• Authors:
    • Dobrovolny, P.
    • Brazdil, R.
    • Mozny, M.
    • Trnka, M.
  • Source: Climatic Change
  • Volume: 110
  • Issue: 3/4
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Cereal crop harvests reflect the weather patterns of the period immediately preceding them, and thus the dates at which they begin may be used as a source of proxy data on regional climate. Using systematic phenological observations in the Czech Lands (now known as the Czech Republic) after 1845, together with exploration of further surviving documentary evidence (chronicles, diaries, financial accounts etc.), it has proved possible to create series of winter wheat harvest dates for the period 1501-2008. Employing linear regression, the harvesting dates of the main cereal species (wheat, rye, barley, oats) were first converted to winter wheat harvest days and then normalised to the same altitude above sea level. The next step consisted of using series of winter wheat harvest dates to reconstruct mean March-June temperatures in the Czech Republic, applying standard palaeoclimatological methods. Series reconstructed by linear regression explain 70% of temperature variability. A profound cold period corresponding with late winter wheat harvests was noted between 1659 and 1705. In contrast, warm periods (i.e. early winter wheat harvests) were found for the periods of 1517-1542, 1788-1834 and 1946-2008. The period after 1951 is the warmest of all throughout the entire 1501-2008 period. Comparisons with other European temperature reconstructions derived from documentary sources (including grape harvest dates), tree-rings and instrumental data reveal generally close agreement, with significant correlations. Lower correlations around A.D. 1650 and 1750 may be partly related to deterioration of socio-economic conditions in the Czech Lands resulting from prolonged wars. The results obtained demonstrate that it is possible to use widely-available cereal harvest data for climate analysis and also that such data constitute an independent proxy data series for the region of Central Europe crucial to further studies of the potential impact of climatic variability and climate change on agriculture.
  • Authors:
    • Justesen, A.
    • Jorgensen, L.
    • Rodriguez, A.
    • Jensen, J.
    • Nielsen, L.
  • Source: International Journal of Food Microbiology
  • Volume: 157
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Quantitative real-time PCR assays, based on polymorphisms in the TRI12 gene of the trichothecene pathway, were developed to identify and quantify the trichothecene genotypes producing 3-acetyl-deoxynivalenol (3ADON), 15-acetyl-deoxynivalenol (15ADON) or nivalenol (NIV) in the Fusarium graminearum species complex, Fusarium culmorum, Fusarium cerealis and Fusarium pseudograminearum. These assays were applied on a total of 378 field samples of cereal grain of wheat, barley, triticale, rye and oats collected from 2003 to 2007 to study the trichothecene genotype composition in Danish cereals. The three genotypes, 3ADON, 15ADON and NIV were found in all five cereal species, great annual variation in the occurrence of the trichothecene genotypes was evident with considerable variation between the samples. 3ADON was the dominant genotype in barley, triticale, rye and oats while 15ADON was most dominant in wheat. The NIV genotype was found at low levels in most samples. Study of genotype composition within the Danish F. graminearum and F. culmorum population was based on principal component analysis (PCA). PCA revealed that the dominating genotype of F. graminearum in wheat is 15ADON. For barley, the PCA analysis indicated that the F. graminearum population consisted of all three genotypes, and in triticale, the F. graminearum population consisted mainly of 15ADON genotype. F. culmorum/ F. cerealis showed correlation to the NIV genotype in wheat and triticale but not in barley. F. culmorum/ F. cerealis also showed some correlation to 3ADON especially in wheat and triticale. Selected wheat and barley samples from 1957 to 2000 showed low amounts of F. graminearum and F. culmorum in general but with a dominance of the 3ADON genotype. 15ADON was not detected in these samples, except for very low amounts in the sample representing the years from 1997 to 2000. Detection of low amounts of the 15ADON genotype in these historical samples and the relatively high amounts of 15ADON genotype in 2003 and following years correspond well with the occurrence of F. graminearum and indicates that the 15ADON genotype was introduced along with F. graminearum around 2000. The amounts of the 3ADON and 15ADON genotypes correlated well with the total amount of DON whereas the amounts of NIV genotype correlated well with the amount of NIV in wheat and triticale but not in barley where the results indicate that Fusarium poae may also contribute to the NIV content.
  • Authors:
    • Paraschiv, I.
    • Biris, S.
    • Maican, E.
    • Paraschiv, G.
    • Vladut, V.
  • Source: Actual Tasks on Agricultural Engineering: Proceedings of the 40. International Symposium on Agricultural Engineering, Opatija, Croatia, 21-24 February 2012
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: This paper presents a procedure for the calculus and dimensional optimization of a seeds hopper volume from a universal seeds drill. First, the meaning and importance of some constructive parameters taken into account in the procedure are fully explained and exemplified. Then, the mathematical algorithm underlying the hopper's cross-sectional area maximization is developed. The procedure is applied on a hopper from a real seeds drill. It is important to note that the hopper's volume has been already maximized by the designer. Therefore it will be tested whether the proposed procedure is capable to add value to the method used by the designer. Under these conditions, it is found that the proposed method has further succeeded an increase in cross-sectional area from 0,89 m2 to 0,93 m3. Considering that the total length of the hopper in this example is 3,086 m, an overall increase in volume of 12,3 L is obtained.
  • Authors:
    • Thomashow, L.
    • Weller, D.
    • Mavrodi, O.
    • Mavrodi, D.
    • Parejko, J.
  • Source: Microbial Ecology
  • Volume: 64
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Certain strains of the rhizosphere bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens contain the phenazine biosynthesis operon ( phzABCDEFG) and produce redox-active phenazine antibiotics that suppress a wide variety of soilborne plant pathogens. In 2007 and 2008, we isolated 412 phenazine-producing (Phz +) fluorescent Pseudomonas strains from roots of dryland wheat and barley grown in the low-precipitation region (
  • Authors:
    • Samac, D.
    • Vance, C.
    • Temple, S.
    • Somers, D.
    • Tesfaye, M.
    • Radmer, L.
  • Source: Plant and Soil
  • Volume: 351
  • Issue: 1/2
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Background and aims: Enhanced aluminum (Al) resistance has been observed in dicots over-expressing enzymes involved in organic acid synthesis; however, this approach for improving Al resistance has not been investigated in monocots. Among the cereals, oat ( Avena sativa L.) is considered to be Al resistant, but the basis of resistance is not known. Methods: A hydroponic assay and hematoxylin staining for Al accumulation in roots were used to evaluate Al resistance in 15 oat cultivars. Malate and citrate release from roots was measured over a 24 h period. A malate dehydrogenase gene, neMDH, from alfalfa ( Medicago sativa L.) was used to transform oat. Results: Oat seedlings were highly resistant to Al, as a concentration of 325 M AlK(SO 4) 2 was needed to cause a 50% decrease in root growth. Most oat cultivars tested are naturally resistant to high concentrations of Al and effectively excluded Al from roots. Al-dependent release of malate and Al-independent release of citrate was observed. Al resistance was enhanced in a transgenic oat line with the highest accumulation of neMDH protein. However, overall root growth of this line was reduced and expression of neMDH in transgenic oat did not enhance malate secretion. Conclusions: Release of malate from oat roots was associated with Al resistance, which suggests that malate plays a role in Al resistance of oat. Over-expression of alfalfa neMDH enhanced Al resistance in some lines but was not effective alone for crop improvement.
  • Authors:
    • Jorgensen, L.
    • Nielsen, G.
    • Spliid, N.
    • Ghorbani, F.
    • Nielsen, K.
    • Rasmussen, P.
  • Source: Mycotoxin research
  • Volume: 28
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Fusarium mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol (DON) can occur in cereals conjugated to glucose and probably also to other sugars. These conjugates, which are often referred to as "masked mycotoxins", will not be detected with routine analytical techniques. Furthermore, it is suspected that the parent toxin may again be released after hydrolysis in the digestive tracts of animals and humans. Today, our knowledge of the occurrence of these compounds in cereal grains is limited. In this paper, a LC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of DON, deoxynivalenol-3-beta-D-glucoside (DON-3-glucoside), 3 acetyl-DON, nivalenol, fusarenon-X, diacetoxyscirpenol, HT-2 toxin, and T-2 toxin in naturally ( n=48) and artificially ( n=30) contaminated cereal grains (wheat, barley, oat, rye triticale) is reported. The method has also been applied to whole fresh maize plant intended for production of maize silage ( n=10). The samples were collected from the harvest years 2006-2010, The results show that DON-3-glucoside and DON co-occurred in cereal grains and, especially in several of the highly contaminated samples, the concentration of the glucoside can be relatively high, corresponding to over 37% of the DON concentration. The DON-3-glucoside levels in both the naturally and in the artificially grain inoculated with Fusarium were second only to DON, and were generally higher than those of the other tested trichothecenes, which were found at low concentrations in most samples, in many cases even below the detection limit of the method. This argues for the importance of taking DON-3-glucoside into account in the ongoing discussion within the European Community concerning exposure re-evaluations for setting changed values for the tolerable intake for DON. Our results indicate that, in the naturally contaminated grains and in the Fusarium infested cereal grains (winter and spring wheat, oat, triticale), the concentration level of DON-3-glucoside is positively correlated to the DON content. When the DON concentration is high, then the content of DON-3-glucoside will most probably also be high and vice versa.
  • Authors:
    • Reyneri, A.
  • Source: Informatore Agrario
  • Volume: 68
  • Issue: 17
  • Year: 2012
  • Authors:
    • Ross, A.
  • Source: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
  • Volume: 60
  • Issue: 36
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Alkylresorcinols are phenolic lipids, with homologues ranging from C17 to C25, found in high concentrations in whole grain wheat and rye, lower concentrations in barley, and negligible concentrations in refined wheat flour. The analysis of alkylresorcinols is of importance due to their potential as biomarkers of whole grain intake and emerging evidence for some biological effects. Present HPLC methods have insufficient resolution for accurately quantitating the mix of alkyl- and alkenylresorcinols found in rye. An ultrahigh-pressure liquid chromatography method was developed, and three detection methods (CoulArray (CAED), ultraviolet (UV), and fluorescence detection (FD)) were compared for cereal alkylresorcinol analysis. The lower limits of quantitation and detection were 50 and 20 pg injected, 5 pg and 2 pg injected, and 500 and 1250 pg injected for FD, CAED, and UV, respectively. FD and CAED provided similar results, with some bias for higher results with FD (
  • Authors:
    • Christiansen, S.
    • Murari, S.
    • Ryan, J.
  • Source: Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science
  • Volume: 58
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Traditional Mediterranean rainfed cereal/fallow systems are being replaced by cereal monoculture due to land-use pressure. Food or forage legumes in rotation with cereals are an alternative sustainable cropping system. Complex cropping systems can only be assessed by long-term trials. This 11-year rainfed barley-based rotation trial in northern Syria assessed rotation effects on yields of barley and legumes, with particular emphasis on the management of vetch. The mean order of barley grain yields from the rotations was: vetch for hay, vetch for grazing > fallow=medic=vetch for seed > lentil, and continuous barley. Straw yields followed a similar pattern. Nitrogen (60 kg ha -1) increased grain (39%) and straw (65%) yields. The N fertilization of barley had no carryover effect on the alternative legume crops. Although there were no significant differences in seed or straw yield between lentil and vetch, seasonal rainfall influenced overall yields. Total biomass yields were in the order of vetch, medic and lentil. There is a compelling case for annual vetch paired with barley in rotations for the Mediterranean region. Thus, barley/vetch rotations can potentially enhance barley yields and improve soil quality, and provide valuable fodder for small ruminants as well in the region's agricultural systems.
  • Authors:
    • Schenke, E.
  • Source: Julius-Kuhn-Archiv
  • Volume: 2
  • Issue: 434
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Early autumn herbicide application in winter cereals is in many areas a reasonable agronomic procedure. ADDITION with the well-known active ingredients diflufenican (40 g/l) and pendimethalin (400 g/l) is a new combination for weed control in winter wheat, barley, rye and triticale. Early post emergence application of 2.5 l/ha includes these advantages: unrestricted selectivity to various application conditions for all kinds and varieties of winter cereals and wide efficacy spectrum to broad-leaved weeds. The specific feature of ADDITION is a complementary and overlapping efficacy spectrum. Within the overlapping spectrum diflufenican and pendimethalin affect the same weed varieties with different modes and on different sites of action. HRAC rates diflufenican to group F1 and pendimethalin to group K1. These different modes of action are the basis for variety specific resistance management. According to increasing discussions of weed resistance, ADDITION is a strong partner to set up a successful long term resistance management. Favorable restrictions are allowing a wide application range of ADDITION.