Cotton cultivar BRS 335 is a midseason high-yield cultivar and has adaptation to the Northeast Brazilian savanna, yield stability, desirable resistance to main cotton diseases and good fiber quality. The cultivar BRS 335 meets growers’ demands for competitive lint yield as well as fulfilling industrial textile requirements.

The present study describes the estimation of particulate matter (cotton dust) with different sizes, i.e., PM1.0, PM2.5, PM4.0, and PM10.0 μm in small-scale weaving industry (power looms) situated in district Hafizabad, Punjab, Pakistan, and the assessment of health problems of workers associated with these pollutants. A significant difference was found in PM1.0, PM2.5, PM4.0, and PM10.0 with reference to nine different sampling stations with p values <0.05. Multiple comparisons of particulate matter with respect to size, i.e. PM1.0, PM2.5, PM4.0, and PM10.0, depict that PM1.0 differs significantly from PM2.5, PM4.0, and PM10.0, with p values <0.05 and that PM2.5 differs significantly from PM1.0 and PM10.0, with p values <0.05, whereas PM2.5 differs non-significantly from PM4.0, with a p value >0.05 in defined sampling stations on an average basis. Majority of the workers were facing several diseases due to interaction with particulate matter (cotton dust) during working hours. Flue, cough, eye, and skin infections were the most common diseases among workers caused by particulate matter (cotton dust).

Cotton is one of the main cash crops grown in more than eighty countries including Iran. Southern Khorasan province ranks second in cotton production in Iran. Lint and boll rot diseases cause significant economic losses wherever cotton is grown. During surveys of cotton fields since 2008 along the southern Khorasan province, symptomatic samples of both lint and bolls were collected. Symptomatic tissues were excised, surface-sterilised and cultured onto potato dextrose agar (PDA), malt extract agar (MEA), semi-selctive PARPH medium for fungal and nutrient agar (NA) and King's B media for bacterial causal agents isolation. Based on morphology and culture characteristics, several fungal taxa were identified. Exserohilum rostratum and Penicillium expansum are reported as new pathogens of cotton worldwide and Fusarium semitectum, Nigrospora oryzae (associated to Siteroptes sp.) were also recorded as lint or boll rot pathogens for the first time from Iran. Aspergillus niger and Rhizopus stolonifer were isolated frequently from lint parts of cotton prior to harvesting. There was a positive correlation between disease occurrence and Spiny cotton bollworm damage. The pathogenicity of fungal and bacterial isolates associated with diseased boll and lint was characterised by inoculating the attached and detached bolls of cotton plants. Inoculated fungi were always recovered from the decayed tissues. Pathogenicity test of bacterial isolates on bolls yielded negative results. This to our knowledge, is the first report of E. rostratum and P. expansum on cotton in the world and F. semitectum and N. oryzae on cotton lint or boll in Iran. Keywords: Cotton, ethiology, boll and lint rot, southern Khorasan

The importance of fungicide seed treatments on cotton was examined using a series of standardized fungicide trials from 1993 to 2004. Fungicide seed treatments increased stands over those from seed not treated with fungicides in 119 of 211 trials. Metalaxyl increased stands compared to nontreated seed in 40 of 119 trials having significant fungicide responses, demonstrating the importance of Pythium spp. on stand establishment. Similarly, PCNB seed treatment increased stands compared to nontreated seed for 44 of 119 trials with a significant response, indicating the importance of Rhizoctonia solani in stand losses. Benefits from the use of newer seed treatment chemistries, azoxystrobin and triazoles, were demonstrated by comparison with a historic standard seed treatment, carboxin + PCNB + metalaxyl. Little to no stand improvement was found when minimal soil temperatures averaged 25°C the first 3 days after planting. Stand losses due to seedling pathogens increased dramatically as minimal soil temperatures decreased to 12°C and rainfall increased. The importance of Pythium increased dramatically as minimal soil temperature decreased and rainfall increased, while the importance of R. solani was not affected greatly by planting environment. These multi-year data support the widespread use of seed treatment fungicides for the control of the seedling disease complex on cotton.

Contamination of food contact surfaces with pathogens is considered an important vehicle for the indirect transmission of food-borne diseases. Five different cleaning cloths were assessed for the ability to remove viruses from food contact surfaces (stainless steel surface and nonporous solid surface) and to transfer viruses back to these surfaces. Cleaning cloths evaluated include two different cellulose/cotton cloths, one microfiber cloth, one nonwoven cloth, and one cotton terry bar towel. Four viral surrogates (murine norovirus [MNV], feline calicivirus [FCV], bacteriophages PRD1 and MS2) were included. Removal of FCV from stainless steel was significantly greater (P ≤ 0.05) than that from nonporous solid surface, and overall removal of MNV from both surfaces was significantly less (P ≤ 0.05) than that of FCV and PRD1. Additionally, the terry towel removed significantly fewer total viruses (P ≤ 0.05) than the microfiber and one of the cotton/cellulose cloths. The cleaning cloth experiments were repeated with human norovirus. For transfer of viruses from cloth to surface, both cellulose/cotton cloths and microfiber transferred an average of 3.4 and 8.5 total PFU, respectively, to both surfaces, and the amounts transferred were significantly different (P ≤ 0.05) from those for the nonwoven cloth and terry towel (309 and 331 total PFU, respectively). There was no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05) in the amount of virus transfer between surfaces. These data indicate that while the cleaning cloths assessed here can remove viruses from surfaces, some cloths may also transfer a significant amount of viruses back to food contact surfaces.

Algumas pragas e doenças, fitotoxicidade por substâncias químicas, granizo e certas injúrias mecânicas são os principais agentes de desfolha na cultura do algodão. O objetivo da pesquisa foi estudar o efeito da redução de área foliar, mediante desfolha artificial, em diferentes estádios fenológicos do algodoeiro. O estudo foi realizado em casa-de-vegetação, adotando delineamento estatístico inteiramente casualizado num fatorial 5 x 5 e fator estádio fenológico. As variáveis-respostas foram: total de capulhos produzidos (TC), capulhos viáveis (CV) e peso de capulhos (PC). Concluiu-se que há perda de produtividade à medida que o grau de desfolha vai se intensificando, exceto com desfolhas de até 25% feitas em V3 e F5. As desfolhas realizadas no estádio de início de frutificação (F5) resultaram em grandes perdas nos índices de produtividade do algodoeiro a partir de 50% de área foliar reduzida.<br>Pests and diseases of foliage, phytotoxicity of chemicals, hail and some mechanical injuries are the main agents of defoliation in cotton. The purpose of this research was to study the effect of defoliation levels at different growth stages of cotton. The study was conducted in a greenhouseand the experimental design was completely randomized in factorial 5 x 5 and growth stage. The response-variables were: bolls produced (TC), bolls viable (CV) and boll weight (PC). In conclusion there was loss in productivity for all levels of defoliation in all growth stages of cotton, except defoliation until 25% in V3 and F5 stages. Defoliation performed in early fruiting stage (F5) resulted in significant losses in cotton yield after 50 % leaf area reduction.

Beneficial plant-microbe interactions in the rhizosphere are primary determinants of plant health and soil fertility. Some antagonistic fungi have shown great effects toward the growth of plant crops. In this study, two major crops, cotton and potato, were selected to evaluate their growth promotion by the antagonistic fungus Talaromyces flavus. For each plant, five T. flavus isolates were selected from our fungal collection which had shown the highest antagonistic activities against the causal agent of wilt diseases on these plants. In the next step, for every crop, five isolates were used under greenhouse conditions. For evaluation of the plant growth promotion ability of T. flavus isolates, a split-plot trial was arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications. The main factor was the method of application of T. flavus as a soil treatment, a seed treatment, and a combination of both methods. The subfactor was the use of different fungal isolates. Measured parameters were root length, crown length, plant height, plant fresh weight, and plant dry weight. Results showed that the maximum increase in the above parameters was mediated by the seed treatment method. The most effective isolate for cotton plants was TF-Co-M-23, which increased root length, plant height, plant fresh weight, and plant dry weight by 1.80-, 2.26-, 1.23-, and 1.19-fold, respectively. There were no significant differences among the various treatments affected by T. flavus in terms of crown length. The most effective isolate for potato plants was TF-Po-V-50, which increased root length, crown length, plant height, and plant dry weight by 1.71-, 1.09-, 1.45-, and 3.75-fold, respectively. The overall results of this study suggest that it may be possible to promote cotton and potato growth characteristics by using the antagonistic fungus T. flavus.