The thermal tolerance of four isolates of Beauveria bassiana and one isolate of Beauveria pseudobassiana was evaluated in vitro, by measuring the colonial diameters, on PDA medium, at temperatures between 5 and 35 ° C, during 14 days. The data obtained were used to calculate the growth rate of fungal colonies (mm / day), using linear regression. The representation of the values corresponding to the minimum, optimal and maximum temperature for vegetative growth was a curve described by a modified beta (ß) mathematical function. The minimum growth temperature of these isolates varied between 3.4 and 4.5 °C, the optimum temperature varied between 21.8 and 22.9 °C, except for one isolate of which optimal temperature was 26.8 °C, while the maximum temperature was varied for all isolates between 35.0 and 35.7 °C.
Summary:A novel lateral flow card (TS-Card pork) test was developed for the serological detection of Trichinella infected pigs. Based on extensive studies performed in Romania during 1 999-2000 this test proved to be highly specific, sensitive, rapid (3-12 minutes) and easy to use (no need for laboratory facilities). It can be used both for the detection of Trichinella infection in carcasses and for epizootiological studies using a variety of samples including whole or dried blood, serum, or tissue fluids. The TS-Card pork test, used as a screening test, can be the foundation of an on-farm or field based inspection system to significantly improve food safety in countries with a high prevalence of Trichinella in pigs or other food animal species. The results presented are also promising for application of the test in an on-line laboratory based inspection system since the speed of the test allows sufficient time to rail out suspected hog carcasses during the slaughter process.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
In recent years, intense concerns about the increasing resistance of weed populations to herbicide treatments, the low availability of bioactive ingredients for vegetable crops, as well as the expansion of organic farms for these niche crops have stimulated the development of new non-chemical methods of control or new approaches to those already used. In general, vegetable crops exhibit increased sensitivity to weeds compared to other crops. Therefore, weed control in organic vegetable crops is a real challenge for farmers, mainly using the so-called physical combat methods. Therefore, weed destruction is accomplished by using manual, mechanical, thermal or mulching means. The paper presents the preliminary experimental results obtained under laboratory conditions, referring to an innovative model of equipment for the ecological weed control in vegetable crops. It will achieve the destruction of weeds, combining the thermal method based on using hot water with the mechanical one, by equipping the machine with environmentally friendly active parts. The results obtained constitute an important premise for developing efficient equipment for the ecological weed control that can be used within integrated control systems, specific for organic onion, bean and bell pepper crops.
Through its rural development policy, the EU aims to help rural areas cope with the many economic, social and environmental challenges that the 21st century brings. Weeds are a major scourge for farmers who cultivate organic leguminous crops in rural areas, which often have to invest in many weed control methods in order to increase crop yields. The paper presents innovative technical equipment for weed control through a process involving the blasting of young weeds with small fragments of organic material by means of air compressor and granular material distribution system that degrades in depth both the strain and the leaves of the weeds. Organic materials that can be used in weed blasting are walnut shells, granulated corn cobs, glauconite (also found in Romania) and soy flour. An additional advantage of the equipment is the potential for farmers in rural areas to use organic fertilizers, such as soy flour, as blasting material.
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