In this study, aerial parts of Lippia citriodora Kunth were harvested at three phenological stages (i.e. vegetative, full flowering and fruit set). The essential oil isolated by hydro distillation for 3 h using a Clevenger-type apparatus and the oil was analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The yields of oils (w/w%) in different stages was in the order of: full flowering (0.9%), vegetative (0.48%) and frui...

In the pineapple sector of Benin, poor fruit quality prevents pineapple producers to enter the European market. We investigated effects of common cultural practices, flowering and maturity synchronisation, (1) to quantify the trade-offs of flowering and maturity synchronisation for pineapple quality and the proportion of fruits exportable to European markets, and (2) to determine the effect of ...

Seasonal uptake, storage, and remobilization of nitrogen (N) are of critical importance for plant growth. The use of N reserves for new growth in the spring is especially important for sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.), for which new shoot and fruit growth is concomitant and fruit development occurs during a relatively short bloom-toripening period. Sweet cherries grafted on precocious, dwarfing r...

To study the effect of Zn and B as foliar spray on growth and yield of sweet orange, cv. Blood red at Dargai, Malakand Agency, Pakistan during 2006 and 2007. The micronutrients zinc (Zn) in the form of zinc sulphate (ZnSo4.7H2O) as zinc source at the rate of 0.5 % and 1.0 % and boron (B) in the form of boric acid (H3BO3) at the rate of 0.02 % and 0.04 % were applied as foliar spray at three dif...

The effect of tobacco etch virus (TEV) (Genus: Potyvirus, Family: Potyviridae) on growth and yield of Capsicum chinense Jacquin cv. ‘Scotch Bonnet’ and ‘West Indian Red’ peppers was investigated. Peppers were manually inoculated at 7, 28 and 56-57 days after transplanting (DAT), which corresponded with early vegetative stage, onset of flowering and completion of first stage of flowering, respec...

Few previous studies document effects of herbivores on the reproduction of wild plants in situ. We examined the impact of aphids' on seed production in wild radish (Raphanus sativus L.), an annual herb. Aphid infestation increased during the three-month flowering period. Flower and fruit production declined during the season, in part due to aphids. Inflorescences of lateblooming plants more tha...

The genetic basis of phenotypic traits is of great interest to evolutionary biologists, but their contribution to adaptation in nature is often unknown. To determine the genetic architecture of flowering time in ecologically relevant conditions, we used a recombinant inbred line population created from two locally adapted populations of Arabidopsis thaliana from Sweden and Italy. Using these RI...

One of the challenge fruit growers are facing is to balance between tree production and vegetative growth from year to year. To investigate the existence of genetic determinism for reproductive behaviour in olive tree, we studied an olive segregating population derived from a cross between 'Olivière' and 'Arbequina' cultivars. Our strategy was based on (i) an annual assessment of individual tre...

Aboveand below-ground growth, biomass, phenology and reproductive effort in the seagrass Thalassia testudinum were monitored monthly for 2 yr in the Lower Laguna Madre, Texas. Annual whole plant production (953 i 136 g DW (dry weight) m-2 yr-l) was calculated from monthly measurements of leaf and rhizome production made using marking techniques. Leaf growth exhblted a seasonal pattern; monthly ...

Among the single treatments tested under in vivo addition of well decomposed FYM 20 tons per hectare as soil amendment recorded minimum wilt incidence of 3.75, 24.76 and 48.25 % at flowering, fruit formation and ripening stages of chilli crop, respectively, with 61.31 q ha fruit yield as compared to check (42.50 q ha). Dual application of Trichoderma viride 0.16 t ha + FYM 20 t ha recorded mini...