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Calag Archive

Calag Archive

March 1977
Volume 31, Number 3

Peer-reviewed research and review articles

Rose virus and virus-like diseases
by Gary A. Secor, Mansun Kong, George Nyland
| Full text HTML  | PDF  
Virus and virus-like diseases can infect roses during propagating operations, when varieties are budded or grafted onto rootstocks. Plant pathologists studying the diseases find that the best control method is to use virus-free buds and rootstocks.
Like all vegetatively propagated plants, roses are subject to infection by virus and virus-like diseases that spread during propagating operations. Studies by plant pathologists with the California Department of Food and Agriculture have shown a 14 percent loss in salable blooms of virus-diseased greenhouse roses. Similar losses occur in landscape roses. Diseased plants tend to be less vigorous and less likely to survive than healthy plants, and diseases often detract from the aesthetic quality of the plant.
Using embryo transfers to increase twinning
by Gary A. Beall
| Full text HTML  | PDF  
One of the possibilities growing from embryo transfer research, and already finding commercial application is more offspring during the reproductive lifetime of genetically superior cows. These calves all had the same mother. U.C. researchers transferred them as embryos to “incubator” cows.
U. C. researchers are surgically transferring embryos in beef cows and heifers to increase the twinning rate and develop management practices for herds with large percentages of twins.
Mechanical harvester for fresh-market plums
by James J. Mehlschau, Robert B. Fridley, Robert W. Brazelton, Marvin H. Gerdts, F. Gordon Mitchell
| Full text HTML  | PDF  
An experimental, in-tree, collector-decelerator catch frame, which protects fruit as it falls, successfully harvested fresh-market plums in 1976 trials. Results were competitive with those obtained by hand harvest and better than those provided by an under-tree catch frame.
Trials with an in-tree collector-decelerator catch frame have demonstrated the practicability of harvesting fresh-market plums mechanically. Fruit quality was competitive with that obtained by hand harvest and exceeded that from an under-tree catch frame.
Use-value assessment and land conservation
by Hoy F. Carman, Cris Heaton
| Full text HTML  | PDF  
The California Land Conservation Act of 1965 created a voluntary program to preserve farmland by providing property taxation consistent with long-term agricultural use, but data indicate large amounts of the state's best agricultural land will continue to be lost to development.
There is no evidence that the California Land Conservation Act of 1965 has “conserved” agricultural land.
Growth regulators affect apple maturity
by Warren C. Micke, Ronald H. Tyler, James T. Yeager
| Full text HTML  | PDF  
In a four-year study, the growth regulator ethephon improved surface red color and increased soluble solids content of Red Delicious apples. Alar treatments increased flesh firmness and reduced scald development in storage.
Reports from other apple producing states have shown that two chemical growth regulators, Alar and ethephon, could have a distinct effect on apple maturity. Alar has been reported to increase firmness of fruit, delay maturity, increase red surface color of red varieties, reduce incidence of scald, and reduce pre-harvest drop. Ethephon has been shown to hasten fruit maturity, improve the soluble solids content of fruit, and improve red surface color of red varieties.
Yellow berry of wheat linked to protein content
by Frank E. Robinson, David Cudney, William F. Lehman
| Full text HTML  | PDF  
Yellow berry in Cocorit durum wheat decreases as protein content increases. Protein, in turn, is affected by nitrogen timing and amount and by irrigation. Split nitrogen applications and fewer irrigations resulted in the best yields with the lowest yellow berry percentages.
Decreased yellow berry—a disorder of Cocorit durum wheat—was associated with increased protein content, which, in turn, was affected by nitrogen and irrigation applications.
Meadowfoam: Potential new oil crop
by Subodh K. Jain, Robert O. Pierce, Holly Hauptli
| Full text HTML  | PDF  
Field observations and a yield trial at Davis showed that meadowfoam has potential as an oil crop. Genetic diversity in meadowfoam species and varieties growing wild in California and southern Oregon suggests a possibility for improvement through hybridization and selection.
Prospects are good that plant breeders will be able to improve meadowfoam so that it will eventually be grown as an oil-seed crop.
Egg traps monitor navel orangeworm
by Richard E. Rice, Lee L. Sadler
| Full text HTML  | PDF  
A new method using egg traps to monitor female navel orangeworm moth flights and egg laying will help growers in timing insecticidal sprays and researchers in studying this major almond pest. Previous methods monitored flights of male moths.
Increasing losses to the navel orange-worm, Paramyelois transitella (Walker), have led to a multi-disciplinary research program to find better methods of controlling this primary pest of almonds in California. One result of this research was the development of a new method for monitoring navel orangeworm (NOW) moth activity. The device used-an “egg trap”—enables growers, field men, and researchers to monitor female moth flights and egg-laying (oviposition) activity directly, rather than monitoring the flight of male moths, as when using sex pheromone traps.
Electronic color sorting of cantaloupes for ripeness
by Robert F. Kasmire
| Full text HTML  | PDF  
Electronic sorting of cantaloupes into maturity grades in commercial packing sheds appears possible by use of reflected light measured from fruit of different maturities (colors). In recent studies at the University of California, Davis both dry and wet melons were tested. Measurments were made on 10 melons in each of four maturity grades—Partly Slipped, Hard Ripe, Eastern Choice, and Western Choice. Measurments were made with a Beck-man Ratio Recording Spectrophotometer with a reflectance unit attached.
Electronic sorting of cantaloupes into maturity grades in commercial packing sheds appears possible by use of reflected light measured from fruit of different maturities (colors). In recent studies at the University of California, Davis both dry and wet melons were tested. Measurments were made on 10 melons in each of four maturity grades—Partly Slipped, Hard Ripe, Eastern Choice, and Western Choice. Measurments were made with a Beck-man Ratio Recording Spectrophotometer with a reflectance unit attached.
Gypsy moth: Possible threat to California trees
by Carlton S. Koehler, W. Douglas Hamilton
| Full text HTML  | PDF  
A gypsy moth infestation was discovered in San Jose in October 1976. The insect, which has defoliated millions of acres of trees in northeastern United States, is a serious threat to California's landscape trees, and an eradication program is anticipated.
An infestation of the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.), was discovered in San Jose in October 1976, only a year after positive identification of Dutch elm disease in California. In all respects, the gypsy moth is an even greater threat than Dutch elm disease to California's landscape trees.

News and opinion

California's wildlands
by J. B. Kendrick
Full text HTML  | PDF  
Webmaster Email: bjnoel@ucanr.edu

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March 1977
Volume 31, Number 3

Peer-reviewed research and review articles

Rose virus and virus-like diseases
by Gary A. Secor, Mansun Kong, George Nyland
| Full text HTML  | PDF  
Virus and virus-like diseases can infect roses during propagating operations, when varieties are budded or grafted onto rootstocks. Plant pathologists studying the diseases find that the best control method is to use virus-free buds and rootstocks.
Like all vegetatively propagated plants, roses are subject to infection by virus and virus-like diseases that spread during propagating operations. Studies by plant pathologists with the California Department of Food and Agriculture have shown a 14 percent loss in salable blooms of virus-diseased greenhouse roses. Similar losses occur in landscape roses. Diseased plants tend to be less vigorous and less likely to survive than healthy plants, and diseases often detract from the aesthetic quality of the plant.
Using embryo transfers to increase twinning
by Gary A. Beall
| Full text HTML  | PDF  
One of the possibilities growing from embryo transfer research, and already finding commercial application is more offspring during the reproductive lifetime of genetically superior cows. These calves all had the same mother. U.C. researchers transferred them as embryos to “incubator” cows.
U. C. researchers are surgically transferring embryos in beef cows and heifers to increase the twinning rate and develop management practices for herds with large percentages of twins.
Mechanical harvester for fresh-market plums
by James J. Mehlschau, Robert B. Fridley, Robert W. Brazelton, Marvin H. Gerdts, F. Gordon Mitchell
| Full text HTML  | PDF  
An experimental, in-tree, collector-decelerator catch frame, which protects fruit as it falls, successfully harvested fresh-market plums in 1976 trials. Results were competitive with those obtained by hand harvest and better than those provided by an under-tree catch frame.
Trials with an in-tree collector-decelerator catch frame have demonstrated the practicability of harvesting fresh-market plums mechanically. Fruit quality was competitive with that obtained by hand harvest and exceeded that from an under-tree catch frame.
Use-value assessment and land conservation
by Hoy F. Carman, Cris Heaton
| Full text HTML  | PDF  
The California Land Conservation Act of 1965 created a voluntary program to preserve farmland by providing property taxation consistent with long-term agricultural use, but data indicate large amounts of the state's best agricultural land will continue to be lost to development.
There is no evidence that the California Land Conservation Act of 1965 has “conserved” agricultural land.
Growth regulators affect apple maturity
by Warren C. Micke, Ronald H. Tyler, James T. Yeager
| Full text HTML  | PDF  
In a four-year study, the growth regulator ethephon improved surface red color and increased soluble solids content of Red Delicious apples. Alar treatments increased flesh firmness and reduced scald development in storage.
Reports from other apple producing states have shown that two chemical growth regulators, Alar and ethephon, could have a distinct effect on apple maturity. Alar has been reported to increase firmness of fruit, delay maturity, increase red surface color of red varieties, reduce incidence of scald, and reduce pre-harvest drop. Ethephon has been shown to hasten fruit maturity, improve the soluble solids content of fruit, and improve red surface color of red varieties.
Yellow berry of wheat linked to protein content
by Frank E. Robinson, David Cudney, William F. Lehman
| Full text HTML  | PDF  
Yellow berry in Cocorit durum wheat decreases as protein content increases. Protein, in turn, is affected by nitrogen timing and amount and by irrigation. Split nitrogen applications and fewer irrigations resulted in the best yields with the lowest yellow berry percentages.
Decreased yellow berry—a disorder of Cocorit durum wheat—was associated with increased protein content, which, in turn, was affected by nitrogen and irrigation applications.
Meadowfoam: Potential new oil crop
by Subodh K. Jain, Robert O. Pierce, Holly Hauptli
| Full text HTML  | PDF  
Field observations and a yield trial at Davis showed that meadowfoam has potential as an oil crop. Genetic diversity in meadowfoam species and varieties growing wild in California and southern Oregon suggests a possibility for improvement through hybridization and selection.
Prospects are good that plant breeders will be able to improve meadowfoam so that it will eventually be grown as an oil-seed crop.
Egg traps monitor navel orangeworm
by Richard E. Rice, Lee L. Sadler
| Full text HTML  | PDF  
A new method using egg traps to monitor female navel orangeworm moth flights and egg laying will help growers in timing insecticidal sprays and researchers in studying this major almond pest. Previous methods monitored flights of male moths.
Increasing losses to the navel orange-worm, Paramyelois transitella (Walker), have led to a multi-disciplinary research program to find better methods of controlling this primary pest of almonds in California. One result of this research was the development of a new method for monitoring navel orangeworm (NOW) moth activity. The device used-an “egg trap”—enables growers, field men, and researchers to monitor female moth flights and egg-laying (oviposition) activity directly, rather than monitoring the flight of male moths, as when using sex pheromone traps.
Electronic color sorting of cantaloupes for ripeness
by Robert F. Kasmire
| Full text HTML  | PDF  
Electronic sorting of cantaloupes into maturity grades in commercial packing sheds appears possible by use of reflected light measured from fruit of different maturities (colors). In recent studies at the University of California, Davis both dry and wet melons were tested. Measurments were made on 10 melons in each of four maturity grades—Partly Slipped, Hard Ripe, Eastern Choice, and Western Choice. Measurments were made with a Beck-man Ratio Recording Spectrophotometer with a reflectance unit attached.
Electronic sorting of cantaloupes into maturity grades in commercial packing sheds appears possible by use of reflected light measured from fruit of different maturities (colors). In recent studies at the University of California, Davis both dry and wet melons were tested. Measurments were made on 10 melons in each of four maturity grades—Partly Slipped, Hard Ripe, Eastern Choice, and Western Choice. Measurments were made with a Beck-man Ratio Recording Spectrophotometer with a reflectance unit attached.
Gypsy moth: Possible threat to California trees
by Carlton S. Koehler, W. Douglas Hamilton
| Full text HTML  | PDF  
A gypsy moth infestation was discovered in San Jose in October 1976. The insect, which has defoliated millions of acres of trees in northeastern United States, is a serious threat to California's landscape trees, and an eradication program is anticipated.
An infestation of the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.), was discovered in San Jose in October 1976, only a year after positive identification of Dutch elm disease in California. In all respects, the gypsy moth is an even greater threat than Dutch elm disease to California's landscape trees.

News and opinion

California's wildlands
by J. B. Kendrick
Full text HTML  | PDF  

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