Fourteen tomato cultivars resistant to tomato spotted wilt tospovirus (TSWV) were evaluated for their tolerance against tomato chlorotic spot tospovirus (TCSV) under field conditions during the 2014–2015 and 2015–2016 growing seasons in Homestead, FL. All TSWV-resistant tomato cultivars had significantly (P < 0.05) lower disease incidence of TCSV, compared with the commercial standard cultivars ‘FL 47’ or ‘Sanibel’, exhibiting intermediate to high levels of tolerance to TCSV. There was no significant effect of tomato genotype on the thrips vectors, western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis) and common blossom thrips (F. schultzei). All tested tomato cultivars had equivalent or greater yields of total marketable fruit compared with the standard cultivar Sanibel. Particularly, in the third trial with disease incidence of 25% on Sanibel, ‘BHN 1064’ had significantly greater total yield and yields of extra-large and large fruit compared with Sanibel. ‘SV 7631TD’ and ‘Brickyard’ had significantly greater extra-large fruit yield and medium fruit yield, respectively, compared with Sanibel. Results from this study show that TSWV-resistant tomato cultivars were tolerant to TCSV under field conditions of south Florida, indicating that the use of genetic resistance in commercial tomato cultivars is an effective strategy to manage TCSV.

The Everglades, a vast subtropical wetland, dominates the landscape of south Florida and is widely recognized as an ecosystem of great ecological importance. Data from seven inflow sites to the Everglades National Park (ENP) were analyzed over three decades (1985–2014) for temporal trends by the STL (integrated seasonal-trend decomposition using LOESS) method. A cluster analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were applied for the evaluation of spatial variation. The results indicate that the water quality change trend is closely associated with rainfall. Increasing rainfall results in increasing flow and thus, decreasing concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus. Based on 10 variables, the seven sampling stations were classified by CA into four distinct clusters: A, B, C, and D. The PCA analysis indicated that total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) are the main pollution factors, especially TN. The results suggest that non-point sources are the main pollution sources and best management practices (BMPs) effectively reduce organic nitrogen. However, TN and TP control is still the focus of future work in this area. Increasing the transfer water quantity can improve the water quality temporarily and planting submersed macrophytes can absorb nitrogen and phosphorus and increase the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in water, continuously improving the water quality.

Increasing commercial use of controlled release fertilizer (CRF) has prompted the need to predict N release simply and viably in the greenhouse environment. Two CRFs were tested, i.e., P40d and P100d by incubating them for 40 or 100 days either in static water at 10, 15, 20, 25, and 35 °C or in the soil of vegetable plots in a greenhouse lacking temperature controls. Cumulative nitrogen release (CNR) from a CRF was represented by a parabola curve and significantly affected by the incubation temperature. A method to calculate N m (the maximum N release percentage from CRF) was established using a first-order kinetic equation and the method of least squares. N m was 90.9% to 99.9% for P40d and 72.1% to 87.1% for P100d at 10–35 °C, respectively. A relationship function between the N release rate and naturally fluctuating greenhouse soil temperatures was established using the activation energy of the N release reaction. Then a model was constructed with field temperature as the variable to predict N release throughout the entire greenhouse crop production season. The value of ψ representing a property of the coating material of a CRF is ≈ 1.0 for the release period of the CRF of 35–55 days and ≈ 1.2 of 80–120 days. We validated the model using two seasons of greenhouse tomato, Solanum lycopersicum L., and cucumber, Cucumis sativus L., production data, and found that the error was less than 12% points. This indicated that the constructed model was sufficiently simple, practical, and accurate for use by growers, and fertilizer industry and regulatory personnel.

The high cost of coating materials prevents the wide use of controlled release urea (CRU). A large size polymer‐coated tablet urea (PCTU) can be produced with <30% of coating materials used for traditional size of CRUs. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of a PCTU produced in our laboratory on root growth, grain yield, and N use efficiency on rice ( Oryza sativa L.) grown in a silt loam soil during two growing seasons. The PCTU, regular CRU and urea formaldehyde (UF) were applied into the soil one time before transplanting at the rate of 0.93 g N pot −1 , while the conventional urea (U) treatment was applied three times in the tillering (40%), jointing (30%), and heading stages (30%). The results showed that the PCTU treatment produced higher root vigor, peroxidase activity, and yield of rice than the U treatment. There was no significant difference in plant height, SPAD value, growth indexes of plant shoot and root of rice among the PCTU and U treatments in the rice tillering stage, but splitting applications of U at tillering, jointing, and heading stages costs more for labor and machinery than applying once for PCTU. The PCTU treatment increased the yield of grain and total N use efficiency more than the U, CRU, and UF treatments did, but the UF treatment produced the highest yield and N use efficiency of straw.

Angiogenesis plays an essential role in many physiological and pathological processes. Quercetin, a plant pigment and traditional Chinese medicinal herb, is an important flavonoid that has anti-cancer activity. However, the function of quercetin in blood vessel development in vivo and in vitro is still unclear. In this study, we investigated the anti-angiogenic activity of quercetin in zebrafish embryos and in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Our results showed that quercetin disrupted the formation of intersegmental vessels, the dorsal aorta and the posterior cardinal vein in transgenic zebrafish embryos. In HUVECs, quercetin inhibited cell viability, the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 and tube formation in a dose-dependent manner. In inhibiting angiogenesis, quercetin was found to be involved in suppressing the extracellular signal-regulated kinase signaling pathway in vivo and in vitro. This study has shown that quercetin has potent anti-angiogenic activity and may be a candidate anti-cancer agent for future research.

Reduction of ammonia (NH) and nitrous oxide (NO) emission and enhanced nitrogen (N) fertilizer use efficiency have been investigated with different N fertilizer management and application methods for irrigated rice production. Few studies have examined NH and NO emissions from rice paddy soil when commingling controlled release urea with rice seeds. The objective of this study was to assess NH volatilization and NO emission from a novel controlled-release urea formulation (CRU-180) when commingled at the full application rate with seeds in a single application during the preparation of plant plugs at the nursery stage. The experiment was conducted as a factorial design with two fertilizer sources (conventional urea and CRU-180), four rates (0, 100, 200, and 300 kg N ha), and three replicates. The entire amount of CRU-180 was incorporated into each plug with germinated seed. The conventional urea was split into four applications based on the standard practice for fertilizer application. The CRU-180 treatments reduced the NH and NO concentration in the paddy flood water and paddy soil solution as compared with the conventional urea treatments. The percentage of applied N fertilizer emitted as NH volatilization and NO emission in the CRU-180 treatments was only about 10% of that from the conventional urea treatments at the same N application rate. The application of CRU-180 with seeds offers a novel N fertilizer management technique, a method to reduce environmental impacts associated with rice production and the cost of rice production.