The socio economic challenge to improve the productivity of brackish water aquaculture business in Aceh Tamiang Regency

There were 3,624.5 hectares of the brackish water pond in Aceh Tamiang, which can support the national shrimp export program. The problems arise due to the pond ownership matter, the source of financing, the technology used, and the institutionalization action to improve productivity. The purpose of this research is to improve brackish water pond productivity based on socio-economic aspects in the location. The survey to achieve these aims conducted from April - May 2021, in eight villages in Aceh Tamiang. Data and information were interviewed from 160 pond farmers. Simple statistics and descriptive techniques were used to analyse the data. The main findings are: 91.1 % of the traditional brackish water farmers depend on commercial seed and feed; the productivity of the brackish water pond is between 1.2 tonnes/hectares/year - 2.4 tonnes/hectares/year; the average pond ownership is between 1.1 and 3.4 hectares/farmer; 60% - 94,1% of financial funding to run business depends on their source and the rest from investor or trader. This research recommends: the brackish water farmers in all villages should be organized in one “corporate business” to improve productivity. This institution is owned by farmers based on money stock and managed by professionals.

Ethephon-Induced Abscission of Oil Palm Fruits at Optimal Bunch Ripeness and Retting Period to Improve Commercial Seed Production

Oil palm seed producers typically require 10 months of various processes from pollination to seed germination to produce commercial dura × pisifera hybrid seeds. Conventional forced fruit shedding from underripe fresh fruit bunches (FFB) usually causes seed damage and an extended retting period (incubation for natural fruit abscission from spikelets), eventually leading to bunch rot and disease infection. As a fruit ripening agent, ethephon has been explored to hasten fruit abscission in many fruit crops and oil palm. Nevertheless, the previous studies in oil palm only focused on fruit shedding from FFB to improve oil extraction rate in oil mills without considering the actual FFB ripeness and retting period, which are critical for oil palm seed production. In this study, the application of ethephon containing buffer (adjusted to pH 9.0) to underripe FFB at 145 days after pollination (DAP), 135 DAP and 125 DAP resulted in 50% more fruit abscission after a 72-h incubation. Considering the minimal seed loss upon FFB harvest (<1%) and 50% reduction in retting period, underripe FFB at around 145 DAP was found to be optimum for seed production using ethephon treatment. The treatment, however, made negligible improvement in fruit detachment for ripe FFB at 150 DAP and older. Importantly, seed germination and culling rate at nursery stages were not significantly affected by the ethephon treatment. Hence, ethephon application can improve commercial seed production practices for oil palm.

Testing for evolutionary change in restoration: a genomic comparison betweenex situ, native and commercial seed sources ofHelianthus maximiliani

Globally imperiled ecosystems often depend upon collection, propagation, and storage of seed material for use in restoration. However, during the restoration process demographic changes, population bottlenecks, and selection can alter the genetic composition of seed material, with potential impacts for restoration success. The evolutionary outcomes associated with these processes have been demonstrated using theoretical and experimental frameworks, but no studies to date have examined the impact these processes have had on the seed material maintained for conservation and restoration. In this study, we compare genomic variation across seed sources used in conservation and restoration for the perennial prairie plantHelianthus maximiliani, a key component of restorations across North American grasslands. We compare individuals sourced from contemporary wild populations,ex situconservation collections, commercially produced restoration material, and two populations selected for agronomic traits. Overall, we observed thatex situand contemporary wild populations exhibited a similar genomic composition, while four of five commercial populations and selected lines were differentiated from each other and other seed source populations. Genomic differences across seed sources could not be explained solely by isolation by distance nor directional selection. We did find evidence of sampling effects forex situcollections, which exhibited significantly increased coancestry relative to commercial populations, suggesting increased relatedness. Interestingly, commercially sourced seed appeared to maintain an increased number of rare alleles relative toex situand wild contemporary seed sources. However, while commercial seed populations were not genetically depauperate, the genomic distance between wild and commercially produced seed suggests differentiation in the genomic composition could impact restoration success. Our results point towards the importance of genetic monitoring of species used for conservation and restoration as they are expected to be influenced by the evolutionary processes that contribute to divergence during the restoration process.

Breeding Alfalfa for Semiarid Regions in the Northern Great Plains: History and Additional Genetic Evaluations of Novel Germplasm

Yellow-flowered alfalfa (Medicago sativa subsp. falcata) (also known as sickle medic) has been the cornerstone for breeding alfalfa for dual grazing and hay production in the semiarid regions of the northern Great Plains in the US and Canada. Most, if not all, of the cultivars developed for the northern Great Plains during the 20th century, had parentage tracing back to introductions by Niels Ebbesen Hansen that were obtained from expeditions to Russia, primarily the province of Siberia, on behalf of the United States Department of Agriculture during the early 1900s. The M. falcata genome contains alleles for high levels of drought-tolerance, winter hardiness, and tolerance to grazing, but is generally deficient for commercial seed production traits, such as non-shatter, compared with common alfalfa (M. sativa). A naturalized population, tracing to USDA plant introductions to Perkins County South Dakota by N.E. Hansen in early 1900, and subsequently, facilitated by the determined seed increase and interseeding of a population by a local rancher, Norman ‘Bud’ Smith, has shown highly desirable in situ characteristics for improving rangelands in the northern Great Plains. This includes adequate seed production to build a seed bank in the soil for natural seedling recruitment and population maintenance/expansion and support the production of a commercial seed source. This review documents the seminal events in the development of cultivars to date and describes novel germplasm with potential for new cultivars in the future.

Seed production and culture of abalone in Vietnam.

This paper presents the techniques of seed production and culture of abalone (Haliotis asinina) using three methods: cage culture in concrete tanks, cage culture in the sea and bottom culture on a rocky beach. These are the results of a study carried out for many years by the Ministry of Fisheries of Vietnam. Based on the results obtained, commercial seed production and transfer techniques of seed production of abalone in four provinces, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Phu Yen and Quang Nam, are being carried out.

SEED QUALITY AND GENETIC DIVERSITY OF A CULTIVATED POPULATION OF Mimosa caesalpiniifolia BENTH

ABSTRACT Mimosa caesalpiniifolia Benth. (Fabaceae) is a native tree of the dry tropical forests of northeastern Brazil and can be exploited for logging and reforestation purposes. This study evaluated the physiological quality of seeds and the genetic diversity of a cultivated population of M. caesalpiniifolia, against the background of potential commercial seed production. Nine trees were used in the study. The quality of their seeds was evaluated by germination and vigour tests, and their genetic diversity was accessed using Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR). The studied tree group presents a moderate genetic diversity and produces seeds with high physiological quality, but with subtle vigour differences, which can be detected by electrical conductivity and potassium leaching tests. Our results suggest that these trees are potentially suitable for commercial seed production.

Storage rot of seed yam resulting from speargrass injuries

Postharvest rot due to injury is a major contributing factor to the declining quality of stored seed yams (Dioscorea spp.). Among the several known injuries, the piercing effect of speargrass rhizomes has become a serious constraint for yam production in Ghana. The objective of this study was to assess injuries on seed yams resulting from piercing of speargrass rhizomes and their effects on postharvest rots in Ghana. Eighty farmer fields from Mem, Watro, Asanteboa and Abour in the Atebubu-Amantin Municipal in the Bono East Region of Ghana were screened for speargrass incidence and injury on harvested tubers, for laboratory analysis of pathogens in 2016 and 2017. The tubers were sorted into four categories of seed yam based on weight. Thirty seed yams each of two selected white yam cultivars (Dente and Kpamyo) with visible speargrass rhizome-pierced-tubers (VSRPT) and non-speargrass rhizome pierced healthy tubers (NSRPHT) were randomly selected and stored in a ban for weekly assessment of rot. The rotten tissues from the localised area of VPSRT were subjected to pathological investigations in the laboratory. The incidence of injury seemingly increased with increasing tuber weight. It was 0% for < 100 g samples and averagely 14% for > 1 kg samples, irrespective of cultivars and locations. Incidence of rot from NSRPHT sample was observed 5 weeks after storage (WAS) for both cultivars; and 2 WAS from the VSRPT sample and 40% higher than NSRPHT at 8 WAS. Eight and six known rot pathogens were isolated from the rotten tissues of VSRPT of Dente and Kpamyo, respectively. Injury from the piercing of speargrass rhizome significantly contributed to hastening of tuber rots; while tuber injury increased with increasing speargrass density. Appropriate management of speargrass is essential for commercial seed yam growers to reduce tuber damage which affects yam quality, storage and marketing. Key words: Dioscorea, postharvest, rot pathogen, speargrass rhizome

Pasto Certo® version 2.0 - An application about Brazilian tropical forage cultivars for mobile and desktop devices

A brief outline of the second version of Pasto Certo®, released by Embrapa and partners in February 2019, is presented. It is an improved and updated version of Pasto Certo® 1.0, an application that describes Brazilian commercial tropical forage cultivars. The application helps the user to identify and differentiate cultivars, provides recommendations and information on use restrictions of each cultivar, and compares different cultivars in terms of a number of characteristics. In comparison with the first version (published in 2017), new features of Pasto Certo® 2.0 are: (1) 7 cultivars of forage legumes (genera Arachis, Cajanus and Stylosanthes) were added to the original 16 grass cultivars (Urochloa spp. and Megathyrsus maximus); (2) the user can choose between Portuguese, Spanish and English languages; (3) information on commercial seed sources in Brazil is included; (4) a guide to selecting the most suitable cultivar for specific conditions is provided; and (5) the application is available for different platforms (Android, iOS and WEB - www.pastocerto.com).

Pathogenic fungi associated to commercial seed of mexican varieties of Bouteloua curtipendula

La semilla es una importante forma de diseminación de patógenos; para determinar aquellos asociados a semilla comercial de variedades de pasto Banderita: NdeM-La Zarca, NdeM-303, NdeM-5, NdeM-Zenith, NdeM-La resolana, se analizaron tres tipos de propágulo: espiguillas completas (cariópside + brácteas accesorias; M1), cariópside únicamente con lemas (M2) y cariópsides limpios (M3), provenientes de lotes del Valle del Mezquital, Hidalgo, cosechados en 2017. Para promover el desarrollo de hongos, se sembraron espiguillas (M1) en cámara de humedad; mientras que M2 y M3 fueron sembradas en medio PDA (cinco propágulos por caja Petri y 60 cajas por variedad); posteriormente, los crecimientos se aislaron en medios selectivos. Los aislados se identificaron por características del cultivo, morfológicas y moleculares. Se obtuvieron 51 aislamientos en los tres tipos de propágulo y variedades; los cuales, se asociaron a <em>Alternaria alternata</em> y <em>A. tenuissima</em> (67% de frecuencia), <em>Fusarium scirpi</em> y<em> F. incarnatum</em> (24%) y <em>Bipolaris cynodontis</em> (9%). Ninguna de estas especies ha sido reportada anteriormente en México para semilla comercial de B. curtipendula. Con lo anterior, se abre un panorama de opciones para futuros estudios de patogenicidad de los hongos aislados y en consecuencia el manejo sanitario de la semilla producida.