We evaluated the adequacy of rotational grazing to improve rangeland condition in the Flooding Pampa region, eastern Argentina, comparing the floristic composition dynamic of the 2 main plant communities under rotational and continuous grazing over a study period of 4 years (1993-1996). The experiment was conducted in commercial farms located in 4 sites of the Flooding Pampa region. In each site, a couple of farms, one managed under rotational grazing (implemented in 1989) and an adjacent one managed under continuous grazing at a similar stocking rate (1 AU ha À1), constituted the replications of the experiment. Basal cover of species, litter, and bare soil were monitored in midslope and lowland grassland communities on each farm. Total plant basal cover in midslope and in lowland communities remained unchanged over the whole experimental period under both grazing methods. Under rotational grazing, litter cover was higher in both communities while the amount of bare soil showed a significant reduction in lowlands and a tendency to be lower in midslope. Basal cover of legumes, C 3 annual and C 3 perennial grasses was higher, while cover of C 4 prostrate grasses was lower under rotational grazing in the midslope community. In the lowland community, rotational grazing effects were evident only in the drier years, when higher cover of hydrophytic grasses and legumes and lower cover of forbs occurred. Plant species diversity did not change in response to grazing. In conclusion, rotational grazing promoted functional groups composed of high forage value species and reduced bare soil through the accumulation of litter. These changes indicate an improvement in rangeland condition and in carrying capacity. As the stocking rate was approximately 60% higher than the average stocking rate of the Flooding Pampa region, we believe that productivity and sustainability may be compatible by replacing continuous with rotational grazing.

Twenty isolates of Phytophthora infestans from potato and twenty-two from tomato, collected in Uganda and Kenya in 1995, were compared for dilocus allozyme genotype, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotype, mating type and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) fingerprint using probe RG57. Based on RFLP fingerprint and mtDNA haplotype, all isolates were classified in the US21 clonal lineage. Nonetheless, isolates from potato differed from isolates from tomato in several characteristics. Isolates from potato had the 86/100 glucose-6-phosphate isomerase (Gpi) genotype, while those from tomato were 100/100, which represents a variant of US21 that had been identified previously as US21.7. Furthermore, while pure cultures of the pathogen were acquired from infected potato leaflets by first growing the isolates on potato tuber slices, this approach failed with infected tomato tissue because the isolates grew poorly on this medium. Tomato isolates were eventually purified using a selective medium. Six isolates from each host were compared for the diameter of lesions they produced on three tomato and three potato cultivars in one or two detached-leaf assays (four isolates from the first test were repeated in the second). On potato leaflets, isolates from potato caused larger lesions than isolates from tomato. On tomato leaflets, isolates from that host caused larger lesions than did isolates from potato, but the difference was significant in only one test. The interaction between source of inoculum (potato or tomato) and inoculated host (potato or tomato) was significant in both tests. Isolates from tomato were highly biotrophic on tomato leaflets, producing little or no necrosis during the seven days following infection, even though abundant sporulation could be seen. In contrast, isolates from potato sporulated less abundantly on tomato leaflets and produced darkly pigmented lesions that were most visible on the adaxial side of the leaflets. Nonetheless, all isolates infected and sporulated on both hosts, indicating that host adaptation is not determined by an ability to cause disease but rather by quantitative differences in pathogenic fitness. Assessment of Gpi banding patterns, mtDNA haplotype and RFLP fingerprint of 39 isolates from potato collected in Uganda and Kenya in 1997 indicated that the population had not changed on this host. The population of P. infestans from Kenya and Uganda provides an interesting model for the study of quantitative host adaptation.

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