Pollination improves the yield of most crop species and contributes to one-third of global crop production, but comprehensive benefits including crop quality are still unknown. Hence, pollination is underestimated by international policies, which is particularly alarming in times of agricultural intensification and diminishing pollination services. In this study, exclusion experiments with strawberries showed bee pollination to improve fruit quality, quantity and market value compared with wind and self-pollination. Bee-pollinated fruits were heavier, had less malformations and reached higher commercial grades. They had increased redness and reduced sugar–acid–ratios and were firmer, thus improving the commercially important shelf life. Longer shelf life reduced fruit loss by at least 11%. This is accounting for 0.32 billion US$ of the 1.44 billion US$ provided by bee pollination to the total value of 2.90 billion US$ made with strawberry selling in the European Union 2009. The fruit quality and yield effects are driven by the pollination-mediated production of hormonal growth regulators, which occur in several pollination-dependent crops. Thus, our comprehensive findings should be transferable to a wide range of crops and demonstrate bee pollination to be a hitherto underestimated but vital and economically important determinant of fruit quality.

Potassium (K) and magnesium (Mg) are essential macronutrients for plants; they play crucial roles for photoassimilate production and transport. The knowledge on both individual and interactive effects of K and Mg nutrition in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is limited. We aimed to determine whether K or Mg deficiencies impair photoassimilate production and transport, and consequently the development of tubers which are strong sink organs for photoassimilates. Potato plants were grown in pots using sand culture under various K and Mg supplies. Biomass production, CO2 net assimilation, leaf sugar concentrations and transcript levels of H+/sucrose symporters in leaves were measured. Both K and Mg deficiencies reduced CO2 net assimilation and biomass production, with stronger reductions during K deficiency. Sugars accumulated in K‐ and, more importantly, in Mg‐deficient leaves. Low K or Mg supplies resulted in increased transcript levels of H+/sucrose symporters, but the increase was less pronounced during Mg deficiency. The lower increase of transcript levels of H+/sucrose symporters under Mg deficiency was probably caused by an impaired sucrose transport already at an earlier step, namely the efflux of sucrose from mesophyll cells into the apoplast. Thus, we assume that K and Mg deficiencies caused sugar accumulation in separated cell compartments of source leaves leading to a different impact on the gene expression of sucrose transport systems. Tuber sugar and starch concentrations, however, remained unaffected under the various treatments. Nevertheless, the total amount of tuber sugar and starch per plant decreased significantly during K and Mg deficiencies.

No abstract

Nitrogen fertilisation has a significant effect on amines formation in musts and wines. Furthermore, during fermentation, ethylamine and histamine increased while other amines were presumably serving as N sources during fermentation.

Eight primary octoploid triticale genotypes (xTriticosecale Wittmack) derived from four wheat cultivars (Triticum aestivum L.) and two rye inbred lines (Secale cereale L.) differing in aluminum (Al) resistance were investigated with respect to their response to Al supply. Aluminum‐induced inhibition of root elongation (48 h, 25 µM Al supply), callose formation, and the accumulation of Al in root tips (4 h, 25 µM Al supply) were used as parameters to assess Al resistance. Using these parameters, the existing information on Al resistance of the wheat and rye cultivars was generally confirmed. The triticale cultivars showed a wide range of Al resistance amongst the Al‐sensitive wheat and the Al‐resistant rye cultivars. The rye parents and the Al‐resistant wheat parent Carazinho were characterized by Al‐induced exudation particularly of citrate but also of malate from whole root systems of 14 d old seedlings (8 h, 50 µM Al supply). Regression analysis revealed that the degree of Al resistance of the triticale genotypes was closely related to the Al‐induced citrate exudation, which was mainly controlled by the Al resistance of the wheat parent.