Avocado thrips arrived in California in 1996. Since then, we have made substantial progress in our understanding of this pest. We now know the area of origin of the avocado thrips and have compiled an inventory of other potential pest thrips species on avocados in Mexico and Central America. Trials have helped us to identify several selective insecticides for use in treating avocado thrips in o...

An undescribed cecidomyiid was discovered in Miami-Dade Co., Florida, during a survey for predators of the avocado lace bug, Pseudacysta perseae (Heidemann), a native pest of avocados, Persea americana , and redbay, Persea borbonia , in the USA. The avocado lace bug was considered a minor pest of avocados until the mid-1990s. Persistent outbreaks of this insect have been observed in Florida and...

Ripening and chilling injury of avocado (Persea americana Mill. cv. Hass) have been studied at the ultrastructural level. Changes in the organization of cellular organelles and the breakdown of the cell walls during ripening are described. Changes in the organization of the cell membrane during chilling injury have also been detected and may be the underlying cause of the physiological and bioc...

D'Ambrosio also authored an accompanying editorial in Seminars in Cancer Biology entitled "Phytonutrients: A more natural approach toward cancer prevention." "The future is ripe for identifying fruits and vegetables and individual phytonutrients with cancer preventing activity," wrote D'Ambrosio in the editorial. "As we identify the molecular mechanisms and targets by which individual phytonutr...

Most citrus and avocado water-use studies have been conducted in inland orchards; however, orchards located in coastal areas are subject to cooler temperatures and foggier atmospheric conditions. To develop coastal area crop coefficients (Kc values) for irrigation management, we measured orchard consumptive water use (ETc) from two different commercial orchards located near Ventura. In addition...