June 5, 2006, 9:23 PM CT

Plant Diseases Threaten Chocolate Production

Chocolate lovers, beware. Each year 20 percent of the cacao beans that are used to make chocolate are lost to plant diseases, but even greater losses would occur if important diseases spread.

"Plant diseases are the most important constraints to cacao production and the continued viability of the world's confectionary trades," said Randy Ploetz, plant pathology professor at the University of Florida, Homestead, FL. Currently, 4 million metric tons of beans worth more than $4 billion are produced each year. The global chocolate market is worth $75 billion annually.

As per Ploetz, the three most important and damaging cacao diseases are black pod, frosty pod, and witches' broom. Black pod occurs worldwide and has the largest impact, while frosty pod and witches' broom are restricted to tropical America.

"Frosty pod and witches' broom would devastate cacao production in West Africa, where almost 70 percent of all production occurs," said Ploetz. "In this region, either disease could reduce yields by an additional one million more metric tons per year," he said.

New insights and current research on cacao diseases, as well as resistance to and management of the diseases, will be addressed during the Cacao Diseases: Important Threats to Chocolate Production Worldwide symposium held July 30 from 1:30-5 p.m., during the joint annual meeting of The American Phytopathological Society, Canadian Phytopathological Society, and the Mycological Society of America. The joint meeting will be held July 29-August 2, 2006, at the Centre des Congrès de Quebec, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.........

Posted by: Jessica      Permalink         Source

June 4, 2006, 1:29 PM CT

Ancient Fig Find May Push Back Birth of Agriculture

An assortment of 11,400-year-old figs found in Israel may be the fruit of the world's earliest form of agriculture, researchers say.

Archaeologists from Israel and the United States say the find suggests Stone Age humans may have been cultivating fruit trees a thousand years before the domestication of cereal grains and legumes, such as peas and beans.

Previously, the oldest cultivated fruits were believed to be olives and grapes found in the eastern Mediterranean that were dated at about 6,000 years old.

Scientists behind the new study discovered the ancient figs at the Gilgal archaeological site in the Jordan Valley near the city of Jericho (see map of Israel.)

The nine carbonized figs were small but ripe and showed signs of having been dried for human consumption.

The finding adds a new twist to the story of agricultural origins.........

Posted by: William      Permalink         Source

June 1, 2006, 6:34 PM CT

Killer Crater Found Under Ice

Planetary researchers have found evidence of a meteor impact much larger and earlier than the one that killed the dinosaurs -- an impact that they believe caused the biggest mass extinction in Earth's history.

The 300-mile-wide crater lies hidden more than a mile beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. And the gravity measurements that reveal its existence suggest that it could date back about 250 million years -- the time of the Permian-Triassic extinction, when almost all animal life on Earth died out.

Its size and location -- in the Wilkes Land region of East Antarctica, south of Australia -- also suggest that it could have begun the breakup of the Gondwana supercontinent by creating the tectonic rift that pushed Australia northward.

Researchers think that the Permian-Triassic extinction paved the way for the dinosaurs to rise to prominence. The Wilkes Land crater is more than twice the size of the Chicxulub crater in the Yucatan peninsula, which marks the impact that may have ultimately killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. The Chicxulub meteor is thought to have been 6 miles wide, while the Wilkes Land meteor could have been up to 30 miles wide -- four or five times wider.

"This Wilkes Land impact is much bigger than the impact that killed the dinosaurs, and probably would have caused catastrophic damage at the time," said Ralph von Frese, a professor of geological sciences at Ohio State University.........

Posted by: William      Permalink         Source

May 30, 2006, 8:17 PM CT

Avocado fruit for health

Botanical name for avocado plant is Persea Americana. Avocado can grow in a variety of geographical locations but it is native to the Mesoamerican region. Avocado is an evergreen plant, and can grow in diverse environmental conditions. Avocado plant can grow any where from central highlands to the rain forests of northwest Columbia (Smith et al., 1992).

The avocado has various names. In the past it was called as alligator pear, midshipman's butter, vegetable butter, or sometimes as butter pear. Avocados may grow well in the mild-winter areas of California, Florida and Hawaii. Some sub varieties of could be seen in the northern parts of California and along the Gulf Coast.

An average avocado tree produces about 120 avocados annually. Commercial orchards produce an average of 7 tonnes per hectare each year, with some orchards achieving 20 tonnes per hectare (FAO statistics). Biennial bearing can be a problem, with heavy crops in one year being followed by poor yields the next. The fruit is sometimes called an avocado pear or alligator pear, from its shape and green skin. The avocado tree does not tolerate freezing temperatures, and so can be grown only in subtropical and tropical climates.........

Posted by: Jessica      Permalink         Source

May 21, 2006, 9:54 AM CT

Super Broccoli At Chelsea Flower Show

The University of Warwick's plant research Department, has created a stand at the world famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London this week. However the star exhibit in their garden won't be multicoloured flowers or a soothing water feature. The Warwick HRI stand will show how far researchers have reached in breeding a range of "Super Broccoli" and its wider brassica family which will: help us live longer, last longer on our shelves, and use much less pesticide and fertilizer.

The stand will have a range of plants from the brassica family, broccoli and oilseed rape being the most important commercial crops. Breeding better crops entails crossing plants which possess the best properties, commonly from within the same crop (for instance restricting oneself to just cross breeding broccoli with another type of broccoli). However, this approach misses out the vast range of useful properties in the larger brassica family.

The Warwick HRI scientists are well equipped to change that situation as they have one of the largest gene banks of vegetable brassicas in the world. With over 6,000 plants in the gene bank the Warwick HRI research teams have an invaluable resource enabling them to carry out their research. This breeding work on broccoli alone is on course to transform it into a super plant in the following ways:.........

Posted by: Jessica      Permalink         Source

May 18, 2006, 9:19 PM CT

Mystery Of Flowering Plants

Scientists from the Floral Genome Project at Penn State University, with an international team of collaborators, have proposed an answer to Charles Darwin's "abominable mystery:" the inexplicably rapid evolution of flowering plants immediately after their first appearance some 140 million years ago. By developing new statistical methods to analyze incomplete DNA sequences from thirteen strategically selected plant species, the scientists uncovered a previously hidden "paleopolyploidy" event, an ancient whole-genome duplication that preceded the appearance of the ancestral flowering plant.

Claude dePamphilis, associate professor of biology at Penn State, is the principal investigator of the Floral Genome Project and the senior author of the paper. "We found a concentration of duplicated genes that suggests a whole-genome duplication event in the earliest flowering plants," he says. "A polyploidy event early in the history of flowering plants could explain their sudden evolution." The results appear in a recent issue of Genome Research.

One unexpected observation from the study is the relatively slow accumulation of mutations in primitive flowering plants like the yellow water lily (Nuphar). "We can view these basal angiosperms like the Hubble Space Telescope, which helps us get a deeper look into the early history of the universe--these plants allow us to take a deeper look into genomic history".........

Posted by: Jessica      Permalink         Source

May 17, 2006, 10:24 PM CT

Moose In Massachusetts

A number of people are surprised to learn there are moose(Alces alces)living in Massachusetts. Moose have been absent from the state from the early 1700's. As recently as the 1970's a moose sighting was considered a rare sight. Why are moose here now? As early settlers cleared the extensive forests in the state for pastures and farming, moose habitat disappeared and so did the moose. This was a trend through much of New England. Habitat for moose recovered due in part to farmers moving out to the more fertile Midwest or to factories during the Industrial Revolution.

Moose are now reclaiming their former range and moving into areas where they haven't been seen for hundreds of years. Moose populations got a boost in northern New England states from a combination of forest cutting practices and protection from hunting which created ideal moose habitat and allowed for high reproduction and survival rates. Gradually, as the population increased, moose moved southward into their historic range and by the early 1980's this largest member of North America's deer family moved into northern Worcester and Middlesex Counties and began to breed and disperse through central Massachusetts.

Currently, MassWildlife biologists estimate 500-700 moose live in Massachusetts, with the majority of them found in northern Worcester County. During the year, moose home ranges vary from 5-50 square miles depending on the season. MassWildlife has been monitoring moose populations through sighting reports, roadkills and urban/suburban situations. A recent study has begun to catch and collar moose to follow their movements and gain an understanding of this animal's movements, reproduction and survival rates.........

Posted by: Ashley      Permalink         Source

May 17, 2006, 10:19 PM CT

Young Wildlife Belongs In The Wild!

THE PROBLEM:

The arrival of spring and summer means the arrival of newborn and just-hatched wildlife. These youngsters soon venture into the world on shaky legs or fragile wings and are discovered by people living and working nearby. Every year, the lives of a number of young wild creatures are upset by people who mean only to help. These people take baby wildlife from the wild in a mistaken attempt to save them. In fact, these would-be rescuers are harming the young animals' chances of becoming normal adults. Hopefully, a little understanding will prevent this problem.

WHY IT OCCURS:

The arrival of spring and summer also means the arrival of newborn and just-hatched wildlife. These youngsters soon venture into the world on shaky legs or fragile wings. Most are learning survival from one or both parents. For them, the perils of survival are a natural part of ecology. Some will not survive. However, young wildlife that learn well and are the most fit commonly live the longest. Those early unsteady steps and flights are part of normal development, helping young animals learn to take care of themselves. Some develop that ability quickly, almost from birth. Varying hare, for example, are ready to venture into their world within hours. Other animals need more parental care. Cottontail rabbits are born with no fur and eyes closed, unable to leave their nest for several days.........

Posted by: Ashley      Permalink         Source

May 16, 2006, 11:00 PM CT

Small Molecule Interactions Were Central To The Origin Of Life

In an important new paper forthcoming in the recent issue of The Quarterly Review of Biology, Robert Shapiro (New York University) argues against the widely held theory that the origin of life began with the spontaneous appearance of a large, replicating molecule such as RNA. Instead, Shapiro raises an alternative that does not depend on a "stupendously improbable accident," presenting the more plausible idea that life began within a mixture of simple organic molecules, multiplied through catalyzed reaction cycles and an external source of available energy.

"The diversity of organic chemistry, with its harvest of competing, interconnected reactions, becomes an asset rather than a liability in the case of the energy-driven system," explains Shapiro. "The existence of side reaction paths can provide the network with the capacity of reacting to circumstances."

Shapiro outlines how replicator theories, though they have been supported by "prebiotic" syntheses carried out by chemists using modern apparatus and purified reagents, are highly unlikely. The creation of a molecule that can self-replicate requires the combination of diverse chemicals in a long sequence of reactions in a specific order, interspersed by complicated separations, purifications, and changes in locale.........

Posted by: Ashley      Permalink         Source

May 16, 2006, 10:50 PM CT

How Plant Gets Protection From Cold?

In response to cold, plants trigger a cascade of genetic reactions that allow them to survive. University of California, Riverside Professor of Plant Cell Biology Jian-Kang Zhu has described how a little-known biochemical reaction regulates that genetic cascade.

Zhu's findings were reported in the May 15 online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in a paper titled The Negative Regulator of Plant Cold Responses, HOS1 is a RING E3 Ligase That Mediates the Ubiquitation and Degredation of ICE1. Zhu co-authored the paper with UCR colleagues Chun Hai Dong and Manu Agarwal; and Yiyue Zhang and Qi Xie, from the Institute of Genetics and Development of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

This negative regulator, known as high expression of osmotically responsive gene 1 (HOS1), acts essentially as a biochemical gate that cuts off the plant's cold protection, Zhu said. The HOS1 gene product interacts with another gene product known as ICE1 that kicks off the genetic cascade that provides the plant's cold protection proteins, as per the paper. The interaction worked both in the test tube and in the live plant.

"The better we understand this molecular mechanism, the better we can control the process of increasing the plant's freezing tolerance without causing negative impacts," Zhu said. "This process should apply to all plants and can help us better use crops of subtropical origin such as corn, rice, avocadoes and strawberries".........

Posted by: Jessica      Permalink         Source

Older Blog Entries   1   2   3   4   5   6   7