Diverse plant species that included trees shrubs herbaceous perennials a grass and a rush were selected to allow the researchers to evaluate the performance of a wide range of evergreen deciduous woody and herbaceous plants.
'Juncus effuses'Frenzy'Helianthus angustifolius (swamp sunflower) Helianthus angustfolius'First Light 'and Eupatorium purpureum subsp. maculatum (Joe pye weed) performed well in the experiments
#LEDS shine in bedding plant production studygrowers of annual bedding plant seedlings or plugs work to produce compact fully rooted transplants with a large stem diameter
and high root dry mass--qualities that make seedlings less susceptible to damage during shipping and transplant.
To determine whether the use of narrow-spectra high-intensity LEDS is can be a practicable supplemental lighting source for greenhouse grown annual bedding plant seedlings researchers Wesley Randall
and Roberto Lopez from Purdue University designed a series of lighting experiments on plugs of Antirrhinum Catharanthus Celosia Impatiens Pelargonium Petunia Tagetes Salvia and Viola.
Results showed that the height of Catharanthus Celosia Impatiens Petunia Tagetes Salvia and Viola was 31%29%31%55%20%9%and 35%shorter respectively for seedlings grown under 85:15 red:
blue LEDS compared with those grown under high-pressure sodium lamps. Stem caliper of Antirrhinum Pelargonium
and Tagetes was 16%8%and 13%larger respectively for seedlings grown under the 85:15 red:
blue LEDS compared with seedlings grown under HPS lamps. The quality index was significantly higher for Petunia Salvia and Viola under 85:15 70:30 and 100:0 red:
blue LEDS than under HPS lamps respectively. Overall the results indicate that seedling quality for the majority of the species tested under supplemental light LEDS providing both red
and blue light was similar or higher than those grown under high-pressure sodium lamps. Our results indicate that providing supplemental lighting from LEDS
or high-pressure sodium lamps has a positive influence on seedling root dry mass height and stem caliper leading to high-quality bedding plant seedlings
when solar light is limited Lopez and Randall noted. A light ratio of 85:15 red: blue light could be a good combination for greenhouse LED supplemental lighting of bedding plant plugs.
#For bees and flowers, tongue size matterswhen it comes to bee tongues length is proportional to the size of the bee
For bees and the flowers they pollinate a compatible tongue length is essential to a successful relationship.
Some bees and plants are matched very closely with bee tongue sized to the flower depth.
Other bee species are generalists flitting among flower species to drink nectar and collect pollen from a diverse variety of plants.
A bee collects pollen on its body as it laps sugar-rich nectar from within the cupped interior of the flower's petals
and carries the flower's genetic heritage away with it to fertilize the next flower of the same species that it visits.
Perched at the mouth of a flower the bee unfolds the beaky maxilla and extends its tongue into the corolla of the flower dipping
and retracting it to lap up the nectar. If its tongue is too short to reach the nectar the bee has a problem.
Long flowers like honeysuckle or columbine are too deep for short-tongued bees. But longer isn't always better;
long tongues are harder to wrangle into short flowers. Long-tongued bees are often specialists favoring a few deep-throated flower species. In the bumblebee-sparse southern tip of Argentina for example Bombus dahlbomii the native long-tongued giant of Patagonia has lost ground
to a new bumblebee from Europe the short-tongued generalist Bombus terrestris imported to help pollinate tomatoes.
Because specialists depend on just a few flowers they can be more vulnerable to change. Tongue length can
whose mutation affects plant stem growth a finding that could lead to the development of improved soybean cultivars for the northern United states. Purdue agronomy professor Jianxin Ma (pronounced Jen-SHIN'Ma)
or more pods than current northern cultivars but do not grow as tall. Their reduced height makes them more resistant to lodging a bending or breaking of the main plant stem.
We can now focus on developing a variety of elite semideterminate soybean cultivars which could perform very well in high-yielding irrigated environments such as Nebraska and northeastern Indiana.
Soybean cultivars are divided often into two groups: indeterminate--tall plants whose main stem continues to grow after flowering--and determinate--shorter bushier plants
But the height of indeterminate cultivars renders them prone to lodging. For northern soybean producers semideterminate soybean plants could represent a Goldilocks cultivar a just right alternative between the two.
Semideterminate soybeans are easy to manage have similar or better yields than indeterminate plants and can handle a short growing season Ma said.
Only one semideterminate soybean cultivar NE3001 is common in the United states. Having pinpointed Dt2 will enable Ma
and his researchers to use natural plant breeding methods to develop a variety of semi-determinate cultivars.
The potential for soybean yield productivity in the U s. has not been explored fully in part because of the lack of semideterminate cultivars he said.
We're now working on converting high-yielding indeterminate cultivars to semideterminate types to test their yield potential.
After identifying the gene he inserted it into indeterminate cultivars to confirm that it caused the plants to become semideterminate.
and horticulture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln said the identification of Dt2 gives soybean breeders a powerful tool for breeding new cultivars.
and seedlings he said. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Purdue University.
In areas of the world where rice consumption is very high the rice types (cultivars) with the lowest arsenic content should be identified
Crape myrtle a tree adored for its bright flowers that scream summer carefree maintenance and even its colorful bark now has a disease problem--although so far only in the commercial nursery setting.
A research team led by Michael Jenkins associate professor of forest ecology found that a 17-yearlong Indiana Department of Natural resources policy of organizing hunts in state parks has spurred successfully the regrowth of native tree seedlings herbs
and wildflowers rendered scarce by browsing deer. Jenkins said that while hunting may be unpopular with some it is an effective means of promoting the growth and richness of Indiana's natural areas.
But by the 1990s white-tailed deer populations in parks had swelled to such size that many species of native wildflowers such as trillium
Oak and ash tree seedlings gave way to highly deer-resistant or unpalatable trees such as pawpaw.
Herbs such as asters violets and goldenrods increased from about 20 percent to 32 percent cover
Tree seedlings jumped from about 2 percent to about 13 percent of total plant cover a finding that suggests
With heavy populations of deer tree seedlings often don't have a chance to survive he said.
which flowers worker bees chose to visit. Bees have to learn many things about their environment including how to collect pollen from flowers said Raine who holds the Rebanks Family Chair in Pollinator Conservation a Canadian first.
Exposure to this neonicotinoid pesticide seems to prevent bees from being able to learn these essential skills.
and returned to the colony how much pollen they collected and from which flowers. Bees from untreated colonies got better at collecting pollen as they learned to forage.
Besides collecting less pollen said Raine the flower preferences of neonicotinoid-exposed bees were different to those of foraging bees from untreated colonies.
The fungus causes charcoal rot in about 500 other host plants including corn sorghum sunflower and other important crops.
In controlled greenhouse conditions Radwan grows a variety of soybean cultivars in sandy soil and then stops watering the plants to simulate drought.
If we screen for drought stress we hope to find some cultivars that are charcoal rot resistant
and it is uncommon for a new one--especially a flowering plant--to be found in the United states says University of Utah biology professor Lynn Bohs senior author of a new study describing
and create a comprehensive online inventory of all 1500 species in Solanum one of Earth's largest genera of flowering plants.
Prickles also cover the flower clusters which have five to eight flowers. Prickles are all over this sucker Bohs says.
The first specimen of S. cordicitum was collected in October 1974 on U s. 166 about 30 miles west of Fort Davis Texas. Then in September 1990 a Valentine resident named Howard
because its flower petals are white instead of yellow and its flower stalks are longer and flowers are larger than closely related species. There also are differences from other species in leaf shape and in stem hairs.
Also a study published in 2010 by Stern Bohs and Utah postdoctoral researcher Terri Weese showed the plant's DNA differed from known species
because we wanted a beautiful picture of the flowers to put in a publication. It's probably not extinct
In all Androceras species the calyx or outer envelope of the flower and fruit is really spiny Bohs says.
Like other plants in Androceras the new species and its five-petaled flowers are bilaterally symmetrical (like a mirror image down a vertical line)
Four of its yellow anthers--pollen organs within the flower--are the same size but the fifth is bigger.
It's got a beautiful interesting flower form unique in Solanum Bohs says. The researchers'report can be found online at:
These lost defenses might then be reintroduced into modern cultivars. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Society for Experimental Biology.
These include the U s. Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the northern Gulf of mexico Bermuda and Bonaire all of
and cultivars is becoming increasingly important. Looking to inform rose enthusiasts and growers researchers at Texas A&m University evaluated 18 popular varieties of Earth-Kindâ roses for salt tolerance.
The rose cultivars were tested in greenhouses in College Station and El paso Texas in response to two salinity levels at electrical conductivity:
The salt tolerance of Earth-Kindâ rose cultivars was consistent in the two locations with strong positive correlations of relative shoot dry weight flower number
and visual quality score in the 10 same cultivars between two locations said corresponding author Genhua Niu.'
'Belinda's Dream''Climbing Pinkie''Mrs. Dudley Cross''Reve d'Or'and'Sea Foam'were the most salt-tolerant cultivars.'
'Cecile Brunner''Else Poulsen''Madame Antoine Mari''Perle d'Or''Spice'and'Souvenir de St anne's'were the least salt-tolerant among the 18 cultivars analyzed in the study.
and flower number of the cultivars tested. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by American Society for Horticultural Science.
Analyses showed that total farm-to-gate-gate variable costs (the seedling liner and field production phases combined) was $37. 74 per marketable tree;
and disposal costs added another $33. 78 in labor costs and $27. 08 in equipment costs yielding a total cost from seedling to end-of-life of $98. 60.
and exposed the seedlings to an artificial drought period. It became clear that young trees with more stored carbohydrates were able to maintain the vital water content in the stem for longer than those with fewer stored carbohydrates.
and with different climates suggesting that leafing out time is fixed a character of a species like the shape of its leaves or flowers;
and deciduous plants leafed out on average 17 days before evergreens. And certain groups of plants--such as honeysuckles willows lilacs and apples--tended to leaf out early while other groups--such as oak beeches honey locusts and grapes--tended to
When you consider that the tiny drab flowers of a single ragweed plant can produce up to a billion pollen grains annually it's clear that Detroit vacant lots are pollen factories churning out a noxious product that afflicts thousands of city residents.
When the lots are left unmowed the common perennial plants that replace ragweed include goldenrod milkweed Kentucky bluegrass chicory and aster.
and seedlings and will either prepare a raised bed in the yard of a survivor's home
No one has isolated ever a controlling gene for this timing in a wild plant outside of Arabidopsis a small flowering plant related to mustard
when they produce flowers when they go dormant--help trees adapt to changes in environmental signals like those associated with climate
One April morning he found that four seedling trees in a 2. 5-acre test plot were putting forth leaves at least a week before all the other trees.
but on the seedlings that did germinate there was a blight wiping out the young seedlings.
and chlorophyll loss on the seedlings just by placing it at the junction of the main stem and root collar of the plant at three weeks post-inoculation.
By grafting pest-sensitive elite grape cultivars onto pest-resistant wild rootstocks infestation is prevented effectively.
The work was conducted at Daisy Lake on the outskirts of the industrial city of Sudbury in Ontario Canada.
Areas of Daisy Lake closest to the nickel smelt-works remain bare--dirt and rock instead of the once lush forest.
--if crops were just like your flowers and your maize just came up year after year he said.
and should help them create better cultivars faster. It's really the future. It'll be a new tool in the hands of the next generation of plant breeders
and compared the genome sequences of ten diverse citrus varieties including sweet and sour orange along with several important mandarin and pummelo cultivars.
Comparing sequences of so-called traditional mandarins such as the Asian cultivar Ponkan and the Mediterranean cultivar Willowleaf with mandarins known to be developed hybrids indicated that all contain segments of the pummelo genome.
The wild Mangshan mandarin from China is an exception to the rule as its genome revealed it was in fact a separate species from other cultivated mandarins.
The researchers have discovered a pair of proteins made by flowering plants that are vital for the production of the sperm present within each pollen grain.
Scientists already knew that flowering plants in contrast to animals require not one but two sperm cells for successful fertilisation:
#Flowers polarization patterns help bees find foodbees use their ability to'see'polarized light when foraging for food researchers based at the University of Bristol have discovered.
Polarization patterns occur on the petals of real flowers but are invisible to us and thus may be overlooked a hitherto component of floral signalling.
Around 53 per cent of flower species face downwards and thus their polarization patterns are presented in such a way as to be visually accessible to the region of the bee's eye
Light reflected from downward facing flowers also has the potential to contrast with skylight polarization patterns potentially helping the bee to detect
and identify such flowers. Professor Partridge said: Both pollinator and plant fitness is greatly dependent on the ability of pollinators to discriminate flowers accurately
and bees have been shown to be able to use a wide range of floral cues including colour shape texture certain chemical compounds
and temperature to improve the identification and recognition of flowers. Recent findings have added floral humidity and electric fields as additional methods with
which pollinators can discriminate flowers and it is advantageous for a plant to produce a number of different signals that a pollinator can utilise effectively.
While some specific carefully designed actions--such as planting flowers for pollinators restoring species-rich grassland
and snowdrop lectin. Feeding acute and chronic doses to honeybees--beyond the levels they would ever experience in the field--the team found it had only a very slight effect on the bees'survival and no measurable effect at all on their learning and memory.
During the study the bees were exposed to varying concentrations of the spider/snowdrop bio-pesticide over a period of seven days.
This is an oral pesticide so unlike some that get absorbed through the exoskeleton the spider/snowdrop recombinant protein has to be ingested by the insects.
Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri) a flowering plant native to the Sonoran desert and southwest United states has a laundry list of traits that make it a fierce competitor on the farm said Aaron Hager a University of Illinois
As a seedling Palmer amaranth looks a lot like waterhemp another problematic weed that is difficult to control.
The structure has been created by academics from the University of Lincoln UK taking its inspiration from the University's Digital Capabilities garden which won Gold at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2013.
Each species flowers intensively for approximately one-two weeks and the total season is around two months.
and let the wildflowers grow can be very beneficial to bees. In the past two decades the European union has spent â1 billion on agri-environment schemes which aim to improve the rural landscape health
According to Couvillon it may be that the regular mowing required initially to discourage certain plants from growing in those plots might leave few wildflowers for bees.
and cost to survey such an area on foot--to monitor nectar sources for quality and quantity of production to count the number of other flower-visiting insects to account for competition
Beautiful soft sword-shaped leaves with white edges and cream-colored flowers with bright orange filaments are the hallmarks of this impressive plant.
ANDRILL Anemone: Discovery on Ice Edwardsiella andrillae Location: Antarctica A species of sea anemone living under a glacier on the Ross Ice shelf in Antarctica raises questions by its very existence.
At some point that space traveler would begin pining for the flowers and animals of home the smell of spring and the sound of running water.
or more times higher than those of European and Scandinavian countries that consume sunflower and olive oil Cook-Mills noted.
so that they can later develop buds flowers and fruit during the growing season said biometeorologist and study lead author Dennis Baldocchi
Baldocchi said that fruit developers are already trying to develop cultivars that can tolerate less winter chill.
Rising spring temperatures prompt many bee species to begin their search for the flowering plants they depend on for food--and
while their preferred flowers respond less strongly and emerge later. Such a mismatch in timing could severely impact both bees and plants and the productivity of many agricultural crops.
Or bees may adapt by feeding on different plants that flower earlier. While this could be a positive sign that bees are adaptable it also may mean they are feeding on less nutritious plants
#How orchid bees find their personal scent, attract matesa fragrant perfume has brought many a man and many a woman together.
Orchid bees too appear to rely on scent when it comes to choosing a partner. In the course of their lives the males compile a species-specific bouquet that they store in the pockets on their hind legs.
Each orchid bee species prefers a different type of treewhen releasing their bouquet orchid bees select a tree trunk as the centre of their territory.
Together with a student team she analysed the favourite trees of several orchid bee species in Costa rica.
Getting energy for exhausting flightsthe Bochum biologist also studies the orchid bees'flight performance. The small insects do actually fly over distances of 50 kilometres.
and feed from flowers. By moving their proboscises in a certain manner the bees appear to concentrate the sugar solution that they are drinking.
Orchids eucalyptus and fecesorchid bees live in Central and South america and live up to three months on average. Members of different species are interested in different scents.
Orchid flowers are among the most popular sources but eucalyptus-scented eucalyptol also frequently contributes to the blend.
This could be by planting seedlings in rows with fertilizer and thinning to grow trees valuable for lumber or veneer.
It could be assuring that enough seedlings are taking root or it could be preserving the forest as a natural recreation location.
(i e. to create conditions where new seedlings establish). ) In 1957 a research forester named Carl Arbogast wrote a guide for the selection system for managing northern hardwoods.
For seedlings to survive and grow in northern hardwoods there must be gaps big enough to allow light to reach the forest floor.
Without enough light seedlings might not establish and thrive. Another surprise: The variation within forests owned by each type of landowner was much more substantial than the variation between kinds of landowners.
and seedlings can't survive Archibald explains. A cooler upland with palms indicates a specific climate type where a temperate average yearly temperature--rather like Vancouver today--had warmer winters where palms can complete their lifecycles.
There is some research showing that having native flowering plants near blueberry fields can increase native bee populations over time
#Plant a slice of paradise in your backyardapril showers bring May flowers indeed. Although torrential rainfall has inundated the Southeast region this spring there is something you can do in your own backyard to help prevent damage from flooding and runoff.
A rain garden is landscaped a area planted preferably with wildflowers and other native vegetation that soak up rainwater from the roofs driveways or other impervious surfaces.
Cardinal flower has a beautiful red flower and is loved by Hummingbirds. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Wake Forest University.
The structures'passive heating and cooling capabilities can offer growers a cost-effective way to extend the growing season for high-value crops such as fruits vegetables and cut flowers.
and are attracted to land on flowers popular with other bees when exposed to perilous situations according to new research from Queen Mary University of London.
The study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B shows that past experience of predation causes bumblebees to join other bees already safely feeding on flowers.
when bees find themselves in these predator-infested environments they locate safe places to eat by joining other bees that are already safely feeding on flowers.
when bees landed on a flower associated with danger foam pincers would trap the bee
This simulates an attack by a crab spider a predator that lurks on flowers to catch pollinators
In safe environments the bumblebees subsequently chose to feed from flowers at random but in dangerous environments the bees specifically flew to flowers that were occupied by other bees.
Erika added: It's similar to walking through a bad neighbourhood--you're more likely to choose a busier route where there are lots of other people around than a deserted street to get to your destination
Bees normally spread themselves out among flowers to minimise competition but when danger lurks they dine together to seek safety in numbers commented co-author Professor Lars Chittka from Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical sciences.
The researchers analyzed 17 varieties of raspberries at the USDA's Agricultural Research center in Beltsville Maryland examining each cultivar for characteristics such as anthocyanins soluble solids titratable acids ph
Takahata and Miura's study involved coiling bonsai wire around the stems of tomato seedlings between the cotyledon node and the first leaf node.
assessments for greenhouse petunia production. The impacts were presented in terms of contribution to the carbon footprint or global warming potential (GWP) of a single finished plant in a 10-cm-diameter container.
Results showed that a traditional plastic container accounts for approximately 16%of overall carbon dioxide equivalents emissions during petunia production.
of two sweet cherry cultivars to a variety of nutrient and water management strategies (Hortscience February 2014.
'and'Skeena'cultivars on the dwarfing rootstock Gisela 6 at the Pacific Agri-Food Research center in Summerland.
An important factor affecting yield during the study period was weather which affected cultivars differently.
'Differences in cultivar response were related to their different rates of phenological development Neilsen said. Analyses revealed that cherry fruit size was affected minimally by soil
or even some sort of small fruit bush that was in flower it very likely could have killed the fruit buds said Ward Upham Kansas State university extension agent in horticulture.
Transpiration is the process of water movement through a plant and its evaporation from leaves stems and flowers.
For example why did people domesticate a mere dozen or so of the roughly 200000 species of wild flowering plants?
and drought impacting flowering plants from which the bees get all their food may be the more important factor driving these declines.
and the native flowering plant diversity that the bees depend on for food. In addition the researchers suggest that beekeepers use pesticides sparingly.
We also had a side-by-side taste-testing of the three boiled cultivars of yautã a (yellow white and pink) a'root'crop found in the Puerto rican markets
Dead wood is great habitat for wildlife provides a sheltered environment for young seedlings holds soil
and Havana commercial cultivars have been grown. The plants were modified genetically to increase their production of starch and sugars
As Prof Veramendi explained what has been done now is fieldwork with these two tobacco cultivars and it has been found that the starch
Moreover comparing a GM variety to diverse cultivars can help scientists and consumers put into context any biochemical changes that are observed.
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011