We surveyed shoppers at a food cooperative in New York state to measure the relationship between organic produce purchases and attitudes related to pesticide use in agriculture, food costs, and other factors affecting produce buying. Two-fifths of the co-op shoppers surveyed usually or almost always purchased organically grown produce, and one-third were somewhat or very likely to pay 100 percent more than conventional produce for residue-free produce. Those who usually or almost always purchased organic produce were less concerned than other shoppers about price when they shop for produce, had higher levels of concern about food safety, and were less concerned about insects and surface blemishes on produce. There was no relationship between income and frequency of organic purchases. Most shoppers were concerned about pesticide residues in produce, but a high level of concern appeared necessary to affect the frequency of organic purchases. In their support of organic agriculture, respondents ranked environmental protection higher than consumer protection. Educators should emphasize both the environmental and food safety benefits of organic farming to consumers.
During a program of screening rhizobia from West Africa, it was found that some strains produced nodules of unusually dark appearance on cowpeas, but not on peanuts, soybeans, pigeon peas, or mung beans. The dark pigmentation was in the bacteroid zone, was not correlated with nodule effectiveness, and was additional to the leghemoglobin pigment. Only rhizobial strains with a nongummy ("dry") colony morphology produced dark nodules. Visually distinguishable pink and dark nodules formed on the same root when a mixture of pink and dark strains was applied as inoculum. The dark-nodule phenotype was therefore appraised as a marker and found to be useful for studying nodulation competition with strains of the orthodox pink-nodule type. The competitiveness of 10 pink-nodule strains was examined relative to a black-nodule strain, IRc 256; a range of competitiveness was obtained of less competitive than, equally competitive to, or more competitive than IRc 256. Patterns of primary (early) nodulation were generally the same as patterns of secondary (later) nodulation. Mixed infections by dark and pink strains produced piebald nodules, the frequency of occurrence of which was much greater among primary than among secondary nodules. The internal pigmentation in the root nodules of legumes is indicative of their N2-fixing effectiveness. Actively fixing nodules are pink to redbrown due to the presence of leghemoglobin, and nonfixing nodules are normally white or green. When the nodule cortex of a species, e.g., cowpea, is translucent, the external nodule color is pale pink, white, or pale green. While screening rhizobial isolates from three West African locations for effectiveness with cowpea, we found that a significant proportion produced dark-colored nodules. Instances of unusually dark-colored nodules have been reported for several tropical legumes: Vigna marina (2), Dolichos lablab (7), Centrosema pubescens and Phaseolus atropurpureus (17), Mimosa spp. and Leucaena glauca (6), and Vigna sinensis (16). Although it has been suggested that the dark-nodule phenotype could be a very convenient marker for ecological studies (17), the phenomenon has been regarded merely as an oddity, and its utility has received little atten
Annual averages of lesion development of yellow Sigatoka caused by Mycosphaerella musicola were calculated from surveys conducted at 14-day intervals for 57 banana sites in the North Queensland production region situated in the wet tropics between Cardwell and Innisfail. Soil up to 250 mm depth was sampled from sites between March 2000 and September 2001. Soil parameters were compared with 12 months of leaf disease data averaged centrally about the time the soil sample was taken. The 4 different formulas for calcium expression tested all proved to be significant predictors of disease levels. The strongest relationship (r2 = 0.229) between soil calcium levels and disease levels was obtained from a formula based on an Albrecht interpretation of the soil test data, which includes a pH-derived estimation of exchangeable hydrogen in the denominator. A Chi square analysis on a model incorporating calcium and soil boron was statistically significant (P<0.001). The model combining calcium and boron levels explained more variation in disease levels than calcium alone. Variation in other factors influencing disease such as fungicide program, weather conditions, soil moisture conditions and crop stage may account for variation in disease levels at low calcium sites.
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