Pollen production in olive cultivars and its interannual variability.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Olive (Olea europaea subsp. europaea var. europaea) is the most extensively cultivated fruit crop worldwide. It is considered a wind-pollinated and strictly outcrossing crop. Thus, elevated pollen production is crucial to guarantee optimum fruit set and yield. Despite these facts, the variability of pollen production within the cultivated olive has been scarcely studied. This study aimed to characterize this feature by analysing a representative set of worldwide olive cultivars. METHODS: We evaluated the average number of pollen grains per anther in 57 principal cultivars over three consecutive years. We applied a standard generalized linear model (GLM) approach to study the influence of cultivar, year and the previous year's fruit load on the amount of pollen per anther. Additionally, the K-means method was used for cluster analysis to group cultivars based on their pollen production capacity. KEY RESULTS: Pollen production per anther was highly variable among olive cultivars. The cultivar significantly accounted for 51.3 % of the variance in pollen production and the year for 0.3 %. The interaction between the two factors explained 8.4 % of the variance, indicating that not all cultivars were equally stable in producing pollen across the years. The previous year's fruit load and its interaction with the year were significant, but barely accounted for 1.5 % of the variance. Olive cultivars were classified into four clusters according to their capacity to produce pollen. Interestingly, the fourth cluster was composed of male-sterile cultivars, which presumably share this character by inheritance. CONCLUSIONS: Pollen production per anther varied extensively within the cultivated olive. This variation was mainly driven by the cultivar and its interaction with the year. The differential capacity of olive cultivars to produce pollen should be considered not only for designing new orchards but also gardens where this species is used as an ornamental.

[Nutrition therapy for adult patients with caustic injuries to gastrointestinal tract]. / Terapia nutricional en pacientes adultos con quemaduras del tracto gastrointestinal por cáusticos.

OBJECTIVES: To present here the experience of our Nutrition Therapy Team of the Hospital El Tunal, for the nutritional management of adult patients with caustic injuries to gastrointestinal tract. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a retrospective, descriptive study of patients with caustic injuries to gastrointestinal tract managed by our Nutrition Therapy Team between January 2000 and December 2007. We revisited the clinical history of patients with diagnosis of caustic injury. Various nutritional variables, as well as the evolution and outcome were pooled and analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 30 patients, 17 male y 13 female with a mean age of 34.4 +/- 17.2 years old were found. The ingestion of caustics was suicidal intent in 22 (73.3%) and accidental in 8 (26.7%). The global mortality was high (43.3%). Weight loss was found in 46.9% of the patients and a negative nitrogen balance in 62.5%. Sixteen patients (53.12%) were managed with mixed nutrition (enteral and/or parenteral) for a mean time of 24 +/- 22 days. We compared two groups Moderate vs Severe, according to the severity of the caustic injury to gastrointestinal tract and found that mortality, the length of hospital stay and the final albumin value were significantly different among groups. CONCLUSIONS: Caustic injuries to gastrointestinal tract are not frequent, they are found mainly in young patients with suicidal intent and are associated with high mortality, especially in severe injuries. This aggression causes important catabolic state leading to a negative nitrogen balance and weight loss. These patients require early nutritional intervention sometimes extended for months.