Effect of the Biostimulant Foliar Addition of Marine Algae on cv, O＇Neal Blueberries Production

In the Retiro, ＂El Lucero＂ county, Maule, VII Region of Chile, an application of a marine algae extract known as Ascophilliurn nodosum, whose commercial name is Ekologik~, was evaluated by applying it to the whole foliage in order to evaluate the impact on total weight, average weight, equatorial diameter and soluble solids in cv. O＇Neal blueberries harvested in a three-year old orchard having a plantation density of 3,333 plants hal. The marine algae extract was applied in three phenologic phases： full bloom, fruit set and fruit color break. Four treatments were conducted： To, application of pure water （without the product）; T1, a 280 mL ha1 dose per application; T2, a 140 mL ha^-1 dose, equivalent to 50% of the treatment dose T1; and T3, a 420 mL ha^-1 dose, equivalent to a 50% extra than the treatment dose T1. The experimental design comprised sutb-sampling blocks with three repetitions of three uniform and healthy plants per treatment. Regarding the total and average fruit weight, they did not show significant statistical differences, but an increase in the average weight of fruits treated with the aforementioned product was observed. For parameters such as equatorial diameter, caliper and soluble solids of harvested fruit, the product caused a statistically significant increase. T3 was found to be the best treatment with a 15% weight, increasing taste, sugar amount, size and weight of the harvested fruits.

Processing of Snack of Goat Chub Chili(Capsicum annuum L.)with Formulations of Tomato and Tomato-Marjoram

The cultivation of goat chili has potentially increased in Chile, due to different varieties of gourmet products made with it;for this reason, new industrial projects are sought to the growing volume to adapt them to the new trends in consumption habits, mainly focused on achieving an attractive meal, a fast preparation and consumption, while nutrients are provided to offer some benefits for human health. The “snacks” products that include the use of fruit satisfactorily respond to these requirements, in addition to providing marketing alternatives to the surplus of fruit exports. For this reason, the present test, consisting of the processing of snacks based on goat chub chili with the addition of tomato and marjoram, was carried out to increase the palatability and the sensorial quality of the final product. The following formulations were used: only chili (T1);chili and tomato (T2);chili, tomato and marjoram (T3). The latter one was characterized by a good flavor and aroma. A large amount of the fruit water content had been removed by drying it with forced hot air. A product without chemical preserves was obtained, with physical and chemical parameters similar to those required by similar foods existing on the market today. In sensorial terms, the formulation to which marjoram was added showed good sensorial and acceptability attributes, highlighting them from the rest of the treatments. The snack color was maintained after the dehydration process, according to panelists.

Can Biochar Protect Labile Organic Matter Against Mineralization in Soil?

Biochar could help to stabilize soil organic （SOM） matter, thus sequestering carbon （C） into the soil. The aim of this work was to determine an easy method i） to estimate the effects of the addition of biochar and nutrients on the organic matter （SOM） mineralization in an artificial soil, proposed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development （OECD）, amended with glucose and ii） to measure the amount of labile organic matter （glucose） that can be sorbed and thus be partially protected in the same soil, amended or not amended with biochar. A factorial experiment was designed to check the effects of three single factors （biochar, nutrients, and glucose） and their interactions on whole SOM mineralization. Soil samples were inoculated with a microbial inoculum and preincubated to ensure that their biological activities were not limited by a small amount of microbial biomass, and then they were incubated in the dark at 21 ~C for 619 d. Periodical measurements of C mineralized to carbon dioxide （CO2） were carried out throughout the 619-d incubation to allow the mineralization of both active and slow organic matter pools. The amount of sorbed glucose was calculated as the difference between the total and remaining amounts of glucose added in a soil extract. Two different models, the Freundlich and Langmuir models, were selected to assess the equilibrium isotherms of glucose sorption. The CO2-C release strongly depended on the presence of nutrients only when no biochar was added to the soil. The mineralization of organic matter in the soil amended with both biochar and glucose was equal to the sum of the mineralization of the two C sources separately. Furthermore, a significant amount of glucose can be sorbed on the biochar-amended soil, suggesting the involvement of physico-chemical mechanisms in labile organic matter protection.

The failed invasion of Harmonia axyridis in the Azores, Portugal: Climatic restriction or wrong population origin?

We tested two questions:(i)whether the climatic conditions of the Azorean Islands in Portugal may have restricted the invasion of Harmonia axyridis across this archipelago and(ii)determine what population of this species could have a higher probability of invading the islands.We used MaxEnt to project the climate requirements of different H.axyridis populations from three regions of the world,and the potential global niche of the species in the Azorean islands.Then we assessed the suitability of the islands for each of the three H.axyridis populations and global potential niche through histograms analysis,Principal Component Analysis(PCA)of climate variables,and a variable-by-variable assessment of the suitability response curves compared with the climatic conditions of the Azores.Climatic conditions of the Azores are less suitable for the U.S.and native Asian populations of H.axyridis,and more suitable for European populations and the global potential niche.The PCA showed that the climatic conditions of the islands differed from the climatic requirements of H.axyridis.This difference is mainly explained by precipitation of the wettest month,isothermality,and the minimum temperature of the coldest month.We concluded that the climatic conditions of the Azores could have influenced the establishment and spread of H.axyridis on these islands from Europe.Our results showed that abiotic resistance represented by the climate of the potentially colonizable zones could hinder the establishment of invasive insects,but it could vary depending of the origin of the colonizing population.