Development of biological soil disinfestations in Japan.

Biological soil disinfestations (BSDs) were developed separately in Japan and in The Netherlands as an alternative to chemical fumigations. In Japan, it was developed based on the knowledge of irrigated paddy rice and upland crop rotation system that was rather tolerant of soil-borne disease development. The methods consist of application of easily decomposable organic matter, irrigation, and covering the soil surface with plastic film, thereby inducing anaerobic (reductive) soil conditions and suppressing many soil-borne pests including fungi, bacteria, nematodes, and weeds.

RNA Silencing of the Introduced Coat Protein Gene of Turnip mosaic virus Confers Broad-Spectrum Resistance in Transgenic Arabidopsis.

ABSTRACT The coat protein (CP) gene derived from Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) isolate JO was introduced into Arabidopsis thaliana and the resulting transgenic progenies were analyzed for resistance to TuMV. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants with no detectable transcripts of the introduced CP gene exhibited complete resistance to TuMV. There was no significant correlation between the resistance and the copy number of the transgene.