Revised; Originally Published: 2000 / 7 pp. / The mid elevations (3,500 to 6,000 feet) in Arizona can be ideal for growing tree fruit. Site selection can make a pronounced effect on how well fruit will grow and produce. The warmer the site the greater the chance of success. Areas where cold air settles are a poor choice for tree fruit production. Variety selection is very important for good fruit production.February and March are the best months to plant bare root trees, although they can be planted anytime during the dormant season. Try to plant 30 days before bud break. Containerized plants are best planted in late September through early October. The open center pruning system allows for more sunlight to reach all the branches of the tree. Whereas the central leader is used with those trees that are less vigorous. Training trees when young is an important step in ensuring a strong scaffold system when bearing. Fruit thinning helps to control fruit size and consistent bearing. Proper fertilization, irrigation, and pest control will promote healthy productive trees.

House flies (Musca domestica L.) are common pests affecting horses and their owners. Control of house flies in stable yards is currently based on the use of pesticides. However, the development of resistance by these flies to most pesticide groups has motivated horse owners to seek alternative methods of fly control. An entomopathogenic fungus, Beauveria bassiana (Bb) and an entomopathogenic bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti) are two biological agents known to have activity against house flies. The broad objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of these two biological control agents on house flies in an equine environment. Using a structured questionnaire, presented in Chapter 2, thirty horse owners in KwaZulu-Natal were asked about the nuisance value of house flies, their current control measures, the potential market for biocontrol agents against house flies, and each owner’s perception of biocontrol methods. The horse owners were using three methods of house fly control namely, physical, chemical and biological. Most horse owners (97%) wanted access to effective biocontrol agents for control of house flies. Most horse owners (80%) stabled their horses at night, some or all of the time. The resultant manure piles in the stable yard were considered to be the primary cause of house fly problems. About 64% of the horse owners were dissatisfied with the currently available methods of controlling house flies in this situation. Chapter 3 covers two observational trials in which varying doses of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti) were fed to horses, in order to identify a baseline dosage to give to horses in order to adequately control house fly populations growing in horse manure. The bacterium Bti, grown on wheat bran, was fed to six miniature horses at doses of 0, 0.125, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0 g per meal in Trial 3a, and at 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 4 and 8 g per meal in Trial 3b. Faeces were collected three times a week for 11 weeks and placed in incubation trays to allow the number of emerging adult house flies and closed pupae to be counted. In Trial 3a, there was a significant reduction in the number of closed pupae with an increase in Bti in the feed. The regression equation suggests that there will be 3.1 times as many closed pupae in the faeces when horses are fed 1 g of Bti in their feed, than when horses are fed no Bti. This dosage is the minimum baseline dosage for future trials. v Using manure from horses dosed in Trials 3a and 3b, the survival of the bacterium through the gut of horses was evaluated using a standard isolation technique. The growth of Bt colonies on the manure after the Bt isolation technique showed that some of the bacterial cells survived transition through the digestive tract of the horse. This study was qualitative in nature and did not attempt to quantify the level of Bti spore survival. These two observations suggest that Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis has the potential to be used as a biocontrol agent, applied via horse feed, for the control of house flies in stable yards. Future clinical trials, with appropriate replication, should be conducted using 1 g Bti/meal as the lowest test dosage. The objective of Chapter 4 was to determine whether spraying Bti or Bb on to horse manure is effective in the control of house flies. Over a six week period, two spraying trials were conducted in which increasing doses of Bb and Bti were sprayed on to 500 g samples of horse manure. Counts of house fly pupae and adults were taken. The doses of Bb and Bti tested were 0, 1, 2, 4 g in Trial 4a, and 0, 4, 8 and 12 g in Trial 4b. The research reported in Chapter 4 was characterized by the unexpectedly high levels of biological variation in egg, larvae and pupae numbers that were found in samples of horse manure, taken from the same skip two days apart. The statistical design of the two trials conducted was inadequate to cope with the high level of variation about treatment means for fly and larval counts. However, despite the lack of significant differences between treatment means, there is observational evidence that suggests that both Bb and Bti do have an effect on house fly survival. A simplified statistical model, which compared the number of hatched house flies on untreated manure, with the number on manure treated with any level of Bb (1 to 4 g /250 ml water), found a significant reduction in the number of hatched flies on treated manure. There was no significant corresponding reduction in the number of closed pupae, which suggests that Bb acts primarily before the larva pupates. The optimal dose of Bb and Bti to be sprayed on to manure could not be determined because of the high variation about treatment means. It is suggested that, in future trials similar dosages for Bb could be tested, but that higher dosages of Bti (starting at 2 g/250 ml water) should be used. Trial periods should be extended and replication increased dramatically to reduce variation about treatment means. Transformation of data before analysis may also be necessary to equalize variation about treatment means. / M.Sc.Agric. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg 2013.

The objective of this study was to transform sweet pepper ferredoxin-like protein (PFLP) gene, which has antimicrobial properties, to tobacco and investigate the disease resistance abilities of transgenic tobacco. This protein interacts with another protein, harpin that is produced by the bacteria which is invading the plant tissues, and stimulates hypersensitivity response in plants, thus the spreading of disease is limited. Gene transfer was achieved to tobacco by Agrobacterium- mediated method and with indirect organogenesis / the explants were grown on selective media and then transferred to jars and pots respectively. Molecular and genetic analyses such as PCR, RT-PCR, Sequence Analysis and Northern Blot, were performed with plants which their seeds survived and grew on selective medium and also gave positive reactions for GUS histochemical assay. Finally, with putative transgenic plants, some hypersensitive response assays were carried out with Pseudomonas syringae and it was observed that the recovered plants showed hypersensitive response (HR) in the preliminary tests. These results indicated that putative transgenic tobacco plants which carry pflp transgene, can be used in disease resistance studies.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Horticulture)) -- University of Western Sydney, 2002. / "A thesis submitted to the University of Western Sydney for the fulfillment of study for a degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Horticulture" "Principal supervisor: Robert Spooner-Hart, co-supervisor: Andrew Beattie, co-supervisor: Alfie Meats" Bibliography : leaves 231-265.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2007. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (M.Sc. (Biochemistry, Microbiology & Biotechnology)) - Rhodes University, 2008.

Thesis (M.S.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Plant and Soil Sciences. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008. / Full text also available online. Scroll down for electronic link.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xv, 126 p.; also includes graphics (some col.). Includes bibliographical references (p. 96-107). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Orientador: Nilza Maria Martinelli / Coorientadora: Ana Lúcia Benfatti Gonzalez Peronti / Banca: Odair Aparecido Fernandes / Banca: Valmir Antonio Costa / Resumo: A família Pseudococcidae é a segunda maior da Infraordem Coccomorpha, com cerca de 2000 espécies descritas. No Brasil, conhecidas popularmente como cochonilhas-farinhentas, compreendem a terceira maior família, com 77 espécies registradas, distribuídas em 22 gêneros. Destas, 32 espécies são conhecidas para o estado de São Paulo, sendo 30% polífagas e de origem exótica, infestando plantas de importância agrícola. O controle biológico é uma alternativa, e dentre os inimigos naturais os himenópteros parasitoides vêm sendo muito utilizados. O objetivo deste trabalho foi inventariar os micro-himenópteros parasitoides de 11 espécies de pseudococcídeos pragas, primarias ou secundarias, de várias culturas e plantas ornamentais no estado de São Paulo, como café, citros, pinha, goiabeira, entre outros, relacionando estes com seu hospedeiro, origem e distribuição geográfica. Os levantamentos dos himenópteros parasitoides foram realizados entre agosto de 2016 e agosto de 2017, de forma aleatória, em áreas rural e urbana de cinco municípios do estado São Paulo: Jales, Ribeirão Preto, Jaboticabal, São Carlos e Campinas. As espécies de pseudococcídeos amostrados para obtenção dos parasitoides foram: Dysmicoccus brevipes (Cockerell, 1893), Ferrisia virgata (Cockerell, 1893), Leptococcus capixaba Kondo, 2005, Leptococcus minutus (Hempel, 1932), Maconelicoccus hirsutus (Green, 1908), Nipaecoccus nipae (Maskell, 1893), Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley, 1898, Planococcus citri (Risso, 181... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The Pseudococcidae family is the second largest from the Coccomorpha Infraorder, with about 2000 described species. In Brazil, popularly known as mealybugs, it comprised the third largest family, with 77 species registered, distributed in 22 genera. From these, 32 species are known to the state of São Paulo, being 30% polyphagous from exotic origin, infesting plants of agricultural importance. Biological control is an alternative and among natural enemies, parasitoid Hymenoptera are being widely used. The objective of this work was to inventory the parasitoid microhymenoptera from 11 mealybug pest species, primary or secondary, from various crops and ornamental plants in the state of São Paulo, such as coffee, citrus, sugar-apple, guavas and others, relating these to their host, origin and geographical distribution. The parasitoid hymenopteran surveys were carried out between August 2016 and August 2017, in a random way, in rural and urban areas from five municipalities in the state of São Paulo: Jales, Ribeirão Preto, Jaboticabal, São Carlos and Campinas. The Pseudococcidae species sampled to obtain parasitoids were: Dysmicoccus brevipes (Cockerell, 1893), Ferrisia virgata (Cockerell, 1893), Leptococcus capixaba Kondo, 2005, Leptococcus minutus (Hempel, 1932), Maconelicoccus hirsutus (Green, 1908), Nipaecoccus nipae (Maskell, 1893), Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley, 1898, Planococcus citri (Risso, 1813), Planococcus minor (Maskell, 1897), Pseudococcus cryptus (Hempel... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre