Introduction to the International Symposium on Lipid Science and Health and research progress in lipid science and health

The International Symposium on Lipid Science and Health (ISLSH), which was organized annually by Oil Crops Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (OCRI-CAAS) since 2016, has gained a strong reputation and attracted hundreds of delegates from around the world for discussion of lipid research trends and advances every year, to promote research and academic exchanges in the fields of lipid science and health. The 5th International Symposium on lipid Science and Health was successfully held in Wuhan, China, from October 23rd to 25th, 2020, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of OCRI-CAAS. The two-day symposium gathered well-known experts specialized in lipid science to share the current state of lipid research with emphasis on aspects covering: (1) lipid profiling and characterization, (2) lipid preparation and modification, (3) lipid improvement and regulation, and (4) lipid nutrition and health. The symposium was conducted by a combination of on-site and network meeting. More than 250 distinguished delegates from academia and industry participated in the on-site multidisciplinary meeting, and thousands of scholars attended the virtual event. This paper is as a record of the symposium proceedings and a brief summary of the advances and trends in 4 aspects of lipid science and health.     

Formation of a Volunteer Harmful Algal Bloom Network in British Columbia,Canada, Following an Outbreak of Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning

Evidence for shellfish toxin illness in British Columbia (BC) on the west coast of Canada can be traced back to 1793. For over two hundred years, domestically acquired bivalve shellfish toxin illnesses in BC were solely ascribed to paralytic shellfish poisonings caused by algal blooms of Alexandrium. This changed in 2011, when BC experienced its first outbreak of diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP). As a result of this outbreak, Canada’s first DSP symposium was held in November, 2012, in North Vancouver, BC. Three of the objectives of the symposium were to provide a forum to educate key stakeholders on this emerging issue, to identify research and surveillance priorities and to create a DSP network. The purpose of this paper is to review what is known about shellfish poisoning in BC and to describe a novel volunteer network that arose following the symposium. The newly formed network was designed for industry shellfish growers to identify harmful algae bloom events, so that they may take actions to mitigate the effects of harmful blooms on shellfish morbidity. The network will also inform public health and regulatory stakeholders of potentially emerging issues in shellfish growing areas.     

Plantas utiles de Colombia bambuseas

Summary The author gives an enumeration of the bamboos growing in Columbia, their uses, biology and culture. The bamboos are used in Columbia for construction of furniture, aquaducts, fences, etc. Some scientists therefore are working at them and Columbia is interested in the importation of new species of bamboos from other countries.     

Mitigation of Acrylamide: a Multidisciplinary Approach to an Industry Problem

The 99th Annual Meeting of the Potato Association of America Scientific program began with a symposium on Acrylamide sponsored by the Physiology Section entitled “Mitigation of Acrylamide: a Multidisciplinary Approach to an Industry Problem”.     

Biological weed control in rice with a strain of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (Penz.) Sacc. used as a mycoherbicide

An indigenous fungal pathogen of the native leguminous weed, northern jointvetch (Aeschynomene virginica [L.] B.S.P.) was found to cause an anthracnose disease at endemic levels annually on its host in Arkansas rice and soybean fields without apparent impact on competitive ability or dispersal of the weed. The pathogen was isolated in pure culture and identified as a host-specific strain of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, an intensively studied ‘group species’ which causes many anthracnose diseases and consists of species and strains representing wide latitudes of hosts specificity and virulence on both economic crops and wild plants in the tropical and temperate regions of the world. An understanding of anthracnose disease aetiology gained from the literature and confirmed by empirical studies with the weed and fungus revealed that the pathogen was specific and potentially devastating to its weed host, but was constrained in natural situations by poor capacity for dissemination of inoculum. Its spores, although produced in abundance, develop late, are sticky and dispersed mainly by splashing rain or insects, mechanisms that are suppressed on annual weed plants interspersed with annual crop plants. For the fungus to be effective as a biological control agent (i.e. as a mycoherbicide), complete coverage of a field with inoculum at appropriate times and levels to compensate for the pathogen's poor capacity for dissemination would be required. A multidisciplinary team of plant pathologists, weed scientists, veterinary scientists and fermentation scientists investigated the practical potential of the mycoherbicide concept with this host-pathogen combination and found it to be biologically feasible, registerable and commercially practical. The fungus is marketed as living dry spores for use on a comparatively small area weed problem and in a crop-management programme that relies heavily on chemical pesticides. Extension of this concept to control other weeds or other pests seems possible and practical.     

Trends in Agricultural Science with Special Reference to Research and Development in the Potato Sector

This contribution highlights some developments in agricultural science in general and plant science in particular. It also describes some changes in the way society looks upon science and scientists and in the way scientists play their role in the scientific community. The paper provides a very brief overview of the achievements of potato science and the challenges ahead. It stresses the need for proper knowledge chains and scientific platforms to make better use of the resources provided to potato research. It also indicates where the European Association for Potato Research could play a significant role. The views expressed are those of the author and not based on an extensive literature review.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Books review in this article: PERRING, F. [Ed.] The flora of a changing Britain WATER AND SOILS DIVISION, MINISTRY OF WORKS, NEW ZEALAND. Land use capability survey handbook. A New Zealand handbook for the classification of land NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL, COMMITTEE ON REMOTE SENSING FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES. Remote sensing with special reference to agriculture and forestry HUGHES, D. E.; ROSE, A. H. [Eds] Microbes and biological productivity. Twenty-first symposium of the Society for General Microbiology held at University CoOege London April 1971     

Impact of Agronomic and Storage Practices on Acrylamide in Processed Potatoes

Acrylamide is a probable carcinogen found in processed potato products. The compound is formed at elevated temperatures by the Maillard reaction from two primary precursors - reducing sugars (fructose and glucose) and asparagine. Significant advances have been made in reducing acrylamide formation by selecting varieties with low precursor concentrations through conventional breeding or genetic modification techniques. However, acrylamide in many of the traditional varieties processed for fries or chips is sometimes found at elevated levels. Both agronomic and storage practices can significantly influence glucose, fructose, and asparagine concentrations and therefore the potential to form acrylamide during processing. This summary of a symposium presentation given at the 99th Annual Potato Association of American Meeting is to provide a general overview of previous studies that have examined the effects of agronomic factors such as nutrient and water management and storage factors such as temperature and duration on acrylamide precursors and/or acrylamide in processed potato products. A better understanding of how these factors affect acrylamide precursors is a first step in minimizing acrylamide formation during processing and improving the quality of processed potato products.     

An assessment of the relative importance of specific traits for the genetic improvement of nutritive value in dairy pasture

There have been few successful programmes to select forage plants with improved nutritive value for dairy cattle, despite the implications of improved forage quality for dairy production. Part of this lack of progress has been attributed to differences in opinion on the relative importance of improving individual traits relating to nutritive value. This paper reports the use of the Delphi survey technique to obtain an estimate of the priority for improvement of individual nutritive value traits among a large group of respondents. The Delphi technique has been used previously to rank nutritive value traits in forages for liveweight gain and wool production (Wheeler and Corbett, 1989, Grass and Forage Science , 44 , 77–83). Increasing dry-matter digestibility (DMD) was ranked as the most important goal for grasses; increased non-structural carbohydrate (WSC) and improved rate of digestion were ranked second and third in importance. The absence of anti-quality factors, and an 'optimal ratio' of rumen degradable protein to undegradable protein (RDP/UDP) were ranked most highly for legumes, with increased DMD and WSC following closely behind. Increased magnesium and increased lipid content were ranked lowest for both grasses and legumes. Similar rankings were achieved when mean rankings from Australian and New Zealand scientists were compared with those from US and European scientists. Rankings were also similar when results from nutrition scientists were compared with those from plant breeders/agronomists.     

我国水稻重要农艺性状分子遗传研究进展及在育种上的应用

水稻是我国的主要粮食作物,在人口快速增长和自然环境不断恶化的今天,传统的育种技术已经很难满足当前水稻育种的需求,分子育种技术逐渐成为育种工作者解决当前困境的主要方法。经过几十年的努力,中国科学家不仅在水稻遗传学和功能基因组学领域取得了令世界瞩目的成就,还在水稻分子育种方面为提高粮食产量、营养质量和环境效益方面做出了巨大努力。本文主要综述了我国科学家在水稻分子遗传和分子育种方面取得的成就并进行讨论。     

AFLP的原理及其应用

ＡＦＬＰ是检测ＤＮＡ多态性的一种新的分子标记技术。对其起源、基本原理、技术程序和应用范围及前景进行了介绍和描述     

基于1999—2019年国家自然科学基金资助信息分析茶学基础研究现状

对茶学领域1999—2019年获得国家自然科学基金资助的项目,从项目年度、类别、学部、依托单位性质及其所在区域、项目负责人和学科分支分布等方面进行统计分析,挖掘我国茶学学科基础研究的现状、特点和发展趋势,探讨茶学基础研究中存在的问题和不足,为茶学领域科研人员的选题思路、科研发展提供参考。     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
GOULD, F. W. Grass systematics .
RORISON, I. H. [Ed.] Ecological aspects of the mineral nutrition of plants. A symposium of the British Ecological Society, Sheffield, 1–5 April 1968 .
HAGAN, R. M.; HAISE, H. R.; EDMINSTER, T. W. [Eds] Irrigation of agricultural lands .
RICHARDSON, M. Translocation in plants .     

Was Asian Rice (Oryza sativa) Domesticated More Than Once?

Recently, a dual or multiple origin of domesticated rice has been the prevailing opinion among rice scientists because rice is clearly differentiated into two major varietal groups, indica and japonica, and several minor groups. Molecular clock studies that suggested that divergence in the A-genome wild rice genepool occurred prior to domestication gave further weight to the opinion that rice had a dual origin. However, recent analysis of the major gene that is responsible for the difference in degree of shattering between rice and wild rice has revealed that it is the same mutation in indica and japonica rice, which is not compatible with a dual origin of domesticated rice. Here, we discuss the geographic and genetic reasons why a single origin for domesticated rice is compatible with current data regarding the evolution of rice. The apparently conflicting data regarding the origin of rice can be resolved by the role hybridisation–introgression has played during rice evolution since domestication.     

Modeling of continental-scale crop water requirement and available water resources

The relationship between agricultural water demand and supply has been of interest to government decision makers and scientists because of its importance in water resources management. We developed a water cycle model for eastern Eurasia that can estimate water requirements for crop growth and evaluate the demand–supply relationships of agricultural water use on a continental scale. To produce an appropriate water cycle, the model was constructed based on small drainage basins. To validate the model performance with respect to simulated runoff, which is here considered as the available water resource, we compared our outputs with those of other models and with observed river discharges. The results show that this model is comparable to other models and that it is applicable for the evaluation of water cycles at continental scale. We defined two types of crop water deficits (CWDs) as indicators of agricultural water demand. These were formulated by considering the physical processes of crop water use; we did not include water consumption that is dependent on cultivation management practices, such as water losses in irrigation systems. We assessed the reliability of our indicators by comparison with indicators from other studies and with published statistics related to agricultural water use. These comparisons suggest that our indicators are consistent with independent data and can provide a reasonable representation of water requirements for crop growth.     

高通量数据采集技术在现代玉米育种中的应用

现代作物育种技术的进步充分体现了从经验科学走向精确科学的过程。在过去的几十年里,世界范围内玉米新品种选育技术取得了长足发展,特别是随着分子生物学的兴起,育种家能够精确地了解育种群体的遗传组成,为精确地进行后代选择创造了一个必要条件。随着现代精确育种技术的发展,育种家需要用性状表现型数据和基因型数据在基因型和表现型之间建立因果联系。基因型数据的获取已经实现了标准化和工业化,费用相对低廉,性状表现型数据的获取日益变成了精确育种技术的瓶颈,亟待创新突破。近年来,通过育种家、工程师、数据科学家之间的通力合作,可以应用于作物育种过程的高通量数据采集技术逐步发展完善,使实时动态采集植物生长发育动态和环境反馈的非破坏性数据成为可能,为今后精确育种技术的发展提供了另一个必要条件。     

Industry's response to fungicide resistance

Industry's response to reports of fungicide resistance has varied from denial to a leadership role in defining the problem and implementing solutions. Individual isolated company activities now find co-operative support in an emerging inter-industry organization called the Fungicide Resistance Action Committee. Working Groups, composed of scientists from companies with related fungicides, are working together to prolong the effectiveness of fungicides.