Optimizing sweet potato production: insights into the interplay of plant sanitation, virus influence, and cooking techniques for enhanced crop quality and food security.

This study investigates the impact of sweet potato plant sanitation on the yield and external and internal quality root storage exploring the nutritional content affected by various cooking methods (raw, boiled, and oven-cooked). The presence of viruses, and concretely of the sweet potato leaf curl virus (SPLCV), in sweet potato propagation material is shown to significantly reduce yield and modify storage root quality. Notably, the research reveals a substantial improvement in crop yield and external quality, reinforcing the efficacy of plant sanitation methods, specifically apical meristem culture, in preserving the overall productivity of sweet potato crops.

Physiological characterization of a pepper hybrid rootstock designed to cope with salinity stress.

In pepper crops, rootstocks that tolerate salt stress are not used because available commercial rootstocks offer limited profits. In this context, we obtained the hybrid NIBER®, a new salinity-tolerant rootstock that has been tested under real salinity field conditions for 3 years with 32%-80% higher yields than ungrafted pepper plants. This study aimed to set up the initial mechanisms involved in the salinity tolerance of grafted pepper plants using NIBER® as a rootstock to study root-shoot behavior, a basic requirement to develop efficient rootstocks.

Pepper Rootstock and Scion Physiological Responses Under Drought Stress.

In vegetables, tolerance to drought can be improved by grafting commercial varieties onto drought tolerant rootstocks. Grafting has emerged as a tool that copes with drought stress. In previous results, the A25 pepper rootstock accession showed good tolerance to drought in fruit production terms compared with non-grafted plants and other rootstocks.

Ascorbic Acid Alleviates Water Stress in Young Peach Trees and Improves Their Performance after Rewatering.

Exogenous application of biochemicals has been found to improve water stress tolerance in herbaceous crops but there are limited studies on deciduous fruit trees. The goal of this research was to study if ascorbic acid applications could improve physiological mechanisms associated with water stress tolerance in young fruit trees. Ascorbic acid was foliarly applied at a concentration of 250 ppm to water-stressed and well-watered peach trees (control) of two cultivars ('Scarletprince' and 'CaroTiger').

Frequently asked questions about chlorophyll fluorescence, the sequel.

Using chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence many aspects of the photosynthetic apparatus can be studied, both in vitro and, noninvasively, in vivo. Complementary techniques can help to interpret changes in the Chl a fluorescence kinetics. Kalaji et al.

Salt-tolerant rootstock increases yield of pepper under salinity through maintenance of photosynthetic performance and sinks strength.

The performance of a salt-tolerant pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) accession (A25) utilized as a rootstock was assessed in two experiments. In a first field experiment under natural salinity conditions, we observed a larger amount of marketable fruit (+75%) and lower Blossom-end Root incidence (-31%) in commercial pepper cultivar Adige (A) grafted onto A25 (A/A25) when compared with ungrafted plants.

Some rootstocks improve pepper tolerance to mild salinity through ionic regulation.

Grafting has been proposed as an interesting strategy that improves the responses of crops under salinity. In pepper, we reported increased fruit yield of the commercial 'Adige' cultivar under salinity when grafted onto accessions Capsicum chinense Jacq. 'ECU-973' (12) and Capsicum baccatum L.

Frequently asked questions about in vivo chlorophyll fluorescence: practical issues.

The aim of this educational review is to provide practical information on the hardware, methodology, and the hands on application of chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence technology. We present the paper in a question and answer format like frequently asked questions. Although nearly all information on the application of Chl a fluorescence can be found in the literature, it is not always easily accessible.

Rootstock alleviates PEG-induced water stress in grafted pepper seedlings: physiological responses.

Recent studies have shown that tolerance to abiotic stress, including water stress, is improved by grafting. In a previous work, we took advantage of the natural variability of Capsicum spp. and selected accessions tolerant and sensitive to water stress as rootstocks.