Articoli di riviste sul tema "National Garden Week"

A study was initiated to determine how well plants would grow in potting media available to consumers through garden centers and national chain stores. Nine media were evaluated. The chemical and physical characteristics were determined, and six geraniums (Pelargonium sp) and six marigolds (Tagetes patula) were grown in each of the media. Three of each six were fertilized, three were not. The plants that were fertilized received 100 ppm N and K and 50 ppm P once a week. Three months after seeding the flowers, flowers and buds on the marigolds were counted and the plants were harvested. Dry weights were determined. Nitrate-N ranged from 6 to 627 ppm, pH from 4.9 to 7.1, phosphorus from 88 to 502 pounds/A, potassium from 1.0 to 6.9 meq/100 g, magnesium from 1.4 to 10.8 meq/100 g, calcium from 5.2 to 30.0 meq/100 g, soluble salts from 20 to 151 mmhos, and CEC from 13.0 to 43.8 meq/100cc. Bulk density ranged from 21 to 53 g/100cc, water holding capacity from 32 to 53 ml/100cc, percent air-pore space from 2.7 to 15.7, and total porosity ranged from 65% to 78%. Unfertilized marigolds weighed between 0.1 and 9.6 g; fertilized marigolds weighed 1.4 to 17.2 g. Unfertilized geraniums weighed between 1.4 and 23.3 g; fertilized geraniums weighed 4.4 to 56 g. There were 1.3 to 16 flowers on unfertilized and 7 to 24.3 flowers on fertilized marigolds.

Sidrap as a rice granary center in South Sulawesi, plays an active role in efforts to self-sufficiency in eastern Indonesian food in particular and NKRI in general. The efforts of integrated rice cultivation have been carried out as an effort to achieve national food independence. This paper discusses the population density of green leafhoppers, predatory insects, and other pests in the Inpari 36 rice crop as tungro (new released) varieties in endangered areas, the study was carried out in the experimental garden area of Tungro Disease Research, using a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) 2 plot plots of plant varieties of 10 x 10 m2 with 4 replications. The most common adult green leafhopper (Nephotetic verescens) results in Inpari 36 varieties without bioprotector treatment. Natural predators that were fluctuated every week were dominant observations, namely: Agriocnemis spp, Micraspis sp, Conocephalus longipennis, Araenus inustus, Lycosa pseudoannulata, Oxyopes javanacus, and Tetraghenata maxilosa. While at 6-7 MST (weeks after planting) Ophionea nigrofasciata species appeared and in 7MST there were species of Anaxipa longipennis.

Between 2001 and 2017, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh conducted training and research in Belize built around an annual two-week field course, part of the Edinburgh M.Sc. programme in Biodiversity and Taxonomy of Plants, focused on tropical plant identification, botanical-collecting and tropical fieldwork skills. This long-term collaboration in one country has led to additional benefits, most notably capacity building, acquisition of new country records, completion of M.Sc. thesis projects and publication of the findings in journal articles, and continued cooperation. Detailed summaries are provided for the specimens collected by students during the field course or return visits to Belize for M.Sc. thesis projects. Additionally, 15 species not recorded in the national checklist for Belize are reported. The information in this paper highlights the benefits of collaborations between institutions and countries for periods greater than the typical funding cycles of three to five years.

<p class="Default">For many years the curd cheese has stood out on the table of Brazilian consumers, especially in the Northeast due to its high nutritional value and its good taste and because of that it has been used in numerous dishes of the Northeastern cuisine. The aim of this study was to evaluate the microbiological quality of the curd cheese sold at a market garden in the city of Sousa-PB. Twenty curd cheese samples were collected every week during the month of October 2015, in five sales areas at a market garden in the city. Samples were analyzed at the Microbiological Analysis of Foods Laboratory of the Agroindustry sector at the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Paraíba, Campus Sousa, having as reference the Resolution of the Collegiate Board (RDC) n ° 12 of the National Sanitary Surveillance Agency. According to the results, the values obtained for total coliforms were considered high in almost all the samples. Regarding coliform, seven out of twenty samples (35%) were above the threshold count allowed by Brazilian law. As for the pathogenic to 65% of the samples presented coagulase positive Staphylococci counts and in 40% the growth of Salmonella sp,it was confirmed. Based on the results obtained,it can be said that these products are being manufactured without the adoption of Good Manufacturing Practices, which a condition that compromises the quality of the product and puts the health of consumers at risk</p>

Physical activity, if reaches to a beneficiary level, positively affect almost all the chronic diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the socio-demographic and anthropometric determinants of beneficiary effects of different domains of physical activity. Physical activity data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2006 were utilized. A cut off point of 7.5 MET-hour/week was used a level in which beneficiary effect of physical activity starts. Logistic regression model were used to evaluate the magnitude and the determinants of beneficiary effects for each domains of physical activity. The median of physical activity was mainly similar for leisure time, home and garden, and total physical activity across different categories of socio-demographic factors but not with Transportation domain. The transportation contributed up to 60% for age group 35-54 years, 35% for age group 55 to 64 years. Male enjoyed close to 37% more in achieving health benefit compared to female (the OR was 0.63 with 95% CI of 0.58, 0.69). Others factors played important role in different dominos of physical activity in achieving health benefits. Our findings indicated that achieving beneficiary effect of physical activity is highly depended on socio-demographic factors.

AimsTo reduce incidents of inpatient violence and aggression at Nile Ward Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), St Charles Hospital by at least 30% between December 2019 and December 2021. Reducing inpatient violence is a major quality improvement (QI) priority for CNWL NHS Foundation Trust.MethodsNile Ward refined a number of their successful change ideas within this project and a number of new innovative ideas were tested and successfully implemented as part of the Violence Reduction QI Project: 1.Improved risk assessment tool: Risk assessment tool to predict/manage violence in the ward was further improved using evidence based observation and best practice recommendations over the course of 2021.2.Brand new Staff Photo Board: Regularly updated photoboard with non-hierachical list of all staff.3.Patient Feedback Board: Patient experience, comments and feedback displayed in common areas.4.Co-produced Mutual Expectations: A set of expectations created in co-production with patients displayed in the communal areas of the ward to be followed by both staff and patients.5.Gardening sessions: A safe socially distanced space for patients to be involved in growing and caring for the Nile Ward garden with our Activities Coordinator, including a brand new herb garden.6.Tailored Physical Fitness Programmes: Focus on physical activity through garden fitness sessions and 1–1 fitness sessions in the gym. Average weight gain for patients has declined from 4.4 kg to 2.8 kg (39% reduction) during hospital stay. Tailored physical fitness sessions created for patients who are frail, diabetic or have significant cardiometabolic risk factors.7.Celebrating Diversity: Special events hosted throughout the year to celebrate diversity and promote tolerance.8.Enhanced Clinical Reviews: Consultant led patient reviews every weekday to optimise treatment and enable quick recovery using a multidisciplinary, holistic, trauma informed approach.9.Weekly Cooking Sessions: Patient led cooking sessions using healthy ingredients every week. The food is eaten as a communal meal by patients and staff. A ‘Friday Fry-Up’ takes place monthly where patients and staff share a health fry-up in the ward's dining area.10.Mindfulness Meditation: A QI intervention introduced to embed mindfulness and meditation as core therapeutic intervention to improve emotional regulation and to reduce violence.11.Triangle of Care: Carers strongly encouraged to attend ward rounds and care planning from the very beginning of a patient's journey at Nile Ward using a triangle of care approach.ResultsBetween December 2019 - December 2020, Nile Ward reduced violence in the ward by 35% and the MDT continued to make further innovations to reduce violence further, as demonstrated in this poster.Between December 2020 - December 2021, Nile Ward reduced violence in the ward by 51%.Further details about the results will be published in the poster.ConclusionNile Ward has successfully implemented innovative interventions using a QI methodology to successfully reduce the level of violence and serious incidents in the ward by 51%. The number of rapid tranquillisations and use of restrictive interventions such as restraints has reduced significantly. Our patients are able to recover in a safe environment and their feedback is testament to their positive patient experience during their inpatient stay. Reduced verbal and physical assaults on staff have improved staff confidence, retention, well-being and overall satisfaction. Our work has been recognised internationally through the delivery of keynote presentations at conferences National Association of Intensive Care Unit (NAPICU) National Conference 2021 & the Royal College of Psychiatrists National QNPICU Conference 2021 to discuss their Violence Reduction best practices with mental health teams in the United Kingdom and abroad.

Physical activity is essential at all stages of life, and particularly so in the later years. The main objectives of the present work was to evaluate the physical activity of seniors, aged 65 years and older, living in the area of the Podlaskie voivodeship (Podlasie), Poland, based on the results of the nationwide PolSenior project, and to formulate recommendations for health policies implemented by both national and local government units. The study was performed as part of the national PolSenior project, whose aim was to evaluate various aspects of aging in Poland. The physical activity of a group of 186 randomly-selected people aged 65 years and above, 94 men and 92 women, was evaluated by questionnaire. The analysis included participants who took part in physical activity at least several times a week. Although all participants reported a decline in physical activity with age, the men remained physically active for longer. Among the respondents, 68.3% of women and 62.7% of men took short walks around the house as the main form of exercise, with working on the allotment or garden being another frequent activity; however, this was more common among men (53.9%) than women (34.7%). In addition, men were nearly twice as likely to take part in cycling (31.5%) than women (13.1%). The greatest motivation for physical activity given by the respondents was health, as noted by 73.8% of the men and 77.7% of the women. The physical activity of seniors in Podlasie is unsatisfactory and does not fulfil the WHO recommendations regarding the prophylaxis and prevention of chronic illness. This level does not, however, significantly differ from that reported in the nationwide PolSenior study or in other European countries in the Eurobarometer study. The decline in physical activity with age highlights the need for its greater promotion among seniors by local authorities. Such initiatives will help maintain the physical fitness and independence of this age group and contribute to a greater quality of life.

Regular physical activity (PA) is one of the effective strategies for mitigating non-communicable diseases, promoting healthy ageing, and preventing premature mortality. In South Asia, up to 34.0% of adults are insufficiently active, and up to 44.1% of adults in Nepal. We sought to assess self-reported PA status and its correlates among teachers in the semi-urban district of Nepal. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among teachers at randomly selected public secondary schools in Bhaktapur, Nepal, from November 2018-April 2019. PA status was assessed in Metabolic Equivalent to task minutes per week using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)–Long Form. Point estimates and odds ratios were calculated at a 95% confidence interval, and a p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Among the 360 participants, the mean (SD) age was 40.3 (10.2) years, with 52.5% female participation. A low level of PA was seen among 11.9% (95% CI: 8.4–15.2) of teachers, and more than half (56.0%) of the activity was only moderate intensity. Domestic and garden work was the main contributor (43.0%) of total PA, while leisure time was the least (14.0%). Among the socio-demographic factors, only sex was significantly associated (p = 0.005) with PA. Participants living in locations with walkable areas were 3.4 times (95% CI: 1.6–7.3) more likely to be engaged in moderate-to-high level PA than those without. In our study, the point prevalence of insufficient PA among teachers working at public secondary schools was higher than the national point prevalence. PA promotion programs targeting sedentary populations like school teachers should be developed to reduce the point prevalence of insufficient PA.

Garden rocket (Eruca sativa syn.: E. vesicaria subsp. sativa (Mill) Thell.) is an annual plant of the Brassicaceae grown for fresh consumption as a salad vegetable. During winter (May to July) of 2013 and 2014 in South Africa, typical symptoms of white rust were observed in two commercial crops (each ~0.5 ha) of the garden rocket cv. Rucola coltivata in Centurion, Gauteng Province, at 33 and 80% incidence, respectively. Symptomatic leaves were deposited in the National Collection of Fungi, Plant Protection Research Institute, Agricultural Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa (PREM 61073). Early infections appeared as white to cream, blister-like sori on the lower leaf surfaces, and pale yellow lesions on the corresponding upper leaf surfaces. Later stages of infection were characterized by coalescing of lesions into large, irregular, necrotic blotches and development of additional sori on the petioles and stems. Sporangiophores were hyaline, clavate or cylindrical, and measured 24 to 30 × 11 to 14 μm (n = 50). Sporangia developed in basipetal chains and were hyaline, globose or polyangular, and 15 to 20 μm (n = 100). Based on these morphological characters and the host plant, the pathogen was identified as Albugo candida (Pers.) Kunze (2). Genomic DNA was extracted using the DNeasy Plant Mini DNA extraction kit (Qiagen) from sori containing sporangia collected from naturally infected leaves, according to the manufacturer's specifications. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of ribosomonal DNA (rDNA) and the cytochrome c oxidase subunit II (COX2) region were amplified and sequenced (1). The ITS (GenBank Accession No. KM588081) and COX2 (KM588082) sequences confirmed identity of the pathogen as A. candida with 100% homology to the corresponding sequences of several A. candida isolates, including DQ418503 for the ITS sequence and DQ418514 for the COX2 sequence, of a voucher specimen of A. candida on E. sativa (BPI 184870) from Pakistan. Inoculum was prepared by scraping sporangia from infected leaves of the cv. Rucola coltivata collected from the 2014 field and placing the material in sterilized, distilled water (SDW) for 12 h at 5°C to induce zoospore formation. Pathogenicity tests were performed by spraying a suspension of 1 × 105 sporangia/ml onto each of 10 5-week-old rocket seedlings of the cv. Rucola coltivata. Ten additional seedlings were inoculated similarly with SDW to serve as a control treatment. The plants were maintained at 12 to 15°C and 95% RH for 72 h (3) before being moved to a shaded greenhouse at 20 to 24°C and 90% RH. Control plants remained symptomless, whereas white rust symptoms similar to those observed in the original fields developed on leaves of inoculated seedlings 10 to 14 days later, demonstrating that A. candida was the causal agent of the disease on E. sativa. To our knowledge, this is the first report of A. candida infecting garden rocket in South Africa. References: (1) Y.-J. Choi et al. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 40:400, 2006. (2) K. Mukerji. Descriptions of Pathogenic Fungi and Bacteria No. 458. CMI, Kew, Surrey, UK, 1975. (3) M. J. Sullivan et al. Plant Dis. 86:753, 2002.

Everybody loves a success story, and in Canadian theatre they don’t come much bigger than Michael Healey’s The Drawer Boy. Within a mere two years of its first presentation at Toronto’s Theatre Passe Muraille, and twenty-nine years after Paul Thompson’s seminal The Farm Show (from which it drew its life), The Drawer Boy has been staged at more than twenty theatres across Canada in a dozen original productions; won its author the 1999 Dora, Chalmers and Governor General’s Awards; received three professional productions in Toronto alone, including a six-week, eighty-nine per cent capacity run at the 1,000-seat Winter Garden Theatre; been produced with a star-studded cast by the famed Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago; and met with standing ovations wherever it was staged. In addition, another co-production this fall will take the play to the National Arts Centre, the Vancouver Playhouse, the Edmonton Citadel and Hamilton’s Aquarius Theatre; Michael Healey himself will direct the play at Vienna’s legendary English Theatre (where works by the likes of Tennessee Williams and Edward Albee received world premieres); discussions are underway to render the play for the big screen; and, finally, there is enough pent-up demand for the play from many American regional theatres, theatres across Britain and Australia and from amateur theatres worldwide to provide Healey with a handsome residual income for a very long time. While Michael Healey seems to take his success in stride – “It’s made me less grumpy” and “I think my new Jetta is a little too big for me, I may replace it with a Golf” (Healey, personal interview)1 – how good are we, collectively, as a young theatre culture at handling “our own” successes, especially when they are reproduced throughout the continent? How well do we respond to these re-productions, as both participating artists and critics, and what are some of the issues which concern us with re-productions staged in a context that is not our own?

Abstract Introduction Moral absolutism is the notion that “rights” and “wrongs” are independent of situational circumstances, and it is a core philosophy of many religious traditions. We tested whether active church members and Christian pastors showed resiliency to mild sleep restriction when reporting religious beliefs/cognitions, when logging spiritual behaviors, and when judging the deserved-punishments for moral mistakes. Methods We recruited 92 adults who identified as active in Christian churches (members and pastors). On a Monday, participants completed baseline religiosity, mood, and cognitive functioning measures and were then randomly assigned to adhere to early (10:30pm) or late (1:30am) bedtimes for four nights, with 7:30am waketimes, while wearing actigraphy and keeping a daily diary of spiritual behaviors. On Friday, participants repeated the baseline assessments, responded whether a series of biblical stories were literal versus figurative, and rated a series of vignettes about moral mistakes that were committed by in-group leaders (pastors) and out-group leaders (imams; vignettes counterbalanced). Results The late bedtime condition reduced actigraphy-defined sleep by 85 min/night (p&lt;.001). Despite spending more time awake, this sleep restricted group reported engaging in fewer spiritual behaviors during the week (e.g., prayer time; p&lt;.01). On Friday, the sleep restricted group had worse mood disturbances (p&lt;.001), worse subjective sleepiness (p&lt;.001), and altered perceptions of the meaning of the Garden of Eden and Noah’s ark biblical stories (p&lt;.05). Fluid intelligence was unaffected (p=.78). When evaluating religious leaders who made moral mistakes, the sleep restricted participants were significantly less forgiving (p&lt;.01); for example, well-rested participants thought such leaders were still “somewhat likely” to get into Heaven, but sleep-restricted participants rated the leaders as “not very likely” to get into Heaven (p&lt;.01). The effects of sleep restriction were most prominent in participants who most frequently attended religious services and when rating out-group religious leaders (r = -.49; opposite patterns were noted when participants were well-rested). Conclusion In contrast to moral absolutism philosophies, very mild sleep restriction produced significant changes to religious cognitions (story interpretation), spiritual behaviors, and expressions of beliefs (likeliness of getting into Heaven), and expressions of virtues (decreased forgiveness). Support (if any) URSA Grant and National Science Foundation (1920730, 1943323).

The article highlighted the results of the analysis of collection of annual flowering-and-ornamental plants in the Botanical Garden of Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University. It was found that the collection of annuals included 76 species and 267 varieties belonging to 61 genera and 27 families. The largest number of species was represented by the families Asteraceae – 25 and Amaranthaceae – 6 species. Callistephus chinensis (L.) Ness. species containing 171 varieties belonging to three classes, 10 types and 44 varietal types and Tagetes L. genus including three species and 42 varieties were distinguished by varietal diversity. The taxonomic composition of the collection of annual flowering-and-ornamental plants was analyzed and it was established that 53% belonged to beautiful flowering plants, 21% to leafy ornamental plants, 10% to fragrant plants, 7% to dried flowers, 5% to climbing plants, 4% to ground cover species. It was established that all species and varieties of the collection differed in origin, height of shoots, nature of branching. According to the methods of cultivation, 78,3% of the species and varieties of the collection were suitable for sowing in open ground, and only 21,7% required a seedling method of cultivation. Analysis of flowering dates showed that 22,5% of the species and varieties of the collection began flowering 8-9 weeks after sowing, 52,3% – after 10-12 weeks and 25,2% – after 13-14 weeks after sowing seeds. Ornamental qualities of annuals, in particular, growth forms and height of plants, color palette of flowers and inflorescences, terry forms of flowers, their aromatic properties, variety of shapes and sizes of leaves, long and abundant flowering and resistance to the conditions of urboecosystems allowed to widely introduce annual flower plants into urban landscaping, in particular, in geometric flower beds, mixed borders, rabatka, borders, solitaires, groups, Moorish lawns, parterre flower beds and to create monoculture gardens.

AbstractThis article explores the first attempt to reform Handelian oratorio, by the Revd John Brown, in 1763. Concerned about the waning popularity and literary flaws of Handel's works, Brown launched a reform campaign through his own oratorio The Cure of Saul, performed at Covent Garden Theatre, and the publication of A Dissertation on […] Poetry and Music. He also produced the first monograph of oratorio criticism, An Examination of the Oratorios which have been performed this Season, at Covent-Garden Theatre (1763). Published within weeks of one another, the three works shaped an intellectual offensive with aesthetic and moral goals mounted on an educational platform. Although a failure, Brown's attempt reflected Britain's national anxiety in the wake of the Seven Years War.

Abstract The pink-flowered ‘Aphrodite’ is the fourth U.S. National Arboretum triploid cultivar of Hibiscus syriacus L., commonly known as rose of sharon. In the past, rose of sharon, although it flowered heavily in early summer when few other shrubs bloom, produced abundant seed and, subsequently, weed seedlings in the garden. The development of nearly sterile triploid cultivars eliminated the source of weed seedlings and elevated the plant to an elite summer flowering shrub. Triploid cultivars previously introduced are ‘Diana’, NA 32224 (1), with pure white flowers; ‘Helene’, NA 41786 (2), with white flowers and a prominent dark red eye spot; and ‘Minerva’, NA 54984 (3), with lavender flowers.

Alligator weed is a serious weed in many countries. In Australia, it is a “weed of national significance” because of its actual and potential impact. We surveyed all local governments in New South Wales in 2001 and 2007 to determine whether the weed is being contained. We found an increased number and extent of infestations, despite more resources and a better knowledge base. Most considered that further research is needed in tactics for control of the weed. On the basis of current containment in urban gardens, we recommend that governments better mobilize the community (e.g., bush restoration consultants, Landcare groups) to deal with alligator weed infestations.

On May 24, 2010, 800 soldiers and 370 police officers stormed into Tivoli Gardens, an impoverished district in the capital of Jamaica. Their aim was to restore state authority in this part of Kingston and to arrest Christopher “Dudus” Coke, who was wanted for extradition to the United States on drug and arms trafficking charges. The incursion was the culmination of nine months of national political turmoil. The first aim was achieved, but the second was not, and only at great cost. Around 70 civilians and three members of the security forces were killed. The authors constituted a small group of international forensic pathologists who, at the request of the Public Defender and over a four-week period from mid-June, observed the autopsies of the civilians. This paper describes some of the outcomes of this work, set within the evaluation of the incursion by the Commission of Enquiry. The Enquiry concluded there was evidence of at least 15 extrajudicial killings and was highly critical of many other aspects of the operation and its aftermath.

The image of a horse appears in many spheres of the British culture and in each case it has a special symbolic meaning. It is important to notice that the symbolic meaning is more essential in the British mentality than the material one. Festivals can be one of the spheres where we can observe the versatility and historical meaning of the horse image. On the one hand, horses as real animals play a significant role in various events: horse competitions, horse shows, parades, royal ceremonies, etc. On the other hand, there is also personification of fancy images of horses at British festivals. Different types of horse figures (hobby horses) take part at certain events. Each of them has its own history and is strongly connected to the location. The most famous horse event is horseracing taking place all over the country. There are 60 race tracks in Great Britain for this occasion. Horseracing appeared here in the XIV century. Soon the British worked out the rules for this event and they are current even today. Horseracing is not just sport for this nation, but a real holiday. Long ago Edward VII marked that it is “a garden party with racing tacked on”. So, for some people horseracing is a week of competitions among the best thoroughbred horses and for the others (ladies mostly) it is the opportunity to compete with each other in hat and dress design. It is significant to understand the difference between the notions “horseracing”, “horse competitions”, “horse show”. The first means classic racing which we have just discussed. Horse competitions are 10 international types of games approved by the International Federation of Equestrian Sports. A horse show is a festival holding the exhibition of the best breeds of horses and some types of competitions (e.g., show jumping, working hunter). One of the best known events is the Royal Windsor Horse Show which takes place every year in Windsor Home Park. It is always attended by the Royal Family. Another example is the Hyde Park festival aiming at choosing the Horse of the Year. Also, January 1 is the Day of Thoroughbred horses in Great Britain. It is a real holiday with the most unusual dishes for these animals (e.g. a Cheltenham pie 2018 made of hay, apples and carrots). At a number of British events horses play an important role, though they are not in the limelight. These are royal weddings, parades and a coronation. The Queen carriage is always carried by the Windsor Greys. There is even a statue to honour them in Windsor. These horses are also pictured at the Royal mail stamp. Personification of fancy images of horses can be seen at various British Festivals (16 in England, 3 in Wales, 1 on the Isle of Man): Padstow Hobby Horse Festival, Banbury Hobby Horse Festival, Minehead Hobby Horse Festival, Dunster Hobby Horse Festival, Hoodening, The Hunting of the Earl of Rone, Morris Dance, etc. The majority of them take place in the days of national holidays including Christmas, New Year, May Day, Halloween. Moreover, some pagan rites that deal with the image of a horse still exist in Great Britain. There is the festival to honour Epona who is a Celtic horse goddess (December, 18). The Welsh horse goddess Rhiannon is connected with the image of Mari Lwyd appearing in New Year events. The Irish horse goddess Macha is honoured at the festivals Lughnasa (August, 1) and Samhain (November, 1). Significantly, a horse is presented at festivals as a funny hero of a performance endowed with human traits, a friend to a person, and it is far from being a work animal. The image of a horse is more of a cultural value than a natural phenomenon.

Heather, Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull, is a serious invasive weed in the central North Island of New Zealand, especially in Tongariro National Park, a World Heritage Area. Heather beetle, Lochmaea suturalis (Thomson), is a foliage-feeding pest of Calluna in Europe, that was selected as the most promising biological control agent for introduction into New Zealand, because it causes high levels of damage to Calluna in Europe. Host-range tests indicated that L. suturalisposes a negligible threat to native New Zealand plants. Cultivars of Callunagrown as ornamentals are suitable food plants, but are unlikely to be severely affected because L. suturalis requires a damp understorey of moss or litter for successful oviposition and pupation, which is rarely present in gardens. However, mosses and litter occurring under Calluna stands in Tongariro National Park are suitable substrates for eggs and pupae. Lochmaea suturalis released in New Zealand has been freed of parasitoids and a microsporidian disease that attack the beetles in Europe.

Abstract Vachellia nilotica (Acacia nilotica), as an invasive alien species (IAS), was introduced to Baluran National Park from the Bogor Botanical Gardens in 1969. The purpose was for firebreak to prevent jumping fires from the savanna to the teak forests plantation. However, unexpectedly V. nilotica growth was uncontrollable and invaded the 6000 ha savanna. The rapid growth of this weed has killed the grass in the savanna leading to a decline in the Banteng population in Baluran National Park from 325 in 1998 to 22 in 2011. Since the 1980s, researche on V. nilotica control has been carried out by various universities and research institutions in Indonesia but has not yet obtained an effective and efficient control method. The study aimed to investigate the efficacy of herbicide with the active ingredient of triclopyr by stump brushing to control V. nilotica. Ten triclopyr herbicide concentrations with a solution of diesel and water were tested. The results showed that 1% triclopyr concentration in diesel oil could control 100% of V. nilotica weeds, while water solutions could only control 50% of V. nilotica weeds.

Parthenium weed (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) is an invasive plant species in around 50 countries and a ‘Weed of National Significance’ in Australia. This study investigated the relative toxicity of the leaf, shoot and root extracts of two geographically separate and morphologically distinct biotypes of parthenium weed in Queensland, Australia. Parthenium weed exhibited higher phytotoxic, cytotoxic and photocytotoxic activity in leaf tissue extracts in contrast to shoot and root. The germination and seedling growth of a dicot species (garden cress) were inhibited more than those of a monocot species (annual ryegrass) using a phytotoxicity bioassay. The cytotoxicity of leaf extracts was assessed in a mouse fibroblast cell suspension assay and increased under high ultraviolet A(UV-A) radiation. A major secondary metabolite, parthenin, was found in abundance in leaf extracts and was positively correlated with cytotoxicity but not with photocytotoxicity or phytotoxicity. Ambrosin and chlorogenic acid were also detected and were positively correlated with germination inhibition and the inhibition of radicle elongation, respectively. In addition, other currently unidentified compounds in the leaf extracts were positively correlated with phytotoxicity, cytotoxicity and photocytotoxicity with two to three molecules strongly correlated in each case. Both parthenium weed biotypes investigated did not differ with respect to their relative toxicity, despite their reported differences in invasive potential in the field. This suggests that secondary chemistry plays a limited role in their invasion success.

AbstractOrnamental plantations in cities and particularly botanical gardens and arboreta are rich sources of alien flora. Mlyňany Arboretum, established in 1892, cultivates 1049 non-native woody plant species on the area of 67 ha. In this work we answered following questions: 1. How many taxa are spontaneously spreading in the arboretum and how is the spreading intensity related to their ecological demands and reproduction traits? 2. How many taxa appear behind the fence? 3. How far from the arboretum they can get? 4. Do private gardens and historical aristocratic park in the studied village cluster contribute to species escapes from culture? 5. Which from the widely spread taxa can represent future risk of invasiveness on the national level? We found that about one tenth of taxa spread across the arboretum (particularly Cotoneaster spp., Prunus laurocerasus, P. serotina and Quercus rubra) and number of their seedlings corresponded only with the mother plant number. Almost one third of these species left the arboretum and their seedlings were observed in distance up to 500 m from the village (mainly Mahonia aquifolium, P. serotina). Private gardens were a large source of Juglans regia seedlings, frequency of which decreased with the distance from villages (no species escaped from the historical park). Weed risk assessment revealed potential invasion danger only for Amorpha fruticosa.

BackgroundThe CareRA trial showed that remission induction with methotrexate (MTX) and glucocorticoid (GC) bridging in a treat-to-target setting is cost-effective up to 2 years in early Rheumatoid Arthritis (eRA) patients.ObjectivesTo evaluate the long-term cost-effectiveness of treat-to-target treatments among recently diagnosed (<1 year), DMARD naïve patients with eRA using MTX and a step-down GC scheme (COBRA-Slim) compared to (a) the same combination with either sulphasalazine (COBRA-Classic) or leflunomide (COBRA-Avant-Garde) in high-risk patients and (b) MTX without GCs (Tight-Step-Up: TSU) in low-risk patients up to 5 years.MethodsWe used data from the 2-year RCT CareRA trial and its 3-year observational follow-up, CareRA plus. Patients completing the 2-year visit of CareRA were eligible for participation in CareRA plus, in which patients were evaluated every 6 months till year 5. Healthcare costs considered in this piggyback economic analysis were rheumatology visits, RA-related medication (synthetic and biological DMARDs, GCs, and all recorded analgesics including paracetamol, non-steroidals, tramadol and opioids), hospital admissions, laboratory tests and radiographs occurring during the 5-year trial. All pricing is based on December 2021 rates. Total costs per resource were calculated by multiplying the number of resources by the cost unit price extracted from Belgian national websites. Total costs per patient were obtained by summing costs of all resources. Effectiveness was measured with DAS28-CRP and compared between the originally allocated treatment arms. An incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was calculated by dividing the cost difference by the DAS28-CRP<2.6 remission difference per pair of treatment schemes. Multiple imputation was used to handle missing data and non-parametric bootstrapping with 25000 iterations of random sampling with replacement to calculate confidence intervals (95% CIs).ResultsOf 322 eligible patients, 252 were included in CareRA plus, of which 203 completed the trial. Rates of disease control (DAS28-CRP<2.6) at year 5 in high-risk patients were 68%, 72% and 64% in the Classic, Slim and Avant-Garde group respectively (p=0.63) and related total costs were €11 358.39 (CI 7 776.84-14 939.93), €8 463.12 (CI 6 789.44-10 136.80), €11 752.47 (CI 7 705.11-15 799.82) respectively. In the low-risk population, 80% of patients in Slim and the TSU arm reached remission (DAS28-CRP<2.6) at year 5. While the costs were €6 332.55 (CI 3 607.63-9 057.48) for Slim, and €10 398.19 (CI 4165.95-16630.43) for TSU. In the high-risk group, Classic (ICER -€723.82) and Avant-Garde (ICER -€411.17) were more expensive and less effective compared to Slim. In the low-risk group, Slim was less expensive (Δ -€4 065.64) and equally effective as TSU. Figure 1 depicts how the different medication costs evolved during the 5-year follow-up. 22% of all patients were ever on bDMARDs. More specifically in 23% (16/69) of Classic, 21% (16/75) of Slim high-risk, 25% (15/59) of Avant-Garde, 17% (4/23) of Slim low-risk, and in 15% (4/26) of TSU patients. On average a first bDMARD was started later in the Slim arms, more specifically at week 69 for Classic, week 106 for Slim high-risk, week 97 for Avant-Garde, week 102 for Slim low-risk and week 76 for TSU.ConclusionThe combination of MTX with a GC bridging scheme (COBRA Slim) was more cost-effective (less expensive with comparable disease control) than more intensive step-down combination strategies or a conventional step-up approach 5 years after initial treatment. Over 5 years, around one-fifth of all patients, were in need of starting biological treatment and the transition to a bDMARD was later in COBRA Slim. These results point out the possibility of an early “economic” window of opportunity for diminishing costs long-term while still maintaining optimal disease control.Disclosure of InterestsNone declared

Abstract: COVID-19 has had a significant impact on tea farmers all around the world, owing to national lockdowns and social distancing measures. The tea market is experiencing uncertainty as a result of export and import limitations, and growers are adopting emergency steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in tea communities. In March and April, India, the world's secondlargest tea grower, imposed tight lockdown measures that halted all agricultural activity for several weeks. Tea gardens and small tea growers have just resumed tea production and export, however the lockout has had a substantial impact on tea producers and smallholder livelihoods. This paper tries to examine the impact of COVID 19 on tea plantation sector in India.

The presented data are based on the evidence of the pygmy hippopotamus breeding in six zoological gardens of the Czech Republic in 1934–2017. The Prague and Ústí nad Labem Zoos finished its keeping at the beginning of the 21th century due to technical reasons; Dvůr Králové, Jihlava, Olomouc and Plzeň Zoos continued. The respective zoos maintained altogether 75 individuals, 24 were imported and 51 were born. The births were registered in the period 1986–2017: 24 in Dvůr Králové, ten in Ústí nad Labem, seven in Olomouc, five in Jihlava, four in Prague and one in Plzeň. The earliest births were documented in two females which both delivered at the age of 5 years and 8 months. Both these females also showed the highest number of young documented in the Czech zoos (nine each). The births occurred especially in autumn and early spring seasons. The shortest period between two subsequent births in the same female was 1 year, 2 months, 25 days. The sex ratio of the young was 18 : 33 (♂:♀). Of the 51 juveniles, eight (6 ♂♂ : 2 ♀♀) died on the day of birth, four (2 : 2) during the first week and three (0 : 3) within the first half of the first year. The longest age, almost 38 years, was reached by a female from the Dvůr Králové Zoo.

Weeds are serious threats to Australia's primary production and biodiversity conservation. For example, a recent Australia Bureau of Statistics survey found that 47% of farmers across Australia have a significant weed problem. A literature review revealed that legumes represent a significant proportion of the national weed problem and most serious Australian legume weeds are exotic thicket-forming species that were deliberately introduced for their perceived beneficial properties, such as for shade and fodder, or even quite trivial reasons, such as garden ornamentals. The low economic value of the rangelands most of these species infest, compared with control costs, hinders chemical and mechanical control of these weeds, such that biological control, which takes time, is expensive to implement and has no guarantee of success, may represent the only economically viable alternative to abandoning vast tracts of land. We argue that, because the behaviour of an introduced species in a novel environment is so hard to forecast, better predictive techniques should be developed prior to further introductions of plant species into novel environments. We also discuss the potential of legumes currently being promoted in Australia to become weeds and suggest the recent trend of exporting Australian Acacia spp. to semiarid regions of Africa risks history repeating itself and the development of new weed problems that mirror those posed by Australian Acacia spp. in southern Africa.

Zoos and botanical gardens (ZBGs) play a variety of roles in regional conservation partnerships, including their most common role as the ex situ managers of rare plant and animal populations. Using case studies from a 70-year history of conservation work at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona, USA, this paper illustrates these roles and the characteristics of ZBGs that make them versatile and effective regional conservation partners. ZBGs commonly play the role of conservation advocates, as discussed in the context of the establishment of protected islands in the Gulf of California. ZBGs also conduct field research, including the collection of long-term datasets, as exemplified by the establishment of the Ironwood Forest National Monument and a 40-year Sonoran Desert phenology database. ZBGs can be effective conveners of communities and conservation partners in regional-scale efforts, such as the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan and Cooperative Weed Management Areas. The paper also explores the challenges faced by ZBGs in sustaining their conservation work.

An exotic plant cultural landscape inventory, area wide survey, and natural resource area invasiveness assessment was conducted in 2002 at the Roosevelt-Vanderbilt (ROVA) National Historic Sites (NHS) in Hyde Park, NY. At the species level, 40% of 90 assessed landscape species had not escaped cultivation, 44% had escaped and invaded natural resource areas, and 16% were categorized as migratory invaders. The most prolific introduced woody trees and vines at ROVA are members of the trumpetvine, bittersweet, pea, buckthorn, quassia, and grape families (Bignoniaceae, Celastraceae, Fabaceae, Rhamnaceae, Simaroubaceae, and Vitaceae, respectively). Shrub species occurring with more frequency in the natural areas than other escapes are the introduced native atlantic nine bark (Physocarpus opulifolius), burning bush (Euonymus alatus), forsythia (Forsythia sp.), japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii), morrow’s honeysuckle (Lonicera morrowii), tatarian honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica), and mock orange (Philadelphus sp.). For the subset of assessed woody vines, shrubs, and tree species found in cultivation for at least 50 to 67 years (the “50 plus club species”), slightly more had escaped from cultivation for the Vanderbilt Mansion (VAMA) and Eleanor Roosevelt (ELRO) estates but for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) collection the numbers were equivalent. The approach used in this study illustrates with data the “movement” of exotics over a significant period of time and underscores the importance of site-specific and species-specific assessments. This assessment also emphasizes the value of understanding the history (e.g., cultivated, cultivated escaped, or migratory invaders), purpose (e.g., aquatic, crop garden forb, groundcover, ornamental, or weed), and management over time (e.g., long since abandoned, recently abandoned, or still maintained, etc.) of the geographic area under consideration and the use of available exotic invasive plant lists to conduct such assessments.

Protection of segetal flora and vegetation in Poland (historical outline) The flora associated with crop land maintained a stable species composition for many centuries until the 1960s when profound and fast changes occured due to human activity. Factors that destructively affect given species, but also whole field communities, are: continuous chemicalization of agriculture (i.e. application of crop protection substances, pesticides, and mainly herbicides, as well as spreading of high doses of mineral fertilizers on crop land), introduction of sewing material that is completely purified from weed seeds, introduction of new races of crop plants, simplification of crop rotation patterns, introduction of new techniques of soil and plant cultivation and draining of cultivated fields. These factors have caused various transformations of the field flora, often abruptly and chaotically, such as the disappearance of numerous weed species. The rate of these transformations varies from country to country, region to region, and even field to field. These facts have made numerous investigators pay much interest to the conservation of the segetal flora, both in cultivated land and in preserved areas, such as national and landscape parks, botanical gardens and open-air museums. The problem of transformations in the segetal flora vegetation is a very important one both from the utilitarian and ‘nature conservation’ point of view.

Polygala mascatense Boiss. (family Polygalaceae) is a common weed found in neglected farms, under date palm trees, and in stony locations throughout the Sultanate of Oman (1). It is a perennial herb approximately 30 to 40 cm tall, has slender branches, is woody at the base, and has linear leaves with purple flowers. Recently (November 2004), in the interior region of Oman (210 km south of Muscat), some polygala plants were found stunted with small leaves, bushy growth, and the floral parts were showing phyllody symptoms. Total genomic DNA extracted from asymptomatic and symptomatic plants with modified cetyltrimethylammoniumbromide (CTAB) buffer method (4) was used as a template for direct polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of phytoplasma 16S rDNA with P1/P7 primers. Direct PCR product was used as template DNA for nested PCR with primers R16F2n/R16R2. DNA from plants infected with alfalfa and lime witches'-broom phytoplasma was used as positive controls, and DNA from healthy plants and water was used as negative controls. Products from nested PCR (1.2 kb) were analyzed by using single endonuclease enzyme digestion (restriction fragment length polymorphism [RFLP]) with Tru9I, HaeIII, HhaI, TaqI, AluI, and RsaI (3). The results showed the presence of a 1.8-kb product amplified with direct PCR and a 1.2-kb product of the nested PCR from infected polygala and the positive controls, whereas no PCR products were observed in the negative controls. The PCR assay confirmed the presence of phytoplasma causing witches'-broom disease in polygala. The RFLP results showed the polygala phyto-plasma to be most similar to the alfalfa phytoplasma, a member of 16SrII group (2). Infected polygala weeds may serve as a reservoir for alfalfa witches'-broom phytoplasma that causes annual losses over $25 million to alfalfa cultivation in Oman (2). A detailed investigation needs to be carried out to establish transmission of phytoplasma from polygala to alfalfa. To our knowledge, this is the first report of phytoplasma infecting polygala weeds in Oman. References: (1) S. A. Ghazanfar. Pages 95–96 in: An Annotated Catalogue of the Vascular Plants in Oman. Scripta Botanica Belgica Meise, National Botanic Garden of Belgium, 1992. (2) A. J. Khan et al. Phytopathology 92:1038, 2002. (3) I. M. Lee et al. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 1153, 1998. (4) M. A. Saghai-Maroof et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81:8014, 1984.

On 5 August 1937, fulfilling the orders of the Chairman of the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts (Reichskammer der bildenden Künste), a confiscation committee showed up at the City Museum in Stettin, and demanded to be presented by the Director of the institution the Museum’s collection in view of ‘degenerate art’. While ‘hunting’ for the Avant-garde and ‘purging museums’, the Nazis confiscated works that represented, e.g. Expressionism, Cubism, Bauhaus Constructivism, pieces manifesting the aesthetics of the New Objectivity, as well as other socially and politically ‘suspicious’ art works from the late Belle Époque, WWI, German Revolution of 1918–1919, or from Weimer Republic Modernism of the 1920s and 30s. The infamous Munich ‘Entartete Kunst’ Exhibition turned into a travelling propaganda display, presented in different variants at different venues. A three-week show (11 Jan.–5 Feb. 1939) was also held in Stettin, in the Landeshaus building (today housing the Municipality of Szczecin). Provenance studies: biographies of the existing works, often relocated, destroyed, or considered to have been lost, constitute an interesting input into the challenging chapter on German and European Avant-garde, Szczecin museology, and on Pomerania art collections. Side by side with the artists, it was museologists and art dealers who cocreated this Pomeranian history of art. The Szczecin State Archive contains a set of files related to ‘degenerate art’, revealing the mechanisms and the course of the ‘museum purge’ at the Stettin Stadtmuseum. The archival records of the National Museum in Szczecin feature fragments of inventory ledgers as well as books of acquisitions, which provide a particularly precious source of knowledge. The published catalogue of the works of ‘degenerate art’ from the Museum’s collections covering 1081 items has been created on the grounds of the above-mentioned archival records, for the first time juxtaposed, and cross-checked. The mutually matching traces of information from Polish and German archives constitute a good departure point for further more thorough studies.

Aim: To assess the cytological effects of Gamma rays on the pollen mother cells and post meiotic products of Lepidium sativum Linn. which resulted in isolation of translocation heterozygote and aneuploid gametes. Methodology: During the experiment, parameters such as Meiotic stages, chromosomal structure, and pollen fertility were studied. Fresh seeds of Garden cress were orderly arranged in plastic and divided into four groups. The fresh seeds of each group were individually irradiated with 60Gy, 150Gy, 300Gy, 450Gy and 600Gy @ 7.247KGyh-1 in the Floriculture Laboratory of National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), Lucknow (India). The source for gamma ray irradiation was Cobalt-60. The irradiated seeds were sown in triplicates along with their respective controls. Results: Meiotic analysis of pollen mother cells (PMCs) at 300Gy showed translocation heterozygotes, however, in the control sets, the rate was negligible and phenotypically the plants were weak and short heighted. The cytological illustration of chromosomal configuration at diakinesis and metaphase I exhibited the superiority of tetravalents, bivalent and other forms of chromosomal associations such as multivalents. The induced translocation heterozygotes resulted in stickiness at metaphase and anaphase states along with the formation of bridges at anaphase stage. Due to chromosomal anomalies, the pollen fertility was reduced to 37.54±0.25% in contrast to control plants (98.20±0.16%). Interpretation: The current research work would be of paramount interest as translocation heterozygote serves as a source for raising aneuploid offspring having novel genetic combinations. Key words: Chromosomal anomalies, Heterozygotes, Lepidium sativum Linn, Meiosis, Pollen fertility

Apropos Rosa Luxemburg: Nordic Modernists Negotiate the Borders of Revolution and the Avant-Garde Staging oneself as an avant-garde or modernist writer during the inter-war period involved precarious negotiations between national, regional (in this case the Nordic) and international roles and positions, and involved questions of import and influence. But these questions were also influenced by the notion that avant-garde art and aesthetics depended on violence, a violence which was more often than not encoded as masculine. For this reason, literary images of the female revolutionary are particularly revealing in terms of the issues and ideas at stake. This article presents two interpretations of Rosa Luxemburg by Emil Bønnelycke and Hagar Olsson as part of a larger pattern concerning the dynamics between cultural centers and peripheries, as well as the connection between avant-garde aesthetics and violence. When Emil Bønnelycke first read his Rosa Luxemburg. Prosalyrisk Symphoni pathêtique in memoriam in February 1919, he shocked and excited the audience by drawing a revolver and firing it at the ceiling at the moment of Luxemburg’s death. Interestingly enough, Bønnelycke’s Luxemburg is represented in two ways: one is the weak woman who is entirely directed towards the masculine power and hatred which she finds embodied in Liebknecht. The other Luxemburg is presented in stylized passages that function as a leitmotiv in the short work. Here she is a young girl with a child’s holy passion and an, as of yet, passive defiance against the evils she has witnessed. The figure of Luxemburg is de-eroticized in both versions; but whereas the middle-aged woman painfully exhibits her impotence; the young girl is invested with a power of resistance, which is nonetheless non-acute. This appears to be Bønnelycke’s way of restoring gender roles without completely disarming the energy of revolution which he needed in order to be able to represent the ”European panic” in Denmark, under relatively safe conditions. In the inter-war period, Hagar Olsson paradoxically interpreted Finland as a neutral Nordic country, out of contact with the war and revolutions of Europe. Instead, she was inspired by her experiences of the communist uprising in Estonia 1924, publishing her own translation of an Estonian poem dedicated to Luxemburg by a young communist poet, Ida Meerits. The context was an article from 1925 dedicated to a new type of poet— the singing revolutionary. Olsson singled out the word flyttfåglar (”migratory birds”) from the poem, using it to reflect on the borders between art and revolution, a theme which she developed in other articles as well. She wrote that, in their internationalism, the new, engaged poets were like migratory birds. Her discussions concerned the violence of revolution and avant-garde geography as a power play between dominating and dominated literatures. The figure of the revolutionary woman in Olsson’s dramas— S.O.S. (1928) and Det blåa undret (The Blue Wonder, 1932), and in the photo- novel På Kanaanexpressen (On the Canaan Express, 1929)— further highlights the complex ways in which Olsson interwove the problem of violence, the import of avant-garde aesthetics, and gender in her inter-war work.

AbstractObjective:To describe nutrition environments in formal child care for 3- and 4-year-olds.Design:Cross-sectional online survey of nutrition-related child-care policy and practice. Written nutrition policies were analysed using the Wellness Child Care Assessment Tool.Setting:Licensed child-care services in the Auckland, Counties Manukau and Waikato regions of New Zealand.Subjects:Eight hundred and forty-seven services (private and community day care, kindergartens and playcentres).Results:Managers/head teachers of 257 child-care services completed the survey. Of services, 82·4 % had a written food, nutrition or wellness policy. Most policies did not refer to the national Food and Nutrition Guidelines and lacked directives for staff regarding recommended behaviours to promote healthy eating. Food was provided daily to children in 56·4 % of child-care services, including 33·5 % that provided lunch and at least two other meals/snacks every day. Teachers talked to children about food, and cooked with children, at least weekly in 60 % of child-care services. Nearly all services had an edible garden (89·5 %). Foods/beverages were sold for fundraising in the past 12 months by 37·2 % of services. The most commonly reported barrier to promoting nutrition was a lack of support from families (20·6 %).Conclusions:Although the majority of child-care services had a written nutrition policy, these were not comprehensive and contained weak statements that could be difficult to action. Foods served at celebrations and for fundraising were largely high in sugar, salt and/or saturated fat. Most services promoted some healthy eating behaviours but other widespread practices encouraged children to overeat or form unhealthy food preferences.

The present study was conducted to investigate in vitro antimicrobial activity of ethanolic extracts obtained from leaves and pseudobulbsof Coelogyneflaccida against Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus Rosenbach (ATCC®25923™) (mecA negative), Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus Rosenbach (ATCC®29213™)(mecA negative, Oxacillin sensitive, weak β-lactamase-producing strain), Staphylococcus aureus NCTC 12493 (mecA positive, Methicillin-resistant, EUCAST QC strain for cefoxitin).The antimicrobial susceptibility testing was done on Muller-Hinton agar by the disc diffusion method (Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion susceptibility test protocol). The leaves and pseudobulbs of C. flaccida plants, cultivated under glasshouse conditions, were sampled at M.M. Gryshko National Botanic Garden (NBG), National Academy of Science of Ukraine. Freshly leaves and pseudobulbs were washed, weighed, crushed, and homogenized in 96% ethanol (in proportion 1:19) at room temperature. The extracts were then filtered and investigated for their antimicrobial activity. The cultivation medium was trypticase soy agar (Oxoid™, UK), supplemented with 10% defibrinated sheep blood. Cultures were grown aerobically for 24 h at 37°C. The cultures were later diluted with a sterile solution of 0.9% normal saline to approximate the density of 0.5 McFarland standard. The McFarland standard was prepared by inoculating colonies of the bacterial test strain in sterile saline and adjusting the cell density to the specified concentration. The examined ethanolic extracts obtained from leaves and pseudobulbs of C. flaccida showed remarkable antibacterial activities against different S. aureusstrains. The observed activity may contribute to the reasons why orchids are used for infectious and inflammatory conditions in ethnomedicine. The research showed that ethanolic extracts of C. flaccida possess the highest antibacterial potency against S. aureus NCTC 12493 strain. These findings led the authors to suggest that these extracts may be used as natural antiseptics and antimicrobial agents in medicine and veterinary practice. Nevertheless, despite the promising results, more research should be carried out to further evaluate the roles of particular compounds, isolated from all parts of orchid plants, attributable to antimicrobial activity.

The article presents new records for five alien species previously unknown from the flora of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or very rare in the country – Chenopodium ficifolium (Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae s. l.), Acalypha indica, Euphorbia maculata (Euphorbiaceae), Gamochaeta pensylvanica (Gnaphalium pensylvanicum), and Verbesina encelioides (Asteraceae). Some of them have been recorded for the first time from the emirate Fujairah in north-eastern part of the UAE. Euphorbia maculata, which is rare in the country, was found only in “Salman Nursery” at Masafi town and in an irrigated garden near village Bithna, Chenopodium ficifolium was found in environs of Al Siji, in Wadi Siji on the road-dam and in “Al Phoenician Nursery” at Al Dibba town, Acalypha indica L. grows as weed in a plant market on the roadside in Al Bidya and in “The Green Nursery Sales Dibba” at Al Dibba town, they are new for the flora of Fujairah and UAE at all. Gamochaeta pensylvanica was found in a small quantity in a plant market and plant nursery in the Masafi friday market, and Verbesina encelioides – was found naturalized in Khor-Fakkan (Emirate of Sharjah) – both are very rare in the UAE. Species, synonyms, spatial distribution, habitat preferences, and species taxonomy with remarks on identification and differentiation from the most similar taxa occurring in the study area, as well as the list of localities are presented. The herbarium materials were transferred to the Herbarium of the Komarov Botanical Institute (LE, St. Petersburg, Russia), the duplicates – to the Herbarium of Altai State University (ALTB, Barnaul, Russia) and the Scientific Herbarium of Fujairah (FSH, Wadi Wurayah national park, Fujairah, United Arab Emirates).

A flora is a very plastic component of biovariety, especially on the urbanized territories with active development of transport, trade and different communications. From literary data on territory of Ukraine only from North America for the last 25 years about 30 new species that appeared quarantine plants got with various loads. In the flora of the Dnipropetrovsk area it is counted no less than 75 adentitious species, 102 species are cultivated and have a tendency to naturalization. In connection with the high level of urbanization the amount of adentitious and synanthropic species in a region increases constantly. Appearance of new species on any territory claims attention of researchers, in fact they can appear in a prospect dangerous for agricultural lands and natural ecosystems by reason of high competitiveness in the conditions of absence of natural wreckers. A base method for the study of regional flora is taking the inventory of species, it meens making lists of plants as a result of rout geobotanical researches. For determination of new species we used "Flora of the USSR" (1949), consultations were conducted with the known florists. Family Euphorbiaceae Juss. according to a determinant "Opredelitel… " (1987) is presented in our country by 6 genuses and 62 species. By us it is first found on territory of the Dnipropetrovsk area two representatives of Euphorbiaceae – Acalypha australis L. and Euphorbia maculata L. Both species are educed within the limits of Bagleyskiy district of Dniprodzerzhynsk. Acalypha australis is an one-year plant with a thin root and direct ramified ribbed stem, a kind is widespread in Manchuria, Korea, north China, Japan, America, in the former USSR – on Caucasus and Far East. His characteristic habitats are sands on the banks of the rivers, the clay are washed off slopes, near-by building, on trashes, in sowing. In the determinants of Ukraine Acalypha australis is absent, however on literary information first found in 1981 in Crimea, later in Odesa and near-by Luhansk. The population of Acalypha australis is educed on Dnipropetrovsk region to be under a supervision from 2006. First Acalypha australis was found here on a flower-garden in a private sector, where, probably, was brought with the seed of decorative plants. The quantity of individuals did not exceed two ten that grew on an area approximately one meter square. For 9 the area of population considerably increased and now presents no less than 200 м2. Shoots of Acalypha australis appears at the end of May, flowering takes place in July–August, fruiting – in August–September. A plant is weeded as ordinary weed, however it spreads successfully. To our opinion, it is related to the unpretentiousness of new kind to the terms of fertility and moisture of soil and high enough fruitfulness – from literary data to 100 seed from one individual. The representatives of the educed population grow on flower-gardens, along a fence and building, on beds among parsley, dill, strawberry, under a vine, in a hothouse with cucumbers. The domestic breeds of birds (chickens, geese) this kind do not eat. Euphorbia maculata is one-year old plant in a 10–20 cm high, with hard hairsprings. A kind takes place from North America, it as skidding is widespread in Europe, in the former USSR – in Western Transcaucasia and on Far East. His characteristic habitats are sands on the coasts of seas, embankments along roads. On territory of Ukraine Euphorbia maculata in determinants is absent, however on literary information led for Lviv and Crimea. The population of Euphorbia maculata on Dnipropetrovsk region was educed by us in 2010 near-by a recreation centre "Himik" (Dniprodzerzhynsk). A kind prevails on a wide sidewalk ground before a centre, sprouting on the small areas of soil between concrete flags on an area about 3000 m2. In a vegetable cover except Euphorbia maculata we discovered Polygonum aviculare L., Portulaca oleraceа L., Eragrostis minor Host. On information of workers of recreation centre "Himik", Euphorbia maculata grows here already no less than 6, thus these plants weed every summer. Existing in such terms, a kind appears very proof to trampling down and unpretentious to the food value and humidity of soil. Morphologically it is near to Polygonum aviculare and Portulaca oleraceа, from the last it easily differs by the presence of milk juice in all parts of plant. On flower-gardens and lawns that abut upon a sidewalk ground, Euphorbia maculata is not educed. The standards of herbarium of the registered new species are kept in the Scientific herbarium of the Dnipropetrovsk national university of the name Oles Gonchar (DSU). With the purpose of prognostication of adaptation possibilities and speed of distribution on Dnipropetrovsk Oblast of Acalypha australis and Euphorbia maculata we deem it wise to undertake scalene studies of the educed populations, in particular population structure, varying of morphological indexes, germination of seed, allelopathic activity in the conditions of steppe Pridneprove.

Introduction: Medicinal plants and ethnomedicinal studies continue playing a significant role in herbal products development and traditional knowledge conservation. Calls for ethnomedicinal studies have increased recently to unleash the potential in medicinal plants and document verbal traditional knowledge. This study recorded the medicinal plants administered by traditional practitioners in the Traditional Authority Chikowi area of Zomba district in Malawi. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted for 2 weeks in September 2017. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to traditional medicine practitioners using snowball sampling in the company of botany personnel from the National Herbarium and Botanical Gardens (NHBG). Data collected included plant local names, medicinal uses, parts used, preparation methods and administration methods to clients. Some species were photographed and identified in the field by the NHBG officers. Results: Five traditional practitioners were interviewed. Fifty-nine medicinal plant species belonging to 38 families were used as prophylaxis and treatment for 27 communicable and non-communicable diseases/conditions. Fabaceae family (papilionoideae 11.9%, mimosoideae 5.1%, caesalpinioideae 1.7%) had the largest percentage of species (18.6%). Preparation methods ranged from infusion (38.0%) to cream (2.0%). Of these, 86.0%, 12.0% and 2.0% were administered orally, topically and rectally respectively. Roots were the most used part (60.8%) while the least used was flowers (1.3%). Nearly two-thirds were trees or shrubs (32.2% each). Conclusion: The area has a rich biodiversity of medicinal plant species and knowledge scientists can use as a baseline for identification of plant species, bioactive compounds and preparations with useful medicinal properties.

Streptocarpus formosus (Hilliard & B.L. Burtt) T.J. Edwards is a flowering herbaceous perennial indigenous to South Africa and is part of the rosulate group of herbaceous acaulescent plants within the Gesneriaceae family. According to the National Assessment database for the Red List of South African Plants version 2020.1., the plant is listed as rare. The ornamental use of S. formosus has untapped commercial potential as a flowering indoor pot plant, an outdoor bedding plant for shade and as a cut flower for the vase, all of which are limited by a five-month eco-dormancy period during the late autumn and all through the cold season in the short-day winter months. Viable commercial production will require cultivation techniques that produce flowering plants all year round. This study investigated the effectiveness of applying root zone heating to S. formosus plants grown in deep water culture hydroponics during the eco-dormancy period in preventing abscission layer formation and in encouraging flowering and assessed the growth activity response of the plants. The experiment was conducted over eight weeks during the winter season in the greenhouse at Kirstenbosch Botanical garden in water reservoirs, each maintained at five different experimental temperature treatments (18, 22, 26—control, 30 and 34 °C) applied to 10 sample replicates. The results showed that the lowest hydroponic root zone temperature of 18 °C had the greatest effect on the vegetative growth of S. formosus, with the highest average increases in fresh weight (1078 g), root length (211 cm), overall leaf length (362 cm) and the number of newly leaves formed (177 = n), all noted as statistically significant when compared with the other water temperature treatments, which yielded negative results from reduced vegetative growth. Findings from the study also revealed that while all heated solutions significantly prevented the formation of abscission layers of S. formosus, they had a less significant effect on inflorescence formation, with only 18 °C having the greatest positive effect on flower development.

Triumffeta rhomboidiaceae Jacq. (Tiliaceae family) is an annual rainy season weed that is commonly found throughout India. For the last 3 years, during the rainy season, several plants of T. rhomboidiaceae in and around the gardens of the National Botanical Research Institute have been found with vein yellowing symptoms. The initial symptoms were vein clearing but in later stages the veins became yellow and thickened. In severe cases, the chlorosis extends into interveinal areas, resulting in complete yellowing of the leaves. In a few cases, green leafy or thorny enations could be seen on the dorsal side of the leaf. The disease was investigated to identify the causal agent. Vector transmission studies showed that the causal agent is transmitted by the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, from infected to healthy seedlings of T. rhomdoidiaceae. Since whitefly transmission of the disease is consistent with a geminivirus as the causal agent, the role of such a virus was investigated. DNA isolated from Triumffeta plants (both from the infected plants in the field as well as from those inoculated experimentally in the greenhouse) showing above mentioned symptoms was amplified with two sets of degenerate primers, PAL1v1978/PAR1c496 (set 1) and PAL1v1978/PCRc1 (set 2), that have been shown to be specific for DNA-A of whitefly transmitted geminiviruses (WTGs), in polymerase chain reaction (1). We could amplify DNA-A fragments of approximately 1.2 kb from set 1 and 0.7 kb from set 2, as expected (1). DNA isolated from healthy seedlings gave no amplification of such fragments. Identification of the amplified DNA fragments (from infected samples) to be of geminiviral in nature was confirmed by Southern blot hybridization carried out under high stringency conditions. DNA-A of Indian tomato leaf curl virus (2) was used as a general probe for WTGs for the above hybridization experiment. Therefore, Triumffeta yellow net disease is caused by a geminivirus. A review of literature revealed that there is no record of a viral disease affecting this weed and, therefore, this is the first report of a viral disease affecting this plant. References: (1) M. R. Rojas et al. Plant Dis. 77:340, 1993. (2) K. M. Srivastava et al. J. Virol. Methods 51:297, 1995.

Red soda apple (Solanum capsicoides All.), a member of the Solanaceae, is a weed originally from Brazil (3). It is a perennial in southern Florida and is characterized by abundant prickles on stems, petioles, and leaves. Prickles on stems are more dense than those on its larger, noxious weed relative, tropical soda apple (Solanum viarum Dunal), and the mature red soda apple fruits are bright red in contrast to the yellow fruits of tropical soda apple (2). Virus-like foliar symptoms of light and dark green mosaic were observed on the leaves of a red soda apple in a Lee County cow pasture during a tropical soda apple survey during the fall of 2004. The appearance of necrotic local lesions following inoculation of Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi nc with sap from the symptomatic red soda apple leaves suggested the presence of a tobamovirus. Tropical soda apple mosaic virus (TSAMV), a recently described tobamovirus isolated from tropical soda apple in Florida, was specifically identified by a double-antibody sandwich-ELISA (1). An additional six similarly symptomatic red soda apple plants were later collected in the Devils Garden area of Hendry County. Inoculation of N. tabacum cv. Xanthi nc with sap from each of these symptomatic plants also resulted in necrotic local lesions. Sequence analysis of the TSAMV coat protein (CP) gene amplified from total RNA by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR with a mixture of upstream (SolA5′CPv = 5′-GAACTTWCAGAAGMAGTYGTTGATGAGTT-3′; SolB5′CPv = 5′-GAACTCACTGARRMRGTTGTTGAKGAGTT-3′) and downstream (SolA3′CPvc = 5′-CCCTTCGATTTAAGTGGAGGGAAAAAC-3′; SolB3′CPvc = 5′-CGTTTMKATTYAAGTGGASGRAHAAMCACT-3′) degenerate primers flanking the CP gene of Solanaceae-infecting tobamoviruses confirmed the presence of TSAMV in all plants from both locations. Nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences of the 483-bp CP gene were both 98 to 99% identical to the original TSAMV CP gene sequences in GenBank (Accession No. AY956381). TSAMV was previously identified in tropical soda apple in these two locations in Lee and Hendry counties and three other areas in Florida (1). Sequence analysis of the RT-PCR products also revealed the presence of Tomato mosaic virus in the plant from Lee County. To our knowledge, this represents the first report of natural TSAMV infection of any host other than tropical soda apple and suggests that TSAMV may be more widely distributed in solanaceous weeds than initially reported. References: (1) S. Adkins et al. Plant Dis. 91:287, 2007. (2) N. Coile. Fla. Dep. Agric. Consum. Serv. Div. Plant Ind. Bot. Circ. 27, 1993. (3) U.S. Dep. Agric., NRCS. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center. Baton Rouge, LA. Published online, 2006.

Physiological and biochemical properties of the PGPR-bacteria isolated from the rhizosphere of the soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr), grown under different photoperiod duration were investigated. A short-day soybean cultivar Clark was selected for the study; it was exposed to a long natural day (16 hours – control) and a short day (9 hours – test). The short day was created by darkening the plants with light-tight chambers for three weeks from 5 p.m. to 9 a.m. the next day. The field experiment was carried out at the experimental site of the Department of Physiology and Biochemistry of Plants and Microorganisms of V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, located in the Botanical garden of the University. Soil samples from the soybean rhizosphere were taken at the budding phase; the bacteria were isolated in a nitrogen-depleted medium. We studied cultural characteristics of bacteria (Gram stain, bacterial morphology, mobility, type of respiration, oxidase and catalase positivity) and their physiological and biochemical properties (the capability of proteolysis and nitrate reduction). A greater variety of bacteria in terms of cultural properties was isolated from the rhizosphere of soybean grown under long-day conditions. Probably, this is due to the higher intensity of root exudate excretion (chemoattagative factors) during the long day which is caused by different metabolic intensities at various photoperiod lengths. The highest number of isolates with proteolytic activity was observed in bacteria under long-day conditions. This property is considered to have a significant impact on the mineral nutrition of plants. Analysis of literature data showed that the higher amount of protein is accumulated in soybean leaves during the long day as a result of intensification of nitrogen nutrition provided by bacteria capable of proteolysis. Under conditions of a short day, a higher number of isolates capable of nitrate reduction was observed. A decrease in the number of isolates capable of nitrate reduction under a long-day condition can be explained by the possible repression of assimilative nitrate reductase by a large amount of ammonium formed during the ammonification of organic substances. Thus, the obtained results suggest that the photoperiod duration can determine physiological and biochemical properties of the rhizosphere microbiota of the plants sensitive to this factor.

Huanglongbing is an unculturable vascular citrus pathogen transmitted from infected to healthy plants through grafting or by citrus psyllids, Diaphorina citri mainly in Asia and America and Trioza erytreae in Africa. This phloem limited gram-negative bacterium causes dramatic yield losses and is classified into three species based on 16S rDNA sequence analysis (2): (i) ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ (Las), the most epidemiologically active, widespread and heat tolerant species; (ii) ‘Ca. L. africanus’ (Laf), only found in Africa; and (iii) the newly described ‘Ca. L. americanus’ (Lam), which appeared in 2005 in Brazil (5). Considered as a quarantine organism in America and Europe, Las is actively affecting North America and Asia, and research is leading toward psyllid management and resistance breeding. Despite the fact that Reunion Island has successfully controlled Las by introducing a psyllid parasitoid, Tamarixia radiata (1), this strategy was less effective or reproducible within other territories. D. citri was first detected in Guadeloupe in 1998, where the control of the the psyllid population has been effective with T. radiata (3); and was first detected in Martinique in 2012. Following the outbreak in the United States and the Caribbean, and also supported by reports of symptoms in citrus orchards, local National Plant Protection Organizations (NPPO) organized a detection survey across both islands to verify the occurrence of Huanglongbing. Since 2012, 450 sites were prospected each year in Martinique and Guadeloupe, where 20 leaves from 10 to 30 trees were analyzed. DNA extraction was performed (DNeasy Plant Mini Kit, Qiagen) on fresh or dried leaf midribs, along with negative control midribs (Citrus paradisi ‘Star Rubis’) and PCR amplification was done with the species-specific primers A2/J5 (4) and GB1/GB3 (5). Only Las-specific 703-bp amplicons were obtained (n = 43) and 20 were sequenced (Beckman Coulter Genomics, United Kingdom; sequences available through GenBank Accession Nos. KF699074 to KF699093) and blasted against the National Center for Biotechnology Information non-redondant database (NCBI-nr). BLAST analysis revealed 100% identity with the 50S ribosomal protein subunit L1 (rplA) and L10 (rplJ) of ‘Ca. L. asiaticus’ (all strains), and no significant homology to other organisms. Additionally, sequence assembly on a reference genome (NC_012985) showed 100% homology. Huanglongbing was detected in Guadeloupe on March 2012 at Le Moule (East coast) in a Tahiti lime orchard (C. latifolia) and crossed the island in 6 months. Las was detected in Martinique on May 2013 on Tahiti lime (C. latifolia) at Bellefontaine (Northwest) in a private garden and at Le Lorrain (Northeast) in an orchard. Other species from the Rutaceae family were affected by HLB (C. reticulat and C. sinensis) on both islands; however, few of the positive samples showed HLB symptoms (blotchy mottle patterns and green islands on leaves), but presented symptoms similar to nutrient deficiencies. Despite the former presence of T. radiata in Guadeloupe and its detection in Martinique a few weeks after the detection of D. citri, where it had a mean parasitism rate of 70%, an outbreak of HLB spread across both islands. These analyses confirm the presence of HLB in Martinique and Guadeloupe and to our knowledge represent the first report of Las in the French West Indies. Introduction events remain unclear, but this report raises the importance of plant certification, psyllid population control, and surveillance of territories close to the French West Indies, with regards to the risk that HLB presents to citrus production worldwide. References: (1) B. Aubert et al. Fruits. 38, 1983. (2) J. M. Bové. J. Plant Pathol. 88:1, 2006. (3) J. Etienne et al. Fruits. 56:05, 2001. (4) A. Hocquellet et al. Mol. Cell. Probes 13:5, 1999. (5) D. C. Teixeira et al. Mol. Cell. Probes 19:3, 2005.

Downy mildew of impatiens (Impatiens walleriana Hook.f.) was first reported from the continental United States in 2004. In 2011 to 2012, severe and widespread outbreaks were documented across the United States mainland, resulting in considerable economic losses. On May 5, 2013, downy mildew disease symptoms were observed from I. walleriana ‘Super Elfin’ at a retail nursery in Mililani, on the Hawai'ian island of Oahu. Throughout May and June 2013, additional sightings of the disease were documented from the islands of Oahu, Kauai, Maui, and Hawai'i from nurseries, home gardens, and botanical park and landscape plantings. Symptoms of infected plants initially showed downward leaf curl, followed by a stippled chlorotic appearance on the adaxial leaf surfaces. Abaxial leaf surfaces were covered with a layer of white mycelia. Affected plants exhibited defoliation, flower drop, and stem rot as the disease progressed. Based on morphological and molecular data, the organism was identified as Plasmopara obducens (J. Schröt.) J. Schröt. Microscopic observation disclosed coenocytic mycelium and hyaline, thin-walled, tree-like (monopodial branches), straight, 94.0 to 300.0 × 3.2 to 10.8 μm sporangiophores. Ovoid, hyaline sporangia measuring 11.0 to 14.6 × 12.2 to 16.2 (average 13.2 × 14.7) μm were borne on sterigma tips of rigid branchlets (8.0 to 15.0 μm) at right angle to the main axis of the sporangiophores (1,3). Molecular identification of the pathogen was conducted by removing hyphae from the surface of three heavily infected leaves using sterile tweezers, then extracting DNA using the QIAGEN Plant DNA kit (QIAGEN, Gaithersburg, MD). The nuclear rDNA internal transcribed spacer was sequenced from each of the three samples bidirectionally from Illustra EXOStar (GE Healthcare, Piscataway, NJ) purified amplicon generated from primers ITS1-O and LR-0R (4). Resultant sequences (GenBank KF366378 to 80) shared 99 to 100% nucleotide identity with P. obducens accession DQ665666 (4). A voucher specimen (BPI892676) was deposited in the U.S. National Fungus Collections, Beltsville, MD. Pathogenicity tests were performed by spraying 6-week-old impatiens plants (I. walleriana var. Super Elfin) grown singly in 4-inch pots with a suspension of 1 × 104 P. obducens sporangia/ml until runoff using a handheld atomizer. Control plants were sprayed with distilled water. The plants were kept in high humidity by covering with black plastic bags for 48 h at 20°C, and then maintained in the greenhouse (night/day temperature of 20/24°C). The first symptoms (downward curling and chlorotic stippling of leaves) and sporulation of the pathogen on under-leaf surfaces of the inoculated plants appeared at 10 days and 21 days after inoculation, respectively. Control plants remained healthy. Morphological features and measurements matched those of the original inoculum, thus fulfilling Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of downy mildew on I. walleriana in Hawai'i (2). The disease appears to be widespread throughout the islands and is likely to cause considerable losses in Hawai'ian landscapes and production settings. References: (1) O. Constantinescu. Mycologia 83:473, 1991. (2) D. F. Farr and A. Y. Rossman. Systematic Mycology and Microbiology Laboratory, ARS, USDA. Retrieved from http://nt.ars-grin.gov/fungaldatabases/ July 16, 2013. (3) P. A. Saccardo. Syllogue Fungorum 7:242, 1888. (4) M. Thines. Fungal Genet Biol 44:199, 2007.

Because of the importance of spotted wilt caused by Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), most peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) breeding programs in the southeastern United States are focusing on developing resistance to TSWV. Many of the cultivars with improved resistance to TSWV are late maturing, requiring 150 days to reach optimum maturity. This factor could greatly impact disease problems at harvest. During November of 2004, an unknown disease was observed on peanut cvs. Georgia 02-C and Hull in a commercial field in Appling County. Symptoms included wilting stems with water-soaked lesions and a dense, gray mold growing on infected tissues. Final disease incidence was less than 5%. For isolation, diseased tissue was surface sterilized by soaking in 0.5% sodium hypochlorite for 1 min, air dried, plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA), and incubated at 20°C. Botrytis cinerea Pers.:Fr., causal agent of Botrytis blight, was isolated from the margins of infected tissue. Mycelia were initially white but became gray after 72 h at which time tall, branched, septate conidiophores formed. Mature, unicellular, ellipsoid, hyaline conidia (8.9 × 10.4 μm) formed in botryose heads (1). Hard, black, irregular-shaped sclerotia formed after 2 weeks. Stems of greenhouse-grown peanut plants (cv. Georgia Green) were inoculated with PDA plugs colonized with either B. cinerea or B. allii Munn. Inoculations were made 3 cm below the last fully expanded leaf on wounded and nonwounded tissue. Noncolonized PDA plugs served as controls (n = 9). Plants were arranged in a dew chamber at 20°C in a randomized complete block design. Lesions and spore masses identical to those observed in the field appeared 3 to 5 days after being inoculated with B. cinerea. The B. allii inoculations caused only superficial lesions. After 5 days, mean lesion lengths for B. cinerea were 59 and 37 mm for wounded and nonwounded inoculations, respectively. B. cinerea was recovered from 100% of the symptomatic tissues. Botrytis blight is considered a late-season disease that occurs in cool, wet weather (3). Symptoms similar to those of Botrytis blight were observed on mature and over-mature peanut in Georgia and have been cited as “unpublished observations” (2); however, to our knowledge, this is the first report of the disease in Georgia. Although Botrytis blight is not considered a major peanut disease, it may become more prevalent at harvest as producers utilize late-maturing cultivars to manage spotted wilt. References: (1) H. L. Barnett and B. B. Hunter. Illustrated Guide of Imperfect Fungi. 4th ed. The American Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, MN, 1998. (2) K. H. Garren and C. Wilson. Peanut Diseases. Pages 262–333 in: The Peanut, the Unpredictable Legume. The National Fertilizer Assoc. Washington D.C. 1951. (3) D. M. Porter. Botrytis blight. Pages 10–11 in: Compendium of Peanut Diseases. 2nd ed. N. Kokalis-Burelle et al., eds. The American Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, MN. 1997.

Southern highbush blueberry plants (Vaccinium corymbosum interspecific hybrids) showing rust-like symptoms were observed in July 2006 in Porterville in the Western Cape (WC), South Africa. Diseased plants were also found in Villiersdorp and George in the WC in 2007. In 2008, symptoms were observed in George, and in 2009, in all the previous reported areas. Cvs. Bluecrisp, Emerald, Jewel, Sharpblue, and Star were infected. Reddish-to-brown spots appeared on the adaxial surface of leaves and developed into yellow-to-orange erumpent uredinia with pulverulent urediniospores. Uredinia were hypophyllous, dome shaped, 113 to 750 μm wide, and occasionally coalescing. Urediniospores were broadly obovate, sometimes ellipsoidal or pyriform, with yellowish orange content, and measured 19 to 27 × 12 to 20 μm (average 24 × 15 μm, n = 30). Spore walls were echinulate, hyaline, 1 to 1.5 μm thick, and with obscure germ pores. No telia or teliospores were observed. Voucher specimens were lodged in the South African National Fungus Collection in Pretoria (PREM 60245). The isolate was initially identified as Thekopsora minima P. Syd. & Syd., based primarily on the absence of conspicuous ostiolar cells characteristic of Naohidemyces spp. (3). Genomic DNA was extracted from urediniospores. Approximately 1,400 bp were amplified spanning the 5.8S, ITS2, and 28S large subunit of the ribosomal DNA (1). The sequence (GU355675) shared 96% (907 of 942 bp; GenBank AF522180) and 94% (1,014 of 1,047 bp; GenBank DQ354563) similarities in the 28S portion, respectively, to those of Naohidemyces vaccinii (Wint.) Sato, Katsuya et Y. Hiratsuka and Pucciniastrum geoppertianum (Kuehn) Kleb, two of the three known rust species of blueberry (2). Although no sequences of T. minima were available for direct comparison, phylogenetic analyses of the 28S region strongly supported the South African blueberry rust as congeneric with T. guttata (J. Schröt.) P. Syd. & Syd. (GenBank AF426231) and T. symphyti (Bubák) Berndt (GenBank AF26230) (data not shown). Four 6-month-old cv. Sharpblue plants were inoculated with a suspension (approximate final concentration of 1 × 105 spores per ml) of fresh urediniospores in a water solution with 0.05% Tween 20. After incubation at 20°C for 48 h under continuous fluorescent lighting, the plants were grown in a glasshouse (18/25°C night/day temperatures). Identical uredinia and symptoms developed approximately 3 weeks after inoculation on the inoculated plants, but not on two control plants of cv. Sharpblue sprayed with distilled water and kept at the same conditions. The alternate host hemlock (Tsuga spp.) is not endemic to South Africa and not sold as an ornamental plant according to a large conifer nursery. Hosts of T. minima include Gaylussacia baccata, G. frondosa, Lyonia neziki, Menziesia pilosa, Rhododendron canadense, R. canescens, R. lutescens R. ponticum, R. prunifolium, R. viscosum, V. angustifolium var. laevifolium, V. corumbosum, and V. erythrocarpon (3). Visual inspection of possible hosts in the gardens in close proximity of Vaccinium production areas did not show any rust symptoms. To our knowledge, this is the first report of T. minima on blueberries outside of Asia and the United States (2). References: (1) M. C. Aime. Mycoscience 47:112, 2006. (2) D. F. Farr and A. Y. Rossman. Fungal Databases. Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory. Online publication. USDA-ARS, 2009. (3) S. Sato et al. Trans. Mycol. Soc. Jpn. 34:47, 1993.

Self-report studies are gradually becoming the predominating current of empirical research in criminology. This is particularly the case with etiological studies of deviant behaviour in young persons. However, the present popularity of self-report studies is not accompanied by improvement of their methodological aspect. No important development of the methodology of these studies has occured since the pioneer works of Short and Nye. It is the fundamental aim of the present paper to point to these of the methodological questions on which the further development of self-report studies will depend most. In Chapter I, the first works have been discussed in which the self-report methods were applied. The works anaiyzed are those of Murphy at al. Porterfield, as well as Wallerstein and Wy1e. Particular attention has been given to the methodological and substantive aspects of the series of studies carried out by Short and Nye. Chapter II contains the presentation of findings of the Polish self-report studies. The first attempt at a self-report study was made in the early 1960s by Malewska and Muszyński. A national random sample of pupils of the sixth grade of primary school n =2,222) was examined by means of an anonymous questionnaire. The basic aim of the study was to define the children's attitude towards the ownership rights and the situations in which violation of these rights is admissible. Besides, the authors were interested in how children perceived given situations to be thefts. Thus the question whether the respondents ever happened to take another person’s property was but a fragment of the questionnaire which served another purpose in its essence. To the question: "How often do you happen to take another person's property?", 0.8 per cent of the children answered ,,very often," 4.2 pet cent - "often," 26.6 per cent - "sometimes," and. 34.5 per cent-,,seldom’’ Like Malewska and Muszyński, also Szemińska and Gołąb aimed at defining the moral sense of young persons: pupils of primary schools (n=61) and inmates of educational institutions (n= 64), asking also about the extent and structure of deviant behaviour. The respondents answered anonymously in writing. The two compared groups of boys differed from each other considerably as far as both the frequency and the seriousness of thefts commited was concerned. While the majority of "delinquents" admitted a large number of thefts, the "nondelinquents" 'in their vast majority owned up to 1-2 thefts at most, mostly of small objects they stole from their classmates or next of kin with the intention to use these objects themselves." The study of Szemińska and Gołąb raises doubts, both as regards its merits and methodology. Among other things, in spite of the fact that various offences were committed by both of the discussed groups, the authors use a dichotomic pair of notions: delinquent and non-delinquent, failing to put these words in quotation marks which are necessary in this situation. In the years 1976-1977, Ostrihanska and Wójcik conducted a large self-report study of a random sample of pupils of grades 3-8 of Warsaw primary schools. 50 schools were selected at random, in which the study was carried out by means of a questionnaire in 120 classes, also randomly selected (n=3,177, of which there were 1,631 boys and 1,546 girls). The self-report study was part of a broader research programme aimed at estimating the extent of social maladjustment in the youth and defining its causes. Among other things, the questions concerned the following phenomena: school failures, truancy, running away from home, drinking alcohol, taking drugs, free riding, destroying another person’s property, other acts against property (including thefts, frauds, robbery-,,taking something from a younger child by constraint"). The possible answers were as follows: ,,never", ,,once'’, ,,2-3 times’’, ,,4-10 times’’, ,,more frequently’’ . As expected, both the extent and intensity (frequency of perpetration) of deviant behaviour were higher in the group of boys as compared with girls. For instance, as few as 15.3 per cent of the eldest boys (aged 15) stated that they never took another person's property while the percentage of non-stealing girls among the eldest group was over two times higher (38.0 per cent) In this age group 16.3 per cent of boys stole a dozen or more times, while percentage of girls who committed multiple thefts amounted to as few as 1.4 Instead, no greater differences were found between boys and girls who admitted having stolen once. In boys, the most frequent were thefts from allotments and gardens (35.2 per cent), thefts from parents (22.8 per cent) and thefts in self-service shops 18.1 per cent). On the other hand the most seldom were thefts from cellars (5.8 per cent), and thefts of wine in shops (9.7 per cent). Taking another person’s property ranked fourth among the types of deviant acts included IN the study The first position was taken by lies (88.8 per cent of answers in the affirmative). Near1y 90 per cent of boys admitted having chribbed anothe child’s exercise, 25.2 per cent- having destroyed property 2.8 per cent ran away from home, and 2.4 per cent tock drugs. There was an upward tendency with age: elder boys admitted a greater number of deviant acts, and actuallv commited these acts more frequently. The next self-report study was conducted by Ostrowska and Siemaszko in 1979. It included 2,991 pupils of Warsaw secondary schools (1,197 boys and 1,795 girls). Non-random selection was applied. Young persons of the first and last grades were examined by means of anonymous questionnaire. Among other variables, it contained a list of 42 questions about various types of deviant behaviour, acts of infringement of disciplinary regulations, transgressions and offences, from most trivial (like stealing a ride or failing to return change from shopping) to comparatively serious like house-breaking or robbery. All questions had the same set of possible answers: "never," "once of twice," several times," "a dozen or more-times," ,,more frequently." The examined young persons were characterized by rather a high level of deviance. In the group of boys for instance,539 persons (30.9 per cent) admitted having perpetrated a half of the 42 acts included in the questionnaire at least once, 2.8 per cent of them having committed 27 to 31 acts, and 2.3 per cent-32 to 42 acts. Thus together, 6 per cent of the examined boys were highly deviant. Since the study also revealed a close relationship between the number of acts committed and the frequency of their perpetration, the abovementioned 6 per cent of the examined persons (about 300 boys) are "multiple recidivists" in the interpretation used in self-report studies. Considerable differences in the level of deviant behaviour were found in respect of age and sex. For instance, the level of deviance in the group of elder boys was four times higher on average as compared with younger girls. Among the most widespread acts there were free riding (94,6 per cent of girls and 96. 1 per cent of boys), failure to return change from shopping (79.6 and 84.1 per cent respectively), petty frauds in shops (67.6 and 84.0 per cent respectively), and failure to return a found object to its owner (69.9 per cent of girls and 83.8 per cent of boys). Aggressive acts were relatively frequent, particularly among boys. Battery "without an explicit causes” was comitted by 20.2 per cent of boys and 6.5 per cent of girls.11.6 per cent of boys and 2.8 per cent of girls participated in affrays in which dangerous weapons were used. Among thefts, comparatively less serious acts predominated. 16.9 per cent of girls and 31.6 per cent of boys admitted having perpetrated petty thefts. 8.2 per cent of girls and 14.6 per cent of boys stole change from call-boxes. Serious thefts were committed by 1.6 per cent of girls and 4.6 per cent of boys. Ostrowska and Siemaszko repeated their study in 1981 on a random sample of students of secondary schools in five typically agricultural provinces. 2,144 persons (1,702 boys and 420 girls) aged 14-19, students of 29 schools, were examined. They young persons who participated in the study went to :89 classes that were selected at random. The extent and structure of deviant behaviour were examined by means of a questionnaire identical to the one applied in the previous study Also the way in which the study was carried out in the classes was the same. In the group of acts termed insubordination, the most widespread one was smoking at under: 14:78,2 per cent of boys and 44,8 per cent of girls admitted it. Somewhat less than 10per cent of the examined persons admitted having run away from home, 2 per cent of them having run away several times. Over 20 per cent of the respondents admitted having had their identity papers checked by the police (30 per cent of boys) and somewhat less than 7 per cent took drugs. Among various types of dishonest behaviour the most widespread one was free riding- over 80 per cent. Nearly a half of the examined persons admitted having failed to return a borrowed object; 7 per cent of them did it repeatedly Also nearly 50 per cent of the respondents stole money from their parents:15 per cent of them did it several times, and 5.6 per cent-more frequently. In the group of offences, thefts predominated. 24.9 per cent of girls and 32.4 per cent of boys admitted having stolen an object or money to the value of under 100 złotys (the percentage amounting to 38.6 in the group of eldest boys); nearly 20 per cent of them repeatedly stole money from their parents. About 25 per cent of the examined persons committed shop- lifting, the percentage of shop-lifters in the group of eldest boys exceeding 40. The acts of breaking into cellars, recesses, attics etc., were committed by 15 per cent of the respondents 6.1 per cent of girls and 17.2 per cent of boys. The most seldom offences against property were: robbery (2.4 per cent of girls, 10.1 per cent of boys), stealing from call-boxes (6.6 per cent of girls, 7.8 per cent of boys), thefts of money to the amount of 500-1000 złotys (6 .2 per cent of girls, 7.0 per cent of boys), failure to pay the bill in a restaurant (3.3 per cent of girls, 5.6 per cent of boys) and thefts of over 1 000 zlotys (2.8 per cent of girls and 5.6 per cent of boys). Among aggressive behavior, brawls and beatings prevailed (25 per cent of girls and 50 per cent of' boys). In Chapter III the most important methodological problems related to self-report studies are discussed. In self-report studies, both direct (e. g. ,,have you stolen), and indirect and euphemistic questions (e, g. ,,have you ever happened to take and not to give back. ") can be found. The indirect questions undoubtedly less threatening. Yet on the other hand, those asked directly are probably easier to interpret explicitly. There is no proof as to the superiority of any of these ways of asking. However indirect and euphemistic questions prevail in self-report studies. The degree of abstractness of questions varies. The good point of clearcut questions (e.g. ''have you ever taken and failed to give back some article in a supermarket") is that the highly detailed formulation may help the respondent to recall an event which the researcher is interested in. On the other hand, their weak point is that the respondent cannot be relied upon to admit having acted in another, very similar yet not identical way. Unfortunately, the majority of self-report questionnaires contain questions about inseparate classes of phenomena. Hence the danger of one and the same act being counted several times. In self-report studies, the number of questions about deviant behavior is an important problem. One should bean it in mind that the deviant acts taken into account by the researcher are always nothing but a certain sample of the totality of such acts, the parameters of which are usually unknown (e.g. Christie et al.). The greater the number of acts taken into account, the more standard the "sample of acts" seems to be with respect to the "totality of acts." There are great differences as regards the number of acts included: from several (e.g. Hirschi, Dentler and Monroe) up to several dozen (e.g. Gibson). Today time limits are usually introducted as regards the period between the act and the moment of examination one year as a rule), though Short and Nye introducted no limits as regards the period during which the respondents committed the admitted acts. Shorter periods can also be found. (e.g. Simone et al, - 2 months, Lipton and Smith - 18 months). The limits are among the most important problems in self-report studies, since it is on them that the estimation depends on the level of deviance of the entire examined group, as well as the precise estimation of the separate respondents levels of deviance. The views on the optimum time limits are not uniform. Different sets of possible answers to the questions about deviant behaviour can be found: from most precise (e.g. "once," "twice," etc.) to most general and ambigous (e.g. "seldom," ,,frequently"). A strictly enumerative set of answers may be methodologically correct only in the case of a short period (one year or less). In the remaining cases, this set may be misleading as one hardly expects the examined persons to remember past events with such accuracy. The questions about deviant behaviour may constitute a separate block (nay a separate questionnaire), or they may be put among other questions. There are no studies showing the good and weak points of each of these two solutions. It seems more proper however, to "mask" the aim of the study by interlarding the questions about deviant behaviour with those neutral or concerning "acts of kindness." When the level or "depth" of the examined person's deviant involvement is defined, an important problem emerges: acts with different "charges of deviance are taken into account here. Therefore, one can either try and attach different weights to them, or treat all of them as equally serious. Christie et al. ranked acts according to the judges opinion. Morash weighted them with the use of Selling and Wolfgang's scale of seriousness of offences. In Hindelang's study, the weight of acts was defined by specialists by means of a fivepoint scale. Hepburn weighted deviant acts basing on appraisals done by the examined persons themselves. However in the vast majority of self-report studies, no weigh ting procedure is applled. As shown by Farrington, weighting procedures fail to contribute substantially to the increase in accuracy of measurement. An anonymous questionnaire, though most frequentlv applied, is not the only method of gathering information about unrecorded deviant behaviour. E, g. Gold (and other researchers who applied Gold’s scale) employed a questionnaire interview In Belson's study a card sorting procedure was applied. This method of gathering information is particularly popular in England (see also Gibson, Farrington, West, Morash, Shapland). Hirschi examined his respondents with a signed questionnaire. Should the differences in veracity of answeers of a signed and anonymous questionnaire prove to be inessential (and there is much to be said for it, e.g. Krohn, Waldo and Chiracos), it would be advisable to use the signed version (because of the possibility of comparing the separate sociometric choices or comparing the findings with external sources of information). The main objection raised to self-report studies concerns the doubtful veracity of the data gathered this way (Dentler, Liska). A relatively small number of studies concerned the reliability of self-report studies, e.g. the stability of findings in time. This is the most difficult problem in the case of a strictly anonymous questionnaire as the separate respondents cannot be retest. Only global distributions are compared then (e.g the scores of respondents in a given class) Siemaszko finds no valid differences between the distributions answers about deviant acts between a test and a retest which took place there months later. Dentler and Monroe found that 92 per cent of answers to a test and a retest two weeks 1ater were consistent, yet the respondents could still have remembered their previous answers in this case. Belson conducted a retest after a shorter period still: one week. The percentage of consistent answers amounted to 88. Also Farrington’s study revealed rarther a high degree of consistency in spite of the two year's interval. The percentage of mistakes in the test or retest was 3.2 The tendency to inconsistent answers was less explicit if the general scores of the examined persons on the deviance scales were analyzed and not the proportion of their affirmative and negative answers to the separate questions (11.5 per cent of the, examined persons found themselves in another quartile than Before). The results obtained by Shapland were parallel. The results seem to point to a high stability of self-report questionnaires in time. Hardt and Peterson-Hardt distinguish the following methods of defining the validity of self-report questionnaires: comparing with external sources of information, comparing with a known group, lie scales, and defining face validity. The most frequent method of defining the validity of questionnaires used in examination of unrecorded deviant behaviour is the comparison of the respondents' answers with other reliable sources of information. Erickson and Empey found that none of their respondents concealed their contact with the police or an offence with which they were charged. According to Gold, the probability of contacts with the police diminishes monotonically together with decrease of frequency of offences admitted during the examination. Gibson, Morrison and West found a high consistency between offences revealed by means of the self-report method and the contents of the police files. Hindelang found a distinct positive interdependence between high scores in the deviance scale and having a record in the police files. Farrington, as well as Farrington and West, examined the so-called predictive validity of self-report questionnaires. It appeared that those of the examined persons who score highest in deviance scales at the moment. A, have records in the police files much more frequently at the moment B. Gould compared the scores in the Short,/Nye scale with those in the recorded crime scale, finding a high, positive and valid interdependence. Results of self-report tests were also compared with other sources of information (teachers, colleagues, social workers, etc.). As shown by Jessor, Graves, Hanson and Jessor, results of the self-report tests tally with appraisals of the degree of deviant involvement made by teachers and colleagues of the examined persons. Also Gould compared the respondents' statements with appraisals of their behaviour made by their colleagues and teachers. The interdependence proved to be as expected. Hardt and Peterson-Hardt compared statements in which the examined persons admitted having robbed parkometers with the official data concerning the extent of these thefts. The respondents appeared to have answered truthfully. In many studies scores of school children and of institutionalized youth were compared. As demonstrated already by Short and Nye, although the inmates of reformatories scored somewhat higher than students of normal schools, nevertheless the profiles of distributions and their structure were analogous. Voss found the correlates of deviance in groups of school children and institutionalized youth to be parallel. This finding was confirmed in many other studies. The only exception here is the parents socio-economic status. Uniformity of views could not have been reached as yet as to whether the positive interdependence between the socio-economic status and deviant behaviour found in the majority of self-report studies is artificial or real (see i.a. Tribble, Axenroth, Hindelang Hirschi and Waise). Much can be said about the validity of a self-report questionnaire only on the grounds of the distributions of answers to the separate questions, Siemaszko found the percentage of affirmative answers to decrease monotonically with the increase of seriousness of the act and its scarcity in the general population. In the same study the percentage of affirmative answers to the question about being checked by the police was found to be higher than that concerning detention: also the level of deviance of elder as compared with younger and boys as compared with girls proved higher, These results agree with theoretical expectations, Hardt and Peterson-Hardt found the percentage of affirmative answers to the questions about acts commited during the last year to be generally lower than it is the case with questions that concerned also acts commited longer before. Not all of self-report questionnaires contain lie scales. Moreover, the researchers are not in agreeement as to the usefulness of such scales this type of studies (i.a. Farrington, Smart, Hardt, Peterson- Hardt). I seems that lie scales should be employed Questions should however be avoided which might be correlated with deviant behaviour, as in such case there is the danger of the lie scale becoming the reverse of that of deviance. The popularity of self-report studies was determined by the effectiveness of this method (relatively low cost 1ittle time consuming, promptitude and the possibility of examining large samples) Today, self-report studies have become popular in spite of the fact that many important methodological problems have not been solved yet.

Tulip (Tulipa gesneriana L.) is an important and highly valuable flower of the cut flower industry. The most critical step in its cultivation is to break dormancy in order to initiate the growth, especially in tropical and sub-tropical areas of the world. Therefore, the current research was conducted to break bulb dormancy and foster the growth of tulip in Potohar region with the help of different primers. The objective of this study was the selection of best primer at appropriate concentration level to enhance growth, yield and vase life of the flower. Tulip bulbs were treated with different primers: T0 (distilled water), T1 (chitosan @ 5 g/L), T2 (gibberellic acid @ 0.15 g/L), T3 (humic acid 160 g/L), T4 (imidacloprid 19 g/L) and T5 (salicylic acid 0.1 g/L) for 24 hours, respectively. The experiment was laid out using Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. Statistical results revealed that characteristics including early germination, plant height, number of leaves, stalk length, fresh and dry weight of flower, weight of bulbs, diameter of bulbs and number of daughter bulbs were significantly increased in T2. Whereas, leaf area, diameter of stem and flower was maximum in T0. Plants under T3 showed an increase in chlorophyll content of leaves. While floral characteristics like early formation and opening of flower bud, more number of flowers and vase life were improved in T1. Thus, statistical results showed that priming can effectively help to improve morpho-physiological attributes of tulip.Key wordTulip, primers, dormancy, chitosan, gibberellic acid, humic acid, imidacloprid, salicylic acid.INTRODUCTIONTulip (Tulips gesneriana L.) is the most popular and lucrative spring blooming bulbous plant of Liliacae family. It is famous for its distinctive flower shape; size and vibrant color range that make it stand out aesthetically among other ornamental flowers. There are about 150 to 160 species of tulip that can be grown in gardens. In addition to this, they are also used as cut flowers. In cut flower industry, it is ranked as 3rd most desirable flower after rose and chrysanthemum (Singh, 2006; Ahmad et al., 2014). This flower holds a significant importance on societal events like Valentine’s Day, Easter, New Year and Mother’s Day. Along with ornamental uses, its bulb can be used for cooking purposes in place of onions and petals can be used to treat rough skin. As a result of its immense beauty and multiple uses, it is day by day becoming more eminent and favorite among people globally (Buschman, 2004; Jhon and Neelofar, 2006). The demand for cut flowers in Pakistan is also gaining popularity. In Pakistan, where floriculture industry is still struggling to make its way towards development, the annual production of cut flowers is estimated to be 10,000 to 12,000 tons per annum (Younis et al., 2009). Main cut flower crops produced includes: rose, carnation, gerbera, statice, tuberose, narcissus, gladiolus, freesia and lilies (Ahsan et al., 2012). Despite of tulip’s high demand, it is not among the few cut flowers that are produced at commercial level in Pakistan. However, some of the wild species of tulip (Tulipa stellate) are found in the country, as they wildly grow in West and North West Himalayan region of the world. (Nasir et al., 1987). This perennial plant needs several weeks of low temperature (temperature < 50C) to break its dormancy for producing beautiful flowers, as a result, its cultivation is restricted to temperate areas (Koksal et al., 2011). It is widely grown in areas with 5-100C night and 17-200C day temperature throughout the growing season (Singh, 2006). Although, it has high demand worldwide but there are only 15 tulips producing countries in the world. Among few tulip producing countries, Netherlands tops the list due to her favorable climatic conditions. The total production area of tulips in Netherlands is 10,800 hectares that contributes 60% of the world’s total production. The reason behind its limited production in the world is the inability of tulip bulbs to break dormancy under unfavorable climatic conditions. Dormancy is a state in which flower bulbs do not show any physical growth due to physical and physiological barriers. Therefore, dormancy breaking is the utmost important step while growing tulips anywhere in the world (De Klerk et al., 1992). Thus, aforementioned restrictions and sensitivity of crop towards its growth requirements has also affected its production in Pakistan. Its cultivation is restricted to Murree, Abottabad and Swat only. Some other parts of the country, including the Potohar region have great potential to grow tulip by putting in a little effort to cope with the challenge of dormancy breaking due to relatively high temperature. The winter period in Potohar region is from November to March. Moreover, December, January and February are the coldest months with a mean annual temperature between 100C to 150C. As a result, the time of planting is very critical for dormancy breaking and fast growth in such areas, as late planting would cause an abortion of flowers due to a raised field temperature at the time of flowering. In order to grow tulips in areas with mild winters different techniques are adopted that includes: pre- chilling, seed priming and protected cultivation method to achieve early growth and high yield of flowers before the temperature rises. Out of all additional efforts, seed priming can be an effective method for growing tulips in open fields because it promotes early growth and good yield (Anjum et al., 2010; Benschop et al., 2010; Kumar et al., 2013; Ramzan et al., 2014; Sarfaraz et al., 2014; Khan, 2019). Seed priming is a method of soaking seeds in solution with high osmotic potential which provides optimum level of hydration and aggravates the germination process, but don’t show the radical emergence by prolonging the lag phase. Lag phase makes the seed metabolically active and helps to convert the stored food reserves into the available form to be used during germination (Taylor et al., 1998; Reid et al., 2011; Nawaz et al., 2013). Application of different chemicals as primmer including salts (chitosan), growth regulator (gibberellic acid), plant hormone (salicylic acid), organic compounds (humic acid) and insecticides (imidacloprid) can result in a reduced forcing period, enhanced growth, early flowering and high flower yield. Therefore, careful selection of variety and use of priming as dormancy breaking technique is the essential step of Tulip cultivation in the Potohar area (Horii et al., 2007; Shakarami et al., 2013; Nakasha et al., 2014; Baldotto et al., 2016).OBJECTIVES Keeping in view that tulip is an excellent cut flower and its demand is increasing globally, present study was designed to analyze and study the effects of best concentration of different primers on early growth (vegetative and reproductive), yield and vase life of tulip in the Potohar region of Northern Punjab, Pakistan. MATERIALS AND METHODSExperimental site and planting material: The experiment on Tulipa gesneriana L. was conducted at the experimental area, Department of Horticulture, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi with longitude 73.070 E and latitude 33.60 N, during the year 2017-2018. Tulipa gesneriana L. was established through bulbs. Tulip bulbs were purchased from reliable sources and were planted by the end of November in pots after priming treatment in open field conditions.Maintenance practice: Regular watering and fortnightly fertilizer application of NPK (Grow more (17:17:17) @ 10g/m2 was done to maintain plant health.Priming treatments: Tulip bulbs were treated with different primers including: T0 (distilled water), T1 (chitosan @ 5 g/L), T2 (gibberellic acid @ 0.15 g/L), T3 (humic acid 160 g/L), T4 (Imidacloprid 19 g/L) and T5 (salicylic acid 0.1 g/L) for 24 hours, respectively.Parameters: Both vegetative and reproductive parameters were analyzed to determine the efficacy of primers including days to sprouting of bulbs (days), plant height (cm), leaf area (cm2), number of leaves, diameter of flower stem (mm), days to flower bud formation (days), days to flower opening stage (days), diameter of flower (mm), number of flowers per plant, stalk length (cm), fresh weight of flower (g), dry weight of flower (g), diameter of bulbs (mm), weight of bulbs (g), number of daughter bulbs per plant and vase life (days).Statistical analysis: Experiment was laid out randomly using Complete Randomized Design (CRD).The collected data was analyzed through appropriate statistical package i.e. MSTAT-C. Statistical significance was compared with LSD test at 5% level of significance (Steel et al., 1997).RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONEffect of priming on vegetative growth attributes: Results were exhibiting significant difference among vegetative growth attributes of the treated plants (table 1). The 0.15 g/L of gibberellic acid treated plants showed early sprouting (25 days) and maximum increase in plant height (33cm), number of leaves (6), stalk length (29.05cm) and diameter of flower stem (9.66mm), followed by 5 g/L of chitosan, 160g/L of humic acid and 19 g/L of Imidacloprid, respectively. Minimum plant height (15.6cm), number of leaves (4), stalk length (12.33cm) diameter of flower stem (6.04mm) and delayed bulb sprouting (31 days) was observed in 0.1 g/L of salicylic acid. Improvement in vegetative characteristics shown by T2 plants revealed that gibberellic acid helped in dormancy breaking, cell division and elongation in actively growing plant parts (Kumar et al., 2013). As further result confirmed that the maximum leaf area (39.07cm2) was observed in control plants and treated plants didn’t show significant increase in leaf area, because of the use of energy in increasing plant height and number of leaves. Previous studies also showed that plants with more number of leaves had a less leaf area and color of the leaves was also lighter (Khangoli, 2001; Janowska and Jerzy, 2004). Moreover, the maximum amount of chlorophyll content (62) was observed in 160 g/L of humic acid followed by 5 g/L of chitosan, 0.15 g/L of gibberellic acid and 19 g/L of Imidacloprid, respectively. Whereas, minimum amount of chlorophyll content was observed in 0.1 g/L of salicylic acid (58). Tulip bulbs treated with Humic acid effectively increased photosynthetic activity of the plant which in result increased the chlorophyll content of the leaves and produced more plant food. Leaf area of the humic acid treated plants was also increased as compared to other treatments that also caused an increase in the chlorophyll content of the leaves (Chanprasert et al., 2012; Salachna and Zawadzińska, 2014). Furthermore, bulb characteristics were also improved under the influence of priming. Maximum diameter (41mm) and weight of bulbs (26g) was observed in 0.15g/L of Gibberellic acid followed by 0.1g/L of salicylic acid, 5 g/L of chitosan, 19 g/L of Imidacloprid and 160 g/L of humic acid respectively. Whereas, minimum diameter (36mm) and weight (21g) of bulbs was observed in control treatment which proved the efficacy of primers in enhancing characteristics of tulip bulbs. Bulb diameter and weight was increased because of the presence of good amount of food in the bulb which helped in its growth (Arteca, 2013). Furthermore the number of daughter bulbs were maximum in 0.15 g/L of gibberellic acid (4.22) and 5 g/L of Chitosan (4.22) followed by 0.1 g/L of salicylic acid and 160 g/L of Humic acid respectively. Minimum number of bulb-lets was observed in 19 g/l of Imidacloprid (3.11). Increased rate of cell division and multiplication, plus availability of good nutrition in bulbs helped to increase the number of daughter bulbs in the treated plants (Shakarami et al., 2013). Thus, results confirmed that 0.15 g/L of gibberellic acid effectively improved both plant (figure 1) and bulb (figure 2) characteristics. Effect of priming on reproductive growth attributes: Results showed significant differences in plants for reproductive growth attributes in response to priming (table 2). Minimum days of bud formation (122 days) and flower opening stage (124 days) were showed by 5 g/L of chitosan followed by 0.15 g/L of gibberellic acid, 160g/L of humic acid and 19 g/L of Imidacloprid, respectively. Whereas, 0.15 g/L of salicylic acid took maximum days in the formation (127 days) and opening (129 days) of flower buds. Chitosan helps plant in maintaining its vegetative and reproductive growth under stress conditions like drought and high temperature. As a result, the plant maintains its growth under stress conditions and give early flowers, because its reproductive growth attributes remain unaffected under any abiotic stress, as previously studied in orchid as well (Saniewska, 2001; Uthairatanakij et al., 2007). Moreover, the number of flowers per plant were maximum in 5 g/L of Chitosan (3.33) and 0.15 g/L of gibberellic acid (3.33), followed by 160 g/L of humic acid. Whereas, 19 g/L of Imidacloprid (2.33) and 0.1 g/L of Salicylic acid (1.44) gave minimum flower yield. Along with enhancing the defense mechanism, chitosan also helped in increasing flower number in Freesia and other flowers, previously (Salachna and Zawadzińska, 2014). Furthermore, maximum fresh weight (33g) and dry weight of flower (2g) were observed in 0.15 g/L, of gibberellic acid followed by 5 g/L of chitosan, 160 g/L of humic acid and 19 g/L of imidacloprid, respectively. Minimum fresh weight of flower (12 g) and dry weight of flower (0.98 g) was observed in 0.1 g/L of salicylic acid. Gibberellic acid effectively increases plant height and diameter of stem that caused an increase in fresh and dry weight of flower due to presence of more plant nutrients and maintenance of turgidity. Diameter of the flower was maximum (40mm) in control plants, this showed priming of tulip bulbs didn’t have any effect on increasing flower size due to increase in flower number (Rashad et al., 2009; Hashemabadi, 2010). Thus, the aforementioned results confirmed that 5 g/L chitosan was most effective in improving floral attributes (figure 3) of tulip.Effect of priming on vase life: According to results (table 3), 5 g/L of Chitosan and 0.1 g/L of salicylic acid showed maximum vase life (8 days) followed by 19 g/L of imidacloprid, 0.15 g/L of gibberellic acid and 160 g/L of humic acid, respectively. Flowers under control treatment showed minimum vase life (6) as compared to treated plants. Chitosan improved the quality of flower by maintaining its size, color and freshness, but most importantly, it provided protection against many pathogenic fungi that can attack tulip and cause senescence of the flower. As a result of fungal protection and resistance against abiotic stresses, Tulip flower showed increased post-harvest quality and vase life (Saniewska, 2001). In Lilium flower it helped to decrease the production of ethylene and respiration rate and helped in increasing its vase life (Kim et al., 2004).CONCLUSIONPresent research proved that treatment of tulip bulbs with different primers at their best selected concentration levels was an effective method of enhancing early growth and yield in an area with relatively high temperature as compared to temperate region. The Tulip plants showed improvement in sprouting, plant height, number of leaves, chlorophyll content of leaf, leaf area, early flowering, flower size, number of flowers, stalk length, stem diameter, bulbs weight and diameter, number of bulb-lets and vase life. Thus, this method can be used in future for the production of Tulips under tropical and sub-tropical areas.CONFLICT OF INTERESTAuthors have no conflict of interest.REFERENCESAhmad, A., H. Rashid, R. Sajjad, S. Mubeen, B. Ajmal and M. Khan, 2014. 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The article devoted to Hever Castle and the rose "Hever Castle" bred by English hybridizer Colin Horner, introduced for the UK by Bill LeGrice Roses in 2011. This rose is named after unique among the castles of Great Britain, Hever Castle, childhood home of Anne Boleyn, the Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of King Henry VIII. On 7 September 1533, she gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I. The authors present Hever Castle in Kent and its historic landscape gardens features elements that illustrate significant periods of the art of gardens. The gardens have botanic collections living plants. Since their creation in 1903, the gardens have made a significant and uninterrupted contribution to the study of plant diversity. Described Anne Boleyn's Orchard, Tudor Garden, the Stunning Lake, the Yew Maze and the Water Maze, the Rose Garden, the Blue Garden, Two Sisters Lake, the Faith Garden, the Sunken Garden, the Italian Garden, Annual Tulip Show with some varieties of Charles Darwin Hybrid Tulip, Darwin's Down House in Kent, where the scientist wrote his "On the Origin of the Species". Studied biodiversity of the garden landscape of Hever gardens: birds, fish, plants, types of dahlias, tulips, roses etc. Introduced the annual National Nest Box and Bird Life Week in Great Britain. Presented a new rose border inspired by the work of the famous American poet Emily Dickinson and herbarium of flowers collected by the poetess according to the scientific classification by Linnaeus. Considered her poems. Given biological characteristic of English Rose "Hever Castle" (2011).

Abstract Background Egypt has agreed and ratified international regulations that strict child labor. However, the country still struggles with high prevalence of child labor and the associated negative social and health effects. The objective of this study was to identify the prevalence and determinants of work-related injuries among working children in Egypt. Methods This study involved a secondary data analysis of the National Child Labor Survey (NCLS) conducted in 2010 by The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) in Egypt with technical and financial support from the ILO’s International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) through its Statistical Information and Monitoring Program on Child Labor (SIMPOC). The total number of working children who responded to questions of work-related injuries in the NCLS child questionnaire was 7485 children. Results The prevalence of work-related injuries among working children in Egypt was estimated as 24.1% (95% CI: 22.0%—26.2%), of whom the majority were superficial wounds (87.3%). Among children who reported work-related injuries, 57.9% did not stop work or schooling because of the most serious injury, while 39.6% had stopped temporarily and 2.6% had stopped completely. The main determinants of work-related injuries among working children in the study sample were gender (boys), age of starting work (5–11 years), type of main economic activity (industry and services), type of main workplace (plantation, farms, or garden), the average work hours per week (28 h or more), and exposure to ergonomic and safety, and chemical hazards at work. Conclusions The estimated high prevalence of work-related injuries among working children aged 5–17 years in Egypt raises the health risks concerns associated with child labor. Findings of this study on the determinants of work-related injuries could guide policies and interventions to combat child labor and the associated health risks, including work-related injuries.