Zinc biofortification of maize (Zea mays L.): Status and challenges

Zn deficiency is one of the leading health problems in children and women of developing countries. Different interventions could be used to overcome malnutrition, but biofortification is most impactful, convenient, sustainable and acceptable intervention. Maize is one of the major crops grown and consumed in the regions with prevalent Zn malnutrition; therefore, this is suitable target for Zn biofortification. Zn biofortification of maize could be achieved through agronomic and genetic approaches. Discussion of agronomic approaches with genetic approaches is prerequisite because soils in developing countries are deficit of Zn and availability of Zn in soils is mandatory for estimating the genetic responses of maize genotypes through genetic approaches. Seed priming, foliar and soil applications are agronomic tools for biofortification, but solo and combined applications of these treatments have different effects on Zn enrichment. Genetic approaches include the increase of Zn bioavailability or increase of kernel Zn concentration. Zn bioavailability could be increased by reducing the anti‐nutritional factors or by increasing the bioavailability enhancers. Kernel Zn concentration could be improved through hybridization and selections, whereas genetically engineered attempts for improving Zn uptake from soil, loading in xylem, remobilization in grains and sequestration in endosperm can further improve the kernel Zn concentration. Key challenges associated with dissemination of Zn biofortified maize are also under discussion in this draft. Current review emphasized all of above‐mentioned contents to provide roadmap for the development of Zn biofortified maize genotypes to curb the global Zn malnutrition.     

基于有效积温的中国水稻生长模型的构建

有效积温是指作物生长至某一生育阶段所需要积累的有效温度,是反映气象条件对作物生长影响的主要指标,研究有效积温对作物生长过程的影响对提高农业生产效率具有重要意义。该文以有效积温作为气象因子,收集中国气象数据网中的气象数据和已发表的学术论文中的水稻生长数据,建立了描述水稻生长过程的叶面积指数和干物质积累量的普适Logistic模型,并研究了水稻最大叶面积指数与最大干物质积累量、收获指数(作物经济产量与生物产量的比值)及降水量之间的关系。结果表明:有效积温为1000℃左右时,水稻叶面积指数最大,且此时干物质增长速率最大;水稻最大叶面积指数与最大干物质积累量之间表现为线性关系;最大叶面积指数和收获指数、降水量之间为二次抛物线关系,当降水量为670.5 mm时,最大叶面积指数为7.93,对应的水稻收获指数达到最大值0.50。该研究对于构建其他作物的生长模型具有一定的参考意义。     

华北平原不同种植制度对粮食作物氮素利用和土壤氮库的影响

冬小麦-夏玉米一年两熟是华北平原粮食作物的主要种植制度，存在氮肥利用率低、土壤氮素过量累积问题。为探索华北平原氮素高效利用的适宜种植制度，采用15N示踪技术，基于3 a田间定位试验，对一年两熟冬小麦-夏玉米的常规水氮和优化水氮、两年三熟冬小麦-夏玉米-春玉米与冬小麦-夏大豆-春玉米及一年一熟春玉米3种种植制度的作物产量、15N利用率、氮素去向和土壤氮库表观平衡进行研究。结果表明，两年三熟的冬小麦-夏玉米-春玉米产量为32 248.52 kg/hm2，分别比一年两熟和一年一熟提高22.16%和52.88%；15N利用率为33.36%，比一年一熟提高26.12%。3种植制度的氮肥去向最高为土壤残留，其次为作物吸收和损失，两年三熟冬小麦-夏玉米-春玉米的作物吸氮量最高为151.82 kg/hm2，土壤氮库表观盈余量为21.22 kg/hm2，显著低于其他种植制度。综合分析，冬小麦-夏玉米-春玉米两年三熟在稳产高产和提高氮素利用率上具有可持续的潜力，是华北平原未来较为理想的种植制度。     

安徽省作物养分供需分析及化肥减施潜力研究

有机-无机相结合的农田养分管理模式是现阶段中国发展绿色农业的必由之路,因而开展有机、无机养分和作物养分需求的比较研究对促进养分资源的合理分配和施用具有重要的参考价值。本文采用文献调查和统计分析的方法,评估了安徽省16市2010—2016年主要有机肥(包括秸秆、粪便、绿肥和饼肥)的养分资源,明晰了安徽省农业生产中有机、无机养分投入现状,并根据农业种植结构开展了有机、无机养分和作物养分需求的差异和关系研究,最后探索了安徽省的化肥减施潜力。结果表明:安徽省2010—2016年平均有机肥养分资源为287.70万t,N、P_2O_5和K_2O分别为104.49万t、39.60万t和143.61万t,可基本满足作物的养分需求;但有机肥的当季利用率低,N、P_2O_5和K_2O的当季利用率分别为21.44%、19.91%和52.61%,有机肥N、P_2O_5和K_2O实际还田量仅占作物养分需求的20.74%、25.38%和63.61%,占农田养分总投入的比重分别为11.87%、10.27%和51.35%。全省N、P_2O_5、K_2O养分实际投入量(包括有机肥和化肥)是作物养分需求的1.75倍、2.47倍和1.24倍,有7个市的N和13个市的P_2O_5养分施用量超过作物需求的2倍,存在较高的环境污染风险。通过控制农业总养分输入,安徽省的化肥减施潜力为35.12%,N、P_2O和K_2O的减施潜力分别为21.28%、23.97%和78.61%。提高有机肥的当季利用率和发展冬季绿肥资源可进一步促进化肥减施。本研究可为安徽省化肥零增长和农牧业的绿色可持续发展提供数据参考。     

草面温度在霜预报中的应用

为了避免农作物遇霜后遭受冻害,本研究采用草面温度对霜进行预测。利用连云港气象观测站2014—2016年逐时气象要素,包括气温、0 cm地温、露点温度、水汽压、气压以及2 min平均风速等气象要素作为影响连云港地区草面温度的关键因子,并以这6个要素作为属性特征,以草温作为标志量构建训练样本集,结合KNN数据挖掘算法构建草温预测模型,并根据草温判别是否有霜出现。结果表明：基于该算法构建的草温预测模型效果较好,预报平均误差1.2℃;根据草温预测霜的准确率高达90.2%,尤其对初终霜的预报具有很好的指示意义。因此,引入草温作为霜的预报指标,对于避免农作物遭受霜害具有十分重要的意义。     

旱作覆膜玉米生长和水分利用对气候变化的响应

基于3 a连续冬小麦-夏玉米覆膜轮作试验校准和验证AquaCrop模型的适用性,模拟研究了气候变化对夏玉米生长、产量和水分利用的影响,分析了覆膜措施对气候变化的应对效果。结果表明:关中地区(以武功、宝鸡和西安地区为例)年平均温度呈逐年递增趋势,温度增加幅度由高到低依次为宝鸡、西安和武功,增温速率分别为0.20、0.12℃·10a~(-1)和0.09℃·10a~(-1);降雨量呈逐年递减趋势,减少幅度大小依次为西安、宝鸡和武功,减小量分别为3.59、3.23 mm·10a~(-1)和2.64 mm·10a~(-1)。AquaCrop模型在关中地区表现出了良好的适用性,可以较好地模拟连续覆膜条件下作物的产量指标、水分利用和生长的动态变化,冠层覆盖度模拟值和实测值之间的均方根误差(RMSE)介于1.1%～15.3%,生物量模拟值和实测值之间的RMSE介于0.626～2.540 t·hm~(-2),土壤贮水量模拟值和实测值之间的RMSE介于12.6～47.4 mm。模拟研究表明,上世纪60年代以来,随着气温不断升高,武功、宝鸡和西安地区的夏玉米生育期均呈逐年缩短趋势,特别是1980s以来,减少幅度达2.76、4.82 d·10a~(-1)和5.94 d·10a~(-1);在不同的降水年型下,覆膜处理产量均高于裸地处理,且其变异系数较小;在干旱气候条件下,覆膜处理依然可以获得一定的籽粒产量,与裸地处理相比,覆膜处理表现出了较好的稳产效应。同时,覆膜处理有效减少了玉米苗期土壤表层蒸发(平均减少7.6 mm),从而在土壤中保蓄更多的降雨;覆膜处理虽然增加了土壤耗水量,但其通过保蓄土壤水分,稳定作物产量,有效提高了玉米的水分利用效率。因此,关中地区旱作覆膜可以有效适应当地气候变化,在一定程度上应对干旱气候,具有较好的增产稳产效应。     

Impact of cash crop cultivation on household income and migration decisions: Evidence from low-income regions in China

This study examines the impact of cash crop cultivation on household income and migration decisions, using survey data collected from low-income regions in China. Given farmers decide themselves whether to cultivate cash crops, an endogenous treatment regression model that accounts for potential selection bias issue is used to analyze the data. The empirical results show that cash crop cultivation exerts a positive and statistically significant impact on household income, but it does not affect household migration decisions significantly. The disaggregated analyses reveal that cash crop cultivation significantly increases farm income but decreases off-farm income.     

Effect of conservation agriculture on soil organic and inorganic carbon sequestration and lability: A study from a rice–wheat cropping system on a calcareous soil of the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains

Increasing soil carbon (C) in arable soils is an important strategy to achieve sustainable yields and mitigate climate change. We investigated changes in soil organic and inorganic carbon (SOC and SIC) under conservation agriculture (CA) in a calcareous soil of the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains of India. The treatments were as follows: conventional-till rice and wheat (CT-CT), CT rice and zero-till wheat (CT-ZT), ZT direct seeded rice (DSR) and CT wheat (ZT-CT), ZTDSR and ZT wheat without crop residue retention (ZT-ZT), ZT-ZT with residue (ZT-ZT+R), and DSR and wheat both on permanent beds with residue (PB-PB+R). The ZT-ZT+R had the highest total SOC in both 0–15 and 15–30 cm soil layers (20% and 40% higher (p < .05) than CT-CT, respectively), whereas total SIC decreased by 11% and 15% in the respective layers under ZT-ZT+R compared with CT-CT. Non-labile SOC was the largest pool, followed by very labile, labile and less labile SOC. The benefits of ZT and residue retention were greatest for very labile SOC, which showed a significant (p < .05) increase (~50%) under ZT-ZT+R compared with CT-CT. The ZT-ZT+R sequestered ~2 Mg ha⁻¹ total SOC in the 0–15 cm soil layer in 6 years, where CT registered significant losses. Thus, the adoption of CA should be recommended in calcareous soils, for C sequestration, and also as a reclamation technique.