Adults of the insect Pyrrhocoris apterus acquire chill tolerance through the process of autumnal acclimatization. Field and laboratory experiments were conducted to separate the triggering effects of low temperatures, desiccation and diapause progression on the physiological characteristics related to chill tolerance with emphasis on the restructuring of glycerophospholipid (GPL) composition. C...

The availability of sufficient chilling during bud dormancy plays an important role in the subsequent yield and quality of apple fruit, whereas, insufficient chilling availability negatively impacts the apple production. The transcriptome profiling during bud dormancy release and initial fruit set under low and high chill conditions was performed using RNA-seq. The comparative high number of di...

The principles of a novel chill chain management policy, coded Safety Monitoring and Assurance System (SMAS) for the optimisation of the distribution of chilled food products within the chill chain are developed. In this system, a new approach based on actual risk evaluation at important points of the chill chain is used in order to promote products to the next stage of distribution. This evalu...

Cucumber is generally a thermophilic species; however, cultivars have been selected for higher yield during winter cultivation in unheated glasshouses in temperate regions. We tested whether photosynthesis in these varieties had greater chilling tolerance. There was no difference in the instantaneous reduction of photosynthesis at low temperature between four winter glasshouse and four summer f...

Introduction On May 14, 2010, FSIS published a Federal Register notice (FSIS, 2010a) that detailed revised performance standards for Salmonella species on young chicken (broiler) carcasses measured at post-chill. Public comments on the notice asserted that FSIS did not present evidence that reductions of Salmonella incidence on young chicken carcasses at post-chill would offer public health ben...

A major question in chronobiology focuses around the "Bünning hypothesis" which implicates the circadian clock in photoperiodic (day-length) measurement and is supported in some systems (e.g. plants) but disputed in others. Here, we used the seasonally-regulated thermotolerance of Drosophila melanogaster to test the role of various clock genes in day-length measurement. In Drosophila, freezing ...