First Report of the Root-Knot Nematode Meloidogyne arenaria Infecting Noni in China.

Noni (Morinda citrifolia) is an important medicinal plant and its fruit and root are of high value. In recent years, noni has been cultivated widely on Hainan Island, China. A survey of eight commercial noni fields in four counties found that most fields had plants with symptoms consistent with damage caused by root-knot nematodes.

Comamonas jiangduensis sp. nov., a biosurfactant-producing bacterium isolated from agricultural soil.

A novel biosurfactant-producing strain, designated YW1(T), was isolated from agricultural soil. Its taxonomic position was investigated using a polyphasic approach. The cells were short rods, Gram-negative, non-sporulating and motile.

Characterization of novel di-, tri-, and tetranucleotide microsatellite primers suitable for genotyping various plant pathogenic fungi with special emphasis on Fusaria and Mycospherella graminicola.

The goals of this investigation were to identify and evaluate the use of polymorphic microsatellite marker (PMM) analysis for molecular typing of seventeen plant pathogenic fungi. Primers for di-, tri-, and tetranucleotide loci were designed directly from the recently published genomic sequence of Mycospherlla graminicola and Fusarium graminearum. A total of 20 new microsatellite primers as easy-to-score markers were developed.

[Effects of temperature on Brontispa longissima population growth].

The study on the development, survival and reproduction of Brontispa longissima at 5 different temperature (16, 20, 24, 28, 32 degrees C) showed that the threshold temperature and effective accumulative temperature for the whole generations of Brontispa longissima were 11.08 degrees C and 966.22 degrees C, respectively, and 4-5 generations could occur in a year in Danzhou, Hainan Province.