Sucrose assists selection of high‐quality oocytes in pigs

We investigated whether high‐quality in vitro matured (IVM) oocytes can be distinguished from poor ones based on the morphological changes after treatment with hyperosmotic medium containing 0.2 mol/L sucrose in pigs. We hypothesize that IVM oocytes maintaining round shape have higher quality than mis‐shapened oocytes following dehydration. Oocyte quality was verified by determining embryonic developmental competence using in vitro fertilization, nuclear transfer and parthenogenetic activation. In all cases, the round oocytes had greater (p < .05) developmental competence than that of mis‐shapened oocytes in terms of blastocyst rate and total cell number in blastocysts obtained after 6 days of in vitro culture. We also confirm that round aged oocytes are higher in quality than mis‐shapened aged oocytes. In an attempt to find out why high‐quality oocytes maintain a round shape whereas poorer oocytes become mis‐shapened following sucrose treatment, we examined the arrangement of actin microfilaments and microtubules. Abnormal organization of these cytoskeletal components was higher (p < .05) in mis‐shapened oocytes compared to round oocytes after 52 hr of IVM. In conclusion, sucrose treatment helps selection of high‐quality oocytes, including aged oocytes, in pigs. Abnormal cytoskeleton arrangements partly explain for low developmental competence of mis‐shapened oocytes.     

Mining of favorable marker alleles for flag leaf inclination in some rice (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Oryza sativa</Emphasis> L.) accessions by association mapping

Flag leaf angle (FLA) in rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the important traits affecting F₁ seed production by mechanization. To elucidate the genetic mechanism of FLA and mine favorable marker alleles for F₁ seed production in rice, we performed a genome-wide association study using phenotypic data over 2 years and genotypic data of 262 pairs of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers collected from 441 rice accessions. We detected seven SSR marker loci associated with FLA and four loci were novel. The four newly found loci were RM6266 on chromosome 3, RM348 on chromosome 4, RM258 on chromosome 10 and RM7303 on chromosome 11. We found a total of 27 favorable alleles, of which four, i.e., RM348-130 bp, RM7303-90 bp, RM258-180 bp, and RM4835-230 bp, had phenotypic effects larger than 10°. Nine combinations, which increased FLA by 45.7°–94.7° through pyramiding the favorable alleles contained in seven typical accessions, were predicted.     

Aboveground biomass increment and stand dynamics in tropical evergreen broadleaved forest

Forest ecosystems can modify the atmospheric CO₂ through biomass accumulation mostly in tree stems with diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 10 cm. Aboveground biomass increment (ΔAGB), and changes in stand AGB, no. stems and basal area (BA) were calculated from mortality, recruitment, and growth data of tree stems in tropical evergreen broadleaved forest, Central Highland Vietnam. Data were derived from ten 1-ha permanent plots established in 2004, where all stems with DBH ≥ 10 cm were tagged, identified to species, and measured for DBH in 2004 and 2012. In an 8-year duration, the increment was 53 ± 10 stems ha^–1, 7.8 ± 0.3 m² ha^–1 for BA and 86.0 ± 4.6 Mg ha^–1 for AGB. The stem mortality rate was 0.9% year^–1 and the stem recruitment rate was 2.2% year^–1. Annual ΔAGB was 10.8 Mg ha^–1 year^–1, equaling to 5.4 Mg C ha^–1 year^–1. Of which, tree stems of 35–80 cm DBH classes accounted for 65%. The results indicated that the forest is in stage of carbon sequestration. Any disturbances causing death of 35–80 cm DBH tree stems will much reduce carbon sequestration capacity and it will take a long time for AGB to return to pre-disturbance stage.     

The potential of informal institutions for marine fisheries management—A case study of a coastal commune in Vietnam

The potential of informal institutions for sustainable management of marine fisheries was examined. The study is based on both primary data collected through two group discussions and interviews and secondary information, including material related to fishing gear operation and whale worship. It shows that informal institutions, including fisher groups, fishing community norms, fisher's knowledge and whale worship have potential to strengthen institutional, ecological, social and community aspects of sustainable fisheries development. Although these informal institutions are not able to fix completely all the problems faced by formal institutions, they are able to complement and consolidate formal institutions to manage marine fisheries effectively. The findings of this study suggest it is imperative that formal institutions should be improved simultaneously with informal institutions to enhance current management for sustainable marine fisheries development.     

基于机器视觉的半干枣病害和裂纹识别研究

研究提出了一种基于机器视觉的病害和裂纹的识别方法。在H分量图中,依据半干枣在病害和非病害区域色调值差异提取病害区域,以提取的病害区域与枣表面积的比作为阈值确定较高的病害面积识别精度,可正确识别的感兴趣病害面积为16.87mm2,占枣投影面积的3.3%。为进一步提高在该病害面积识别精度的正确率,依据已确定的病害面积比阈值,将病害面积比值二值化,结合红枣区域颜色特征值H的均值和均方差,用SVM方法建立枣病害的识别模型,训练集和测试集的识别正确率分别为9 5.7 7%和9 5.7 9%。在I分量图中,对红枣区域进行Otsu’s阈值分割、图像局部属性统计和形态学处理,提取裂纹二值图像,依据裂纹图像不变距方法建立裂纹识别模型,训练集和测试集的识别正确率分别为94.90%和94.55%。     

黄土丘陵区不同土地利用方式对土壤含水率的影响

在干旱半干旱地区,土壤含水率是影响作物生长和植被恢复的重要因子。采用土钻法对黄土丘陵区典型流域不同土地利用方式下土壤含水率进行了比较。结果表明,农田土壤含水率显著较高,这与农田坡度较小及梯田建设有关,还与农作物蒸腾耗水相对较小有关。林地、灌木地和草地土壤含水率相对较低,且相互间无显著差别。黄土丘陵区土壤含水率主要受坡度和土壤稳定入渗速率的影响。但草地土壤含水率还与坡向及年生物量有关。土壤水分分布格局与该区土层深厚,地下水埋藏较深,土壤水分收入主要受降雨的补给有关。因此,该区农田建设应在坡度较小（＜10°）的地形上进行,并优先考虑梯田。坡度较大的地方应以天然灌木和草本群落的保育为主。人工乔灌林只适宜在沟道等水分条件较好的地方种植。