Lysosomal storage disease involving the brain, spinal cord, liver, and spleen was discovered in a 6-month-old male emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae). The diagnosis was based on light and electron microscopic studies and histochemical staining characteristics. This is the first case of lysosomal storage disease reported in a ratite.

Silver scurf has become a major reason for rejection of fresh and processing potatoes in recent years. Control of the disease by chemical or cultural practices or resistant cultivars has been difficult. Observations have shown spread and increase of disease of potatoes in storage, but this has not been extensively studied. The objective of this study was to document Helminthosporium solani conidia production, dispersal, and tuber infection in potato storages. Spore samplers placed in seed, processing, and table stock storages collected conidia ranging from 0 to 12,000 conidia per day in seed and table stock storages (4 degrees C), and from 0 to 24,000 conidia per day in processing storages (10 degrees C). Conidia were detected soon after tubers entered storage and increased progressively during the storage period, with the maximum conidia numbers found during the time of tuber handling. Greenhouse-produced minitubers placed in storages for 1, 2, 3, or 4 weeks were infected by H. solani spores. Infection was significantly higher in those exposed for 4 weeks than in those exposed for 1 week. Results document the buildup of H. solani spores throughout the storage period, and that this inoculum is important in disease epidemiology. Control of this inoculum could lead to disease reduction.

The efectiveness of chemical, physical and mechanical control or a combination of these measures in minimizing storage rot disease of yam was determined using two storage methods. Storing under either modified pit or conventional method had no significant effect on rot of yam tubers. Different yam varieties varied in their response to different control measures. Kinampay responded positively to T2 (mechanical trimming and wood ash), T3 (mechanical trimming + fungicides + wood ash), T4 (fungicide alone) and T5 (hot water treatment); VU-2 to T2 nd T3 and Acc 007 to T5. However, untreated tubers of Kinampay and VU-2 had a lower severity of rot disease compared to those applied with the most effective disease control treatments. Higher percentage germination of tubers was likewise noted in T2, T3 and T6 (untreated). Significant interaction effects of variety, storage methods and control measures as well as their combination were also noted. Yam tubers were generally sensitive to curing, fungicide and hot water treatments

Strain 2-79 is a biocontrol agent of take-all, an important root disease of wheat caused by Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici. In the rhizosphere, strain 2-79 produces the antibiotic phenazine-1-carboxylic acid as the primary means of disease suppression. Barriers to the commercial use of phenazine-producing pseudomonads, such as strain 2-79 include the lack of liquid-culture and formulation technologies needed to optimize cost-effective mass production and application. For instance, there is little published research concerning the impact of growth culture physiological state and associated metabolites on the biocontrol qualities of the cells harvested and formulated in seed coatings, i.e., efficacy, phytotoxicity, and storage survival. To enable exploration of these issues, cells of strain 2-79 in various physiological states were obtained by harvesting fermentors at 24-h intervals after inoculation. Cells formulated in 0.5% methylcellulose suspended in either water (MW) or metabolite-bearing, spent culture broth (MSB) were applied as wheat-seed coatings, air dried, and stored at 4 degrees C. Younger cells (24-48 h) had twice the drying survival rate but only half of the storage life demonstrated by older cells (72-96 h) (P less than or equal to 0.05). Cell populations surviving drying were 3.5 times higher in MW than in MSB formulations and they remained viable up to 3 times longer (P less than or equal to 0.05). This effect of formulation on viability was attributable to the culture nutrients but not the metabolites present in the spent broth. Disease suppression in bacterized seed treatments was significant (P less than or equal to 0.05) relative to unbacterized controls and averaged 9.1%, but did not vary significantly (P greater than or equal to 0.24) with culture age, encapsulation medium, or storage time. Relative seedling height improvement increased with relative disease suppression (P = 0.003) and significantly decreased with lengthening storage time (P = 0.004). This latter decline in plant growth promotion coincided with the deterioration of biocontrol agent viability during storage. Seed batches inoculated with cells in both MW and MSB encapsulations suffered significant germination losses due to phytotoxic metabolites. The extent of loss was an interactive result of encapsulation medium and storage time (P greater than or equal to 0.01), and the rate of loss was much higher for seeds with MSB than with MW coatings, i.e. 54% compared to 11% loss after 6 months storage.

Bacteria which will suppress fungus-induced potato disease under storage conditions have been screened and selected from soil samples. A method for isolating these antagonists, their use in controlling potato disease, and specific isolates which are inhibitory to potato dry rot disease under postharvest conditions constitute the essence of the invention. The subject biocontrol agents are considered to be economically-feasible alternatives to chemical agents currently in use for this purpose.

Maximum fruit quality is largely determined before harvest, with postharvest treatments, at best, maintaining quality during storage and distribution. Therefore, the relationships between production conditions and postharvest quality need to be well understood if optimum quality at consumer level is to be achieved. Pre-harvest factors can influence most, if not all, quality parameters. Evidence of effects on visual appearance (size, colour, blemishes), eating quality (flavour, texture) storage potential (ripening, physiological disorders, disease) and tolerance to physical disinfection and disinfestation control measures (heat, cold) in subtropical and tropical fruit are reviewed. Improvement of storage potential through mineral nutrition is possible, but a holistic approach is required because of the many pre-harvest factors that can influence fruit mineral composition.

Tomato fruits from a processing cultivar, 'Dorado' and a non-processing cultivar, 'Star Pak', were subjected to three prestorage heat treatments over a 5-h period under unshaded (34 +/- 2C), shaded (29 +/- 2C) and pre-cooled (20 +/- 2C) conditions followed by storage for 18 and 36 days at 20C. Terminal symptoms of heat injury and disease infection were evaluated in relation to changes in physical, physiological and chemical characteristics of the fruits during storage. Unshaded fruits demonstrated effects of heat injury resulting in reduced bioelectrical resistance, increased electrolyte leakage, increased total acidity and decreased total soluble solids during storage at 20C. Pre-cooling and shading proved to be effective methods to remove or prevent accumulation of field-heat and minimize heat injury. Pre-cooling was most effective, accounting for 28% and 14% less infected fruits for 'Dorado' and 'Star Pak', respectively, compared with unshaded fruits, after 36 days storage at 20C.

The neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCL, Batten disease) are a group of fatal inherited neurodegenerative diseases of children and animals, characterised by retinal and brain atrophy. A common finding in these diseases is the occurrence of intracellular fluorescent storage bodies, which contain the hydrophobic c subunit of mitochondrial ATP synthase. The accumulation of the analogous vacuolar ATPase c subunit has also been noted in tissues in some forms of the disease. Pure storage body preparations were obtained from liver and pancreas from affected sheep and liver from affected Border Collie dogs. Analysis of the isolated storage bodies by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed significant amounts of vacuolar ATPase subunit c, particularly in affected Border Collie liver preparations. This established that the vacuolar ATPase c subunit is a genuine storage body component and does not arise from co-purification of vacuolar membrane. The c subunits are hydrophobic proteins which have the tendency to irreversibly aggregate and do not dissolve in aqueous solvents. They cannot be separated by aqueous solvent based chromatographic techniques. High performance liquid chromatography techniques using normal phase silica chromatography and DEAE-cellulose ion exchange chromatography and chloroform:methanol:water based solvents were developed. The stored vacuolar ATPase subunit c was separated from the mitochondrial ATP synthase c subunit by these methods. Lack of reproducibility was a common occurrence with chromatograms of similar samples dramatically changing over a period of days. Problems with reproducibility were ascribed to the formation of oligomers, oxidation, and to irreversible precipitation of the hydrophobic proteins onto the column. The addition of trifluoroacetic acid and ammonium acetate to the solvents partially resolved these problems. Addition of mercaptoethanol, an antioxidant, unexpectedly resulted in a greater lack of reproducibility. These findings lead to the conclusion that high performance liquid chromatographic techniques are not suitable for repetitive assays of the relative proportions of the two c subunits in storage bodies.

Durians collected from different producing areas in the Eastern and Southern part of Thailand had different kinds of fungi causing fruit rot. These fungi including Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Phomopsis sp., and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, in which L. theobromae and Phomopsis sp. were found rather high incidence both in the East and in the South of Thailand. These fungi infected in the husk of the fruits, surface disinfection could not reduce disease incidence. Cold storage at 15 deg C could partially reduce disease incidence.

To control apple scab disease caused by Venturia inaequalis, aqueous extracts from two sources of spent mushroom substrate (SMS), anaerobically fermented for 7 days and amended with spreader-sticker, were applied at weekly intervals to apple trees (cv. McIntosh) from green-tip to petal-fall and biweekly thereafter. Trials were conducted for three seasons at two locations in Wisconsin. Both extracts significantly reduced (alpha = 0.05) the leaf area affected by scab relative to water and spreader-sticker controls as evaluated by the Horsfall-Barratt scale. Disease incidence was similarly decreased but to a lesser extent. Extracts were not as effective in inhibiting disease as captan sprayed at the same intervals. No difference was detected between extracts with and without spreader-sticker. Higher populations of bacteria, which persisted for at least 1 month after the final spray, were detected on leaves treated with the extracts. No differences were found in total numbers of fungi. Inhibitory activity of extracts, assessed as in vitro inhibition of Venturia conidia germination, was monitored over time for extracts prepared from SMS stored under different conditions. For one source of SMS, neither time nor storage conditions (outdoors uncovered or indoors in sheds) affected inhibitory activity of extracts. Decline in efficacy of the other source was apparent by 13 weeks relative to unstored compost, although not between storage regimens.