Induction of defense responses by extracts of spent mushroom substrates in rice.

We investigated the effect of treatment with hot water extracts from the spent mushroom substrates (SMSs) of and on the resistance of rice leaves to infection. The spraying of the SMS extracts clearly suppressed the development of lesions caused by infection. The accumulation of phytoalexins momilactones A and B, oryzalexin A, and sakuranetin was markedly induced by the spraying of extracts.

Ultra-widely tunable mid-infrared (6-18 μm) optical vortex source.

We demonstrate the generation of an ultra-widely tunable mid-infrared (6-18 μm) optical vortex output with a moderate pulse energy from a AgGaSe difference frequency generator pumped by an optical vortex parametric oscillator. The handedness of the vortex output can be controlled/selected by swapping the lasing frequencies of the signal and idler outputs and rotating the AgGaSe crystal by 90 deg.