Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) seedlings were cultured with air lateral root pruning (side-vented containers, VT) or without (solid-walled containers, SW). Seedling root system morphology and growth were assessed before planting and 8 and 14 months after planting. Although VT seedlings had greater root collar diameter than the SW before planting, seedling height and ground line diameter were n...

Background. Grapevine leafroll disease is one of the most widespread viral diseases in vineyards, affecting nearly all grape and wine regions in the world. Infection causes yield losses, ripening delays, and alters fruit chemistry, including lowering soluble solids and increasing titratable acidity. The viruses associated with leafroll disease are transmitted through propagation of infected mat...

Monilia polystroma is the conidial form of an unknown apothecial ascomycete closely related to Monilinia fructigena, from which it has so far been distinguished by molecular means. Although M. fructigena and the other brown-rot species, M. fructicola and M. laxa, are known on various continents, Monilia polystroma was identified in Japan and initially known only in that country. A recent publis...

Background Modern forest management relies on extensive breeding and reforestation programs to sustain forest productivity and conservation of natural forests. Plantation forestry, with its increased productivity and improved wood quality, is likely to become an important source of wood products in the future. Vegetative propagation of superior coniferous forest trees through tissue culture has...

Projected increasing demands for timber coupled with reduced harvests on public lands have led to concern among some forest policymakers regarding the adequacy of future U.S. timber supplies. One question concerns the likelihood that prevailing market incentives will induce industrial and nonindustrial private landowners to intensify forest management. We develop empirical models of historical ...

Two schools of thought exist regarding the planting of bare-root seedlings. One school favors the “pull-up” method where the seedling is pulled-up 3 to 10 cm after placing the roots in the planting hole. Although this action purportedly straightens the taproot, data are lacking to show this extra step actually improves field performance. Pulling the seedling up usually results in the root-colla...

This study used panel data models with spatial error correlation to analyze private tree planting in the US South from 1955 to 2003. Controlling for statewide, fixed effects allows us to disentangle the effect of spatial interaction from that of state heterogeneity and omitted variables. The results show that there is significant spatial interdependence among the southern states in private tree...

Even though the faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is among the most ubiquitously cultivated crops, very little is known about its origins. Here, we report discoveries of charred faba beans from three adjacent Neolithic sites in the lower Galilee region, in the southern Levant, that offer new insights into the early history of this species. Biometric measurements, radiocarbon dating and stable carbon is...