life Olive4Climate come contribuire alla mitigazione dei cambiamenti del clima con lo sviluppo di una filiera sostenibile dell’olio extravergine

ATLANTE DEI FRUTTIFERI AUTOCTONI ITALIANI. Si tratta di un'opera composta da tre volumi, circa 1800 pagine realizzate da oltre 200 autori tra ricercatori di tutte le università italiane e tecnici delle regioni e degli enti regionali di sviluppo agricolo. L'opera presenta 13 specie di frutta originaria della penisola italiana: pero e melo (Pomacee), Agrumi, Fico, Frutta secca (castagno, noce (Il NOCE Capitolo III), mandorlo, nocciolo, pistacchio), Drupacee (ciliegio, albicocco, pesco e susino). Le varietà descritte sono più di 5000: quelle più diffuse hanno una scheda molto ampia con relative foto, quelle meno diffuse sono descritte più sinteticamente anche se con riferimenti bibliografici precisi, per chi volesse approfondirne la conoscenza. L'opera è un censimento pressoché completo di tutti i fruttiferi autoctoni e rappresenta un lavoro di notevole rilevanza scientifica