Jorge Mora Urpí

Pejibaye palm (Bactris gasipaes, Arecaceae): Multi-use potential for the lowland humid tropics

Pejibaye (Bactris gasipaes) was domesticated and widely used in the lowland humid neotropics during pre-Colombian times. Several research programs are underway to study and improve the species for use by farmers in ecologically suitable regions. Five breeding programs are outlined, each for a use to which the pejibaye may be put: (1) palmito (heart of palm), (2) whole fruit for human consumption, (3) flour and meal production, (4) oil production, and (5) animal ration from residues or purposefully bred varieties. Yield estimates and breeding problems are discussed. It is certain that the pejibaye can again become an important crop for the humid tropics.

Efectos citológicos y sobre el crecimiento vegetal del extracto de semilla de remolacha

The present study concerns the effect of beet seed extract on the cytology of the growing region of onion roots, on the growth of onion roots, and on the germination of seeds of various plant species. Beet seed extract, in its less dilute solutions, was found to aet as an inhibitor of germination, growth, and mitosis frequency, mainly by its effect on prophase. The opposite was found to hold for the more dilute solutions, whieh act rather as growth stimulants. The cytological phenomena, most frequently caused by the extract were contraction and agglutination of chromosomes, explained by the theory of coacervation. C-mitosis phenomena appeared less frequently, and are explained as resulting from the inhibition of the spindle and the inaetivation of the centromere.