Evaluation of Old Apple Cultivars Grown in Central Transylvania, Romania

In Romania, in this rather long period of transition, there are still many fruit tree orchards with old (classical) varieties which do not entirely meet the nowadays market and consumers criteria. Since these orchards cannot be replaced overnight, in this study it have observed the main yielding and quality characteristics of several well known apple varieties grown in Central Transylvania (Romania), in order to preserve the germplasm and evaluate the possibility to grow some of the best ones for particular or spot markets. According to data registered in this orchard, Jonathan had the most vigorous growth, expressed by the crown and trunk diameters, while Starkrimson had the weakest vigour. The largest fruits were found in Golden Delicious (186.5 g) and the smallest fruits in Jonathan (117 g) and Wagener (119 g). The highest fruit yield was harvested in Wagener (60.0 kg/tree), while the other classical varieties (Jonathan, Kaltherer Bmer, Starkrimson) yielded significantly less than the mean of experiment. The yield index (fruit yield/trunk section area) was comprised between 0.251 kg/cm2 in Wagener and 0.099 kg/cm2 in Jonathan. Fruit quality was very good in Kaltherer Bmer and Jonathan, good in Golden Delicious and accepTab. in the other two tested varieties. It can be concluded that valuable growing, yielding and fruit quality characteristics can be found in these old apple varieties which make them attractive both as germplasm sources and as commercial varieties for particular and spot markets

Genotypic Variability of the Main Apple Cultivars Grown in Transylvania, Romania, Evaluated by Means of RAPD Analysis

Five apple cultivars (‘Florina’, ‘Golden Delicious’, ‘Idared’, ‘Jonathan’ and Starkrimson), were tested in 2004 and 2005 in five commercial orchards located in different counties of Transylvania, Romania, with quite nonsimilar environments. In June, young shoots were harvested from each cultivar and taken to the laboratory by means of a refrigerating bag. Young leaves were harvested from the shoots and preserved in refrigerator at –70oC until the DNA extraction was performed. Twelve decamer primers were used for DNA amplification out of which ten produced polymorphic bands in each cultivar/location. A dendrograms was constructed based on DNA migration in agarose gel and analysis of formed bands and genetic distances, for revealing the intervarietal polymorphism in the five locations. As it has been expected, at the molecular level there were great differences among the tested cultivars, but the dendrogram also exhibited the existence of obvious differences, at the molecular level, within the same cultivar, depending on location. Such differences should be attributed mainly to the lack of uniformity of initial mother plants used in the process of planting material production for the five cultivars under study. It is concluded that RAPD analysis could successfully be used in checking the authenticity of planting material for apple trees produced in different nurseries, provided there are available standard forms of the interested cultivars from which DNA could be analyzed and used as control

Use of Phenotypic and MAS Selection Based on Bulk Segregant Analysis to Reveal the Genetic Variability Induced by Artificial Hybridization in Apple

Phenotypic selection in apple seedling populations (F1), derived from semidiallel hybridizations between genitors with different peculiarities (Florina and Liberty, resistant to apple scab attack; Starkrimson and Golden spur, with spur ideotype) was completed with Marker Assisted Selection (MAS), based on Bulk Segregant Analysis (BSA) technique. Molecular analyses performing by Bulk Segregant Analysis were intended to identify markers for scab resistance, powdery mildew resistance and architectural tree structure (ideotype) with bulks of five to six plants per group and testing the bulks with RAPD polymorphic primers. The polymorphic bands between the bulks were mostly associated to apple scab resistance genes. Concerning powdery mildew resistance and architectural tree structure analysis the results are inconclusive. Although it seems that the primer 54 showed a polymorphic band in a resistant to powdery mildew hybrid, which is missing in the sensitive hybrids, the result is only apparently favourable since this band is present in both parental forms (Starkrimson, tolerant to powdery mildew and Liberty, relative susceptible). Molecular profiles of the standard ideotype and spur ideotype, resulted in hybrids originated in standard parental form (Florina) and spur parental form (Golden spur), were usually monomorphic. Genetic association among the parental molecular polymorphism for scab resistance and the other two important traits (powdery mildew resistance and ideotype), was not conclusive

Genotyping and antibiotic resistance traits in Campylobacter jejuni and coli from pigs and wild boars in Italy

The present study investigated the genomic constitution and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of 238 Campylobacter from pigs and wild boars in Italy between 2012 and 2019. Campylobacter strains were genotyped using multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and whole genome MLST (wgMLST), screened for antimicrobial resistance genes, and tested for phenotypic susceptibility to six different antibiotics. C. coli was detected in 98.31% and 91.66% of pigs and wild boars, while C. jejuni was isolated in the remaining cases. MLST assigned 73 STs and 13 STs in pigs and wild boars, respectively, including 44 novel STs. The predominant ST in pigs was ST-854 (12.36%), followed by ST-9264 (6.18%). ST-1055 and ST-1417 were predominant in wild boars (30% and 13.33%, respectively). The minimum spanning tree using 1,121 global MLST profiles showed specific Italian clusters and a clear separation between pig and wild boar profiles. The wgMLST confirmed the MLST clustering and revealed a high genetic diversity within C. coli population in Italy. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of six antibiotics revealed higher resistance in pigs to ciprofloxacin, nalidixic acid, streptomycin and tetracycline, compared to wild boar. In contrast, most strains were susceptible to gentamicin. Worrying levels of multidrug resistance (MDR) were observed mostly in pig isolates. Molecular screening of AMR mechanisms revealed the predominance of gyrA T86I substitution among fluoroquinolone- and quinolone-resistant isolates, and the 23S rRNA A2075G mutation among macrolide-resistant isolates. Other resistance determinants were observed: (i) tet(O) gene was present among tetracycline-resistant isolates; (ii) rpsL and aph(3’)-III genes conferring resistance to aminoglycosides, were identified only in streptomycin or gentamicin-resistant pig isolates; (iii) cmeA, cmeB, cmeC, cmeR genes responsible of pump efflux mechanisms, were observed in almost all the strains; (iv) OXA-61, encoding β-lactamase, was found in the half of the strains. Genotypic and phenotypic AMR profiling was fairly correlated for quinolones/fluoroquinolones. Campylobacter infection is common also in wild boar populations in Italy, suggesting that wild boars could be a reservoir of resistant and multi-resistant Campylobacter species, which may be of public health concern. The present study adds to our knowledge on the epidemiological and ecological traits of this pathogen in domesticated and wild swine

The Astropy Project: Building an inclusive, open-science project and status of the v2.0 core package

The Astropy project supports and fosters the development of open-source and openly-developed Python packages that provide commonly-needed functionality to the astronomical community. A key element of the Astropy project is the core package Astropy, which serves as the foundation for more specialized projects and packages. In this article, we provide an overview of the organization of the Astropy project and summarize key features in the core package as of the recent major release, version 2.0. We then describe the project infrastructure designed to facilitate and support development for a broader ecosystem of inter-operable packages. We conclude with a future outlook of planned new features and directions for the broader Astropy project

Dilution in Laser Cladding with Ni-Based Powders

This study addresses to the laser cladding of nickel-based powders on stainless steel substrate. A TRUMPH pulsed laser and a coaxial cladding module are used to fabricate single tracks on AISI 304 substrate. The influence of the laser power on the geometric characteristics and microstructure of the cladded layer is investigated using optical and scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Dilution is determined using the melt depth of the cladded tracks and validated using the local chemical microanalysis. The results showed that laser power have a major influence on the dilution and melted area of the laser cladded tracks

The Younger Dryas black mat from Ojo de Agua, a geoarchaeologicalsite in Northeastern Zacatecas, Mexico

New explorations in the desert of northeastern Zacatecas, in central-northern Mexico, revealed dozens ofarchaeological and geoarchaeological sites. One of them, Ojo de Agua, contains the remains of a Pleis-tocene spring-fed hydrographic system located at the southeastern end of a large elongated endorheicbasin. The locality yielded a particularly dark, highly organic stratigraphic layer commonly known in theAmericas as Black Mat (BM), exposed on the natural profiles of a creek, but not associated with culturalmaterials. Several radiocarbon assessments confirmed the formation of the Ojo de Agua Black Mat duringthe Younger Dryas chronozone, with ten calibrated results clustering between 12,700e12,100 cal BP. Thismulti-proxy study confirmed the peculiarity of the deposit and found similarities and differences withother contexts of Younger Dryas age. The Ojo de Agua Black Mat (stratum C2) is far richer in charcoalspecks than the related strata, but lacks phytoliths, diatoms or ostracods. No further biological remainswere found in it, except for intrusive capillary roots. Clearly water-lain in a shallow pond, the stratumqualifies as a clayey silt with an acidic-to-neutral pH. Rich in heavy metals and with high contents oftitanium, the Ojo de Agua Black Mat yielded significant indicators of intense wildfires during the YoungerDryas, but produced no carbon spherules or nanodiamonds supposedly linked to the impact theory