Copacol

Abstract: Bacterial leaf streak of corn, caused by Xanthomonas vasicola pv. vasculorum, was recently reported in the United States and Argentina (Korus et al. 2017; Lang et al. 2017; Plazas et al. 2018). Further, the disease has reached epidemic levels in some corn-growing states of the United States (Korus et al. 2017; Lang et al. 2017). In April 2018, diseased corn leaf samples were collected in commercial fields in the western region of the state of Parana, Brazil. The leaves with initial symptoms of the disease had translucent yellow to brown narrow linear lesions with irregular margins, confined to the interveinal spaces. Older symptoms on highly susceptible corn hybrids had coalescing long lesions of dark coloration, reaching large extension along the leaf blade. Preliminary examinations did not show any structure of fungi but revealed the presence of bacterial ooze. Bacterial isolates established on nutrient agar medium produced yellow mucoid colonies typical of bacteria of the genus Xanthomonas. The pathogenicity of the bacterial isolates was confirmed by spray inoculation of a 10⁸ CFU/ml suspension in plants at the V4 stage of the Zea mays hybrid JM 2M77, kept under greenhouse conditions. Lesions similar to those observed in the samples from commercial corn fields started to show up 9 days after inoculation. We reisolated consistently from the affected leaf tissues bacteria identical to those originally inoculated. The bacterium obtained had a rod-shaped cell, was gram negative, nonfluorescent and nonfermentative. Based on the analysis of polymerase chain reaction amplified sequences of the 16S rDNA region, using the universal primers fD1 and rD1 (Weisburg et al. 1991), the bacterial isolates showed genetic similarity of 99% with X. vasicola pv. vasculorum strain SAM119 (NCCPB no. 4614), isolated from corn in South Africa, the pathotype strain of the pathovar (Lang et al. 2017). Further, a neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree reconstructed based on partial 16S rDNA sequences alignment using MEGA7 (Kumar et al. 2016) confirmed that our bacterial strains clustered with X. vasicola pv. vasculorum strain SAM119. The sequences of two bacterial strains established in our studies were deposited in GenBank as accessions MH497007 and MH497008. The disease was present in commercial fields in at least eight municipalities of corn-producing regions of the state of Parana, Brazil. In addition, bacterial leaf streak of corn was detected under natural conditions on Z. mays plants of at least 30 different commercial hybrids. Although the occurrence of X. vasicola pv. vasculorum causing bacterial leaf streak of corn has been suspected in Brazil for previous years, this is the first confirmed report.

Abstract: An experiment was conducted with the objective of evaluating the levels digestible lysine for chickens in the starting phase (1 to 21 days of age), using two eletrolytes balances. Eighty hundred male Cobb broilers were used, allotted in a randomized complete design in a 2 × 5 factorial arrangement consisting of five levels digestible lysine levels (1.021; 1.276; 1.531; 1.786; 2.042) and two electrolyte balances (190 and 255 mEq/kg), with four replications and 20 chicks per experimental unit. There was interaction for final weight, weight gain and feed intake, and for the electrolyte balance of 190 mEq/kg the best final weight and weight gain were observed with a 1.515% of digestible lysine. For the eletrolyte balance of 255 mEq/kg, the best final weight and weight gain were observed with 1,801% digestible lysine. The feed:gain ratio increased linearly when the digestible lysine was increased. The uric acid and total protein values did not differ, however the calcium levels presented interaction significant between electrolyte balances and level lysine. The digestible lysine requirement for the starting phase, from 1 to 21 days of age ranges with the electrolyte balance in the feed.

Abstract: The recent occurrence of bacterial leaf streak of corn caused by Xanthomonas vasicola pv. vasculorum represents a potential threat to the maize crop in Brazil. This study aimed to develop and validate a diagrammatic scale for the assessment of leaf streak severity in corn leaves. Linear regression and Lin’s coefficient approaches were used to explore the intra- and inter-rater reliability and accuracy of experienced and inexperienced evaluators. In cornfields in Cafelândia, Parana state, 450 leaves that were naturally infected by the bacterium were collected from plants in stages V12 to R2. APS Assess software was used to measure the disease severity. The proposed scale consisted of eight levels: 0.5, 1, 3, 6, 11, 18, 37 and 67%. Validation was performed by five experienced and five inexperienced evaluators. The use of the scale improved the precision of inexperienced (R2= 0.66 and 0.88, with and without the scale) and experienced (R2= 0.81 and 0.97, without and with the scale) evaluators. In general, inexperienced evaluators overestimated (β0 = 5.7) disease severity without the scale, and experienced evaluators underestimated (β0 = − 2.1) disease severity without and with the scale. The agreement (pc = 0.83 and 0.94, without and with the scale, respectively) and accuracy (Cb = 0.93 and 0.98, without and with the scale, respectively) improved with the use of the scale. The overall concordance correlation coefficient (OCCC) showed the improvement of the concordance between experienced evaluators. The use of the proposed diagrammatic scale proved to be adequate for evaluating the severity of the bacterial leaf streak and improved the inter- and intrarater reliability and accuracy of experienced and inexperienced evaluators.