O Brasil é o maior produtor e exportador de suco de laranja, sendo esta uma das mais importantes atividades econômicas para o país. Os frutos são afetados pela mancha preta dos citros, causada por Guignardia citricarpa, que deprecia comercialmente os frutos, provoca queda prematura e eleva o custo de produção. Medidas alternativas ao controle químico clássico vêm sendo estudadas e, neste contexto, insere-se a indução de resistência. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar os efeitos in vitro da quitosana e radiação UV-C sobre o crescimento micelial, germinação e formação de apressórios por G. citricarpa e a ação destes agentes abióticos no controle da doença em laranjas pós-colheita, sob armazenamento ambiente e refrigerado, estudando-se também mecanismos de resistência ativados no tecido vegetal em resposta ao tratamento de melhor eficiência. Para tanto, foram utilizadas as concentrações de 0; 0,5; 1,0; 1,5; 2,0 e 3,0% de quitosana e as doses de 0,52; 1,04; 3,13; 10,44 e 15,66 kJ.m-2 da radiação UV-C. A quitosana inibiu o crescimento micelial do fungo e estimulou a germinação e formação de apressórios, os quais se mostraram morfologicamente alterados. A UV-C não inibiu o crescimento micelial, porém a maior dose ocasionou o menor crescimento. Para os experimentos in vivo, laranjas foram coletadas, lavadas, sanitizadas com hipoclorito e posteriormente tratadas. As concentrações de 0,5, 1,0 e 2,0% de quitosana e a dose de 7 kJ m-2 da UV-C apresentaram melhor resultado em laranjas ?Valência? na redução dos sintomas. Análise da cor da casca dos frutos irradiados revelou que houve leve escurecimento. Os fungicidas tiabendazol e imazalil não controlaram a doença em laranjas ?Pêra Rio?, porém, obteve-se menos lesões nos frutos tratados com os fungicidas em combinação com quitosana, tanto em temperatura ambiente quanto em refrigeração. Análises da cor da casca indicaram amarelecimento e não houve alterações significativas nos teores de sólidos solúveis, acidez titulável, pH, vitamina C e ratio. Nos ensaios com quitosana, tiabendazol e UV-C, a quitosana apresentou melhor controle da doença, aplicada isoladamente ou em conjunto com o fungicida e UV-C, em temperatura ambiente ou refrigeração. A quitosana e a proteína harpina apresentaram controle semelhante e, em comparação com o ácido cítrico, a quitosana ocasionou melhor controle em laranjas ?Valência?. Para análises bioquímicas, amostras de flavedo foram homogeneizadas em de tampão acetato, com posterior centrifugação, coletando-se o sobrenadante. Para as reações enzimáticas, foram utilizados os reagentes CM-chitin-RBV, CMCurdlan- RBB, guaiacol, catecol e L-fenilalanina para quitinase, glucanase, peroxidase, polifenoloxidase e fenilalanina amônia-liase, respectivamente. Para a determinação de fenóis, amostras do flavedo foram homogeneizadas em metanol acidificado e a dosagem feita com o reagente Folin-Ciocalteau. A quitosana induziu o aumento da atividade das enzimas nas primeiras 24 h após o tratamento, sendo neste tempo detectada a maior atividade. Não houve atividade de fenilalanina amônia-liase, bem como acúmulo de fenóis. Finalmente, fica evidenciado que quitosana e a UV-C apresentaram efeito in vitro sobre G. citricarpa, porém somente a quitosana exibiu potencial no controle da mancha preta em laranja pós colheita. / Brazil is the biggest producer and exporter of orange juice, and this is one of the most important economical activities for the country. The fruits can be affected by the citrus black spot, disease caused by the fungus Guignardia citricarpa, which depreciates then commercially, causes premature fall and increases the production cost. Alternative measures to the chemical control are being studied and, in this context, resistance induction can be considered. The present work had as objective evaluate the in vitro effects of chitosan and UV-C radiation on mycelial growth, germination and apressorium formation by G. citricarpa and the action of the abiotic agents on controlling the disease on postharvest oranges, under room temperature and refrigeration storage, also studying the mechanisms of resistance in the plant tissue in response to the better treatment. The chitosan concentrations were 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5; 2.0 and 3.0% and the UVC doses were 0.52, 1.04, 3.13, 10.44 and 15.66 kJ.m-2. Chitosan inhibited mycelial growth and stimulated the germination and the apressorium formation that were morphologically abnormal. UV-C did not inhibited mycelial growth, but reduced it at the highest dose used. For the in vivo experiments, oranges were collected, sanitized with hypochlorite and treated. Chitosan concentrations of 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0% and the UV-C dose of 7 kJ m-2 exhibited better results in ?Valência ? oranges. Analyses of peel color of irradiated fruits revealed a light browning. The fungicides thiabendazole and imazalil did not control the disease in ?Pêra Rio ? oranges, but fewer lesions appeared on fruits treated with the fungicides in association with chitosan, under room temperature and refrigeration. Color analysis of peel indicated yellowing and no significant differences among soluble solids, titratable acidity, pH vitamin C and ratio. In the chitosan, thiabendazole and UV-C assays, there was a better control of lesion appearing by treatment with chitosan, applied alone or in association with fungicide and UV-C, at room temperature or refrigeration. Chitosan and the harpin protein were similar on the controlling of the disease and, in comparison to the citric acid, chitosan presented better control on ?Valência? oranges. For biochemical analysis, flavedo samples were homogenized in acetate buffer, centrifuged, and the supernatant collected. The reagents used were CM-chitin-RBV, CM-Curdlan-RBB, guaiacol, cathecol and L-phenylalanine for chitinase, glucanase, peroxidase, polyphenoloxidase and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, respectively. For phenol determination, flavedo was homogenized in acidified methanol and the evaluation was made with Folin-Ciocalteau. Chitosan increased enzyme activities in the first 24 h after treatment, with the highest activity in that time. Activity of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase was not detected, well as absent of phenolic compounds accumulation. Chitosan and UV-C exhibited in vitro effect on G. citricarpa, however, only chitosan showed potential on the control of black spot in postharvest oranges.

Foram conduzidos quatro experimentos com a cultivar 'Carioca' do feijoeiro (Phaseolus vulgaris), objetivando a possibilidade de implementação de um sistema de manejo integrado da ferrugem e mancha angular do feijoeiro após a intervenção com os fungicidas oxycarboxin (Hokko Plantvax 750 - 700 gramas/ha) e trifenil hidróxido de estanho (Mertin â - 660 ml/ha), respectivamente, aplicados em diferentes épocas. Foi realizada a quantificação de danos nesses patossistemas, verificando por meio de regressões lineares e não lineares as possíveis relações existentes entre as variáveis integrais AUDPC (área sob a curva de progresso de doença)¸ HAD (duração da área foliar sadia) e HAA (absorção da área foliar sadia) e suas correspondentes HLAI (índice de área foliar sadio) e HRI (absorção da área foliar por unidade de tempo) com a produção (gramas/planta). Os melhores resultados foram obtidos com as variáveis HAD e HAA, com coeficientes de determinação (R 2 ) variáveis entre 0,19 e 0,56 para HAD e 0,23 e 0,49 para HAA. Quando as variáveis HLAI e HRI foram relacionadas com a produção, os coeficientes de determinação variaram entre 0,24 e 0,57 para HLAI e 0,28 e 0,56 para HRI. A partir das avaliações semanais de HLAI e HRI foram realizadas regressões lineares entre estas variáveis e a produção (gramas/planta). Os coeficientes angulares foram relacionados com os estádios de desenvolvimento observando-se a estabilização das curvas entre os estádios R5-R8 para o patossistema ferrugem - feijão e entre os estádios V4-R8 para o patossistema mancha angular - feijão para HLAI e HRI. Nesses experimentos foram também realizadas avaliações do Índice de Área Foliar (LAI) utilizando-se medições diretas (avaliações manuais) e indiretas com ceptômetro. As medições obtidas com o este equipamento apresentaram sensibilidade suficiente para captar as variações no índice de área foliar sadio e portanto podem ser usadas em sistemas de manejo integrado da ferrugem e da mancha angular do feijoeiro. / Four trials were carried out on dry beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), variety 'Carioca' with goal to verify the possibility of implementation of an integrated management system for rust and angular spot after the application with of oxycarboxin (Hokko Plantvax 750 - 700 g/ha) and trifenil stannic hydroxide (Mertin â - 660 ml/ha) fungicides, applied in different timings. The damage quantification in these pathosystems were done analyzing the possible existing relation among the integral variables AUPDC (Area Under Disease Progress Curve), HAD (Healthy Area Duration) and HAA (Healthy Area Absorption) and its correspondents HLAI (Healthy Leaf Area Index) and HRI (Healthy Radiation Intercept) with yield (grams/plant) through linear and non linear regression. The best results were obtained using the variables HAD and HAA with the determination coefficients (R 2 ) from 0.19 to 0.56 for HAD and 0.23 to 0.49 for HAA. When HLAI and HRI were related with yield, the determination coefficient ranged from 0.24 and 0.57 for HLAI and 0.28 to 0.56 for HRI. From weekly assessments of HLAI and HRI, linear regression analysis were done between those variables and yield (grams/plant). The angular coefficient were related with the different crop stages and the stability of curves was observed between R5-R8 stages for rust - dry bean pathosystem and between V4-V8 stages for angular spot - dry bean pathosystem when HLAI and HRI were analyzed. In these experiments, Leaf Area Indice (LAI) was also assessed with direct (manual) and indirect measures with a ceptometer. The measures obtained using this set provided necessary sensibility to catch HLAI variation and, therefore, may be used in an integrated management system of rust and angular spot in dry beans.

The establishment of alfalfa is expensive and good initial stands permit the farmer to secure high yields and spread establishment costs over several years, Of the factors involved: seedbed preparation, fertilization, seed viability, method of planting, and water application are controlled by the farmer, On the other hand, beneficial and detrimental microflora are not so easily controlled because practices aimed at controlling the detrimental microflora may also destroy the beneficial.

La peronospora della vite è causata dall’Oomicete eterotallico Plasmopara viticola ed è ampiamente diffusa in tutte le aree caratterizzate da primavere miti e piovose. Gli organi svernanti di questo patogeno sono le oospore, che rappresentano l’unica fonte di inoculo per le infezioni primarie. Recenti studi molecolari hanno evidenziato l’importanza delle infezioni primarie e suggerito una revisione dell’epidemiologia di P. viticola. Questa tesi è costituita dagli studi epidemiologici realizzati per indagare il processo di maturazione e germinazione delle oospore mirati all’elaborazione di un modello dinamico per la simulazione delle infezioni primarie di P. viticola. Il modello è stato successivamente validato in diverse aree viticole italiane e, inoltre, utilizzato come base per un warning system in tempo reale per la gestione dei trattamenti in vigneto. / The heterothallic Oomycete Plasmopara viticola represents the causal agent of downy mildew of grapevine (Vitis spp.). The unique source of inoculum is represented by the overwintering sexual spores, originated by the fusion between anteridium and oogonium, so called oospores. Despite their critical impact on the epidemiology of this disease, knowledge about oospores presents some inconsistencies that are engaged in the present dissertation. Initially, the effect of water moistening the grape leaf litter holding overwintering P. viticola oospores was investigated. A close relationship was found between vapour pressure deficit (VPD in hPa) and aW (water activity) of the leaf litter, so that when VPD is lower than 2.13 hPa there is sufficient water for oospores to develop. Results showed that moisture of the leaf litter due to the water flow from the atmosphere makes the oospore development possible also during non rainy periods. Then, the effects of environmental conditions on the variability in germination dynamics of Plasmopara viticola oospores were studied over five years. The germination course was determined indirectly as the relative infection incidence (RII) occurring on grape leaf discs kept in contact with oospores sampled from a vineyard between March and July. The time elapsed between the 1st of January and the infection occurrence was expressed as physiological time, using sums of hourly rates from a temperature-dependent function only in hours when VPD was not a limiting factor (hydro-thermal time, HT). The Gompertz equation calculated over hydro-thermal time produced a consistent modelling of the general relationships between the germination dynamics of a population of P. viticola oospores and weather conditions. It represents the relative density of the seasonal oospores that should have produced sporangia when they have experienced favourable conditions for germination. Finally, a dynamic model for Plasmopara viticola primary infections on grapevine was elaborated according to a mechanistic approach. Development of the sexual stage of the pathogen was split into different state variables, in which changes from one state to another were regulated by rates depending on environmental conditions. The conceptual model was based on the definition of a primary inoculum season, a seasonal oospore (inoculum) dose, and its division into many coeval cohorts. Each cohort progresses along the primary infection cycle (production and survival of sporangia, release, survival and dispersal of zoospores, infection, appearance of disease symptoms) simultaneously, with a time step of one hour. The model was evaluated by comparing model predictions with disease onset in: i) 100 vineyards of Northern, Southern and Insular Italy (1995 to 2007); ii) 42 groups of potted grapevine plants exposed to inoculum (2006 to 2008). Most of the wrong positive predictions occurred in early season, when the host was in the earlier growth stages, or when the oospore germination was triggered by isolated weak rain events. Considering that neither calibration nor empirical adjustment of model parameters were necessary to obtain accurate simulation, it was concluded that this model produces a reasonable approximation of the primary infection processes underlying oospore development. A warning system based on such a model and on short-term weather forecasts was developed and its use was evaluated in experimental vineyards over a 3-year period in North Italy. An unsprayed control was compared with a “warning” treatment (fungicides were applied when the warning system predicted an infection), a “threshold” treatment (fungicides were applied as in the warning treatment, but only for the oospore cohorts higher than a fixed threshold), and the grower’s schedule. Average efficacy in decreasing disease incidence on leaves compared to the unsprayed control was > 90% for all treatments. On the average, 6.8 sprays were applied following the grower’s schedule; use of the warning system reduced applications by about one half (warning treatment) or two third (threshold treatment). The grower’s schedule was the most expensive control strategy, with average of 337 €/ha; the average saving was 174 and 224 €/ha for the warning and the threshold treatments, respectively. The value of this dissertation consists in two relevant and connected aspects. From one side the studies performed on the oospore maturation and germination allowed to better understand and clarify a key point of the downy mildew epidemics still wrapped by a lack of information. From the other side the model elaborated during this thesis represents a practical and efficient tool that leads to the reduction both of growers’ costs and chemical input in the environment.

No description available.

No description available.

<p>We hypothesize that South African medicinal plants contain compounds that can act in synergism with synthetic antifungal compounds. Four fungicides - Sporekill&trade / , Rovral&trade / , Terminator&trade / and Teldor&trade / at doses 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.8 mL L-1 and plant species Galenia africana, Elytropappus rhinocerotis and Tulbaghia violacea were tested aloneand in different combinations for their potency (efficacy) on radial growth inhibition of Botrytis cinerea strains on potato dextrose plates. Four doses of plant extract for each of the respective plant species were used. A total of 48 combinations were tested for each strain. Mixtures of plant extracts were far more effective in controlling strains compared to the individual components alone, representing significant levels of in vitro synergistic interactions. Combinations of these components represent an attractive future prospect for the development of new management strategies for controlling B. cinerea. Since the in vitro tests of these mixtures showed inhibitory activity, the mixtures were tested for activity in assays on Granny Smith apples. In vitro tests can be used to screen mixtures to obtain information on their inhibitory activity on a pathogen, however, the environmental conditions of the fruit and the ability of the pathogen to grow into the fruit cannot be simulated in vivo. A series of two-fold doses of medicinal plant extracts were combined with fungicides to conduct decay inhibition studies. The incidence of gray mold was significantly reduced by mixtures of plant extracts and fungicides. Under conditions similar to those in commercial storage, a drench treatment with G. africana and Rovral&trade / significantly (p=0.05) inhibit gray mold on the apples and was more effective than the plant extract and fungicide alone. The treatments exerted synergistic effects and were markedly better than the components applied alone. The wound colonization assay was used for optimal decay control. In a drench, much higher volumes of the treatments are used to ensure that the components of the suspension are deposited evenly over the entire fruit surface. Drenching of fruit to apply other chemicals is an established practise in the pome (fleshy) fruit industry, and simplifies the commercial application of the mixtures, as no additional infrastructure at commercial packing houses will be required. This approach not only makes it possible to reduce fungicide concentrations while maintaining adequate decay control, but also ensures a reduction of the chemical residue on the fruit.</p>

<p>We hypothesize that South African medicinal plants contain compounds that can act in synergism with synthetic antifungal compounds. Four fungicides - Sporekill&trade / , Rovral&trade / , Terminator&trade / and Teldor&trade / at doses 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.8 mL L-1 and plant species Galenia africana, Elytropappus rhinocerotis and Tulbaghia violacea were tested aloneand in different combinations for their potency (efficacy) on radial growth inhibition of Botrytis cinerea strains on potato dextrose plates. Four doses of plant extract for each of the respective plant species were used. A total of 48 combinations were tested for each strain. Mixtures of plant extracts were far more effective in controlling strains compared to the individual components alone, representing significant levels of in vitro synergistic interactions. Combinations of these components represent an attractive future prospect for the development of new management strategies for controlling B. cinerea. Since the in vitro tests of these mixtures showed inhibitory activity, the mixtures were tested for activity in assays on Granny Smith apples. In vitro tests can be used to screen mixtures to obtain information on their inhibitory activity on a pathogen, however, the environmental conditions of the fruit and the ability of the pathogen to grow into the fruit cannot be simulated in vivo. A series of two-fold doses of medicinal plant extracts were combined with fungicides to conduct decay inhibition studies. The incidence of gray mold was significantly reduced by mixtures of plant extracts and fungicides. Under conditions similar to those in commercial storage, a drench treatment with G. africana and Rovral&trade / significantly (p=0.05) inhibit gray mold on the apples and was more effective than the plant extract and fungicide alone. The treatments exerted synergistic effects and were markedly better than the components applied alone. The wound colonization assay was used for optimal decay control. In a drench, much higher volumes of the treatments are used to ensure that the components of the suspension are deposited evenly over the entire fruit surface. Drenching of fruit to apply other chemicals is an established practise in the pome (fleshy) fruit industry, and simplifies the commercial application of the mixtures, as no additional infrastructure at commercial packing houses will be required. This approach not only makes it possible to reduce fungicide concentrations while maintaining adequate decay control, but also ensures a reduction of the chemical residue on the fruit.</p>

Thesis (MAppSc) -- AUT University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print (x, 171 leaves : col. ill. ; 30 cm.) in City Campus Theses Collection (T 632.952 LIH)

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.