Pineapple fruit production (Ananas comosus L. Merr.) is negatively affected by inhomogeneous natural flowering, but flowering can be exogenously induced by growth regulators such as Ethephon ...(2-chloroethylphosphonic acid), resulting in greater production and yield in this crop. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the application of Ethephon and ethylene + activated carbon to increase flowering and the qualitative and yield components of pineapple. The experiment was set up in a randomized block design with three treatments and five replications (blocks). After checking that the variance of the data sets was homogeneous, they were subjected to analysis of variance. Subsequently, the difference between the means of the treatments was determined using the Tukey test (P ≤ 0.05). There was a significant difference in costs and gains between using and not using flowering inducers, representing a significant difference in the benefit-cost ratio (BCR). Therefore, the use of activated carbon + ethylene proved to be economically viable. We conclude that activated carbon associated with ethylene provided a higher percentage of flowering in pineapple fruit. However, this inducer and Ethephon were similarly effective in increasing yield in this crop.
Citrus is the first tree crop in terms of fruit production. The colour of Citrus fruit is one of the main quality attributes, caused by the accumulation of carotenoids and their derivative C30 ...apocarotenoids, mainly β-citraurin (3-hydroxy-β-apo-8′-carotenal), which provide an attractive orange-reddish tint to the peel of oranges and mandarins. Though carotenoid biosynthesis and its regulation have been extensively studied in Citrus fruits, little is known about the formation of C30 apocarotenoids. The aim of this study was to the identify carotenoid cleavage enzyme(s) CCD(s) involved in the peel-specific C30 apocarotenoids. In silico data mining revealed a new family of five CCD4-type genes in Citrus. One gene of this family, CCD4b1, was expressed in reproductive and vegetative tissues of different Citrus species in a pattern correlating with the accumulation of C30 apocarotenoids. Moreover, developmental processes and treatments which alter Citrus fruit peel pigmentation led to changes of β-citraurin content and CCD4b1 transcript levels. These results point to the involvement of CCD4b1 in β-citraurin formation and indicate that the accumulation of this compound is determined by the availability of the presumed precursors zeaxanthin and β-cryptoxanthin. Functional analysis of CCD4b1 by in vitro assays unequivocally demonstrated the asymmetric cleavage activity at the 7′,8′ double bond in zeaxanthin and β-cryptoxanthin, confirming its role in C30 apocarotenoid biosynthesis. Thus, a novel plant carotenoid cleavage activity targeting the 7′,8′ double bond of cyclic C40 carotenoids has been identified. These results suggest that the presented enzyme is responsible for the biosynthesis of C30 apocarotenoids in Citrus which are key pigments in fruit coloration.
The new methods of soil surface maintenance of the artificial grass establishment or growing of green manure crops applied in modern fruit-growing have been the subject of research in various ...Agra-ecological areas in Bulgaria but they are not yet implemented in the fruit-growing technology. Legumes are a basic element of these methods because of their nitrogen-fixing system. The present article summarizes our own and foreign results about the suitability of the different types of legumes in this trend. Bulgarian studies confirm the role of legumes in optimizing the nutritional and water regime of fruit crops in the conditions of the mountain or biological fruit growing. In view of the fact that there are a wide variety of morphological and biological types of legumes in Bulgaria, it is reasonable to have a special selection of varieties for soil surface maintenance in orchards.
Biological invasions are a leading threat to native wildlife, human health and food production worldwide. Understanding the invasion history helps identifying introduction pathways and organizing ...integrated management strategies especially aimed at avoiding multiple reintroductions. We coupled a recently developed spatial analysis (Geographic profiling) with trade flows quantification to identify the most likely spreading centre of a recent invader of Europe, the spotted wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii. This polyphagous vinegar fly recently colonized western countries, where it is heavily threatening fruit production causing severe economic losses. Characterized by a rapid spread and a huge impact, the invasion of this pest has a few precedents and it is becoming a model in invasion biology and pest management. Thanks to our spatial approach based on data presence of D. suzukii in European countries in the very first years of it spread, we update the current knowledge of a first spread in Spain and Italy, suggesting on the contrary that the South of France may be the most likely spreading centre of D. suzukii in Europe. Estimates of propagule pressure (fresh host fruits importation) support this finding as imports from contaminated South East Asian countries are higher in France than in Spain or Italy. Our study provides a first step in the comprehension of invasion history of this pest species and emphasizes geographic profiling as an efficient technique to track down invaders colonization patterns.
This paper reports a study aiming to ascertain how farmers may be encouraged to use more non-chemical methods of pest management. A randomly selected sample of 600 small-scale farmers on the Loess ...Plateau of China was investigated in 2016. We analysed the farmers' choice of non-chemical pest management by using a Poisson regression model. The results showed that subsidies for the use of non-chemical pest management methods play a key positive role in farmers' choices of these methods. Certification of green or organic agricultural products, signed sales contracts and years of formal education also have a positive role in relation to farmers' choices of non-chemical pest management. However, an increase in agricultural land has a negative impact on farmers' choices of non-chemical pest management. These results will be helpful for the improvement of related policies on the reduction in chemical pesticide use and the encouragement of non-chemical pest management in fruit-growing areas.
•Subsidies for the use of non-chemical pest management methods play a key positive role in farmers' choices of these methods.•Certification of agricultural products has a positive role on farmer's use of non-chemical pest management.•Signed sales contract has a positive role on farmer's use of non-chemical pest management.•Education years have a positive role on farmer's use of non-chemical pest management.•An increase in agricultural land has a negative impact on farmers' choices of non-chemical pest management.
Production of many flowering crops often benefits from elevated pollinator diversity and abundance. Nevertheless, the opposite relationship may arise if bees impair fruit or seed production and/or ...quality by damaging flowers during visitation, despite transferring pollen. We assessed pollination and drupelet set (i.e. the number of drupelets per fruit) in 16 raspberry Rubus idaeus fields along a gradient of bee abundance in north‐west Patagonia, Argentina. Using pollen supplementation, we also tested whether drupelet set was pollen limited in a subset of six fields. Managed Apis mellifera and the invasive bumblebee Bombus terrestris accounted for 50% and 45% of all bee visits, respectively, to raspberry flowers. Pollen loads on stigmas increased with visit frequency of all bees combined and particularly with visitation by A. mellifera, but not by B. terrestris. Drupelet set was not pollen limited along the gradient of bee abundance. Instead, drupelet set decreased with the proportion of damaged styles, which varied more strongly with the frequency of visits by B. terrestris than by A. mellifera. In fields with the highest bee frequency of visits (~300 visits flower⁻¹ day⁻¹), ~80% of styles were damaged in flowers and these developed into fruits with ~30% fewer drupelets compared to flowers in fields with the lowest bee visitation rates (~4 visits flower⁻¹ day⁻¹). Synthesis and applications. Extreme bee visitation, particularly by Bombus terrestris, damaged the styles of raspberry flowers, precluding ovule fertilization by deposited pollen and limiting crop production by reducing drupelet set. Only a few bee visits are required to maximize fruit production in raspberry plants, therefore, pollinator management in north‐west Patagonia should focus principally on reducing the abundance of the invasive bumblebee B. terrestris and secondarily controlling the number of honeybee hives in nearby cultivated fields. Although mainstream pollinator management relies on the assumption that more visits enhance fruit set, high bee visitation rates can be detrimental for fruit development and, consequently, for crop yield.
There is increasing interest in the quality of crops because of the implications concerning health, economic revenue, and food quality. Here we tested if inoculation with a mixture of arbuscular ...mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and/or two strains of plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB), in conditions of reduced chemical inputs, affects the quality and yield of strawberry fruits. Fruit quality was measured by concentrations of soluble sugars, various organic acids, and two vitamins (ascorbic and folic acid). Co-inoculation with the AMF and each of the two PGPB resulted in increased flower and fruit production, larger fruit size, and higher concentrations of sugars and ascorbic and folic acid in comparison with fruits of uninoculated plants. These results provide further evidence that rhizospheric microorganisms affect fruit crop quality and show that they do so even under conditions of reduced chemical fertilization and can thus be exploited for sustainable agriculture.
In recent years, the potential of robotic harvesting in greenhouse tomato production has garnered significant attention within the tomato industry. However, there is a lack of sufficient research on ...the complete replacement of manual harvesting with this technology. In this paper, we propose a tomato harvesting method that utilizes a nesting approach to simplify the process and minimize damage. The paper describes the tomato harvesting robot prototype, the visual system equipped with three vision‐based tomato detectors: YOLOv5_CBAM, which incorporates a convolutional block attention module; YOLOv5_SE, enhanced with a squeeze‐and‐excitation block; and a standard YOLOv5s model. Additionally, a novel shear gripping method for fruit bunches is presented, utilizing a bottom‐up snapping technique during harvesting. Point cloud data are utilized to determine the position of the tomato's main stem and bunch. The paper includes field tests and experimental findings, which indicate that the YOLOv5_CBAM model achieves the highest precision (82.62%) and recall (82.57%), outperforming YOLOv5_SE and standard YOLOv5s. Field experiments demonstrate that the improved end‐effector and vision system have significantly enhanced the robot's performance, achieving a 57.5% harvesting success rate in just 14.9 s.
The invasive pest
Drosophila suzukii
(Matsumura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae) was recently recorded in Brazil and constitutes a threat to fruit growing, mainly for small, soft fruits. Recent advances in ...research on ways of controlling
D. suzukii
involve the use of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs). In this context, the objective of this study was to evaluate the pathogenicity and virulence of four isolates in different concentrations against
D. suzukii
pupae. The EPN isolates used in trials were
Steinernema brazilense
IBCBn 06,
S. carpocapsae
IBCBn 02,
Heterorhabditis bacteriophora
HB, and
H. amazonensis
IBCBn 24. Both
H. amazonensis
IBCBn 24 and
H. bacteriophora
HB were effective in controlling
D. suzukii
as they caused a mortality rate of 86.25% and 80.0%, and virulence of 549.75 IJs/pupae and 787.75 IJs/pupae in the concentrations of 1800 IJs/ml and 5400 IJs/ml, respectively. The lowest lethal concentrations (LC
50
) of juveniles were found in host pupae with 771.63 IJs/ml of
H. bacteriophora
HB and 1115.49 IJs/ml of
H. amazonensis
IBCBn 24. Results showed that both EPNs,
H. amazonensis
IBCBn 24 and
H. bacteriophora
HB, could be promising eco-friendly biological agents to control
D. suzukii
.
The carambola fruit fly
Bactrocera carambolae
Drew and Hancock (Diptera: Tephritidae) is an invasive fruit fly reported in North Brazil that threatens Brazilian fruit culture. Assessing the potential ...risk of establishing this pest is necessary to reduce the threat of
B. carambolae
dispersion to other countries and Brazilian regions and to avoid damage to the fruit trade. In this study, the CLIMEX model was used to understand the response of
B. carambolae
to climate change and to determine its potential global distribution with and without irrigation practices. Based on ecophysiological parameters, the model simulates factors limiting species distribution concerning the climate. To assess the seasonal variation in the density of
B. carambolae
, monitoring data in Uiramutã municipality, Roraima, from 2013 to 2019 was used. According to the CLIMEX forecast, large parts of America, Africa, and Asia, mainly in areas closest to the equator, are highly suitable for the survival of
B. carambolae
. Brazil is a good part of its territory with high suitability for
B. carambolae
, especially the North, South, and Southeast regions and the entire coastal area. The periods of the highest climatic suitability in the five Brazilian regions were January–May and October–December. The potential distribution area expands under irrigation and is highly suitable for most areas without cold stress. The CLIMEX model for B
. carambolae
generated in the present study provides important information for the Brazilian eradication program and other surveillance activities established in pest-free areas.
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