Plants have a diverse internal microbial biota that has been shown to have an important influence on a range of plant health attributes. Although these endophytes have been found to be widely occurring, few studies have correlated agricultural production practices with endophyte community structure and function. One agricultural system that focuses on preserving and enhancing soil microbial abu...

The physical status of water in seeds has a pivotal role in determining the physiological reactions that can take place in the dry state. Using water sorption isotherms from cotyledon and axis tissue of five leguminous seeds, the strength of water binding and the numbers of binding sites have been estimated using van't Hoff analyses and the D'Arcy/Watt equation. These parameters of water sorp...

Interest in seed propagation of drumstick tree (Moringa oleifera) has created a need for information about the water relationships of its seeds. Thus, we studied the imbibition and desiccation kinetics and adsorption/ desorption isotherms of drumstick tree seeds. Seeds absorbed water readily when imbibed at 23oC. After 17 h of exposure to an atmosphere of 100% relative humidity (RH), seed moist...

The near threshold expansion of generalized sunset-type (water melon) diagrams with arbitrary masses is constructed by using a configuration space technique. We present analytical expressions for the expansion of the spectral density near threshold and compare it with the exact expression obtained earlier using the method of the Hankel transform. We formulate a generalized threshold expansion w...

BACKGROUND Although beneficial to health, dietary phytonutrients are bitter, acid and/or astringent in taste and therefore reduce consumer choice and acceptance during food selection. Momordica charantia, commonly known as bitter melon has been traditionally used in Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine to treat diabetes and its complications. The aim of this study was to develop bitter melon-containi...

Toothed whales (crown Odontoceti) are unique among mammals in their ability to echolocate underwater, using specialized tissue structures. The melon, a structure composed of fat and connective tissue, is an important component in the production of an echolocation beam; it is known to focus high frequency, short duration echolocation clicks. Here, we report on the morphology of the odontocete me...

Hortic. bras., v. 27, n. 1, jan.-mar. 2009 The Northeast region of Brazil responds for nearly 95% of the national melon (Cucumis melo L.) production. Located at this region, States of Rio Grande do Norte and Ceará supply respectively 55 and 28% of the total melon harvested in Brazil (FNP, 2007). The expansion of the area used for melon production in this region, in addition to an intensive year...

BACKGROUND Phosphorus (P) is a major limiting nutrient for plant growth in many soils. Studies in model species have identified genes involved in plant adaptations to low soil P availability. However, little information is available on the genetic bases of these adaptations in vegetable crops. In this respect, sequence data for melon now makes it possible to identify melon orthologues of candid...