Economics of foliar fungicides for hard red winter wheat in the USA southern Great Plains

Grain yields of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in the southern Great Plains are often reduced by the presence of foliar diseases. This study was conducted to determine whether the application of foliar fungicides is an economically optimal management strategy. The effects of fungicide treatment on commercially available hard red winter wheat varieties with differing levels of genetic resistance (i.e., resistant, intermediate, and susceptible) to foliar diseases were investigated at two locations, Apache and Lahoma, OK, USA, for the harvest years 2005–2012. Two fungicides were rotated between the two locations and applied at approximately Feekes growth stage 9–10.5. When averaged across years, plots to which fungicide was applied generated greater average net returns than plots that did not receive fungicide for susceptible varieties at Apache, and for resistant, intermediate, and susceptible varieties at Lahoma. However, foliar fungicide application was not economical in every year at either location suggesting fungicide use should be reassessed each year given that profitability depends on year specific yield potential, prices, and foliar disease conditions. At both locations high disease incidence occurred in all but one site-year when the average March through May relative humidity exceeded 65%. Additional research would be required to determine the relationship between weather, including relative humidity, and disease incidence, and to develop an economic threshold for treatment decision aid.     

Relative abundance and damage of some insect pests of wheat under different tillage practices in rice–wheat cropping in India

Tillage changes the physical and chemical properties of soil and can also inhibit or enhance useful and harmful fauna. In agriculture, different tillage technologies are being tried to enhance crop productivity, but little concrete information seems to exist on their effects on pest abundance and damage. To address this lack of information, sowing of wheat was investigated under different tillage systems. In order to monitor pest abundance and damage in altered tillage systems, the present studies on the relative abundance and damage due to insect pests viz. pink stem borer (PSB, Sesamia inferens Walker), termites (Microtermes obesi Holmgren and Odontotermes obesus Rambur) and root aphid (Rhopalosiphum rufiabdominalis Sasaki) were undertaken in a rice–wheat cropping system during 2010–11 and 2011–12. Pest abundance and damage was monitored in four tillage systems i.e. conventional tillage (CT), zero tillage (ZT), ZT + mulch and rotary tillage (RT) under insecticide protected and unprotected conditions. The application of insecticide did not affect root aphid incidence or termite damage. However, significant differences in PSB damage in insecticide protected (0.9%) and unprotected (1.2%) conditions were observed. The investigations demonstrated that in CT, damage by PSB (0.6%) was minimum; however termite damage (2.2%) was maximum as compared to all other tillage conditions. In ZT, PSB damage (1.4%) was maximum and root aphid incidence (3.1 aphids/tiller) was minimum in comparison to other tillage conditions. ZT + mulch resulted in inter-mediate insect pest incidence/damage; however, RT was the least effective practice which showed relatively high incidence/damage of these three insects (1.2% PSB damage, 1.9% termite damage and 5.1 aphids/tiller). The insecticide × tillage interaction indicated that insecticide application is needed only in ZT and RT for PSB management.     

Diazotroph community structure and abundance in wheat–fallow and wheat–pea crop rotations

Biological input of nitrogen (N) from the atmosphere by free-living diazotrophs can help alleviate fertilizer use in agricultural systems. In this study, we investigated the effect of N fertilizer and winter pea (Pisum sativum L.) crop on the community structure and abundance of free-living diazotrophs in a two year study of dryland winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) no-till production system in Eastern Oregon, USA. Based on quantification of the nifH gene, diazotroph abundance was strongly influenced by plant species and the crop year in which the soil samples were collected. A greater amount of nifH copies was recovered in 2012 compared to 2011 either as copies per gram soil or normalized to the abundance of bacterial 16S rRNA genes. The quantity of genes was greater under pea than wheat in 2012 although no difference was observed in the preceding year. The nifH gene abundance was positively correlated to ammonium concentration in 2011 and bacterial abundance in 2012. Nitrogen application did not influence diazotroph abundance in the top 0–5 cm; however the abundance was reduced by application at the lower 5–10 cm depth under wheat crop. The diazotroph community structure appeared to be influenced more by N fertilization rather than plant species with the exception of wheat in 2012. Changes in the community structure over the two years were greater for fertilized than unfertilized soil. Collectively, these data suggest that year-to-year variability had a greater influence on diazotroph communities rather than specific parameters of plant species, fertilization, total N, total organic C, or soil pH. Multi-year studies are necessary to define the specific drivers of diazotroph abundance, community structure and function.     

Disulphide structure of high-molecular-weight (HMW-) gliadins as affected by terminators

This study aimed at elucidating SS-bonds of HMW-gliadins (HGL) from wheat with the focus on terminators of glutenin polymerisation. HGL from wheat flour extracts non-treated or treated with the S-alkylation reagent N-ethylmaleinimide (NEMI) were compared. HGL from wheat flour Akteur were isolated, hydrolysed with thermolysin and the resulting peptides pre-separated by gel permeation chromatography and analysed by liquid chromatography/mass-spectrometry using alternating electron transfer dissociation/collision-induced dissociation. Altogether, 22 and 28 SS-peptides from samples without and with NEMI treatment, respectively, were identified. Twenty-six peptides included standard SS-bonds of α- and γ-gliadins, high-molecular-weight and low-molecular-weight glutenin subunits. Eleven SS-bonds were identified for the first time. Fifteen peptides unique to HGL contained cysteine residues from gliadins with an odd number of cysteines (ω5-, α- and γ-gliadins). Thus, gliadins with an odd number of cysteines, glutathione and cysteine had acted as terminators of glutenin polymerisation. Decisive differences between samples without and with NEMI treatment were not obvious showing that the termination of polymerisation was already completed in the flour. The two HGL samples, however, were different in the majority of ten peptides that included disulphide-linked low-molecular-weight (LMW) thiols such as glutathione and cysteine with the former being enriched in the non-treated HGL-sample.     

湖北稻茬小麦主茎、分蘖1、分蘖2和分蘖3的成穗率、产量贡献率及主要农艺性状分析

合理的茎蘖组合是提升小麦绿色高效生产的重要因素。为了解湖北稻茬小麦主要茎蘖对产量及主要农艺性状的影响,以大穗型小麦品种川麦104和多穗型小麦品种扬麦15为材料,于2016-2018年在湖北十堰和武汉两地稻茬麦大田条件下,设置低(1.35×106~1.65×106株·hm^-2)、中(2.85×106~3.15×106株·hm^-2)、高(4.35×106~4.65×106株·hm^-2)三种种植密度,分析了主茎(S)、分蘖1(T1)、分蘖2(T2)和分蘖3(T3)(按出现先后顺序)的成穗率、产量贡献率及相关农艺性状的表现。结果表明:(1)湖北稻茬小麦成穗茎蘖农艺性状表现值偏低,除穗长和茎高受品种的影响最大外,其他被测性状受影响程度表现为蘖位>种植密度>品种;(2)在主茎均能成穗的情况下,分蘖成穗率随蘖位和种植密度的升高而降低,大穗型品种川麦104的降幅大于多穗型品种扬麦15;(3)主茎产量贡献率随种植密度的升高而升高(35.12%~54.50%),分蘖1产量贡献率稳定在23.25%~25.50%,分蘖2和分蘖3的产量贡献率随种植密度升高而降低,分别为14.59%~23.22%和5.42%~16.77%;(4)主茎的穗粒数(35.94~44.13粒)和穗粒重(1.44~1.93 g)显著高于其分蘖,茎高、茎蘖收获指数和穗茎节长只在川麦104中、高种植密度下的分蘖3与其他茎蘖差异显著;穗长、可孕小穗数和不孕小穗数有随蘖位和种植密度升高而变劣的趋势。聚类分析得出:湖北稻茬小麦绿色高效生产模式,以主茎成穗为主体,低种植密度下增加分蘖1和分蘖2,争取分蘖3成穗为辅;中种植密度下争取分蘖1+分蘖2成穗为辅;而高种植密度下争取分蘖1成穗为辅。     

春季低温对小麦颖果发育的影响

为了探明春季低温（倒春寒）导致小麦减产的细胞学机理，以扬麦15为材料，在小麦幼穗处于雌雄蕊分化期至药隔期之间时，设置-3 ℃低温处理，通过树脂半薄切片对颖果不同发育时期的形态结构进行观察。结果表明：（1）在颖果发育早期，低温促进了颖果的长度生长，抑制了宽度生长；与对照相比，低温处理组小麦颖果发育进程缩短；（2）低温处理组颖果果皮发育早，中果皮降解速度快；（3）低温处理增加了胚乳淀粉体的积累量，降低了蛋白体的积累量，发育后期胚乳充实度显著低于对照组；（4）与对照相比，低温处理后颖果韧皮部面积和珠心突起传递细胞面积增大。以上结果表明，春季低温处理更有利于养分运输组织的发育，使得灌浆时间缩短，最终导致淀粉积累量增加及颖果早熟。     

不同土壤条件下氮肥处理对小麦产量及品质的影响

为探讨不同土壤条件下氮肥处理对小麦产量及品质的影响,采用盆栽试验,以Egypt1和津强7号为供试材料,研究不同土壤条件下氮肥处理对小麦产量及品质的影响。试验设黑土、潮土2种土壤类型和不追肥、拔节期追氮肥、挑旗期追氮肥3种肥料处理,3次重复。结果表明: 在2种土壤条件下,小麦籽粒产量和各蛋白质组分产量表现为黑土>潮土,除球蛋白产量外,土壤处理间均差异显著。不同时期追施氮肥均显著提高了籽粒产量和蛋白质产量。黑土和潮土配合追施氮肥都可以有效提高小麦籽粒产量,改善品质。     

Genome-wide association mapping of phenolic acids in tetraploid wheats

Phenolic acids are major components of cell walls in wheat and have important implications on human health as antioxidants with anti-tumor activity. Our objectives were to identify phenolic acid genes in wheat by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) detected within the coding sequences of candidate genes, and to identify chromosomal regions associated with single phenolic acids and total soluble phenolic compounds. A set of candidate genes involved in the biosynthesis of hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives were identified by comparative genomics. SNPs found in the coding sequences of six genes (PAL1, PAL2, C4H, C3H, COMT1 and COMT2) were used to determine their chromosomal location and accurate map position on two reference consensus linkage maps. The genome-wide association study (GWAS), based on genotyping a tetraploid wheat collection with 81,587 gene-associated SNPs, detected 22 quantitative trait loci (QTL) distributed on almost all durum wheat chromosomes. Two QTL for p-coumaric acid were coincident with the phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL2) and p-coumarate 3-hydroxylase (C3H) genes on chromosome arms 2AL and 1AL, respectively. The availability of candidate gene-based markers can allow elucidating the mechanism of phenolic acids accumulation in wheat kernels and exploiting the genetic variability of phenolic acids content for the nutritional improvement of wheat end-products.     

Mineral bioaccessibility in French breads fortified with different forms iron and its effects on rheological and technological parameters

The present study investigated the effect of different forms of Fe used in the fortification of wheat flour on the rheological characteristics of flour and technological quality of French breads and the bioaccessibility of added Fe, Zn and Ca naturally occurring by in vitro assay. The results demonstrated that the wheat flour was suitable for use in bakery products; however, the farinograph and extensograph parameters were affected by different forms of Fe, which also changed the technological quality of breads, with no negative impacts on bread making. The NaFeEDTA and SF microencapsulated proved to be the most effective’s forms of iron, due to its higher dialyzed Fe content. Zinc bioaccessibility is not high, thus the NaFeEDTA contributed positively for the absorption of this mineral. In contrast, a high bioaccessibility of calcium was observed, which was not affected by the majority forms of iron. Additionally, Fe, Ca and Zn naturally occurring also presented high bioacessibility. Thus, French bread made with flour fortified with iron can contribute to demand and supply of minerals, and the form of Fe used can affect not only Fe bioaccessibility, but also Zn, leading to changes in the rheological properties of wheat flour and technological quality.     

小麦芒长抑制基因B2的精细定位与候选基因分析

芒是小麦重要的穗部器官和形态特征,是小麦长期进化和适应环境的结果,对产量和抗旱性等具有重要影响。目前,对麦芒的遗传与发育还缺乏系统的研究,相关基因克隆或精细定位的研究尚未见报道。本试验利用短芒材料‘六柱头’与长芒材料‘石矮1号’构建的F2群体(SL-F2)对芒的遗传与发育进行了研究。细胞学观察表明,短芒主要是由细胞长度变短引起;遗传分析表明,‘六柱头’的短芒由显性单基因控制;借助Wheat660K SNP芯片的BSA分析和SL-F2群体的精细定位,确定‘六柱头’的芒长抑制基因是前人报道的B2位点,并将其定位到6B染色体4.84Mb的物理区间(471.28～476.12 Mb)内,该区段在中国春与矮抗58间具有良好的共线性。在B2定位区间共有61个基因,其中5个在中国春穗部特异表达,TraesCS6B02G264400在中国春和Azhurnaya幼穗表达差异显著。这些研究结果为B2基因的克隆、小麦芒形成机理的解析及育种中的应用奠定了基础。