Field and greenhouse studies were conducted from 1997 to 2001 to determine cabbage response to posttransplant applications of pendimethalin (0.56 to 2.24 kg ai/ha). Differential variety response was minimal, and applications greater than 0.56 kg caused severe and persistent crop injury and reduced head number and yield in ‘Azan’, ‘Storage 4’, ‘Super Elite’, and ‘Super Red 90’. Pendimethalin (1.7 kg) applied posttransplant reduced cabbage yield weights 23, 30, and 87% with bare root, large, and small transplants, respectively. Application (0.84 kg) to soil, foliage, or soil and foliage caused 0, 81, and 82% dry weight reduction by 21 d after treatment, respectively. Anatomical analysis of two-leaf seedlings collected 3 wk after pendimethalin treatment (1.12 kg ai/ha) showed stunting of the shoot apical meristem and its emerging leaves, disorganization of apical structure with disruption of normal cell division and cell expansion, and abnormal differentiation of the vasculature in leaves and hypocotyls.

Introduction. Plants develop mechanisms that allow them to compartmentalize injuries that they suffer during their life. In trees, pruning and injection treatments must be used in accordance with precise rules to reduce risks resulting from the injuries created. Sealing in palms. Palms, contrary to widespread belief, are quite capable of “healing” injuries (sealing); because of an anatomy quite different from trees, the sealing process in palms is much simpler. Compartmentalization of injection wounds. The controversy on the use of injection in trees is due essentially to initial mistakes that have then been rectified. Injection in palms against the red palm weevil. For palms, for decades, this technique has been employed without problems and with great efficiency against various pests, including Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, the red palm weevil (RPW). Its use has been reserved for exceptional situations either to face abnormal pest proliferation, uncontrollable by other techniques, or to implement eradication programs. Integrated eradication program. In such a program, the main aim of injection treatments is preventive. With long-persistence insecticides, the number of treatments could be greatly reduced. The resulting savings in time and money would enable the organization of the treatments of all the palms located in an infested area, and consequently the rapid eradication of the pest. New perspectives. We established that insecticides applied by injection were capable of protecting palms with only two or even one treatment per year. These results suggest a radical improvement in programs to eradicate RPW, while considerably reducing the risks to health and the environment compared with spray treatments.

Introduction. Sclerocarya birrea (Anacardiaceae) est une espèce dont les fruits font l’objet d’un important commerce au Sahel. Son amélioration à travers les programmes d’hybridation est entravée par l’absence d’informations sur sa stratégie de reproduction. Nos travaux ont étudié l’anatomie florale de l’espèce au sein d’un essai de quatre provenances ouest-africaines mis en place dans la forêt de Gonsé (Burkina Faso). Matériel et méthode. L’échantillonnage a porté sur 100 fleurs de chaque provenance. Nous avons observé la morphologie des fleurs mâles et des fleurs hermaphrodites à la loupe binoculaire, compté les différentes formes du pistil en fonction des diverses provenances et étudié, par coloration à la fushine, la viabilité in vitro des grains de pollen issus d’individus mâles et d’individus hermaphrodites. Résultats. Les populations sahéliennes de Sclerocarya birrea se sont révélées androdioïques. Les fleurs hermaphrodites montrent un ovaire volumineux surmonté de un, deux ou trois stigmates distincts à style court. Leurs grains de pollen sont viables in vitro et ils ont les mêmes caractéristiques morphologiques que ceux des fleurs mâles. Discussion et conclusion. L’androdioécie morphologique mise en évidence pourrait avoir une fonction adaptative en palliant l’insuffisance de pollinisation. Elle pourrait être exploitée pour des programmes d’hybridation et pour la conception des plans d’aménagement.

Introduction. The litchi tree produces fruit in terminal panicles in a development cycle of approximately 4 months. Data on its morphology and anatomy are scarce, although the fruit is of fundamental importance in the Sapindaceae systematic. This work was carried out to study fruit morphology and pericarp anatomy during the development of the cv. Brewster litchi. Materials and methods. Fruits were collected at different development phases on 12-year-old trees. The fruits were morphologically and anatomically studied. After fixation, the samples were sectioned in several anatomical planes, and mounted in temporary or permanent preparations. Results. The flowers were functionally male and female, with a superior bicarpelar ovary with two ovules, rarely three. Frequently, only a single fruit develops. The fruit is a heart-shaped drupe when ripe, fleshy and indehiscent. The pericarp is thin, leathery, rough, wrinkled and red colored, with aril covering all the seed. The fruit begins differentiation with the formation of the pericarp which consists of epicarp, mesocarp and endocarp. Discussion. The litchi fruit is elongated when young, becoming heart-shaped as it develops. It contains one or two seeds and each one is attached to the internal angle of the marginal sutures. When ripe, the litchi has a leathery and broken pericarp because of the presence of brachisclereides immediately below the epidermis, whose function may be protection against mechanical and physiological stresses and herbivorous action.