ABSTRACT
In the wake of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), many plant material such as artemisia (Artemisia vulgaris L) have received renewed attention as cheap, easy-to-make treatment for many infections. However, the proliferation of artemisia from seeds is often a lengthy process. Here we investigated the role of commercial (Indol-3-butyric acid - IBA, Natural Rooting Hormone Powder - NRHP, Apple Cider Vinegar - ACV) and cottage-made (coconut water - CW and aloe vera gel - AVG) rooting hormone, and water as control (CONT) on the proliferation of artemisia cuttings in a greenhouse experiment in 2021. The survival of artemisia cuttings did not differ significantly (P > .05) across the treatments. The highest number of stems (19) and plant height (138.0 cm) was observed from CW + AVG, and the differed significantly from the others (P < .05) from the others. AVG produced the highest number of leaves per plant (1466), followed by CW (1317), CW + AVG (1278), and IBA (1241). The leaf dry weight was highest in CW + AVG, followed by those of CW and IBA. A similar pettern was observed for the root dry weight. The findings from this study showed that cottage-made plant based (coconut water and aloe vera gel) growth hormone has comparable effect to commercially available IBA on overall performance of artemisia cuttings. This study has great implications for low-tech proliferation of artemisia.
ABSTRACT
Climate change events and the COVID-19 pandemic have brought to focus the significance of cassava as a supplementary food crop worldwide. However, the high yield potential of the crop necessitates timely and adequate enrichment of the soil with nutrient inputs. Consortium biofertilizers offer a viable option for reducing intensive fertilizer use to sustain soil health and productivity in cassava. The efficacy of a liquid consortium biofertilizer, specifically a plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) Mix - I, in economizing nutrient use in cassava was evaluated in a 4 x 3 factorial randomized block design, replicated thrice. The treatments consisted of combinations of four levels of biofertilizers and three levels of nutrients. Biometric and yield observations were recorded, and soil properties were analyzed before and after the harvest of the crop. The results showed that the liquid biofertilizer consortium at a concentration of 5% + 75% of the recommended dose, with 37.5:37.5:75 kg NPK/ha as chemical fertilizers, recorded significantly superior tuber yield in cassava. Considering the economics, the application of the PGPR liquid formulation (5%) thrice (basal, 2 and 4 MAP) along with 37.5:37.5:75 kg NPK/ha, or at a concentration of 2% with 50:50:100 kg NPK/ha, realized higher benefit-cost ratios and can be recommended for use in cassava.
ABSTRACT
Tomato flu, also known as tomato fever, is a newly identified virus in India that causes high temperatures, extreme fatigue, and aches and pains. Case studies have revealed that immunocompetent people can contract the virus;therefore, this may be a new Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease strain (HFMD). Although tomato fever shows symptoms similar to COVID-19, the virus is not related to SARS-CoV. Tomato fever is a self-limiting illness and there is no specific treatment/vaccination till date. The rare viral infection is in endemic state and is considered non-life threatening. Because of the fear of emergence of fourth wave and dreadful experience of COVID-19, vigilant management is desirable to prevent spread of tomato fever.
ABSTRACT
Tanacetum parthenium (L.) Schultz-Bip (feverfew) is among the important medicinal and aromatic plants due to its tryptophan (TRP), serotonin (SER), melatonin (MEL), and parthenolide (PRT) content. In recent studies, have reported TRP, MEL, and (PRT) are effective in the treatment of COVID-19, thus increasing the popularity of feverfew, which is rich in these valuable molecules. This study investigated the possible effects of exogenous foliar applications of methyl jasmonate (MeJA 0.5 mM) and TRP (20 mM) on plant TRP, SER, MEL, and PRT levels. During the pre-flowering period, endogenous TRP was measured as 128.9 mu g/mL and endogenous PRT as 1.53% mg/g in the leaves of the control group. During the flowering period, the MEL level was measured as 1.38 mu g/mL in the leaves of the TRP application group. In addition, in the pre-flowering period, MeJA-induced increases of 94.51% were determined in DPPH antioxidant activity and the total flavonoid content was 38.76 mg QE/g, whereas the highest total phenolic content of 51.63 mg GAE/g was found in flower samples of the control group. However, neither the developmental periods nor the treatments significantly affected the total phenolic content in the leaves.
ABSTRACT
Ahstract-The occurrence of seasonal natural phenomena depends on the conditions leading to it and not directly on the progression of time, meaning its context varies across time and space. Examples of this include comparing plant growth, insect development or wildfire risk during the same time period at different locations or in different time periods at the same location. However, visualizing and comparing such phenomena usually implies plotting it across the time axis as it's perceived as temporal data. Since it's not directly dependent of time, identifying patters of recurrence using this technique is inefficient. Because of this, we proposed transforming (when needed) the dependent function to a non-decreasing monotone one, in order to preserve the monotonic property of time progression. Then we used the resulting function as a time axis replacement to achieve an equal ground of comparison between the different contexts in which the phenomenon occurs. We applied this technique to real data from seasonal natural phenomena, such as plant and insect growth, to compare its progression in different temporal and spatial contexts. Since the dependent function of the phenomenon was scientifically known, we were able to directly use the technique to infer its seasonality patterns. Furthermore, we applied the technique to real data from the coronavirus worldwide pandemic by hypothesizing its dependent function and analysing if it was able to reduce the existing temporal misalignment between different contexts, like years and countries. The results achieved were positive, although not as remarkable as when the dependent function was known. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Objective: Patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 may progress with severe clinical symptoms and patients may be hospitalized in intensive care for a long time. In patients with long-term intensive care hospitalization, secondary infections develop as a result of the pathophysiology of the disease and the treatments used. The aim of this study is to investigate the incidence of secondary infections in patients with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) and to identify common pathogen groups. Material(s) and Method(s): Four hundred and sixty one patients with a diagnosis of COVID-19 who were followed up in the intensive care unit at Afy-onkarahisar Health Sciences University Faculty of Medicine Hospital between 20 March 2020 and 31 May 2021 were included in the study. Demographic data, co-morbidities, clinical features, laboratory data and culture growth data of the patients were recorded retrospectively. Re-sults: Nosocomial secondary infections were detected in 132 (28.6%) of 461 patients. Acinetobacter baumannii 39/53 (73.5%) growth was observed in the majority of the lower respiratory tract sample cultures. There was 28/49 (57.1%) Staphylococcus aureus growth in blood cul-tures, and 21/42 (50%) candida spp. growth in urine cultures. Conclu-sion: In this study, we found that the incidence of infection secondary to COVID-19 pneumonia was high. In addition, it was determined that the secondary infection rate was high in patients with PaO2/FiO2<200. Copyright © 2022 by Turkiye Klinikleri.
ABSTRACT
Other factors important for the constant expansion of the floriculture industry include implementing new strategies for plant reproduction, regulating their growth and development, adapting production technologies to fit the idea of sustainable development, and optimizing supply chain management [4,5]. The environmental management technique called ‘life cycle assessment’ (LCA) is a tool defined in ISO standards and recommended in many EU documents. The authors point out that growing C. persicum in accordance with the principles of integrated pest management and using compost to significantly limit the consumption of mineral fertilizers brings about measurable benefits for the environment and human health. The long-term development of this industry, faced with the current energy crisis, post-pandemic challenges, and threats to global geopolitical stability, is highly uncertain. [...]to continue its constant development, it is necessary to adapt cultivation methods to actual conditions and take into account the energy transformation and biological, technical, and organizational advances.
ABSTRACT
The audience of consumers of watermelon and melon is the widest, the reason for this is the light and at the same time rich composition of sweet fruits. Given the increase in complications among the country's population associated with the postponed coronavirus pandemic, the consumption of highly vitaminized and environmentally friendly products is especially important. Unfortunately, in recent years there has been an acute issue of unfair production of melons and gourds. In pursuit of an early harvest, producers completely forget about quality. Melon products contaminated with nitrates can lead to the most serious consequences. The way out of this situation is to use biological stimulants of the vital activity of soil microorganisms, which accelerates the maturation processes, while reducing the introduction of agrochemicals by almost twice. According to the results of our research, it was found that the treatment of plants with biological stimulants increased the yield of watermelon by 33.88%, melon -27.30%. Plants treated with bio stimulants were larger, had a greater number of ovaries to control, respectively. Biochemical analysis showed an increase in dry matter, total sugar and ascorbic acid in the fruits of watermelon and melon.
ABSTRACT
Background. Blood cultures are the gold standard for diagnosing bloodstream infections and a vital part of the work-up in systemic infections. However, contamination of blood cultures represents a significant burden on patients and the healthcare system with increased hospital length of stay, unnecessary antibiotics, and financial cost. The data discussed here offer insight into blood culture contamination rates before and through the COVID-19 pandemic at a community hospital and the processes that were affected by the pandemic. Methods. Blood culture contaminations were determined by using the number of sets of blood cultures with growth and the presence of an organism from the National Healthcare Safety Network's (NHSN) commensal organism. Contamination rates were evaluated by status as a standard unit or a COVID-19 isolation unit in either the emergency department (ED) or inpatient floor units. The identified four groups had different processes for drawing blood cultures, particularly in terms of training of staff in use of diversion devices. The electronic medical record was used to track contaminations and the use of diversion devices in the different units. Results. The inpatient COVID units were consistently elevated above the other units and the institutional contaminant goal of 2.25%, ranging from 9.6% to 13.3% from 4/2020-9/2020. Those units were the primary driver of the increase in overall contamination rates. COVID ED nursing staff (that had previously undergone training in the use of diversion devices) used diversion devices to draw 51 of 133 (38.3%) cultures compared to only 15 of 84 (17.9%) on the COVID inpatient units. Figure 1. Comparison of contamination rates in the ED vs the inpatient units from all campuses from September 2019 through September 2020. The blue line represents the hospital goal of 2.25% contamination rate. Solid lines represent total contamination rates including COVID isolation units whereas dotted lines represent units excluding COVID isolation units. Figure 2. Comparison of the non-COVID vs COVID isolation units in the emergency department and inpatient units. The red line represents the hospital goal of less than 2.25% for blood culture contamination rate. Table of Contaminants vs. Total Collected Blood Cultures in Each Unit by Month Figure 3. Raw data from Figure 2. Total blood culture contaminations from each unit by month compared to total blood culture collections from each unit by month. Conclusion. Evaluation revealed that nursing staff with less training in blood culture collection, particularly the use of diversion devices, were the primary staff collecting blood cultures in the inpatient COVID units. The difference in training is felt to be the primary driver of the increase in contaminants in the inpatient COVID units. The marked increase in contaminations highlights the difficulties of maintaining quality control processes during an evolving pandemic and the importance of ongoing efforts to improve the quality of care. These findings demonstrate the importance of training and routine use of procedures to reduce contaminations even during.
ABSTRACT
The use of soilless culture in the cultivation of ornamental plants is becoming widespread, especially in the production of cut flowers. The aim of this review is to present a brief summary of both standard and new findings obtained from using soilless culture techniques in ornamental plant cultivation, based on a detailed literature review. In the researches reached for this review, Calendula officinalis L., Matthiola incana L., Pelargonium zonale L., Petunia x hybrita L., Pinus pinea, Cupressus arizonica, C. sempervirens, Sternbergia lutea, Galanthus elwesii Hook, Lilium candidum, Limonium sinuatum, Eustoma grandiflorum (Lisianthus russellianus) and Tulipa gesneriana species were evaluated as plant material. In the researches evaluated, different ornamental plant species, soilless culture techniques and substrates of soilless culture were examined and important results were obtained. Moreover, in the changing living conditions with COVID-19, people have grown plants in their gardens, balconies, terraces and even living rooms using simple hydroponic systems. Thus, they made the simplest practices of soilless culture and even brought it into their homes. It can be foreseen that the commercial and scientific use of hydroponic culture systems in ornamental plants will continue and rapidly increase. Keywords: cut flower, hydroponic, ornamental plant, plant growth, soilless culture, substrate. © 2022, Ornamental Horticulture. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
To minimize losses likely to occur due to Corynespora leaf spot, systemic and contact fungicides and formulation of bacterial antagonists like Bacillus subtilis DTBS-5, B. amyloliquefaciens DSBA-11, and Pseudomonas fluorescens DTPF-3 talc-based formulations were evaluated to manage the disease. Though mancozeb has the lowest EC50 value of 1250.54 ppm it was not efficient in the field experiment. In addition, dual culture assay to determine the efficacy of bacterial antagonists against C. cassiicola, B. amyloliquefaciens DSBA-11 effectiovely reduced growth of C. cassiicola. In the field experiments conducted during Kharif 2019 and 2020, two sprays with Azoxystrobin 23 SC@ 0.5 ml lit−1 were found most effective in reducing disease severity by 57.7% and 67.7% respectively during Kharif 2019 and 2020. Azoxystrobin 23 SC treatment resulted in a maximum increase of 281.5 kg in grain yield followed by Pseudomonas fluorescens DTPF-3 264.7 kg and Bacillus subtilis DTBS-5 248.9 kg yield. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Archives of Phytopathology & Plant Protection is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)
ABSTRACT
Lectins are widely distributed proteins having ability of binding selectively and reversibly with carbohydrates moieties and glycoconjugates. Although lectins have been reported from different biological sources, the legume lectins are the best-characterized family of plant lectins. Legume lectins are a large family of homologous proteins with considerable similarity in amino acid sequence and their tertiary structures. Despite having strong sequence conservation, these lectins show remarkable variability in carbohydrate specificity and quaternary structures. The ability of legume lectins in recognizing glycans and glycoconjugates on cells and other intracellular structures make them a valuable research tool in glycomic research. Due to variability in binding with glycans, glycoconjugates and multiple biological functions, legume lectins are the subject of intense research for their diverse application in different fields such as glycobiology, biomedical research and crop improvement. The present review specially focuses on structural and functional characteristics of legume lectins along with their potential areas of application.
ABSTRACT
Protection of plants against herbivorous pests is an important aspect that guarantees agricultural efficiency, i.e., food provision to populations. Environmental, water and foodstuff pollution by toxic pesticides, along with climate changes, highlight the necessity to achieve intensive development of ecologically safe methods of herbivory control. This review discusses modern methods of plant protection against insect pests: the biofortification of plants with selenium, treatment of plants with bulk and nano-silicon, and utilization of garlic extracts. The peculiarities of such methods of defense are described in relation to growth stimulation as well as increasing the yield and nutritional value of products. Direct defense methods, i.e., mechanical, hormonal, through secondary metabolites and/or mineral element accumulation, and indirect defense via predator attraction are discussed. Examples of herbivorous pest control during plant growth and grain/seed storage are emphasized. A comparison of sodium selenate, silicon containing fertilizer (Siliplant) and garlic extract efficiency is analyzed on Raphanus sativus var. lobo infested with the cruciferous gall midge Contarinia nasturtii, indicating the quick annihilation of pests as a result of the foliar application of garlic extract or silicon-containing fertilizer, Siliplant.
ABSTRACT
Effects of drought and aerosol stresses were studied in a factorial experiment based on a Randomized Complete Design with triplicates on two ornamental shrubs. Treatments consisted of four levels of water container (40%, 30%, 20%, and 10% of water volumetric content of the substrate) and, after 30 days from experiment onset, three aerosol treatments (distilled water and 50% and 100% salt sea water concentrations). The trial was contextually replicated on two species: Callistemon citrinus (Curtis) Skeels and Viburnum tinus L. ‘Lucidum’. In both species, increasing drought stress negatively affected dry biomass, leaf area, net photosynthesis, chlorophyll a fluorescence, and relative water content. The added saline aerosol stress induced a further physiological water deficit in plants of both species, with more emphasis on Callistemon. The interaction between the two stress conditions was found to be additive for almost all the physiological parameters, resulting in enhanced damage on plants under stress combination. Total biomass, for effect of combined stresses, ranged from 120.1 to 86.4 g plant−1 in Callistemon and from 122.3 to 94.6 g plant−1 in Viburnum. The net photosynthesis in Callistemon declined by the 70% after 30 days in WC 10% and by the 45% and 53% in WC 20% and WC 10% respectively after 60 days. In Viburnum plants, since the first measurement (7 days), a decrease of net photosynthesis was observed for the more stressed treatments (WC 20% and WC 10%), by 57%. The overall data suggested that Viburnum was more tolerant compared the Callistemon under the experimental conditions studied.
ABSTRACT
An increasing need for a more sustainable agriculturally-productive system is required in order to preserve soil fertility and reduce soil biodiversity loss. Microbial biostimulants are innovative technologies able to ensure agricultural yield with high nutritional values, overcoming the negative effects derived from environmental changes. The aim of this review was to provide an overview on the research related to plant growth promoting microorganisms (PGPMs) used alone, in consortium, or in combination with organic matrices such as plant biostimulants (PBs). Moreover, the effectiveness and the role of microbial biostimulants as a biological tool to improve fruit quality and limit soil degradation is discussed. Finally, the increased use of these products requires the achievement of an accurate selection of beneficial microorganisms and consortia, and the ability to prepare for future agriculture challenges. Hence, the implementation of the microorganism positive list provided by EU (2019/1009), is desirable.