Posts Tagged: agriculture
Inside the Avocado
A new way of looking at plant nutrition? Frost damage? Disease? Heat damage?
"Laser view" into the avocado: New method reveals cell interior
Research team at the University of Göttingen develops method for recognizing cell properties
Checking whether an avocado is hard or soft by looking at it? This would require recognizing how the plant cells behave behind the skin. The same applies to all other cells on our planet: Despite more than 100 years of intensive research, many of their properties remain hidden inside the cell. Researchers at the University of Göttingen describe in their recent publication in Nature Materials a new approach that can determine the particularly difficult-to-detect mechanical properties of the cell interior by taking a closer look.
Cells are the basic units of all life and their precise understanding is a key factor in the progress made in medicine and biology. Nevertheless, research on them is still challenging because many methods destroy the cell during analysis. Researchers at the University of Göttingen now pursued a new idea: they used the random fluctuating movement that all microscopic particles perform. To do this, they first simulated the expected fluctuations and then checked the predictions using optical laser traps that can precisely control microparticles. Using this approach, the research team was able to analyze the movement of microscopic particles – with precision in the nanometer range and a time resolution of around 50 microseconds. In addition, the analysis also takes into account the history, i.e. past movements. It turned out that many objects always want to return to a certain place after having moved away randomly. The researchers used this tendency to return to a previous position to define a new quantify, the so-called mean back relaxation (MBR).
This new variable now serves as a kind of fingerprint: it contains information about the causes of the observed movements. This makes it possible for the first time to distinguish active processes from purely temperature-dependent processes (Brownian motion). "With MBR, we can obtain more information from the object movements than is possible with the usual approaches," explains Professor Matthias Krüger from the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the University of Göttingen.
In order to make statements about living cells, the researchers applied the method to the inside of living cells. "As our knowledge of the inside of cells is still limited, it was initially unclear whether the MBR could also be used here. When I saw the resulting curves, I could hardly believe my eyes, because the inside of cells could be described very precisely using the approaches we had originally worked out for much simpler situations ," marvels Professor Timo Betz from the Third Institute of Physics, head of the experiments.
"The results show that the combination of a close look and new, intelligent analysis methods can provide insights into whether the inside of cells is soft, hard or liquid," says first author of the study, Till Münker from the Third Institute of Physics. The work was co-funded by the European Union as part of an ERC Consolidator Grant.
Original publication: Münker, T. M. et al. Accessing activity and viscoelastic properties of artificial and living systems from passive measurement. Nature Materials 2024. Doi: 10.1038/s41563-024-01957-2.
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avocado pit
Ag Help Manual
Ag Help Wanted is an educational guidebook designed to assist every person who currently manages or expects to manage human resources on farms, ranches, nurseries, dairies, and other agricultural operations.
The book can be used as a source of ideas for improving management policies or practices, an occasional reference in coping with problems that arise, or a base for systematic study of human resource management in agriculture.
It presents principles, practical examples, regulatory considerations, and leads to more references that all help equip managers to make choices that are reasonable, legal, and ultimately effective for both their businesses and the people they employ.
Click here to access Ag Help Wanted Highlights covering the book content in English and Spanish.
Click here to access Ag Help Wanted Updates with recent material updating chapter content in both English and Spanish versions.
Ag Help Wanted is published by the Western Farm Management Extension Committee. Land-grant university educators from seven states and one Canadian province contributed to its development.
For more information or to access many of these materials online see: https://aghelpwanted.org/.
ag help
Irrigation Workshop Ventura Oct 16
Avocado Irrigation Workshop
October 16 (Wednesday), 2024
2:00 – 5:00 P.M.
UC Cooperative Extension Ventura County (California Room)
669 County Square Dr, Ventura, CA 93003
Workshop registration link: Registration
2:00 - 5:00 p.m. |
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Break: 10 mins. |
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3:45 |
Using Soil Moisture Sensor to Optimize Irrigation – Andre Biscaro, UCCE Irrigation and Water Resources Advisor, Ventura County |
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4:15 |
Water Distribution Uniformity Management in Orchards – Jamie Whiteford, Ventura County Resource Conservation District |
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4:45 |
Mission Produce TM: Resources and Updates - Danny Klittich, Mission Produce |
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5:00 |
ADJOURN |
For more information about the workshop, please contact
Ali Montazar, amontazar@ucanr.edu, or Ben Faber, bafaber@ucanr.edu.
CEU CREDITS: CCA (2.5 hrs.)
VCAILG (2.5 hrs.)
Image: Evapotranspiration monitoring station
/span>Bee Hotels and Bee Gardens - the Difference
Bee Hotels and Gardens – Applications and Limitations
The model of a ‘Bee Hotel' has been a useful tool for surveying insects in research studies for decades. However, in recent years, the concept of a bee hotel has entered the mainstream; capturing the attention of naturalists, gardeners, and those alike. With this transition, it has gained its name and evolved to take on various forms that hardly resemble the humble wooden box model used in research.
Increased interest in creating spaces for bees is hopeful, as it signifies a positive trend in attention to pollinator livelihood. The UC Berkeley Urban Bee Lab has had great success with simplistic wooden box models of bee hotels in our Costa Rica Bee Project. We share here some of the knowledge we have gained through numerous years of research working with bee hotels in both Costa Rica and California. Additionally, we offer some considerations to ponder when creating your own bee hotel, acknowledging the limitations that they hold, especially in regards to a changing climate.
Read the full story at: http://www.helpabee.org/lab-news/bee-hotels-considerations-and-limitations
A Bee Hotel
A Bee Garden in an Avocado Orchard
Learning from the Rain
Rain is wonderful stuff. If it comes and washes the accumulated salts of the last several years out of the root zones of citrus and avocado, that's a good thing. But what happens if there is a little too much rain? In the winter of 2005, Ventura got over 40” of rain, which is 100% more of what is normal. The last time big rains occurred prior to that was in the winter of 1997-98. That year the rains were evenly spaced on almost a weekly basis through the winter and into the late spring and over 50" fell. That year we had major problems with both citrus and avocados collapsing from asphyxiation. The same occurred in 2005, but not so pronounced.
Most rainfall years are not average, usually it is more or less than average. And sometimes the rains come, and flooding happens throughout California. The winter of 1861/62 saw such flooding that the harbor at Goleta was filled in.
In 2023, we had a lot more rain than we normally see and in Carpinteria it rained 4 inches in July!!!!!! And with the rain we saw mudslides and buried orchards, and with wet soil and winds we saw avocado trees being blown over.
And then came the winter of 2023/24, and there was more rain and more devastation (mudslides, buried orchards, etc.). But in general, trees look good. The consequences of low rainfall and the resulting greater application of salty irrigation water is leaf burn and often Botryosphaerias. After two wet rainy winters, we see much less of this kind of damage.
But there's been more subtle damage going on, especially avocados. It's been particularly hard on young trees with poorly developed root systems and orchards on flat ground. Asphyxiation has happened with the soils being too wet. Excluding air reduces root function, especially in the uptake of iron. It also allows ethylene to accumulate. Ethylene is a plant growth regulator that accelerates maturity. When roots sense ethylene, it causes leaf and fruit drop. The combined lack of oxygen and accumulation of ethylene leads to iron chlorosis and leaf drop. These are characteristic symptoms of asphyxiation and wet soils.
What other problems have we seen with rain, and what can be done to prepare for the unexpected? Learning from the Rain
https://ceventura.ucanr.edu/newsletters/Topics_in_Subtropics102527.pdf
rain