Injured Leaf Area Research Articles

Épocas de aplicação de azoxistrobina + mancozebe no controle de mancha branca do milho

Um dos principais métodos de controle da mancha branca do milho, o controle químico com estrobilurinas e fungicidas protetores demonstraram efeito no controle da doença, no entanto, condicionada ao momento de sua realização em estádios fenológicos da cultura. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o controle e efeito no progresso temporal da mancha branca do milho com a associação dos fungicidas mancozebe e azoxistrobina em diferentes épocas de aplicação, dois cultivares, duas localidades de plantio e o efeito na produtividade da cultura. Os experimentos foram conduzidos nos municípios de Marechal Cândido Rondon e Sertanópolis, PR. Foram utilizados dois híbridos suscetíveis, DKB230PRO3 e DKB290PRO3. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi de blocos casualizados com 4 repetições. As avaliações foram efetuadas 10 dias após cada aplicação, além de uma avaliação no estádio de maturidade fisiológica. A severidade da doença foi avaliada através da quantificação da área foliar lesionada em 10 plantas por parcela e utilizadas no cálculo da Área Abaixo da Curva de Progresso da Doença, submetidos a análise de variância e o teste de médias. As curvas de progresso da doença foram ajustadas aos modelos logístico e exponencial. A produtividade foi estimada após a colheita manual, com o peso de mil grãos e produtividade (kg ha-1). Aplicações dos fungicidas em estádios V8 e V4+V8+VT proporcionaram melhor controle da mancha branca. Aplicações no estádio V4 não proporcionaram severidades diferentes da testemunha sem aplicação. Não foram observados ganhos significativos em produtividade em função da aplicação dos fungicidas.

Elaboration and validation of diagrammatic scale for lettuce powdery mildew

ABSTRACT Powdery mildew, caused by Oidium sp., is a disease of great importance in hydroponic crops of lettuce. However, in Brazil, there is scarce research focused on the epidemiological study of this disease, as standardized methods are necessary to quantify the disease severity in hydroponic systems. Thus, a logarithmic scale was developed at levels of 0.37, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 74% injured leaf area, testing the parameters accuracy and precision. The proposed scale was validated by eight evaluators, of whom four were experienced and four were inexperienced, and they used 50 leaves showing symptoms of the disease at different severity levels, previously measured with the aid of QUANT® software. Two evaluations were performed with a 48-h interval, in which the evaluators visually estimated distinct sequences of leaves. Linear regression was used to determine the accuracy and the precision of each evaluator. The proposed scale showed satisfactory results of accuracy and precision, and despite the inexperience of four evaluators, absolute errors were in the range of 8% after training. The proposed scale was adequate to estimate the severity of powdery mildew on lettuce.

Effects of Elevated Ozone on Polka Dot Plant (Hypoestes phyllostachya) with Variegated Leaves.

In this study, impacts of O3 on four cultivars ('Rose', 'Pink', 'Blush' and 'White') of the polka dot plant with variegated leaves were investigated for the first time. Ozone fumigation [(120 ± 20ppb) for 14 days (8hday-1, from 8:30 to 16:30)] resulted in visible foliar injuries, decreased contents of pigments (chlorophyll a and b, and carotenoid), the inhibition of photosynthesis, the increase of quantum yield of non-regulated heat dissipation and fluorescence emission (Y(NO)), and the damage of cell membrane. Elevated O3 increased the content of anthocyanin (Ant). 'White' showed the highest, and 'Rose' the lowest amount of injured leaf area, indicating that the former was the most sensitive, and the latter the most tolerant to O3 stress. After O3 exposure, the highest Ant content was found in 'Rose', followed by 'Pink', 'Blush', and 'White'. Levels of Ant were likely responsible for the different sensitivities to O3 due to their roles in photoprotection.

Suppression Substractive Hybridization and NGS Reveal Differential Transcriptome Expression Profiles in Wayfaring Tree (Viburnum lantana L.) Treated with Ozone.

Tropospheric ozone (O3) is a global air pollutant that causes high economic damages by decreasing plant productivity. It enters the leaves through the stomata, generates reactive oxygen species, which subsequent decrease in photosynthesis, plant growth, and biomass accumulation. In order to identify genes that are important for conferring O3 tolerance or sensitivity to plants, a suppression subtractive hybridization analysis was performed on the very sensitive woody shrub, Viburnum lantana, exposed to chronic O3 treatment (60 ppb, 5 h d−1 for 45 consecutive days). Transcript profiling and relative expression assessment were carried out in asymptomatic leaves, after 15 days of O3 exposure. At the end of the experiment symptoms were observed on all treated leaves and plants, with an injured leaf area per plant accounting for 16.7% of the total surface. Cloned genes were sequenced by 454-pyrosequencing and transcript profiling and relative expression assessment were carried out on sequenced reads. A total of 38,800 and 12,495 high quality reads obtained in control and O3-treated libraries, respectively (average length of 319 ± 156.7 and 255 ± 107.4 bp). The Ensembl transcriptome yielded a total of 1241 unigenes with a total sequence length of 389,126 bp and an average length size of 389 bp (guanine-cytosine content = 49.9%). mRNA abundance was measured by reads per kilobase per million and 41 and 37 ensembl unigenes showed up- and down-regulation respectively. Unigenes functionally associated to photosynthesis and carbon utilization were repressed, demonstrating the deleterious effect of O3 exposure. Unigenes functionally associated to heat-shock proteins and glutathione were concurrently induced, suggesting the role of thylakoid-localized proteins and antioxidant-detoxification pathways as an effective strategy for responding to O3. Gene Ontology analysis documented a differential expression of co-regulated transcripts for several functional categories, including specific transcription factors (MYB and WRKY). This study demonstrates that a complex sequence of events takes place in the cells at intracellular and membrane level following O3 exposure and elucidates the effects of this oxidative stress on the transcriptional machinery of the non-model plant species V. lantana, with the final aim to provide the molecular supportive knowledge for the use of this plant as O3-bioindicator.

Leaf injury symptoms of Tilia sp. as an indicator of urban habitat quality

Urban habitat quality and its effects on humans and the environment are of great concern in regard to human and vegetation health security, urban planning and habitat management. Different methods have been used to monitor habitat quality. Certain of these methods are expensive, labor-intensive, time-consuming and problematic to extrapolate to a larger spatial region of interest.In this paper, we evaluate a non-destructive and low-cost method to assess urban habitat quality. The method is based on quantifying leaf injury symptoms using imagery obtained with a digital camera. The leaves of lime trees (Tilia sp.), split up into two different groups of with and without trichomes, were sampled in Ghent (Belgium) during the summer of 2009. Leaf sampling was conducted in four different urban habitats, corresponding to four land use classes that are characterized by different degrees of environmental pollution. Leaf necrotic spots, as well as chlorotic patches, were selected as indicators of leaf injury. Our results reveal that the density of necrotic spots, as well as chlorotic patch areas, significantly increase in industrial land use zones compared with other land use classes for both Tilia sp. groups. The injured leaf area reflectance significantly increased for the camera RGB bands of industrial zones compared with the three other types of habitats. These results indicate that injured leaf area reflectance is a sensitive indicator that can be quickly determined. Thus, this technique enables fast, site-based bio-monitoring of urban habitats compared with the determination of leaf parameters, such as leaf density, area or the number of (necrotic and chlorotic) leaf spots as other indicators of leaf injury.We illustrated that the injured leaf area reflectance, as determined using leaf surface reflectance, and extracting symptoms is a novel, as well as practical, approach to assessing urban habitat quality.

Assessment of six Indian cultivars of mung bean against ozone by using foliar injury index and changes in carbon assimilation, gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence and photosynthetic pigments

Six Indian cultivars of Vigna radiata L. (HUM-1, HUM-2, HUM-6, HUM-23, HUM-24 and HUM-26) were exposed with ambient and elevated (ambient + 10 ppb ozone (O3) for 6 h day(-1)) level of O3 in open top chambers. Ozone sensitivity was assessed by recording the magnitude of foliar visible injury and changes in various physiological parameters. All the six cultivars showed visible foliar symptoms due to O3, ranging 7.4 to 55.7 % injured leaf area. O3 significantly depressed total chlorophyll, photosynthetic rate (Ps), quantum yield (F(v)/F(m)) and total biomass although the extent of variation was cultivar specific. Cultivar HUM-1 showed maximum reduction in Ps and stomatal conductance. The fluorescence parameters also indicated maximum damage to PSII reaction centres of HUM-1. Injury percentage, chlorophyll loss, Ps, F(v)/F(m) and total biomass reduced least in HUM-23 depicting highest O3 resistance (R%).

Study on salt stress tolerance of Chrysanthemum morifolium 'Hangbaiju’ and 'Huangju’ and F1 seedlings

To study the salt stress tolerance of Hongxinju, Huangju and F1 seedlings from orthogonal and reciprocal cross under different salt treatments. Grope for transmissibility of salt tolerance between parents and F1 seedlings, and relativity between flavone, chlorogenic acid contents and salt tolerance. The materials were put in 5 different concentrations of Hoagland nutrient solution (0, 40, 80, 120, 160 mmol x L(-1)) containing NaCl, keeping grads while raising the consistency of NaCl day by day. The injured leaf area per plant, proline, betaine, MDA, flavones and chlorogenic acid contents were measured and analyzed after treatment. As NaCl concentration was below 120 mmol x L(-1), the salt tolerance of Hongxinju was higher than that of Huangju, the salt tolerance of Hongxinju x Huangju higher than that of parents, the salt tolerance of Huangju x Hongxinju was at the level of parents. As NaCl concentration between 120 to 160 mmol x L(-1), the salt tolerance of Huangju was higher than that of Hongxinju, the salt tolerance of Huangju x Hongxinju higher than that of parents and the salt tolerance of Hongxinju x Huangju was at the level of parents. Salt tolerance of F1 is more influenced by female parent, relativity showed between flavonoids, chlorogenic acid contents and salt tolerance.

Inter- and Intra-specific Differences in the Response of Chinese Leafy Vegetables to Ozone

The response to ozone (O3) of a range of Chinese leafy vegetables was investigated with respect to both inter- and intra-specific differences in sensitivity. In the interspecific experiment local Chinese cultivars of pak choi, rape, leaf mustard, leaf lettuce and coriander were fumigated with 90 ppb O3 for 9 h daily for 22–30 days. A similar fumigation was carried out using four different cultivars of pak choi. Sequential measurements were made of leaf injury, photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and chlorophyll fluorescence, together with dry weights at a final harvest. O3 injury appeared as white or yellow blemishes on the leaf surface of all species. The first signs of injury were seen following only 3-days’ O3 exposure (pak choi); the extent of injured leaf area increased over time for all species and cultivars, with 44.6% of the leaf area visibly injured for leaf mustard, the species with the greatest extent of injury, following 30-days’ exposure. Significant reductions in photosynthetic rate (22.7–40.7%) and stomatal conductance (19.1–33.1%) were found for all species and cultivars following O3 exposure. Plant productivity was also reduced in O3 compared to filtered air, with significant yield reductions for all species (11.1–50.8% above-ground dry weight) as well as for all cultivars of pak choi (15.8–28.1% above-ground dry weight). The mechanisms for observed impacts are discussed, together with the implications for current and future production of vegetables in the southern China province of Guangdong.

Escala diagramática para avaliação da severidade da Mancha Ocular em milho causada por Kabatiella zeae

O objetivo deste trabalho foi desenvolver uma escala diagramática para avaliação da severidade da mancha ocular, causada por Kabatiella zeae, em folhas de milho, considerando os limites de severidade mínima e máxima da doença e os níveis intermediários. Os níveis de severidade observados em campo seguiram incrementos logarítmicos, obedecendo a "Lei do Estímulo de Weber-Fechner", representando: 0,9; 2,0; 4,0; 9,0; 18,0; 32,0 e 51,0% da área foliar lesionada. A validação da escala consistiu-se em duas etapas: na primeira, 10 avaliadores, com experiência na avaliação de doenças em plantas, avaliaram 30 folhas com diferentes níveis de severidade, com e sem o uso da escala diagramática. Na segunda etapa, outros 10 avaliadores, sem experiência na avaliação de doenças, fizeram as mesmas avaliações, com e sem uso da escala diagramática. Por meio de regressão linear, foram confrontados valores de severidade reais e estimados e foram analisadas a acurácia e a precisão dos avaliadores. Constatou-se melhora na acurácia e na precisão das estimativas visuais efetuadas com o auxílio da escala diagramática. A escala diagramática proposta foi considerada adequada para estimar a severidade da mancha ocular em milho, podendo ser utilizada em estudos epidemiológicos para avaliação de reação de genótipos à doença e para implementação de estratégias de controle da doença.

Chronic ozone exposure affects leaf senescence of adult beech trees: a chlorophyll fluorescence approach

Accelerated leaf senescence is one of the harmful effects of elevated tropospheric ozone concentrations ([O(3)]) on plants. The number of studies dealing with mature forest trees is scarce however. Therefore, five 66-year-old beech trees (Fagus sylvatica L.) have been exposed to twice-ambient (2xambient) [O(3)] levels by means of a free-air canopy O(3) exposure system. During the sixth year of exposure, the hypothesis of accelerated leaf senescence in 2xambient [O(3)] compared with ambient [O(3)] trees was tested for both sun and shade leaves. Chlorophyll (chl) fluorescence was used to assess the photosynthetic quantum yield, and chl fluorescence images were processed to compare functional leaf homogeneity and the proportion of O(3)-injured leaf area (stipples) under ambient and 2xambient [O(3)] regimes. Based on the analysis of chl fluorescence images, sun leaves of both ambient and 2xambient [O(3)] trees had apparently developed typical necrotic O(3) stipples during high O(3) episodes in summer, while accelerated senescence was only observed with sun leaves of 2xambient [O(3)] trees. This latter effect was indicated along with a faster decrease of photosynthetic quantum yield, but without evidence of changes in non-photochemical quenching. Overall, treatment effects were small and varied among trees. Therefore, compared with ambient [O(3)], the consequence of the observed O(3)-induced accelerated leaf senescence for the carbon budget is likely limited.

Incidência e severidade da cercosporiose do cafeeiro em função do suprimento de potássio e cálcio em solução nutritiva

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a incidência e a severidade da cercosporiose causada por Cercospora coffeicola em mudas de cafeeiro (Coffea arabica) cultivar Mundo Novo IAC 379-19, em função do suprimento de K e Ca em solução nutritiva. Instalou-se o experimento em DIC, com 16 tratamentos, três repetições e duas plantas por repetição. Utilizou-se esquema fatorial 4 x 4, com quatro doses de K (1, 3, 5 e 7 mmol/l) e quatro níveis de Ca (2, 4, 6 e 8 mmol/l). As mudas foram inoculadas semanalmente, durante 12 semanas, com suspensão de esporos de C. coffeicola na concentração de 15.000 conídios/ml. Foram realizadas sete avaliações quinzenais para a obtenção da área foliar total, número total de folhas e número total de lesões de cada planta. Após as avaliações determinou-se a porcentagem de área foliar lesionada e o peso da matéria seca total. A interação K x Ca influenciou a área abaixo da curva de progresso do total de lesões, do número total de folhas e a porcentagem de área foliar lesionada. As doses de K, isoladamente, influenciaram a matéria seca total, a área foliar total e a área abaixo da curva de progresso da incidência. As doses de Ca, isoladamente, influenciaram apenas a área foliar total e a área abaixo da curva de progresso da incidência.

Evaluating grower, landscape manager, and consumer perceptions of azalea lace bug (Heteroptera: Tingidae) feeding injury.

A survey using modified azalea stems was used to establish a "tally threshold value" for assessing azalea lace bug, Stephanitis pyrioides (Scott), feeding injury to azalea shrubs. Consumers and green-industry professionals, represented by ornamental growers, landscape architects, and landscape managers, recognized azalea lace bug injury when injured leaf area exceeded 2%. Purchase and treatment decisions of professionals and consumers were evaluated by surveying responses to Rhododendron indica variety alba 'Delaware Valley White' azaleas representing a range of damage. Survey participants also provided a brief biographical background and answers to questions regarding pesticide use, ability to identify diseases, pests, and beneficial organisms, and willingness to consider pesticide alternatives. Professionals and consumers expressed a strong interest in limiting urban pesticide use. The 2 groups indicated a hypothetically acceptable level of 6-10% plant damage by arthropod pests. A 2% injury threshold was used to determine the level of proportional damage (the percentage of leaves displaying 2% or more lace bug leaf feeding injury) resulting in either the rejection of plant purchase or initiation of treatment. A nonlinear curve was fit to treatment and no-purchase responses of professionals and consumers using a modified 3-parameter Mitscherlich nonlinear growth function. Half of the surveyed professionals and consumers indicated that damage proportions >10% (1.03% actual injury) were sufficient to reject an azalea for purchase. Proportional damage levels >43% (3.3% actual injury) would be necessary to prompt 50% of the respondents to initiate treatment of damaged azaleas to control lace bugs.

Responses of transgenic poplar (Populus tremula x P. alba) overexpressing glutathione synthetase or glutathione reductase to acute ozone stress: visible injury and leaf gas exchange

Untransformed hybrid poplar (Populus tremula × P. alba) and transgenic lines overexpressing glutathione synthetase (GshS) in the cytosol (200–300-fold) or glutathione reductase (GR) either in the cytosol (5-fold) or in the chloroplast (150–200-fold) were exposed to 0 (control), 100, 200 or 300 nl l−1 ozone for 3 d for 7 h d−1. Following acute ozone stress treatments, wild-type and transgenic poplar suffered from visible foliar injury consisting of dark brown necrotic lesions on the laminae. Necrotic lesions were sharply separated from photosynthetically active cells by a band of red-violet discoloured cell lines showing yellow autofluorescence by blue light, and blue autofluorescence by UV-light excitation. When plants were exposed to 100 nl l−1 ozone, leaf injury was in general negligible, but when 200 and 300 nl l−1 ozone was applied, in both untransformed poplar and transgenic lines overexpressing GshS or GR up to 60% and 80%, respectively, visible injury developed on mature leaves. The mean percentage of injured leaf area amounted to 20–30% (200 nl l−1) and 50–60% (300 nl l−1). Irrespective of transformation, young leaves of poplar trees were only slightly affected by ozone treatments. In support of these observations, net CO2 assimilation rates of mature leaves were decreased by up to 75% (300 nl l−1 ozone) in wild-type and transformed poplar, whereas net photosynthesis of young leaves remained unaffected even under severe stress conditions. Leaf conductance was significantly decreased by all ozone treatments, but was in the same range in young and mature leaves, and in wild-type and transformed poplar, pre- and post-exposure to ozone. It can therefore be assumed that the ozone doses effectively taken up into the leaf tissue were not dependent on leaf development and that the strength of the ozone stress exerted was similar in all types of poplar trees investigated in this study. From these data it is concluded that: (i) elevated foliar activities of glutathione synthetase or glutathione reductase alone are not sufficient to improve tolerance of hybrid poplar to acute ozone stress, and (ii) the sensitivity of poplar leaves to acute ozone stress is controlled by unknown factors closely related to leaf development rather than by foliar activities of glutathione synthetase and glutathione reductase, or leaf conductance.

Temporal development of visual ozone injury on the foliage of Prunus serotina—a statistical evaluation

Ozone-induced visible injury to plants is relatively common in North America but has rarely been reported in Europe. The south of Switzerland (canton Ticino) has been identified as having high ambient ozone exposures relative to other parts of Switzerland, with accumulated annual exposures over a threshold of 40 ppb (40 nl O 3 litre −1) for daylight hours from April to September of >30 ppm×h. Ozone-induced foliar injury on black cherry ( Prunus serotina) has been observed in the area. The main purpose of this study was to establish whether seedlings of black cherry grown in three different treatments (open plots [ambient ozone concentrations], chambers receiving non-filtered [96% ambient] air and charcoal-filtered chambers [ca. 60% ambient]) showed significant differences with respect to the various aspects of ozone injury development, particularly trends in injury development, the survival probabilities, the average injury level of a tree and the proportion of trees showing any sign of injury over the summer growing season. Visual estimates of the percentage of leaves showing symptoms (adaxial stipple and leaf reddening) on a plant and the percentage of leaf area of only the injured leaves which showed symptoms of ozone injury were recorded weekly for each seedling for eight consecutive weeks. These two scores were multiplied to derive a measure of injury ( Y) which can be interpreted as the proportion of injured leaf area on a tree. This derived score was used in all subsequent analyses. In this paper we assess whether, overall, an increasing trend in the injury levels, as given by the values of Y, was evident. We have also estimated the probability F( t) that the first sign of injury (measured by Y) might occur after a given number t of weeks. The smaller the value of F( t) for a given t, the stronger the effect of the treatment (i.e. the treatment causes relatively more damage). The average injury level of a tree and the proportion of trees that showed any sign of injury over the 8-week period were also analysed. The results from the open plots, the non-filtered chambers and the charcoal-filtered chambers were significantly different. However, no statistically significant difference was found between the open plots and the non-filtered chambers.

Ozone biomonitoring in Northern Italy

This report presents the results of an ozone monitoring experience performed with tobacco indicator plants (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. 'Bel-W3'). These bioindicators were exposed to ambient air in 23 sites in Northern Italy from 27 April 1987 to 21 October 1987. Typical ozone-induced leaf necrosis was observed in every site. The percentage increase in injured leaf area was estimated weekly and a Leaf Injury Index (LII) was calculated. The weekly series of LIIs were statistically inspected for spatial and temporal relationships. Sample correlation coefficients were statistically significant for almost every possible pair of sites. The time series properties of ten series of LIIs with no missing data were analyzed using Box-Jenkins models. An autoregressive first order model, or AR(1), was selected to remove the autocorrelation from these series. Linear correlation coefficients between 'prewhitened' (i.e. from which autocorrelation had been removed) pairs of LII series were statistically significant. Hence synchronous variations in leaf necrosis could only be related to the regional diffusion of tropospheric ozone.