Glochidia (larvae) of freshwater mussels are obligate parasites which attach to and become encysted in the gills or fins of host fish species. The immune responses of the host fish to the parasite affects the susceptibility of the fish to glochidia of different mussels. The immune response provides an opportunity to identify which fish species are hosts. The number and variety of mussels in rivers and lakes has sharply declined since the last century due to various anthropogenic factors, and some mussels species are facing extinction. It is an urgent task to preserve these vanishing mussels, or extinction will be inevitable. An attempt was made to develop an assay, using the immunological response to glochidia, to screen fish species for appropriate hosts. This would facilitate the production and rearing of juveniles. In order to design these assays, reagents such as anti-immunoglobulins which can react with antibodies from many different fish species have to be developed. This work was carried out to develop such reagents. Host and non-host fish were immunized with killed bacteria (Brucella abortus) to study their humoral immune response to an antigen. All fish were able to respond well, as measured by agglutination and Western Blot assays. Antibodies produced by the Brucella injections were used to stimulate anti-fish immunoglobulins in goats, and the antisera were tested for their ability to recognize immunoglobulins from different host fish species. The specificities of these reactions were compared to the reactivity of Protein A. Goat antisera were able to cross-react with different fish antibodies, but it was found that Protein A was a more suitable reagent. Protein A is seemingly suitable to identify the host-fish species and could be used as a reagent for the serological diagnosis of various fish diseases. / Master of Science

No description available.

Ryegrass cultivars, experimental accessions, blends and composite mixtures were tested for overall adaptation to overseeded turfgrass management practices under desert conditions. Entries were significantly different from each other for color and overall turfgrass quality. Gennplasm for overseeding differs for tolerance to close mowing under desert conditions. In most cases, the better adapted entries had superior scores in two years of testing.

No description available.

No description available.

The U/A twenty-one clone saltgtrass accession nursery received a mowing height of 7/8" (or less) in 2003. In spring of 2003, clonal accessions C-8, A51, A53, and A138 produced the quickest green-up in early April. Accessions with good quality turf performance in spring/early summer included A138, A51, C-8, A65, A48, and A53. Starting in July, all plots were split with a rolling treatment (850 lb. roller, 2 passes, 2-3 times weekly) up until early October. The main effect of rolling caused increased positive responses for certain clonal accessions, others showed no response, while yet others showed decreased performance from the rolling treatment. Rolling increased positive turf responses among turf clones with showed good turf quality when not rolled. This occurred for nine of the twenty-one clones in this test, all when mowed 3 times weekly at 7/8". Accumulated rolling increased turf performance to enhanced and acceptable levels of quality (6.0 or greater) by the end of September. This was true for nine of the twenty-one clones as well. Accessions, which produced good quality turf (after rolling started in June) throughout the summer, included the following: A138, A65, A86, A137, A48, A51, and A40. Accessions which produced the best quality turfs when unrolled included A138. Likewise, turf density visual scores produced similar accession X rolling interactions. Eleven of the twenty-one clones produced a denser appearing turf after rolling, nine of which had mean visual density scores within the range of 6.3 - 8.7, when rolled. This enhanced response to rolling improved the overall appearance (turf quality) of select clonal accessions over their unrolled counterparts. Initial response to repeated rolling and lower mowing heights showed a favorable response among certain clonal accessions.

Sixty-four overseed turf entries were evaluated from October 2002, to June 2003 for turf when overseeded on Tifway bermudagrass fairway turf. Overseed entries included 43 single variety (or experimental synthetics) of perennial ryegrass, 2 annual ryegrasses, 6 entries of intermediate or 'hybrid' ryegrass, 5 entries of Poa trivialis (PT), one blend of perennial ryegrass, 4 mixtures (two or more species together) and 3 fescues. The main effect of "overseed grass entry" was highly significant on all dates for all visual turf responses, which included establishment, color quality, density, texture, and spring transition. The greatest amount of variation occurred within the perennial ryegrass group as a whole, showing the diversity within this species for overseeding performance. Annual ryegrass provided quick germination and ground coverage in the fall and a quick spring transition, but was of poor turf quality. Intermediate ryegrasses had performance values between that of perennial and annual ryegrass, some of which provided moderately good turf performance and good transition. Poa trivialis was slow to establish, but provided good quality and excellent plot texture, however they had poor transitional qualities. Final quality mean scores ranged from 3.0 (P-02-0047 PT) to 7.7. There were three entries, which averaged 7.7 at the close of the test, which included Mach 1 PR, SR 4500 PR, and Pace PR. The entries IG-2, Greenville PR, Express PR, Bar LO 2001, Hawkeye, Partee finished at 7.3 for quality. Among the intermediate ryegrass entries, Froghair finished with a mean quality score of 7.0, followed by Pick 00- A-LH (5.3). All three fescues produced mean quality scores of 6.0 or better on 8 June (Hardtop fescue leading at 6.7 for quality). The Labarinth tall fescue did have 62% Bermuda at the end of the test, compared to 65% for all entries at that time. Entries which had a mean quality score of 7.0 or more in June, along with a bermuda transition of close to 75% or more at the termination of the test included the following entries; Citation Fore, Mach 1, BarGold, Bar LP 2001, Pace, Greenville OSP, and Express.

The new Seashore paspalum 'Sea Isle 2000' is being used as a greens surface in many tropical - semi tropical climates were saline water is available for irrigation. While it’s color retention in the fall in Tucson Arizona is good, it still enters full winter dormancy, and requires overseeding with a cool season grass for late fall, winter, and spring play. A two year test was conducted to evaluate the tolerance of Sea Isle 2000 to overseeding, and to evaluate overall turf performance of perennial ryegrass (PR), Poa trivialis (PT) and a mixture of the two when used for overseeding over Sea Isle 2000. PT alone was slow to establish as an overseed in year one, but not in year two. Turfgrass color, quality density and texture were acceptable throughout the test, noting that the 100% perennial ryegrass plot demonstrated a short-term loss of performance during the cold January of 2004. After the initial grow in period, absolute BRD was greatest when growing conditions were less than optimum in mid-winter, and again at the seasons end at the beginning of spring transition (May). This was true in both years. BRD was generally not different between the three overseeding regimes, either when turfs were double mowed prior to BRD measurements, or when a single rolling event was added on the day that BRD was assessed. The 100% PR overseed treatment showed the largest numerical increases in BRD from rolling. This was 6.5 inches in year one and 9.2 inches in year two. Yearly BRD averages of all overseeded surfaces for turfs that were double mowed in year one ranged from 91.5 to 92.4 inches, and in year two from 92.2 to 93.3 inches. Average yearly BRD values among all overseed turfs when rolling was included (including double mowing) in year one ranged from 95.8 to 98.2 inches and from 99.2 to 100.5 inches in year two. Maximum BRD values obtained were 107.8 and 114.3 inches in year one, and 100.0 and 111.1 inches in year two for the mowed only turfs, and mowed and rolled turfs, respectively.

Landolphia kirkii is scrambling shrub forming an integral part of the flora along the coastal areas of north-eastern South Africa. The non-sustainable harvesting of fruit as food source, by monkeys and rural communities and the highly recalcitrant nature of their seeds threatens the continuation of the species. In addition, the ability of the plants to produce high quality rubber makes its long-term conservation highly desirable. Previously, attempts have been made to cryopreserve germplasm of L. kirkii, but no survival had been recorded at cryogenic temperatures of below -140ºC. The present study reports on the effects of rapid dehydration, chemical cryoprotectants and various cooling rates, thawing and imbibition treatments on survival of embryonic axes excised with cotyledons completely removed, as well as with 3 mm portion of each cotyledon attached, from fresh, mature, recalcitrant seeds of L. kirkii. Survival was assessed by the ability for both root and shoot development in in vitro culture, the tetrazolium test and electrolyte leakage readings. At seed shedding, embryonic axes were at the high mean water content of 2.24 g gˉ¹ (dry mass basis). All axes (with and without attached cotyledonary segments) withstood rapid (flash) drying to a water content of c. 0.28 g gˉ¹; however, the use of chemical cryoprotectants, singly or in combination, before flash-drying was lethal. Rapid cooling rates were detrimental to axes flash-dried to 0.28 g gˉ¹, with no explants showing shoot production after exposure to -196ºC and -210ºC. Ultrastructural examination revealed that decompartmentation and loss of cellular integrity were associated with viability loss after rapid cooling to cryogenic temperatures, although lipid bodies retained their morphology regardless of the thawing temperature employed. Furthermore, analysis of the lipid composition within embryos of L. kirkii revealed negligible amounts of capric and lauric acids, suggested to be the medium-chained saturated fatty acids responsible for triacylglycerol crystallisation when lipid-rich seeds are subjected to cryogenic temperatures. Hence, lipid crystallisation was not implicated in cell death following dehydration, exposure to cryogenic temperatures and subsequent thawing and rehydration. Rapid rehydration of embryonic axes of L. kirkii by direct immersion in a calcium-magnesium solution at 25ºC for 30 min (as apposed to slow rehydration on moistened filter paper or with rehydration in water) was associated with highest survival post-dehydration. Cooling at 1ºC minˉ¹ and 2ºC minˉ¹ facilitated survival of 70 and 75% respectively of axes with attached cotyledonary segments at 0.28 g gˉ¹ after exposure to - 70ºC. Viability retention of 40 and 45% were recorded when embryonic axes with attached cotyledonary segments were cooled at 14 and 15ºC minˉ¹ to temperatures below -180ºC. However, no axes excised without attached cotyledonary segments produced shoots after cryogenic exposure. The use of slow cooling rates is promising for cryopreservation of mature axes of L. kirkii, but only when excised with a portion of each cotyledon left attached. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.

El cultivo de Chenopodium quinoa “quinua" posee un alto potencial genético para contribuir con la seguridad alimentaria en países en vías de desarrollo, por esta razón se encuentra en proceso de revalorización. No obstante, la creciente demanda del cultivo ha centrado su interés en las variedades comerciales, descuidando las variedades nativas de la región andina, lo cual podría ocasionar la pérdida de diversidad. Por tal motivo, es necesaria la investigación de los ecotipos nativos así como su conservación en los bancos de germoplasma con la finalidad de describir la diversidad genética, elucidar la estructura de la población de quinua en nuestro país y dar a conocer el valor del germoplasma. En el presente trabajo se estimó la diversidad genética de los ecotipos de quinua procedentes de valles interandinos y altiplano mediante la genotipificación con 23 marcadores microsatélites mediante un sistema de PCR-Multiplex. Se detectaron 294 alelos en total con un promedio de 12.78 alelos por locus, siendo los ecotipos de valles interandinos los que presentaron un mayor número de alelos exclusivos (60 alelos), por lo tanto esta población presentó mayor riqueza alélica. Asimismo mediante un PCoA, se identificaron dos subpoblaciones de quinua con diferenciación genética moderada (Fst=0.059), las cuales guardaron relación con la procedencia de las muestras. Finalmente, se identificaron 10 marcadores altamente polimórficos los cuales permitirán la evaluación de la diversidad genética del germoplasma de quinua.Chenopodium quinoa “quinoa” has a high genetic potential to contribute to food security in developing countries, therefore it is in a valorization process. However, the growing demand has focused his interest in the cultivation of commercial varieties, neglecting the native varieties of the Andean region, which could lead to loss of diversity. Therefore, it is necessary the research of native ecotypes and its conservation in genebanks in order to describe the genetic diversity also elucidate the structure of the population of quinoa in our country and publicize the value of its germplasm. In this study the genetic diversity andean valleys and highland quinoa ecotypes was determined by genotyping 23 microsatellite markers using a PCR-Multiplex system. A total of 294 alleles were detected with an average of 12.78 alleles per locus, where the valleys ecotypes showed a greater number of private alleles (60 alleles), i.e. a higher allelic richness. In addition, using PCoA, two subpopulations of quinoa with moderate genetic differentiation (Fst = 0.059) were observed which were related to the origin of the samples. Finally, 10 highly polymorphic loci were identified, which will allow the evaluation of the genetic diversity of quinoa germplasm.