BACKGROUND Most agricultural weeds are usually regarded as undesirable and targeted for eradication. However, weeds are useful to human beings as food and traditional medicines. Few studies have been done to document the uses of weeds as traditional vegetables. This study was therefore, done to document indigenous knowledge related to the diversity and use of agricultural weeds as traditional v...

iran is a part of the secondary centre of origin of melons, and therefore, there is a wealth of genetic variation of these species in this country. the amplified fragment length polymorphism (aflp) marker was applied to investigate the genetic variations among five major iranian melon cultigens (cucumis melo) and ‘ananasi’ as a general well-known cultivar. ten primer pairs were used on 90 indiv...

Destruxins (DTXs) are cyclic depsipeptides produced by many Metarhizium isolates that have long been assumed to contribute to virulence of these entomopathogenic fungi. We evaluated the virulence of 20 Metarhizium isolates against insect larvae and measured the concentration of DTXs A, B, and E produced by these same isolates in submerged (shaken) cultures. Eight of the isolates (ARSEF 324, 724...

Behaviors of Eretmocerus sp. nr. californicus females attacking Bemisia argentifolii Bellows & Perring infesting cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., and melon, Cucumis melo L., were quantified. Adult female behaviors were described and quantified for Eret. sp. nr. californicus to establish a behavioral time budget analysis. Females readily searched for host whitefly nymphs on cotton leaves with walk...

There is increasing interest in the health and wellness benefits of herbs and botanicals. This is with good reason as they might offer a natural safeguard against the development of certain conditions and be a putative treatment for some diseases. One such area may be the lowering of blood pressure in those where it is elevated (i.e., hypertension). One class of clinical medicines used to lower...

Stirring largely eliminated the greater effectiveness of Carbowax 6000 compared to mannitol in reducing cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) hypocotyl section elongation. Stirring increased elongation in water but reduced elongation in growth regulator solution. Shrinkage of cells without plasmolysis in hypertonic Carbowax solutions indicates that Carbowax 6000 did not penetrate cell walls. Sections p...

The most recent critical checklists of the Cucurbitaceae of India are 30 years old. Since then, botanical exploration, online availability of specimen images and taxonomic literature, and molecular-phylogenetic studies have led to modified taxon boundaries and geographic ranges. We present a checklist of the Cucurbitaceae of India that treats 400 relevant names and provides information on the c...

1. Plants exhibit adaptations to many stresses, including light competition and herbivory. The expression of these traits may interact negatively, potentially instigating a trade-off. 2. We employed a combination of genetically altered Cucumis sativus varieties and phenotypic manipulations to test for trade-offs in field experiments. The different genetic lines of C. sativus were altered in the...

Fusarium wilt is caused by the infection and growth of the fungus Fusarium oxysporum in the xylem of host plants. The physiological responses of cucumbers that are infected with Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinum (FOC) was studied in pot and hydroponic experiments in a greenhouse. The results showed that although water absorption and stem hydraulic conductance decreased markedly in infected ...