The genus Musa is a large species complex which includes cultivars at diploid and triploid levels. These sterile and vegetatively propagated cultivars are based on the A genome from Musa acuminata, exclusively for sweet bananas such as Cavendish, or associated with the B genome (Musa balbisiana) in cooking bananas such as Plantain varieties. In M. acuminata cultivars, structural heterozygosity is thought to be one of the main causes of sterility, which is essential for obtaining seedless fruits but hampers breeding. Only partial genetic maps are presently available due to chromosomal rearrangements within the parents of the mapping populations. This causes large segregation distortions inducing pseudo-linkages and difficulties in ordering markers in the linkage groups. The present study aims at producing a saturated linkage map of M. acuminata, taking into account hypotheses on the structural heterozygosity of the parents.

Objectives: This study provides an overview of the composition of the raw root flesh of a panel of 22 sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) cultivars, with a focus on bioactive compounds. The large diversity of the proximate and phytochemical compositions observed between cultivars and within and between different flesh colors pointed out the importance of composition analysis and not only color choice for the design of foods with nutritional benefits. Methods: The nutritional composition (starch, protein, total dietary fibers) and bioactive compound composition of 22 cultivars from Reunion Island, maintained in the Vatel Biological Resource Center, were investigated. Results: Orange and purple cultivars stood out from white and yellow cultivars for their higher nutritional composition. Purple sweet potatoes were notable for their high contents of anthocyanins (55.7 to 143.4 mg/g dry weight (DW)) and phenolic compounds, in particular chlorogenic acid and ferulic acid, contributing to antioxidant activities, as well as their fiber content (14.1 ± 2.1% DW). Orange cultivars were rich in β-carotene (47.2 ± 0.7 mg/100 g DW) and to a lesser extent α-carotene (4.8 ± 1.2 mg/100 g DW). In contrast, certain white cultivars demonstrated suboptimal nutritional properties, rendering them less relevant even for applications where the lack of coloration in food is desired. Conclusions: Those characteristics enable the selection of sweet potato varieties to design food products ensuring optimal nutritional benefits and culinary versatility.

The Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC) causes bacterial wilt diseases, which affect a wide range of plant hosts, including Solanaceae, and is of major economic importance. Point-of-care ...

Un des résultats les moins controversés de la théorie économique est la prédiction que l’imposition d’un salaire minimum a des effets néfastes sur l’emploi. Des études empiriques réalisées dans les années soixante-dix et au début des années quatre-vingt ont confirmé la présence de ces effets, surtout chez les adolescents. Par ailleurs, depuis le milieu des années soixante-dix, le salaire minimum au Canada a très peu augmenté et a même baissé en termes réels, ce qui aurait dû affecter l’emploi favorablement. Le but de cette étude est de tenter de vérifier si le salaire minimum a toujours le même impact négatif sur le marché du travail des adolescents au Canada durant la période 1976-1988. À cette fin, nous estimons un modèle semblable à ceux des études antérieures. Les résultats sont différents de ceux de ces études : l’indice du salaire minimum n’est pas significatif dans les régressions estimées. Il semblerait donc que le salaire minimum ait un impact plus faible, ou du moins plus incertain, que par le passé. Quelques explications possibles aux changements observés sont suggérées. Certaines ont trait aux données utilisées et à la façon de mesurer les variables du modèle, alors que d’autres se rapportent aux relations théoriques entre ces variables.