The recent development of 3D-liver stem cell cultures (hepatic organoids) opens up new avenues for gene and/or stem cell therapy to treat liver disease. To test safety and efficacy, a relevant large animal model is essential but not yet established. Because of its shared pathologies and disease pathways, the dog is considered the best model for human liver disease. Here we report the establishment of a long-term canine hepatic organoid culture allowing undifferentiated expansion of progenitor cells that can be differentiated toward functional hepatocytes. We show that cultures can be initiated from fresh and frozen liver tissues using Tru-Cut or fine-needle biopsies. The use of Wnt agonists proved important for canine organoid proliferation and inhibition of differentiation. Finally, we demonstrate that successful gene supplementation in hepatic organoids of COMMD1-deficient dogs restores function and can be an effective means to cure copper storage disease.

Application of biocontrol agents in the field often failed because of some factors, one of them was caused by the decreasing of the population of the biocontrol agents and their activities during storage or transportation from the laboratories. In order to minimize that problem, formulations were developed using medium that able to support the viability and maintain their characters during storage. This research was conducted to evaluate the effects of liquid and powder formula to the viability of the endophytic bacteria (Staphylococcus epidermidis BC4) and PGPR (Bacillus subtilis AB89) and their effectiveness to control the bacterial wilt disease of tomato. Viability of the bacteria in the formula was counted from the first week up to 8th weeks of storage using plate-count method. The effectiveness of the formula to the bacterial wilt disease was evaluated in the green house. Population of S. epidermidis in the liquid and powder formula was still stable up to 8 weeks of storage, i.e. 3.0 x 108 cfu/ml and 2.3 x 108 cfu/g. Population of B. subtilis both in liquid or powder formula was decreasing during storage. The Area Under Disease Progress Curve (AUDPC) value of the bacterial wilt disease incidence on the plants treated with S. epidermidis or B. subtilis in liquid formula was significantly lower compared with control. All of the formulas were not inhibit the height of tomato plants

The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format. | Blood lipid analysis was performed on the serum of 2 normal kittens and 1 adult cat and on serum from 3 affected kittens. Thin layer chromatography was done on tissue extracts of various organs from clinically affected kittens and unaffected unrelated kittens of a similar age, and on serum from carrier cats, affected kittens, related unaffected kittens and unrelated kittens. Spleen and lymph node cell cultures were prepared from 1 affected kitten and the growth medium and cell cultures were analysed for lipids. A lecithin-like phospholipid was identified in the serum of an affected kitten, a carrier cat and a related unaffected kitten. This substance was produced by the liver of affected kittens and also by macrophage-like cells in spleen cell cultures prepared from the spleen of a kitten with signs of the disease. | University of Pretoria.

Sweet orange fruits are easily injured during harvest and the juice released aids germination of the spores of the green mould resulting in rapid decay of fruits. Heat treatment has been found to control decay in many fruits and vegetables. The protocols adopted in commercial operations depend on the region, cultivar of commodity and the type of natural microflora on the produce. Orange fruits were wound inoculated with Penicillium digitatum (27×10(5) conidia/ml) in the flavedo. At 12 h post inoculation, fruits were subjected to steam (ST) and dry hot air (HA) treatments before storage at 28±2°C and 86±2% RH. Heat treatments controlled decay of fruits to various extents. Treatments with either ST at 50°C for 50 min or HA at 46°C for 90 min totally prevented or significantly reduced disease within 24 days of storage. Other steam treatments at 50°C for 30 min and 55°C for 50 min reduced disease within the same post-treatment storage period. However, there was complete decay on fruits exposed to ST at 55°C for 30 min by day 14 of storage. HA treatment at 75°C for 2, 6 and 22 min also significantly reduced disease severity within 14 days storage and then within the next 10 days compared with control which was completely decayed by day 24. Weight loss from fruits, immediately after treatment, with ST and HA was insignificant (0.06-1.20%) but was high (13.25-17.67% by day 14) during storage, with control fruits losing weight the most. Rind hardening with storage was not correlated with heat treatment but with weight loss. Steam and hot air treatments have potential for extending the shelf-life of fruits during subsequent storage at ambient temperature.

Mango is one of the world's most important fruit crop. It is the major growing fruit crop in Pakistan. At all stages of its life it suffers from a number of diseases. The main post-Harvest disease of mango is stem end rot which is caused by Lasiodiplodia theobromae. Other pathogens associated with disease are viz. Colletotrichum gloeosporiodes, Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus niger and Botrytis cineria. It causes severe losses in storage and market. The investigation was done at mango cultivar Samar Bahisht Chaunsa. The mature mango fruits were collected from the selected orchards. The samples were stored at ambient temperature (25 degree C) and cold storage (12 degree C). The diseased fruits were removed and the pathogens associated were isolated and identified and frequency is calculated. L. theobromae was most devastating fungus. At ambient temperature maximum percentage of L. theobromae with mean value was 47.31% followed by C. gloeosporioides with mean frequency of 20.84 %, A. niger 15.03% B. cineria 10%, and A. alternata showed least mean frequency 6.81%. At cold storage L. theobromae was maximum having the frequency 49.25% followed by C. gloeosporioides with mean frequency of (20.75%), B. cineria (14.03%), A. alternata (11.89%) and A. niger showed least mean frequency 4.23 %. Different plant extracts viz. D. stramonium, A. sativum, A. indica and C. intybus were used. Maximum inhibition of C. gloeosporioides and A. niger was shown by A. sativm. In case of A. alternata maximum inhibition was shown by D. stramonium and A. indica showed the maximum inhibition of B. cineria and L. theobromae.

Storage diseases can cause important losses on pome fruits. Disease management to control storage diseases includes several treatments with different fungicides in the weeks prior to harvest. Nowadays, the presence of residues on fruits becomes more and more a public and governmental concern. In order to reduce the chemical residue on fruits to a minimum, more and more research is performed on alternative disease management. In this respect, in 2013, a project concerning the 'Vaporization of biological control organisms (BCOs) in cold storage to control postharvest diseases', which was funded by the Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology (IWT), has started at the research station for fruit cultivation (Pcfruit) in collaboration with the Institute for agricultural and fisheries research (ILVO) and the Catholic University of Leuven (KULeuven). In a first step, the influence of fungicides applied in the months prior to storage on different BCOs was tested in vitro and in vivo. Besides that, also the influence of additives on the efficiency of biological control organisms in their control of storage diseases caused by Neofabraea alba or Botrytis cinerea was investigated after artificial inoculation experiments. This pointed out that some fungicides can have important negative effects on the BCOs tested and that additives, like calcium chloride and calcium-D-gluconate, can enhance the efficacy of BCOs in the control of fungal storage diseases. Furthermore, out of different tests the vaporization device 'Swingtec Fontan Starlet' was selected for the vaporization of the BCOs and research is going on to optimize the homogeneous distribution of the BCOs in the cold storage room with the help of a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model.

Postharvest disease is a serious issue faced by the pome fruit industry worldwide. Three major postharvest fungal pathogens, Penicillium expansum, Botrytis cinerea, and Mucor piriformis, commonly infect apples and cause rot during storage in British Columbia, Canada. Fungicides have been applied extensively to reduce postharvest losses, but pathogen resistance is emerging and public pressure to reduce fungicide application has led to an increase in research for safer alternatives such as biocontrol agents (BCA). Three strains of Pseudomonas fluorescens 4-6, 1-112, and 2-28, isolated from the rhizosphere of pulse crops in western Canada, were studied as potential BCA under commercial cold and controlled atmosphere (CA) storage with two apple cultivars, 'Gala' and 'McIntosh'. Percent infection of apples inoculated with each of the three pathogens and biocontrol strains was determined after 15 weeks in commercial cold storage or 17-22 weeks in CA storage and compared with the fungicide Scholar® (fludioxonil) and the BCA Bio-Save® (P. syringae). All three isolates significantly inhibited the growth of B. cinerea, P. expansum, and M. piriformis in vitro. Efficacy of P. fluorescens strains varied with target pathogen, apple cultivar, and storage conditions. Percent infection by P. expansum and M. piriformis was lower in 'Gala' and 'McIntosh' apples treated with P. fluorescens strain 4-6 and stored in CA than for those in cold storage. Strains 1-112 and 2-28 decreased the percent infection caused by B. cinerea on 'Gala' apples in CA storage when compared with those in cold storage. 'McIntosh' apples, which had higher titratable acidity than 'Gala', exhibited greater percent infection than 'Gala'. Strain 4-6 showed the most consistent efficacy against all three pathogens and on both apple cultivars. The disease control was comparable to Bio-Save® but less effective than Scholar®. These results suggest that P. fluorescens has the potential to control common postharvest fungal pathogens during cold and CA storage.

Carrot is one of the most popular and profitable vegetables grown in Latvia, nevertheless there is a lack of knowledge regarding carrot diseases. Diagnosis and identification of pathogens is one of major factor for successful disease control. Field observations of carrot disease development during vegetation and storage seasons and diagnostic pathogens were carried out at Pure Horticultural Research Centre and Institute of Soil and Plant sciences of LLU during the years 2008-2012. Diseases were determined according visual symptoms and microscopic features of fruiting bodies and spores. Potato dextrose agar was used for isolation and identification of pathogens. Alternaria leaf blight of carrots (caused by Alternaria dauci) dominated in all observation period, but in 2011 and 2012 also incidence of Cercospora leaf blight (caused by Cercospora carotae) was high. Both above mentioned diseases under field conditions of Latvia considerably reduce the leaf photosynthetic area, therefore carrots are more difficult to harvest with a mechanical harvester and carrot yields can reduce significantly. In the year 2010 the white rot (caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) also was identified on carrot foliar in the field. During storage, assessment of carrot diseases was done once in a month in all investigation years. The identified pathogens belonged to different species – Thielaviopsis basicola (black rot), Penicillium spp. (bluegreen mold), Rhyzopus spp. (rhyzopus woolly soft rot), Phoma apiicola (phoma root rot), Phytophthora spp. (phytophthora root rot), Fusarium spp. (fusarium dry rot), Alternaria dauci (black rot) and S. sclerotiorum (cottony rot). The number of infected carrot roots was minimal and yield losses were not significant. The disease development during storage depends more on the microclimate in the storage facilities.

Considerable losses of jujube (Zizyphus jujuba Mill. cv. Dongzao) fruit caused by Alternaria rot often occurred during storage. In order to evaluate effects of β-aminobutyric acid (BABA) on the infection on jujubes by Alternaria alternata, the fruit were dipped in BABA solutions and then inoculated with the pathogen. Results showed that BABA dipping at concentrations of 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0gL−1 significantly (P<0.05) reduced disease incidence and lesion area on the fruit inoculated with A. alternata, whereas BABA did not affect conidial germination and mycelial growth of the pathogen in vitro. In addition, BABA reduced natural infection and postharvest softening of jujubes during the storage at 0°C and 85–95% relative humidity. Biochemical evaluations revealed that BABA enhanced activities of defence-related enzymes including peroxidase, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase and chitinase of the fruit. BABA altered antioxidant metabolism to trigger disease resistance by significantly (P<0.05) decreasing catalase activity but increasing superoxide dismutase activity and ascorbic acid content in jujubes. These results suggested that the protective effects of BABA dipping on jujubes might be due to its ability on activating several highly coordinated defence-related responses of the fruit against infection, instead of its direct antifungal activity on the pathogen. These findings suggested that application of BABA would offer a promising approach for controlling postharvest disease and improving storage quality of horticultural products.

Mango Anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides Penz., has become a potentially destructive disease both under field and post harvest storage conditions. Totally 20 isolates of C. gloeosporiodes were obtained from the leaves showing typical symptoms of anthracnose disease collected during the survey. Results revealed differences in colony characters such as growth, shape, margin, colour, texture and zonation. The radial growth, growth rate, sporulation and morphology of the conidia differed significantly from each other.