华北潮土区不同肥力水平土壤基础地力研究

农田基础地力提升对于减施肥料和作物稳产高产有着重大现实意义。为了研究华北潮土区土壤基础地力情况,在河南省典型潮土区原阳县、周口市、夏邑县等不同肥力水平的土壤上,通过2年大田试验及统计分析方法,观测和分析小麦-玉米轮作体系下土壤基础地力变化。结果表明:2012年和2013年小麦季的基础地力贡献率分别为78.1%和76.7%,略高于玉米季的71.9%和74.4%;2012年和2013年两季作物的平均基础地力贡献率分别为74.5%和75.1%,低肥力和高肥力水平土壤的地力贡献率没有显著差异。因此,华北潮土区小麦玉米轮作下土壤基础地力贡献率在75%左右。     

Effect of fish in rice-fish culture on the rice yield

Rice-fish culture, which means the simultaneous culture of rice and fish, is one of the best options to increase food production from limited land and is practiced in many countries in the world. Although many researchers and farmers believe that the rice yield is increased by fish farming in paddy fields, this hypothesis has never been fully tested. Here, we report ecological processes leading to higher rice yields in the rice-fish culture using crucian carp (Carassius complex), which have adapted to the paddy field ecosystem in Japan. We compare the rice-fish and rice-only plots in the experimental paddy field for biota, water quality, and rice yield. Coverage of duckweed and densities of zooplankton and benthic invertebrates in the rice-fish plots were lower than those in the rice-only plots, indicating that fish utilized them as food. NO₃–N concentration in the rice-fish plots was higher than that in the rice-only plots, indicating that the increase in NO₃–N concentration results from excretion of unutilized food nutrients by the fish. Consequently, rice yield in the rice-fish plots was 20% higher than that in the rice-only plots. The fertilizing effect of the fish excrement probably increased rice yield.     

Effect of echo-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound ablation on localized experimental tumors

We fabricated a prototype 3.25-MHz split-focus therapeutic transducer combined with a small 6.5-MHz imaging ultrasonic probe for transrectal treatment of prostate cancer and evaluated the feasibility of using split-focus high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to ablate localized tumor tissue without injuring the surrounding organs. We therefore established a localized tumor model by inoculating VX2 tumor into rabbit livers. The localized VX2 tumors of nine rabbits were transdermally treated with split-focus ablation at a peak intensity in water of 6 kW/cm2 for 4 s (6 shots) under the guidance of ultrasonic B-mode imaging. Necropsy a day after treatment found the surface of the livers and gastrointestinal tracts to be grossly normal. The VX2 tumors were completely coagulated and were surrounded by ablated liver tissue. The six shots of split-focus HIFU destroyed the VX2 tumors without injuring the liver surfaces or the surrounding organs. These results suggest that split-focus HIFU ablation could be an effective treatment of localized tumors.     

Estimation of cadmium load on Japanese farmland associated with the application of chemical fertilizers and livestock excreta

It is very important to use ¹⁵N labeled nitrogen gas (¹⁵N₂) in studies on biological nitrogen fixation. For example, ¹⁵N₂ is necessary for direct measurement of the amount of fixed nitrogen, and is useful for studies on the assimilation and transport of fixed nitrogen. However, ¹⁵N₂ is sometimes troublesome to deal with for the following reasons. Decline in the ¹⁵N content of ¹⁵N₂ gas may occur as a result of contamination with atmospheric N₂ during the storage period or application to nitrogen fixing organisms. Also, the ¹⁵N₂ gas provided commercially in a glass bottle or gas cylinder is technically and economically not convenient for experiments employing small amounts of ¹⁵N₂. Moreover, purification of ¹⁵N₂ gas is necessary for biological research, since contamination with the oxidized forms of nitrogen represses biological nitrogen fixation to a certain extent. A simple method for the preparation, purification and storage of ¹⁵N₂ gas for biological nitrogen fixation studies, was therefore devised.     

Distribution of radioactive cesium in soil and its uptake by herbaceous plants in temperate pastures with different management after the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Station accident

Abstract

The accident at Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Station (NPS) extensively contaminated the agricultural land in the Tohoku region of Japan with radioactive cesium [sum of cesium-134 (¹³⁴Cs) and cesium-137 (¹³⁷Cs)]. We evaluated the status of radioactive cesium (Cs) contamination in soil and plants at the Field Science Center of Tohoku University, northern Miyagi prefecture, 150 km north of the NPS. In seven pastures with different management, we examined: (1) the distribution of radioactive Cs in soil, (2) the concentration of radioactive Cs in various herbaceous plant species and (3) the change in radioactive Cs content of plants as they matured. We collected samples of litter, root mat layer (root mat soil and plant roots), and subsurface soil (0–5 cm beneath the root mat) at two to three locations in each pasture in December 2011 and May 2012. The aboveground parts of herbaceous plants (four grasses, two legumes, and one forb species) were collected from May 9 to June 20, 2012, at 14-d intervals, from one to five fixed sampling locations in each pasture. The distribution of radioactive Cs in soil differed among pastures to some degree: a large proportion of radioactive Cs was distributed in the root mat layer. Pasture management greatly influenced the radioactive Cs content of herbaceous plants (p < 0.001); plant species had less influence. Radioactive Cs content was highest (> 3 kBq kg^?1 dry weight) on May 9 and significantly decreased with maturity (p < 0.001) for most of the pastures, whereas it remained low (0.04–0.18 kBq kg^?1 dry weight) throughout the measurement period in the pasture where composted cattle manure was applied. The soil-to-plant transfer factor was negatively correlated to pH(H₂O) (R² = 0.783, p < 0.001) and exchangeable K content (R² = 0.971, p < 0.001) of root mat soils, which suggests that surface application of composted cattle manure reduces plant uptake of radioactive Cs by increasing the exchangeable K content of the soil. The radioactive Cs content of plants decreased with plant maturity; its degree of decrease (May 9 to June 6) was smaller in legumes (80.6%) than grasses (55.5%) and the forb (58.6%). Radioactive Cs content decreased with plant maturity; also, the proportion remaining in the aboveground plant was higher in legumes (80.6%) than grasses (55.5%) and the forb (58.6%).     

Fruit fall in five warm- and cool-temperate forests in Yakushima, Japan

Quantification of fruit fall is the only way to compare fruit food availability among different studies.This study aims to reveal the general characteristics of fruit fall in temperate forests, which should offer indispensable information for using fruit fall data as food availability for frugivores.Fruit fall in three warm-temperate and two cool-temperate forests on Yakushima, an island in southwestern Japan, were studied for two years in one cool-temperate plot of 50 m × 50 m in size and for four years in other plots of 100 m×50 m in size.The elevations of the plots ranged 170-1200 m a.s.l.Fruit fall was highest in the lowland forests (599 and 564 DW kg·ha-1·year-1 and lowest in the mid-elevation forest (198 DW kg·ha-1·year-1).Fleshy fruits and food-fruits for Japanese macaques constituted 3-37% and 4-87% of the total fruit fall, respectively.When only fleshy-fruit fall was compared, it was higher in the western lowland forest (222 DW kg·ha-1·year-1) than in any other forests (9-66 DW kg·ha-1·year-1).The pulp of fleshy fruits, presumably the edible parts for frugivores, was only 1.1-12.7% of the total fruit fall.The edible parts for Japanese macaques constituted 3-54% of the fruit fall, showing a high value where acorns are abundant.Half of the fruit-fall biomass consisted of only one or two non-fleshy-fruited species, which are usually dominant in many other temperate forests, such as Quercus and conifers.These variations agreed with the variations in occurrence of frugivorous (such as Japanese macaques).     

Phylogenetic relationships of three species within the family Heligmonellidae (Nematoda; Heligmosomoidea) from Japanese rodents and a lagomorph based on the sequences of ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacers, ITS-1 and ITS-2

Nematodes of the family Heligmonellidae (Heligmosomoidea; Trichostrongylina) reside in the digestive tracts of rodents and lagomorphs. Although this family contains large numbers of genera and species, genetic information on the Heligmonellidae is very limited. We collected and isolated adult worms of three species in Japan that belong to the family Heligmonellidae, namely Heligmonoides speciosus (Konno, 1963) Durette-Desset, 1970 (Hs) from Apodemus argenteus, Orientostrongylus ezoensis Tada, 1975 (Oe) from Rattus norvegicus and Lagostrongylus leporis (Schulz, 1931) (Ll) from Pentalagus furnessi, and sequenced the entire internal transcribed spacer regions, ITS-1 and ITS-2 of ribosomal DNA. ITS-1 of Hs, Oe and Ll was 426, 468 and 449 bp in length, and had a G+C content of about 41, 41 and 37 %, respectively. ITS-2 of Hs, Oe and Ll was 297, 319 and 276 bp in length and had a G+C content of about 38, 40 and 28%, respectively. The data of Hs, Oe and Ll were compared with those of two other known species within the family Heligmonellidae, Calorinensis minutus (Dujardin, 1845) (Cm) and Nippostrogylus brasiliensis (Travassos, 1914) (Nb), and with those of two species of Heligmosomidae (Heligmosomoidea), Heligmosomoides polygyrus bakeri and Ohbayashinema erbaevae. Phylogenetic analysis placed Hs, Oe and Ll in the same clade with Cm and Nb, forming a Heligmonellidae branch in both ITS-1 and ITS-2, separate from the Heligmosomoidea branch. These results demonstrated that the ITS-1 and ITS-2 sequences are useful for differentiating the Heligmonellidae nematode species. This study is the first to describe the ITS-1 and ITS-2 sequences of Hs, Oe and Ll.     

Preparation of phenol formaldehyde resin from phenolated wood

The technique for preparing phenol formaldehyde resin from phenolated wood (PWF) and its characters were studied and analyzed. Poplar (Populus spp) wood meal was liquefied by phenol in the presence of sulfuric acid as a catalyst. After the liquefied products were cooled, alkaline catalyst and formaldehyde were added. The mixture was kept at (60±2)°C for 1h and then was heated to (85±2)°C for 1h. The influence of molar ratio of formaldehyde to phenol (F/P) was investigated. The results showed when the molar ratio of formaldehyde to phenol was over 1.8, the PWF adhesives had high bond quality, bond durability and extremely low aldehydes emissions. Foundation item: The research was supported by Sino-Japanese Technical Cooperation Project (2-1-b) and the key technologies R & D Program for the 10th Five-Year Plan (325-11). Biography: LI Gai-yun (1974-), female, Assistant professor in Research Institute of Wood Industry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, P. R. China Responsible editor: Zhu Hong     

Changes in water status in seedlings of six species in the Fagaceae after inoculation with Raffaelea quercivora Kubono et Shin-Ito

To clarify the differences in susceptibility of six species in the Fagaceae (Quercus crispula, Quercus serrata, Quercus acutissima, Quercus phillyraeoides, Quercus glauca, and Castanopsis cuspidata var. sieboldii) to Raffaelea quercivora, we inoculated this fungus on seven potted 5-year-old seedlings of each species, observed symptom development, and measured xylem pressure potential (XPP) after inoculation. The first death was observed on the 11th day in Q. crispula and on the 56th day in Q. serrata. The number of dead seedlings of Q. crispula and Q. serrata were five and one, respectively, whereas no mortality was observed in the other four species. The XPP of inoculated seedlings in both Q. crispula and Q. serrata decreased after inoculation. In contrast, the XPP of inoculated seedlings of the other four species remained almost the same as in the control seedlings. These results indicate that R. quercivora is pathogenic to Q. crispula and Q. serrata and that the susceptibility of the six Fagaceae species in our study differed among species.