Historical datasets have much to offer. We analyse data from winter wheat, spring and winter barley, oil seed rape, sugar beet and forage maize from the UK National List and Recommended List trials over the period 1948-2007. We find that since 1982, for the cereal crops and oil seed rape, at least 88% of the improvement in yield is attributable to genetic improvement, with little evidence that changes in agronomy have improved yields. In contrast, in the same time period, plant breeding and changes in agronomy have contributed almost equally to increased yields of forage maize and sugar beet. For the cereals prior to 1982, contributions from plant breeding were 42, 60 and 86% for winter barley, winter wheat and spring barley, respectively. These results demonstrate the overwhelming importance of plant breeding in increasing crop productivity in the UK. Winter wheat data are analysed in more detail to exemplify the use of historical data series to study and detect disease resistance breakdown, sensitivity of varieties to climatic factors, and also to test methods of genomic selection. We show that breakdown of disease resistance can cause biased estimates of variety and year effects, but that comparison of results between fungicide treated and untreated trials over years may be a means to screen for durable resistance. We find the greatest sensitivities of the winter wheat germplasm to seasonal differences in rainfall and temperature are to summer rainfall and winter temperature. Finally, for genomic selection, correlations between observed and predicted yield ranged from 0.17 to 0.83. The high correlation resulted from markers predicting kinship amongst lines rather than tagging multiple QTL. We believe the full value of these data will come from exploiting links with other experiments and experimental populations. However, not to exploit such valuable historical datasets is wasteful.

The chemical composition, colour and texture of fresh berries from three rabbiteye ('Climax', 'Premier' and 'Tifblue') and two highbush ('Bluecrop' and 'Jersey') blueberry cultivars were measured. Shear (482 vs 290 N), compression (6.50 vs 3.96 N) and puncture forces (1.48 and 0.85 vs 0.81 and 0.43 N) were higher (P ≤ 0.05) for rabbiteye than for highbush cultivars. Shear for 'Bluecrop' blueberries averaged 254 N, whereas for 'Climax' it was 565 N. The puncture force required to penetrate the skin was lower for 'Bluecrop' (0.78 N) and 'Jersey' (0.83 N) and higher for 'Climax' (1. 71 N). However, sensory panellists found no differences (P > 0.05) in colour, flavour or skin toughness among the five cultivars. 'Climax' was rated lower in seediness. Rabbiteye cultivars contained more fibre and complex polysaccharides than highbush cultivars. These differences in complex carbohydrates that make up the cell wall layers may contribute to the toughness of rabbiteye cultivars and their possible longer fresh shelf-life, though taste panellists did not find this toughness objectionable.

Sweetpotato leaves contain biologically active anthocyanins that have significant medicinal value for certain human diseases and may also be used as natural food colorants. Foliar anthocyanins and their relative abundance were investigated in leaves of sweetpotato cultivars `Shimon-1', `Kyushu-119', and `Elegant Summer' grown under artificial shading and different temperature conditions. High-performance liquid chromatography profiles of the cultivars tested showed similar peaks but with peak areas differing with cultivar, temperature and shading. The relative quantity of individual anthocyanin was YGM (Yamagawamurashaki)-1a> YGM-4b> YGM-1b> YGM-5a> YGM-0d> YGM-0a> YGM-2> YGM-0c> YGM-3> YGM-6> YGM-5b> YGM-0b> YGM-0f> YGM-0e> YGM-0g. Seven were peonidin and eight cyanidin derivatives. The highest anthocyanin contents were found in plants grown at a moderate temperature (20 °C) with lower levels at 25 and 30 °C. The leaves of plants grown in full sun accumulated significantly more total as well as the major individual anthocyanins than plants grown in 40% and 80% shade. The results indicate that growing sweetpotatoes at moderate temperatures and without shading facilitates the accumulation of anthocyanins in the leaves. The anthocyanin composition of the leaves is discussed relative to their physiological function in human health.

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Vine-ripened yellow passion fruit (Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa Deg.) packed and shipped from Homestead, Fla., were stored for 15, 30, or 45 days at 5, 10, or 15C. Fruit analyzed immediately on arrival had the best external appearance and highest fruit weight. Fruit weight loss increased with storage time at all temperatures and the response was linear. Fruit external appearance deteriorated rapidly at 5 and 15C. Pulp percentage at 5C increased linearly with storage duration and did not change at 10C. Pulp percentage at 15C changed quadratically with storage time, increasing up to 30 days and then decreasing by 45 days. Soluble solids concentration did not change at 5 or 10C, but decreased linearly at 15C. Sucrose content decreased quadratically at 5C, linearly at 15C, but increased linearly at 10C. Fructose and glucose content decreased quadratically with storage time at 15C. Glucose content increased linearly at 5 and 10C and fructose content did not change at these temperatures.