Root rot symptoms caused by Leptosphaeria maculans were first reported in Australian canola crops in 2001 but little is known about their importance and prevalence. In a survey of over 100 commercial canola crops in southern NSW, all paddocks had plants with root rot symptoms in 2004, whilst 86% of paddocks did in 2003. Across the two seasons surveyed, there was a strong relationship (r = 0.63)...

Fungal decay of wood in service, especially brown-rot, results in billions of dollars (US) of losses annually. Recent environmental restrictions, both U.S. and international, are limiting or eliminating the use of broad spectrum biocides for wood preservation, primarily due to problems with disposal. In order to design new, environmentally benign methods for control of wood decay fungi, it is e...

Interest in understanding how brown-rot fungi decay wood has received increasing interest in recent years because of a need to identify novel targets that can be inhibited for the next generation of antifungal wood preservatives. Brown-rot fungi are unique in that they can degrade holocellulose (cellulose and hemicellulose) in wood without first removing the lignin. Furthermore, they degrade ho...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic, progressive, and the second most common form of neurodegenerative disorders. In order to explore novel agents for the treatment of PD, in the current study, we have evaluated the neuroprotective efficacy of ferulic acid (FA) using rotenone (ROT)-induced rat model of PD. ROT was administered 2.5 mg/kg body weight to male Wistar rats for 4 weeks to induce th...