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The aim of the study is to observe harmful mites and insect species and their natural enemies being in strawberry areas in Halkapınar District of Konya Province of Türkiye in 2011. Different methods were used to detect pests and useful insect species; picking up insects by using aerial net, examine of leaves, flowers, fruits and offshoots by inspection and lupe, in counting leaf determining of amount of insects and mites for per leaflet and pitfall trap methods. As a result, one mite species, 19 pest species from 5 orders belonging to 16 families and 8 beneficial insect species from 4 orders belonging to 6 families were determined. According to intensity and extensity, the important, harmful insects were Tetranychus urticae Koch, Thrips tabaci Lindeman, Brachycaudus helichrysi Kaltenbach and Chaetosiphon fragaefolii Cockerell; and beneficial insects were Coccinella septempunctata L Scymnus pallipediformis Günther, Scymnus rubromaculatus Goeze and Scolothrips longicornis Prisner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fruit infections have an impact on both the yield and the quality of the crop. As a result, an automated recognition system for fruit leaf diseases is important. In artificial intelligence (AI) applications, especially in agriculture, deep learning shows promising disease detection and classification results. The recent AI-based techniques have a few challenges for fruit disease recognition, such as low-resolution images, small datasets for learning models, and irrelevant feature extraction. This work proposed a new fruit leaf leaf leaf disease recognition framework using deep learning features and improved pathfinder optimization. Three fruit types have been employed in this work for the validation process, such as apple, grape, and Citrus. In the first step, a noisy dataset is prepared by employing the original images to learn the designed framework better. The EfficientNet-B0 deep model is fine-tuned on the next step and trained separately on the original and noisy data. After that, features are fused using a serial concatenation approach that is later optimized in the next step using an improved Path Finder Algorithm (PFA). This algorithm aims to select the best features based on the fitness score and ignore redundant information. The selected features are finally classified usingmachine learning classifiers such asMediumNeuralNetwork, WideNeuralNetwork, and Support Vector Machine. The experimental process was conducted on each fruit dataset separately and obtained an accuracy of 100%, 99.7%, 99.7%, and 93.4% for apple, grape, Citrus fruit, and citrus plant leaves, respectively. A detailed analysis is conducted and also compared with the recent techniques, and the proposed framework shows improved accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae) is the most important insect pest of fruits. Indicated that adult females lay their eggs under the skin of the fruit and hatch into larvae that feed on the fruit flesh. Infested fruits rapidly rot and become inedible or fall on the ground, which causes serious damage in production. This study aimed to evaluate the infestation levels of three different fruit varieties mango, pomegranate, and navel orange by C. capitata insect at Alexandria Governorate during seasons 2021 and 2022. The levels of infestation with the Mediterranean fruit fly (MFF), C. capitata on three different fruit varieties, mango, pomegranate, and navel orange were studied at Borg El-Arab, Alexandria Governorate during two successive seasons (2021 and 2022). Results obtained indicated that the levels of infestation by C. capitata were significant in both seasons in the three different varieties, where the variance of ratio was (97.9- 97.6%), for mango, (97.3 - 98.1%) for pomegranate with no differences between the mango and pomegranate where recorded (96.4 - 94.5%) for navel orange for two successive seasons, respectively. The relation between the average numbers of dropping fruits, infested dropping, and percentages of infestation for the three different fruit varieties, mango, pomegranate, and navel orange for two successive seasons 2021 and 2022 were (81.3-87.1%) for mango, (81.6-73.5%) for pomegranate and (92.8-85.4%) for navel orange. Statistical analysis showed that the simple correlation of % infestation dropping fruits of mango and max. and min. temperatures were highly significant whereas (r = 0.1931 & 0.4955) for max. & min. the temperature in the first season of 2021, respectively. Relative humidity was negatively significant, (r = - 0.1919). While in pomegranate was no significant with max., the mini. temperatures were (r = 0.7411, 0.5493) while being negative and significant with relative humidity were (- 0.6297(. In navel orange max. the temperature was significant (r= 0.0690), mini. the temperature was highly significant (r = 0.1567). While relative humidity was negative and insignificant (r = - 0.5662) for the first season, 2021. The second season, 2022, follows the same trend. Regarding the percentages of infestation during two successive years, navel orange recorded the highest infestation percentage (92.6% - 85%), then (81.7% - 87.1%) for mango and (80.6%-71.8%) for pomegranate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fruit diseases brought on by fungus infestation leads to postharvest losses of fresh fruit. Approximately 30% of harvested fruits do not reach consumers' plates due to postharvest losses. Fungal pathogens play a substantial part in those losses, as they cause the majority of fruit rots and consumer complaints. Understanding fungal pathogenic processes and control measures is crucial for developing disease prevention and treatment strategies. In this review, we covered the presented pathogen entry, environmental conditions for pathogenesis, fruit's response to pathogen attack, molecular mechanisms by which fungi infect fruits in the postharvest phase, production of mycotoxin, virulence factors, fungal genes involved in pathogenesis, and recent strategies for protecting fruit from fungal attack. Then, in order to investigate new avenues for ensuring fruit production, existing fungal management strategies were then assessed based on their mechanisms for altering the infection process. The goal of this review is to bridge the knowledge gap between the mechanisms of fungal disease progression and numerous disease control strategies being developed for fruit farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae) is a major invasive pest of caneberries (e.g., blackberries and raspberries) and other thin-skinned fruit crops. In recent years, it has been reported as an economically important fruit pest in many countries. In caneberries, the timely detection and management of invasive insect pests such as D. suzukii is important to maintain profitability and avoid fruit export restriction. Invasions by such new pest species in commercial crop production often changes pesticide use patterns and frequency as growers try to control pest populations on their farms. In this study, we examined the seasonal population of D. suzukii and pesticide use patterns before and after D. suzukii invasion in primocane-fruiting raspberry and floricane-fruiting blackberry crop production in Pennsylvania. The results of seasonal monitoring conducted over two years showed higher populations of D. suzukii fruit flies during the settle period. The evaluation of crop-specific pesticide programs showed an increase in pesticide use frequency compared to the crop season before D. suzukii invasion in the blackberry planting. Similarly, over a five-fold increase in pesticide application was recorded in the raspberry planting in the year following invasion. The implications of increased pesticide use patterns in blackberry and raspberry production are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Bangladesh, being a densely populated country, hinges on agriculture for the security of finance and food to a large extent. Hence, both the fruits' quantity and quality turn out to be very important, which can be degraded due to the attacks of various diseases. Automated fruit disease recognition can help fruit farmers, especially remote farmers, for whom adequate cultivation support is required. Two daunting problems, namely disease detection, and disease classification are raised by automated fruit disease recognition. In this research, we conduct an intense investigation of the applicability of automated recognition of the diseases of three available Bangladeshi local fruits, viz. guava, jackfruit, and papaya. After exerting four notable segmentation algorithms, K -means clustering segmentation algorithm is selected to segregate the disease-contaminated parts from a fruit image. Then some discriminatory features are extracted from these disease-contaminated parts. Nine noteworthy classification algorithms are applied for disease classification to thoroughly get the measure of their merits. It is observed that random forest outperforms the eight other classifiers by disclosing an accuracy of 96.8% and 89.59% for guava and jackfruit, respectively, whereas support vector machine attains an accuracy of 94.9% for papaya, which can be claimed good as well as attractive for forthcoming research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acerola (Malpighia emarginata DC.) is a shrub species that grows in tropical and subtropical climates; it is native to southern Mexico, Central America and northern South America. Its fruits have a high vitamin C content and are considered one of the most potent and least toxic natural antioxidants. Among the main pest species causing crop damage is the genus Anthonomus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). In 2019, surveys were conducted in the western region of Cuba to evaluate the presence of pests in plants located in the localities of Alquizar and Ceiba del Agua, belonging to the province of Artemisa. They collected 100 flowers and 100 green fruits of different sizes that presented deformations and symptoms characteristic of damage caused by an insect. A total of 344 holes were counted, for an average of 3.4 holes per fruit; in addition, 230 larvae, 114 eggs, 65 pupae and 81 adults of a coleopteran. The objective of the work was to identify the species of the insect associated with the observed damage. The morphological characters of the collected insect allowed the identification of Anthonomus sisyphus Clark as the cause of damage to acerola fruits and constitutes the first report of this species as a pest of this fruit tree in Cuba. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbes on fresh apples are closely associated with fruit disease, preservation, and quality control. Investigation into the microbial communities on apples from different producing regions could reveal the microbial specificity and help disease prevention and quality control. In this paper, the apple surface microbes of 44 samples from two main Chinese apple-producing regions, Bohai Bay (BHB) and the Loess Plateau (LP), were investigated by sequencing fungal internal transcribed spacer and bacterial 16S rRNA hypervariable sequences. BHB and LP apples contained significantly different bacterial and fungal communities. BHB apples had a higher fungal diversity than LP apples. A total of 102 different fungal and bacterial taxonomies were obtained between apples from the two regions, in which 24 genera were predominant. BHB apples had higher phytopathogenic fungal genera, such as Tilletiopsis , Acremonium , Candida , and Phoma , indicating the higher phytopathogenic risks of apples from the humid climate of the BHB region. LP apples contained more bacterial genera identified as gut microbes, indicating the potential risks of contaminating apples with foodborne pathogens in the arid environment of the LP. This study highlighted the environment-oriented microbial specificity on apples from two main apple-producing regions, and provided a basis for further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study which reported symptoms of Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris strain affecting lingonberry Vaccinium vitis-idaea and causing lingonberry stunt phytoplasma disease in Quebec. Topics include details of DNA analysis conducted to confirm the association of the phytoplasma with the symptoms, a list of lingonberry cultivars analyzed in the study and the virtual restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) pattern obtained for blueberry and lingonberry stunt phytoplasma.

The diseases presence in various species of fruits are the crucial parameter of economic composition and degradation of the cultivation industry around the world. The proposed pear fruit disease identification neural network (PFDINN) frame-work to identify three types of pear diseases was presented in this work. The major phases of the presented frame-work were as the following: (1) the infected area in the pear fruit was detected by using the algorithm of K-means clustering. (2) hybrid statistical features were computed over the segmented pear image and combined to form one descriptor. (3) Feed forward neural network (FFNN), which depends on three learning algorithms of back propagation (BP) training, namely Scaled conjugate gradient (SCG-BP), Resilient (R-BP) and Bayesian regularization (BR-BP), was used in the identification process. Pear fruit was taken as the experiment case during this work with three classifications of diseases, namely fire blight, pear scab, and sooty blotch, as compared to healthy pears. PFDINN framework was trained and tested using 2D pear fruit images collected from the Fruit Crops Diseases Database (FCDD). The presented framework achieved 94.6%, 97.3%, and 96.3% efficiency for SCG-BP, R-BP, and BR-BP, respectively. An accuracy value of 100% was achieved when the R-BP learning algorithm was trained for identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sooty spot disease in kiwifruit is caused by Pseudocercospora actinidiae and is being reported here for the first time in Brazil. Morphological and molecular observations were consistent with those previously reported for P. actinidiae that have been associated with sooty spot disease on kiwifruit. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of P. actinidiae causing sooty spot disease on kiwifruit outside of the Asian continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contamination with a variety of filamentous fungi can cause deterioration of food and agricultural products. Fungal contaminations reduce the quality and the shelf life of fresh fruits and are one of the main causes of economic loss in the global fresh fruit industry. Although chemical fungicides are effective and traditionally used to control postharvest fungal diseases, they are harmful to human health. In this context, use of RNA interference (RNAi)‐based fungicides is a promising alternative strategy. Spray‐induced gene silencing (SIGS) is an innovative RNAi‐based approach for silencing target genes in phytopathogens. This review aims to discuss the recent findings on the use of RNAi‐based fungicides to control the postharvest spoilage of fresh fruits. Practical Application: Control of postharvest fungal diseases is one of the most important strategies to make food available to consumers longer. In this sense, the external application of RNAi seems to be technologically advantageous and efficient as it helps to maintain the characteristics of plant products. In this sense, this review discussed what is possible to find in the literature regarding this new technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is aimed to review the geometrid moth fauna in different areas of India. In India, 2041 species of geometrid moths are present belonging to seven subfamilies. Ennominae has maximum species number of 858, followed by Larentiinae with 565 species, Geometrinae with 294 species, Sterrhinae with 282 species, Desmobathrinae with 29 species, Oenochrominae with nine species, and Orthostixinae with four species. By the scrutiny of literature, it has been found that Ennominae is the dominant subfamily and that each subfamily has its own significance in environment. The geometrid moths possess significant habitat fidelity hence act as important group for ecological studies. They also act as pests of crops and fruit plants so there is a great need of future planning for the conservation of this important group of moths as well as their host plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results revealed that the mean population of jassids (Amrasca devastans) was 2.82 number / okra leaf in IPM plot, whereas in non-IPM plot it was 5.43 number / leaf. Similarly, the maximum mean population of whitefly (Bemesia tabaci) was recorded in okra grown in control plot with 4.54 number / leaf followed by non-IPM plot with 1.17 number / leaf and 0.42 number / okra leaf in IPM plot. The average population of two spotted mites / sq.cm leaf area was 0.54 number in IPM plot, whereas it was 1.03 and 4.04 number / sq.cm leaf area in non-IPM and control plots of okra, respectively. The mean number of Earias vittella larvae was 0.43 and 0.61 numbers / fruit in IPM and non-IPM plots respectively. Similarly, the bud infestation was lowest in IPM plot followed by non IPM and control plots of okra. The lowest shoot infestation also showed the same trend minimum % fruit damage in IPM (7.5%) followed by non-IPM plot (15.0%) and control (32.8%). The residues of imidachloprid (6.7 ppm), thiomethoxam (3.8 ppm), flubendiamide (7.9 ppm), chlorantraniliprole (6.5 ppm) were identified in the harvested okra fruits from non-IPM plot which are far above the MRL, however, no pesticides were detected in the okra fruits from IPM plots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the surveys undertaken in the orchards of Sousse, Tunisia in 2018 which reported Fusarium oxysporum and Globisporangium ultimum as the causes of pomegranate fruit rot in the country. Topics include a description of the diseased fruits observed, the morphological characteristics of F. oxysporum and G. ultimatum identified in the samples collected, and how the pathogenicity of the species was demonstrated.

Blueberry fruit are perishable after harvesting due to fruit softening, water loss and susceptibility to pathogens. Light, especially blue light, increases the accumulation of anthocyanins and reduces postharvest decay in some fruits, but the effect of blue light on postharvest fruit quality attributes in blueberries is unknown. In this study, we evaluated the effect of blue light on fruit quality, anthocyanin accumulation and disease development during postharvest cold storage (2 °C-4 °C) in two experiments with southern highbush blueberry 'Star' and rabbiteye blueberry 'Alapaha'. Overall, diurnal blue light did not affect postharvest fruit quality attributes, such as visual defects, fruit compression, skin puncture, total soluble solid content and titratable acidity, in the two cultivars compared with their respective controls (diurnal white light or continuous darkness). Further, there was no effect of blue light on fruit color and anthocyanin accumulation. Fruit disease incidence in 'Star' ranged from 19.0% to 27.3% after 21 days and in 'Alapaha' from 44.9% to 56.2% after 24 days in postharvest storage, followed by 4 days at room temperature, but blue light had no consistent effect on postharvest disease incidence for either cultivar. Disease progression following artificial inoculations with Alternaria tenuissima and Colletotrichum acutatum in 'Star' was not influenced by light treatment prior to inoculation and during fruit storage. In a separate experiment, we tested the effect of blue light on color development in 'Farthing', a southern highbush blueberry cultivar with fruit prone to non-uniform ripening, whereby the stem-end remains green as the rest of the fruit turns blue. Although green stem-end spots turned blue over time, there was no statistically significant effect of the blue light treatment. Overall, these data indicate that blue light does not affect fruit quality attributes or disease development in ripe blueberry fruit during postharvest storage in the conditions investigated here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Penicillium digitatum is the main fungal postharvest pathogen of citrus fruit under Mediterranean climate conditions. The role of ethylene in the P. digitatum–citrus fruit interaction is unclear and controversial. We analyzed the involvement of the 2-oxoglutarate-dependent ethylene-forming enzyme (EFE)-encoding gene (efeA) of P. digitatum on the pathogenicity of the fungus. The expression of P. digitatumefeA parallels ethylene production during growth on PDA medium, with maximum levels reached during sporulation. We generated ΔefeA knockout mutants in P. digitatum strain Pd1. These mutants showed no significant defect on mycelial growth or sporulation compared to the parental strain. However, the knockout mutants did not produce ethylene in vitro. Citrus pathogenicity assays showed no differences in virulence between the parental and ΔefeA knockout mutant strains, despite a lack of ethylene production by the knockout mutant throughout the infection process. This result suggests that ethylene plays no role in P. digitatum pathogenicity. Our results clearly show that EFE-mediated ethylene synthesis is the major ethylene synthesis pathway in the citrus postharvest pathogen P. digitatum during both in vitro growth on PDA medium and the infection process, and that this hormone is not necessary for establishing P. digitatum infection in citrus fruit. However, our results also indicate that ethylene produced by P. digitatum during sporulation on the fruit surface may influence the development of secondary fungal infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monilinia laxa is an important fungal plant pathogen causing brown rot on many stone and pome fruits worldwide. Mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) plays a critical role in evolutionary biology of the organisms. This study aimed to characterize the complete mitogenome of M. laxa by using next-generation sequencing and approaches of de novo assembly and annotation. The total length of the mitogenome of M. laxa was 178,357 bp, and its structure was circular. GC content of the mitogenome was 30.1%. Annotation of the mitogenome presented 2 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, 32 transfer RNA genes (tRNA), 1 gene encoding mitochondrial ribosomal protein S3, 14 protein-coding genes and 15 open reading frame encoding hypothetical proteins. Moreover, the group I mobile introns encoding homing endonucleases including LAGLIDADG and GIY-YIG families were found both within coding regions (genic) and intergenic regions of the mitogenome, indicating an enlarged size and a dynamic structure of the mitogenome. Furthermore, a comparative mitogenomic analysis was performed between M. laxa and the three closely related fungal phytopathogen species (Botryotinia fuckeliana, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and, S. borealis). Due to the number and distribution of introns, the large extent of structural rearrangements and diverse mitogenome sizes were detected among the species investigated. Monilinia laxa presented the highest number of homing endonucleases among the fungal species considered in the analyses. This study is the first to report a detailed annotation of the mitogenome of an isolate of M. laxa, providing a solid basis for further investigations of mitogenome variations for the other Monilinia pathogens causing brown rot disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hot water treatment (HT) has proved to alleviate chilling injury (CI) in bell pepper and other Solanaceae species, this has been associated with the presence of metabolites such as sugars and polyamines, which protect the plasmatic membrane. However, it is unknown if the phenolic compounds in bell pepper play a role in the CI tolerance induced by the application of a HT. The aim of this study was to identify the specific phenolics associated with induced CI tolerance in bell pepper by HT (53 °C, 1 to 3 min). Fruit treated for 1 min (HT‐1 min) exhibited CI tolerance (the lowest symptom development, electrolyte leakage, and vitamin C loss) and was the chosen treatment for further experiments. The phenolic composition was affected by HT‐1 min and CI. Phenolics presented a strong correlation with the antioxidant activity. In fruit with CI tolerance, the concentration of seven compounds was increased, being quercetin‐O‐rhamnoside‐O‐hexoside and chlorogenic acid the most remarkable. Quercetin‐3‐O‐rhamnoside was accumulated only in fruit with induced tolerance, meanwhile orientin was particularly sensitive to heat and cold exposure. Thus, HT‐1 min (53 °C, 1 min) is a useful technology to induce CI tolerance in bell pepper and such tolerance is associated with the phenolic composition that may reduce the prevalence of oxidative stress during the storage under CI conditions. Practical Application: Phenolics induced by CI and HT may be useful to detect early stages of heat and chilling injuries in bell pepper and prevent the negative effect of such stresses even before its harvest and during commercial storage. Additionally, the phenolics associated with CI tolerance may be used as markers in breeding programs to create new chilling resistant cultivars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Commission requested EFSA (M‐2017‐0137) to assist the Member States to plan annual survey activities of quarantine organisms using a statistically sound and risk‐based pest survey approach, in line with current international standards. Phyllostictacitricarpa is a Union quarantine pest and the causal agent of citrus black spot (CBS). It is not known to occur in the EU so special requirements for the import of its host plants and fruit from third countries are in place to prevent its introduction and spread. P. citricarpa produces asexual pycnidia and pycnidiospores on fruit lesions, twigs and leaf litter, but it can also reproduce sexually, giving rise to pseudothecia and ascospores, which are particularly important for long‐range dissemination. Most commercial citrus species are susceptible to CBS. Due to the variety of environments in which the fungus is currently distributed, all citrus‐growing areas in the EU are potentially suitable for the establishment of the pest. The main pathways for its introduction and spread include production, handling and transport of infected plants for planting or fruit. The goal of the visual examination is to detect the symptoms caused by P. citricarpa. Since symptoms are non‐specific and may be highly variable, visual examination should be followed by laboratory testing. Moreover, CBS has a long incubation period and infected fruit may still be asymptomatic at maturity. In this case, symptom induction methods or other early detection approaches (e.g. airborne spore traps or rain collectors for splash‐dispersed conidia) could be further explored. For symptomatic fruit, three mainmethods foridentifyingP. citricarpain the laboratoryare presented.Based on the analyses of the information on the pest–host plant system, the variousunits that are needed to design asurvey should be defined and tailored to the situation of each Member State. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In May 2019, mature jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) fruits were found infected with fan-shaped white mycelia and brown to black sclerotia at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Gazipur, Bangladesh. The fungus was successfully isolated on potato dextrose agar medium. The internal transcribed spacer region of rDNA was amplified using the primer pair ITS1 and ITS4. Based on morphology and molecular characterisation, the fungus was identified as Athelia rolfsii. This is the first report of fruit rot disease on jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) caused by Athelia rolfsii in Bangladesh and worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was studied the etiology of a fruit disease spots in form of a speckling of Cavendish banana fruits that causes fruit quality deterioration and commercial rejection. For this purpose, peel spots were placed in humid chambers to incite fungal development, and isolations were carried out on water agar + streptomycin. To fulfill Koch postulates, CEMSA 3/4 and Burro CEMSA fruits were inoculated with a spore suspension of 1x105 conidia/ml and incubated at room temperature under high relative humidity. Fruits of Cavendish and Gros Michel (AAA), CEMSA 3/4 and Pisang ceylan (AAB), Pisang awak and Burro CEMSA (ABB) were inoculated as described. The fungus Corynespora torulosa (Syd) Crous, comb. new (syn. Deightoniella torulosa (Syd.), M.B. Ellis) was uniformly recovered from the humid chambers and isolations. The artificial inoculations of Cavendish fruits with the isolates obtained reproduced the speckling symptoms, and C. torulosa was confirmed as the causal agent of speckling. All varieties inoculated showed to be susceptible to the pathogen. It is the first time that C. torulosa is described in Cuba as the causal agent of fruit speckling previously attributed to other causes. C. torulosa is a colonizer of senescent leaves, fruit flowers, and bracts of Musa plants and becomes airborne during appropriate environmental conditions. It is discussed that sanitation of senescent leaves and fruits organs are essential to reduce incidence of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Hongyang kiwifruit is more resistant to blue mold than Qihong kiwifruit. • Hongyang kiwifruit showed a higher biochemical resistance than Qihong kiwifruit. • The outer epidermal structure of Hongyang kiwifruit has disease resistance characteristics. Abstract This study aimed to reveal the physiological mechanism of resistance to postharvest blue mold of kiwifruit. Hongyang and Qihong kiwifruits were inoculated with Penicillium expansum (P. expansum) and stored at low temperature (0 ± 1 °C). The disease incidence and lesion diameter, activities of defense-related enzymes, and contents of defense-related substance of Hongyang and Qihong kiwifruits were also compared, combined with the observation of fruit pericarp structure by scanning electron microscopy. Results showed that the disease resistance of Hongyang was stronger than that of Qihong with late onset, low incidence, and small lesion diameter. And Hongyang kiwifruit showed a high biochemical resistance after inoculation with P. expansum. The epidermis structure of Hongyang kiwifruit had typical disease resistance characteristics with a dense epidermis structure, orderly cell arrangement, and less obvious microcracks. The strong biochemical resistance, dense, and complete epidermis structure of Hongyang fundamentally guarantee its strong resistance to diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic cold exposure is detrimental to chill susceptible insects that may accumulate chill injuries. To cope with deleterious effects of cold temperature, insects employ a variety of physiological strategies and metabolic adjustments, such as production of cryoprotectants, or remodeling of cellular membranes. Cold tolerance is a key element determining the fundamental niche of species. Because Drosophila suzukii is an invasive fruit pest, originating from East Asia, knowledge about its thermal biology is urgently needed. Physiological mechanisms underlying cold tolerance plasticity remain poorly understood in this species. Here, we explored metabolic and lipidomic modifications associated with the acquisition of cold tolerance in D. suzukii using Omics technologies (LC- and GC-MS/MS). In both cold-acclimated males and females, we observed physiological changes consistent with homeoviscous/homeophasic adaptation of membranes: reshuffling of phospholipid head groups and increasing unsaturation rate of fatty acids. Modification of fatty acids unsaturation were also observed in triacylglycerides, which would likely increase accessibility of lipid reserves. At the metabolic level, we observed clear-cut differentiation of metabolic profiles with cold-acclimated metabotypes showing accumulation of several potential cryoprotectants (sugars and amino acids). Metabolic pathway analyses indicated a remodeling of various processes, including purine metabolism and aminoacyl tRNA biosynthesis. These data provide a large-scale characterization of lipid rearrangements and metabolic pathway modifications in D. suzukii in response to cold acclimation and contribute to characterizing the strategies used by this species to modulate cold tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aromia bungii is a serious pest of stone fruit trees including cherries, plums, peaches and apricots. It is native to eastern Asia but has recently been introduced into and has established in Japan, Germany and Italy and has been intercepted in cargo entering the USA and Great Britain. We synthesized the naturally produced enantiomer of the major pheromone component, (E)-2-cis-6,7-epoxynonenal, and in field tests, comparing its attractiveness to that of the racemate. We also tested different ratios of a minor pheromone component, (2E,6Z)-nona-2,6-dienal, on attraction to the major component. Lastly, we conducted a dose–response assay to determine the optimal loading rates. Addition of the minor component at a ratio of 0.31 mg minor to 25 mg major component is more than double the trap captures of males but not females. Using this ratio, we found no difference in trap captures with 10 mg, 32 mg or 100 mg of the major component, but the 10 mg load attracted significantly more females than the 3.2 mg load, and only the 32 mg load attracted significantly more males than the 3.2 mg load. The natural enantiomer was significantly more attractive to females than the racemate. However, the multi-step, low-yielding synthesis likely will prohibit the insect-produced enantiomer from being used for operational trapping. The addition of the minor component to the racemate significantly increased trap catches, and the dose–response assay did not indicate significant differences in loads above 10 mg of the racemic major component when formulated with ~ 1.2% of the minor component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pistachio yield are often negatively affected by some physiological problems such as abscission of inflorescence buds and fruits, deformed or blank nuts, and non-split shells. In the present study the effect of exogenous application of arginine (Arg) (a substrate for nitric oxide (NO) synthase) and sodium nitroproside (SNP), as a NO-donor was investigated on yield production, fruit and inflorescence buds abscission, and physiological parameters of Pistacia vera. The experiment was conducted in randomized complete block design with factorial structure in a commercial pistachio orchard. Factors were included two levels of Arg (0.5 and 1 mM), two levels of SNP (50 and 100 µM) and their combination applied at two distinct time; one week before full bloom (first stage) and five weeks after full bloom (second stage). Comparing to SNP-treated trees, Arg was more effective on growth and physiological parameters of shoots and on fruit and inflorescence buds abscission, and on fruit parameters such as split and non-split shells, blank nuts, number of nuts per ounce. Effects of these treatments were considerably depending on the time of application and the concentrations of applied compounds. It is proposed that the effects of Arg and SNP may be related to the NO signaling and polyamines production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Small‐scale farmers often take a double hit from pests such as tephritid fruit‐flies. The high price of products against fruit‐flies, together with the higher risk of reinfestation from neighboring orchards, limits options for control. Therefore, management requires low‐cost local products and concerted action. Peach production in central Bolivia is increasingly affected by invasive Ceratitis capitata. To provide locally sustainable techniques that could incentivize area‐wide cooperation of growers, we tested efficiency and specificity of low‐cost lures and traps compared with commercial lures and traps (Tephritrap). RESULTS: In the laboratory, the local fermented beverage 'chicha' and baker's yeast were equally or more attractive than commercial lures. Both chicha and baker's yeast trapped more flies in field (average FTD 10.31 and 9.49), whereas commercially hydrolyzed protein lure (4.71) or Torula yeast (6.82). However, many non‐target species were caught (57.3% and 53.4%). Of the six PET bottles‐based traps used, the T‐trap caught a similar number of flies (average FTD 5.55), but fewer beneficial insects (0.16) compared to the Tephritrap (0.92). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides fruit growers with an economical and effective method to capture large numbers of C. capitata, suitable to be part of integrated pest management programs for fruit fly control. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In order to understand the effects of soil physical and chemical properties on the disease status and death of highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) plants, the microbial diversity, enzyme activity, soil nutrient availability, pH, soil organic matter and element content of various parts of the poorly-performing and healthy plants were studied. The rhizosphere soil pH water was higher in healthy than poor highbush blueberry plants. The content of available potassium was higher in the rhizosphere, and in contrast, that of exchangeable calcium and magnesium lower, in the rhizosphere than non-rhizosphere soil of both poor and healthy plants. The microbial diversity and the relative abundance were lower in the rhizosphere than non-rhizosphere soil, and were lowest in the rhizosphere soil of the poor plants. The catalase and acid phosphatase activities were higher in the rhizosphere than non-rhizosphere soil, but there was no difference in invertase activity. Redundancy analysis indicated that the relative abundance of Mizugakiibacter , Rhodanobacter , Gamma_proteobacterium_OR-113 , Castellaniella , Acidobacterium , Bryobact , and Ottowia was positively correlated with soil acid phosphatase and invertase activities, available potassium and iron, and organic matter content, and was negatively correlated with pH, catalase activity and exchangeable calcium and magnesium. The content of Fe was lower in the dead compared with healthy roots. Therefore, it was known from the above experimental results that the poor growth of blueberry plants may be related to the acid phosphatase activity, the microbial diversity and relative abundance of rhizosphere soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Objectives] In view of the rapid development of facility fruit industry and the urgent need of early warning of diseases and insect pests in the hilly area of Jiangsu Province, a network service platform for early warning of fruit pest prevention and control was established according to the characteristics and laws of fruit pests in the hilly area. [Methods] A friendly human-computer interaction mode was constructed through SQL Server database and Web browser to realize visualization of fruit tree diseases and pests module, scientific medication guidance module and popular science knowledge module, and the reasoning mechanism of remote diagnosis module and network early warning module were realized through database and rule base, aiming at difficult diseases and pests at the same time. An expert answer module was set up. The common diseases and insect pests of grape, strawberry, pear and peach planted extensively in hilly area were early warned and prevented by remote monitoring. The functions of remote diagnosis, weather forecast, scientific medication guidance, popularization of planting knowledge and interactive exchange of experts were realized. [Results] The platform integrates disease and insect pest summary, remote diagnosis, network early warning and information consulting services. It can effectively improve the efficiency of fruit production and management in hilly areas of Jiangsu Province, improve the accuracy and efficiency of remote diagnosis of fruit diseases and insect pests, and reduce the cost of control. It can theoretically guide farmers to scientifically plant protection and medication. [Conclusions] The information platform for early warning of fruit tree diseases and insect pests can significantly help fruit growers to save water and medicine, and increase both production and income, which is worthy of further promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drosophila suzukii is native to East Asia and an invasive pest of fruit crops widely established in the Americas and Europe. The lack of effective indigenous parasitoids of D. suzukii in the invaded regions prompted surveys for co-evolved parasitoids in Yunnan Province, China, from 2013 to 2016. From banana-baited traps (2013-2015), 458 parasitoids of drosophilids were reared, comprised of Braconidae (49.56%), Figitidae (37.55%), Diapriidae (7.42%), and Pteromalidae (5.46%). Larval parasitoids included seven braconid species, all Asobara and primarily Asobara mesocauda, and five figitid species, primarily Leptopilina japonica japonica. Pupal parasitoids were the diapriid Trichopria drosophilae and the pteromalid Pachycrepoideus vindemiae. Collections from wild fruits (2016) provided more interesting results. From the puparia of drosophilids collected, comprised of D. suzukii and Drosophila pulchrella, emerged 1354 parasitoids. The larval parasitoids Ganaspis brasiliensis and L. j. japonica were the prevalent species, reaching a fairly high percentage parasitism of fly puparia collected from berries of Rubus foliosus (22.35%), R. niveus (18.81%), Fragaria moupinensis (19.75%), and Sambucus adnata (63.46%). Ganaspis brasiliensis was the dominant species and was collected only from D. suzukii and D. pulchrella-infested fruits and never from banana-baited traps. Molecular analysis showed two G. brasiliensis lineages, which are discussed with respect to previous Japanese collections. Quarantine tests showed that G. brasiliensis developed from D. suzukii and two closely related hosts (Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila simulans) but did not develop from seven non-target drosophilid species. Our results suggest that G. brasiliensis is a promising classical biocontrol agent for release in invaded regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Akizuki' (Pyrus pyrifolia Nakai) is a dominant Asian pear cultivar with gradually increasing cultivation area in Shandong province. However, this cultivar is found susceptible to cork spot disorder in recent years. In this study, we explored the physiological-biochemical mechanism of cork spot disorder in pear fruit, and investigated the effectiveness of spraying calcium (Ca), boron (B) solution or prohexadione calcium (P-Ca) on cork spot incidence. Cork spotted fruit had the characteristics of significantly larger fruit size with shorter fruit pedicels. Compared with normal fruit, cork spotted fruit had lower content of total soluble solids, soluble and reducing sugar, and vitamin C. In addition, cork spotted fruit accumulated much higher levels of N and Mg, and lower levels ofKand P. However, Ca deficiency was not observed in cork spotted fruit, on the contrary, we determined high concentrations of Ca and free Ca2+ in disordered fruit. At the same time, the ratios of K/Ca, Mg/Ca, and (K+Mg)/Ca were significantly lower in cork spotted fruit as compared with normal fruit. Among all treatments, spraying with 3500 times dilution of P-Ca at 15-day intervals from 30 to 90 days after full bloom showed promise for reducing cork spot incidence in 'Akizuki' pear without affecting fruit quality attributes. This research herein reveals the physiologicalbiochemical characteristic of cork spot disorder, and implicates P-Ca as a potential tool to reduce cork spot incidence in Asian pear cultivar Akizuki. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Paecilomyces niveus has long been recognized as an important heat-resistant mold (HRM) causing spoilage in thermally processed apple products. With the recent discovery that P. niveus causes an apple disease called Paecilomyces rot, there is a need to evaluate the possibility that the spores can be introduced via infected fruit and survive thermal processing to contaminate apple products. Previously, research characterizing P. niveus survival and spoilage has been based on simple inoculation of cultured ascospores directly into juice. To determine whether ascospores formed in infected fruit survive through thermal processing with rotating vacuum evaporation (2.5 h, 70 °C), apples infected with P. niveus were used to make apple juice concentrate. Viable P. niveus was quantified in samples taken throughout the apple juice concentrate process: in cider, centrifuged juice, apple solids, and in juice made from concentrate. Additionally, the concentration of the mycotoxin patulin was determined in a subset of samples. Results show that P. niveus survived juice concentration. The thermal process used significantly reduced P. niveus (P = 0.0017); from an average of 5.5 log CFU L−1 in the initial cider made from diseased fruit to an average of 1.5 log CFU L−1 in single strength apple juice diluted from concentrate. Ascospores were observed at a greater abundance than intact asci throughout the concentration process. Patulin concentrations at all stages of apple juice concentration exceeded the United States' regulatory defect action level of 50 ppb. This is the first report that apples infected with P. niveus can survive and remain viable in finished apple products and that patulin is produced in these apples. It raises important questions about the use of damaged and infected fruit as a source of HRM which contribute to spoilage and mycotoxins in apple juice concentrate. Highlights • P. niveus spores in infected apples survive the apple juice concentrate process. • Heat-resistant ascospores survived rotating vacuum evaporation (2.5 h, 70 °C). • Apples infected with Paecilomyces rot contain high levels of patulin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The narrow genetic diversity and short market availability of litchi (Litchi chinesis Sonn.) are the main constrains for its cultivation more profitable in Indian sub-continent. Late season litchi cultivars in subtropical and tropical India are prone to fruit cracking and diseases susceptibility. Seven promising selections and four late season commercial cultivars viz; CHES-1, CHES-2, CHES -3, CHL-5. CHL-7, Lal Bombaiya, Late Bedana, Purbi, Selection -3-7, Selection 8-1 and Swarna Roopa were evaluated during 2014-15 at ICAR- RCER Ranchi, based on physico-chemical characters, cracking habit and diseases susceptibility. The results revealed that the cultivars Purbi, Lal Bombaiya and Late Bedana were cracking resistant. The maximum fruit weight was found in the cultivars Lal Bombaiya (22.0 g ) being comparable with Late Bedana (21.2 g) and CHES-2 (21.0 g). The cultivars Lal Bombaiya and CHES -2 had the highest aril weight of 19.44 g and 17.66 g, respectably. The maximum TSS of 22.2 0B was found in CHES-1 both in Jharkhand and Bihar. Late Bedana cultivar had high sugar acid ratio (73.52) with pomegranate flavor and popular for local market. Litchi fruit borer mainly attacked Lal Bombaiya and CHES-2 at early stage whereas the cultivars Purbi and Swarna Roopa were affected (3-6% bunch) by litchi stink bug (Tessaratoma javanica) at late harvest season. From the present study, it was concluded that CHES-1, Lal Bombaiya, Purbi and Late Bedana were promising late season cultivars for commercial cultivation with effective management of litchi fruit borer and stink bug. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Taiwan Agricultural Research is the property of Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Penicillium spp. cause blue mold of stored pome fruit. These fungi reduce fruit quality and produce mycotoxins that are regulated for processed fruit products. Control of blue mold is achieved by fungicide application, and in 2015 Academy (active ingredients fludioxonil and difenoconazole) was released for use on pome fruit to manage postharvest blue mold. Baseline sensitivity for fludioxonil but not difenoconazole has been determined for P. expansum. To establish the distribution of sensitivity to difenoconazole before commercial use of Academy, 97 unexposed single-spore isolates from the United States and abroad were tested in vitro. Baseline EC50 values ranged from 0.038 to 0.827 µg/ml of difenoconazole with an average of 0.16 µg/ml. Complete inhibition of mycelial growth for all but three isolates occurred at 5 µg/ml of difenoconazole, whereas 10 µg/ml did not support growth for any of the isolates examined. Hence, 5 µg/ml of difenoconazole is recommended for phenotyping Penicillium spp. isolates with reduced sensitivity. Isolates with resistance to pyrimethanil and to both thiabendazole and pyrimethanil were observed among the isolates from the baseline collection. Academy applied at the labeled rate had both curative and protectant activities and controlled four representative Penicillium spp. from the baseline population. This information can be used to monitor future shifts in sensitivity to this new postharvest fungicide in Penicillium spp. populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fruit rot of deciduous holly is an emerging fungal disease that is affecting plant production across midwestem and eastern U.S. nurseries. To determine the growth stage(s) of host susceptibility to infection by the major pathogens associated with the disease, Altemaria alternata and Diaporthe ilicicola, and minor pathogens such as Colletotrichum fioriniae and Epicoccum nigrum, we conducted two sets of experiments over two consecutive seasons. In the first case we monitored the presence of the pathogens as well as disease progression in a commercial nursery under natural conditions by collecting plant tissues from the flower bud stage until fruit maturity. The target pathogens were consistently isolated from asymptomatic samples at all stages of fluit development and from symptomatic samples at fruit maturity across the 2 years of collection. A significant increase in fungal isolation frequency, primarily species of Altemaria and Colletotrichum, was observed right after flowering, but fruit rot symptoms only developed on mature fruit. In the second case we artificially inoculated containerized plants maintained outdoor at our research farm with individual or combined pathogens at different fruit developmental stages, and we assessed disease incidence on mature fiuit to determine the time of host susceptibility to infection and, indirectly, whether pathogens in the fungal complex carry out latent infections. D. ilicicola could cause latent infection on deciduous holly fiuit when inoculated at the full bloom and petal fall stages, and all inoculations made on wounded mature fruit resulted in fruit rot. These findings suggest that flowering represents a critical period to manage D. ilicicola infections and that mature fruit should be protected from any injuiy to avoid disease. In both experiments a negative correlation between disease incidence and temperature was found; however, the decrease in temperature also coincided with fruit ripening. The effects of temperature and changes in physiological properties of the fiuit during maturation on disease development should be further investigated to fully interpret these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Canker disease caused by Neoscytalidium dimidiatum is the most serious disease that attacks the pitaya industry. One pathogenic fungus, referred to as ND8, was isolated from the wild-type red-fleshed pitaya (Hylocereus polyrhizus) of Hainan Province. In the early stages of this disease, stems show little spots and a loss of green color. These spots then gradually spread until the stems became rotten due to infection by various strains. Canker disease caused by Neoscytalidium dimidiatum poses a significant threat to pitaya commercial plantations with the growth of stems and the yields, quality of pitaya fruits. However, a lack of transcriptomic and genomic information hinders our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the pitaya defense response. Results: We investigated the host responses of red-fleshed pitaya (H. polyrhizus) cultivars against N. dimidiatum using Illumina RNA-Seq technology. Significant expression profiles of 23 defense-related genes were further analyzed by qRT-PCR. The total read length based on RNA-Seq was 25,010,007; mean length was 744, the N50 was 1206, and the guanine-cytosine content was 44.48%. Our investigation evaluated 33,584 unigenes, of which 6209 (18.49%) and 27,375 (81.51%) were contigs and singlets, respectively. These unigenes shared a similarity of 16.62% with Vitis vinifera, 7.48% with Theobroma cacao, 6.6% with Nelumbo nucifera and 5.35% with Jatropha curcas. The assembled unigenes were annotated into non-redundant (NR, 25161 unigenes), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG, 17895 unigenes), Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COG, 10475 unigenes), InterPro (19,045 unigenes), and Swiss-Prot public protein databases (16,458 unigenes). In addition, 24 differentially expressed genes, which were mainly associated with plant pathology pathways, were analyzed in-depth. Conclusions: This study provides a basis for further in-depth research on the protein function of the annotated unigene assembly with cDNA sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bactrocera carambolae Drew & Hancock is a quarantine pest present in Brazil and is the main phytosanitary barrier for the export of fresh fruits from that country. In this work, we evaluated the effect of Amazonian isolates of Metarhizium on kill larvae, pupae, and adults of B. carambolae in soil applications. The mortality of larvae and pupae in sterile soil treated with Metarhizium anisopliae was 70 %. In addition, 100 % of the adults that emerged from this substrate died up to five days later. This isolate caused the mortality of larvae and pupae in non-sterile soil, but its effect was more evident after adult emergence (70 % mortality up to ten days after emergence). Metarhizium robertsii was effective in killing larvae and pupae of the pest, especially in non-sterile soil, and caused a 60 % reduction in adult survival 50 days after emergence. These results indicated the possible use of these isolates for the control of B. carambolae, suggesting the possibility of using this biocontrol mode as another alternative in controlling this quarantine pest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Biociências is the property of Revista Biociencias and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Applied Plant Protection Suez Canal University is the property of Egyptian National Agricultural Library (ENAL) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We propose a new classification of rain forest plants into eight fruit syndromes, based on fruit morphology and other traits relevant to fruit‐feeding insects. This classification is compared with other systems based on plant morphology or traits relevant to vertebrate fruit dispersers. Our syndromes are based on fruits sampled from 1,192 plant species at three Forest Global Earth Observatory plots: Barro Colorado Island (Panama), Khao Chong (Thailand), and Wanang (Papua New Guinea). The three plots differed widely in fruit syndrome composition. Plant species with fleshy, indehiscent fruits containing multiple seeds were important at all three sites. However, in Panama, a high proportion of species had dry fruits, while in New Guinea and Thailand, species with fleshy drupes and thin mesocarps were dominant. Species with dry, winged seeds that do not develop as capsules were important in Thailand, reflecting the local importance of Dipterocarpaceae. These differences can also determine differences among frugivorous insect communities. Fruit syndromes and colors were phylogenetically flexible traits at the scale studied, as only three of the eight seed syndromes, and one of the 10 colors, showed significant phylogenetic clustering at either genus or family levels. Plant phylogeny was, however, the most important factor explaining differences in overall fruit syndrome composition among individual plant families or genera across the three study sites. Abstract in Melanesian is available with online material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of postharvest sodium-benzoate treatment on some fruit parameters of two organic apple cultivars ('Topaz' and 'Florina'). Assessments were made at three times during storage: 17 November 2019, 20 December 2019 and 23 January, 2020. During every assessment dates, each fruit was observed separately, and determined the proportion of i) healthy fruits (%), ii) post-harvest fruit rot diseases iii) fruits with mechanical injury (%), iv) fruit with russetting (%), v) damage of codling moth and vi) Ca-deficiency symptoms. In addition, fruit weight (g) was measured at each assessment date. Sodium benzoate reduced the fruit decay and the proportion of healthy fruit was higher in this treatment compared to water treated fruit. This effect could be seen in all assessment dates and on both cultivars. Effects on other parameters were various according to cultivar and assessment dates. Loss of fruit weight was similar in both treatments and cultivars compared to control treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to reduce yellow-shoulder (YS) disorder by regulating nutrient solution in high temperature, effects of potassium (K) and phosphorus (P) supplementation on YS index were investigated. Experiments were conducted in an optimum temperature condition under 20 °C, and in a high temperature condition under 31 °C. Nutrient solution of EC 0.9 dS m −1 (PO 4 -P 1.5 me L −1 , K 3.0 me L −1 ), EC 0.9 + P (PO 4 -P 4.6 me L −1 , K 3.0 me L −1 ), EC 0.9 + K (PO 4 -P 1.5 me L −1 , K 5.8 me L −1 ), and EC 0.9 + P + K (PO 4 -P 4.6 me L −1 , K 5.8 me L −1 ) were used. Each tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L. ‘CF Momotaro York’) plant was grown in 250 mL pot combining three trusses and high-density planting. Results showed that K uptake amount was significantly higher at EC 0.9 + P + K than at EC 0.9, EC 0.9 + P and EC 0.9 + K. K uptake efficiency was higher at EC 0.9 + P than that at EC 0.9, although the application concentraiton of K were identical in them. YS disorder was more severe in 31°C than 20°C temperatures condition in the case of nearly similar uptake of K per plant. The YS index showed a significantly negative linear correlation with K uptake ( R 2 = 0.81, P < 0.01) in 31 °C, which was not found in 22 °C or other mineral elements. These results indicated that the K uptake was significantly improved. YS disorder was correspondingly reduced by increasing P or/and K concentration in 31 °C high temperature condition. In conclusion, we recommended the nutrient solution formula (EC 0.9 + P)/(EC 0.9 + P + K) to reduce the YS disorder in high temperature growing season, because its K uptake efficiency was improved as compared with EC 0.9 + P + K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fruit drop is a major problem with Kinnow mandarin in all fruit growing regions of the world. Kinnow growers suffer a greater economic loss when natural fruit drop (98.0 to 99.5 %) is accelerated by pathogenic infection, insect-pest infestation, and physiological or hormonal imbalance due to poor orchard management. The application of fungicides to minimize pathogenic attack; 2,4-D (2,4- Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) to maintain hormonal balance; and KNO3 (Potassium nitrate) to maintain electrolytic balance and efficient utilization of nutrients for developing resistance against insect infestation has greater potential to reduce fruit drop in Kinnow. The fungicides, namely; Zeneb 75WP (0.25 %), Carzim-50 (0.1 %), Curzate M8 (0.25 %), COPRUS 50WP (0.3 %), and Cyproconazole 25EC (0.1 %), in combination with 2,4-D @ 20 ppm and KNO3 @ 1 %, were applied twice, in September and October, and the number of fruits fallen on the ground were counted to determine fruit drop. It was observed that application of T3 [Curzate M8 (0.25 %) + 2,4-D (20 ppm) + KNO3 (1 %)] was an excellent treatment for the integrated management of fruit drop in Kinnow as it had ensured the lowest (1.90- entomological, 3.53-pathological, and 4.75-physiological) fruit drop percentage with the highest fruit yield (432 fruits per plant). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bactrocera flies are economic pests of agricultural crops all over the world. Among Bactrocera flies, oriental fruit fly is an economically important pest of fruit crops in the world. Basic studies of Bactrocera flies are very important and helpful to the development of integrated management strategies. However, basic studies regarding behavior and age-stage, two-sex life table traits for this pest, which are vital for designing effective control methods, are currently lacking. Considering the importance of B. dorsalis, this study aimed to evaluate the fruit preference and age-stage, two-sex life table traits of B. dorsalis on guava (Psidium guajava), papaya (Carica papaya), and banana (Musa acuminata) fruits in the laboratory. In choice and no-choice tests, the number of visits and oviposition punctures made by female B. dorsalis flies were significantly higher on guava than those on papaya and banana. The life cycle from eggs to male (146.95 ± 3.43 d) and female (164.94 ± 3.85 d) adults was significantly longer on papaya than those on banana and guava. Bactrocera dorsalis females produced significantly more eggs when fed on guava (623.30 eggs female−1) than on papaya (527.80 eggs female−1) or banana (399.60 eggs female−1). Guava was the more suitable fruit for B. dorsalis, and could be used as a bait fruit to manage the B. dorsalis during the fruiting season of papaya and banana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Effective chemical protection of fruit is a complex task. • It is important to automate and optimize the fruit protection process. • Different data mining techniques can be used to identify pattern diseases. • To prevent the excessive use of chemicals. • Results shown that the prediction accuracy is 89%. Abstract Effective chemical protection of fruit is a complex task which can enable production of healthy food without chemical residues. As food health is a growing global concern, it is important to automate and optimize the fruit protection process. Different data mining techniques can be used to identify pattern diseases so as to prevent the excessive use of chemicals. However, application of data mining systems in this field is very complex task. Besides that, these systems are often designed for just one specific plant species. One solution for prediction a risk of fruit infection based on data that represent weather (meteorological) conditions and data pathogens is presented in this paper. The research is performed on the data collected at the region of Toplica in Republic of Serbia during five year period. In this paper data mining based tool for early prediction of fruit pathogen infection is performed. The application is based on the open source engine WEKA with GUI created in C#, and uses several data mining algorithms which are evaluated in this paper. Results shown that the prediction accuracy is 89%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]