WHEN certain typical plants, such as Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus), Salvia (Salvia splendens) and soybeans (Soja max) are exposed to a short photoperiod (7to 8-hour day) and a relatively long one (14to 15-hour day) they exhibit conspicuous differences in rate of growth, time of sexual reproduction and greenness of foliage. The short-day soybean plants, for instance, are lighter in color early in t...

We investigated controls over the emission of monoterpenes from two species of boreal forest conifers, black spruce (Picea mariana Miller (B.S.P.)) and jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb). Monoterpenes are important in plants as carbon-based defensive compounds and in the atmosphere as photochemically reactive compounds that affect ozone and carbon monoxide concentrations. We examined ecological t...

Australia, the flattest, driest, and geologically oldest vegetated continent, has a uniquely high proportion of nutrient-poor soils. We develop a "Nutrient-Poverty/Intense-Fire Theory," which postulates that most anomalous features of organisms and ecosystems of Australia are the evolutionary consequences of adaptations to nutrient poverty, compounded by intense fire that tends to occur as a re...

Cycad is one of the most important cut foliage plants with several usages. This experiment was focused on increasing the vase life of Cycad’s cut foliage in normal storage condition. Experiment was based on a CRD with three replications. Treatments were conducted for four different levels of gibberellic acid (GA3) and benzyl adenine (BA) each one with 0, 50, 100 and 150 mg L-1, according to men...

The original report that plants emit methane (CH4 ) under aerobic conditions caused much debate and controversy. Critics questioned experimental techniques, possible mechanisms for CH4 production and the nature of estimating global emissions. Several studies have now confirmed that aerobic CH4 emissions can be detected from plant foliage but the extent of the phenomenon in plants and the precis...

Limited mesophyll diffusion conductance to CO(2) (g(m)) can significantly constrain plant photosynthesis, but the extent of g(m)-limitation is still imperfectly known. As g(m) scales positively with foliage photosynthetic capacity (A), the CO(2) drawdown from substomatal cavities (C(i)) to chloroplasts (C(C), C(i)-C(C)=A/g(m)) rather than g(m) alone characterizes the mesophyll diffusion limitat...

This study addresses the question of how size-related changes in leaf morphology and physiology influence light absorption and carbon gain of the epiphytic bromeliad Vriesea sanguinolenta. A geometrically based computer model, Y-plant, was used for the three-dimensional reconstruction of entire plants and for calculation of whole plant light interception and carbon gain. Plants of different siz...

Soil-based root applications and attenuated bacterial strains were evaluated as means to enhance bacteriophage persistence on plants for bacterial disease control. In addition, the systemic nature of phage applied to tomato roots was also evaluated. Several experiments were conducted applying either single phages or phage mixtures specific for Ralstonia solanacearum, Xanthomonas perforans or X....