Impact of grassland contract policy on soil organic carbon losses from alpine grassland on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

Carbon storage in the soils on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau plays a very important role in the global carbon budget. In the 1990s, a policy of contracting collective grasslands to smaller units was implemented, resulting in a change from the traditional collective grassland management to two new management patterns: a multi‐household management pattern (MMP: grassland shared by several households without enclosures) and a single‐household management pattern (SMP: grassland enclosed and used by only one household). In 2016, 50 MMP and 54 SMP winter pastures on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau were sampled to assess the differences in soil organic carbon (SOC) between the two management patterns. Results showed that average SOC was significantly greater under MMP than under SMP, with an estimated 0.41 Mg C/ha/yr lost due to SMP following the new grassland contract. Based on the government's grassland policy, four grassland utilization scenarios were developed for both summer and winter pastures. We found that if the grassland were managed under SMP, likely C losses ranged between 0.31 × 10⁷ and 6.15 × 10⁷ Mg C/yr across the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau relative to MMP, which more closely resembles pre‐1990s grassland management. Previous estimates of C losses have only considered land use change (with cover change) and ignored the impacts driven by land management pattern changes (without cover change). The new data suggest that C losses from the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau are greater than previously estimated, and therefore that the grassland contract policy should be reviewed and SMP households should be encouraged to reunite into the MMP. These findings have potential implications for land management strategies not only on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau but also other grazing regions globally where such practices may exist.     

Hybrid breeding for biomass yield in winter triticale: II. Combining ability and hybrid prediction

Accurate hybrid prediction and knowledge about the relative contribution of general (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) are of utmost importance for efficient hybrid breeding. We therefore evaluated 91 triticale single-cross hybrids in field trials at seven environments for plant height, heading time, fresh biomass, dry matter content and dry biomass. Fresh and dry biomass showed the highest proportion (23%) of variance due to SCA. Prediction accuracies based on GCA were slightly higher than based on mid-parent values. Utilizing parental kinship information yielded the highest prediction accuracies when both parental lines have been tested in other hybrid combinations, but still moderate-to-low prediction accuracies for two untested parents. Thus, hybrid prediction for biomass traits in triticale is currently promising based on mid-parent values as emphasized by our simulation study, but can be expected to shift to GCA-based prediction with an increasing importance of GCA due to selection in hybrid breeding. Moreover, the performance of potential hybrids between newly developed lines can be predicted with moderate accuracy using genomic relationship information.     

Ray blight of pyrethrum in Australia: a review of the current status and future opportunities

Ray blight caused by Stagonosporopsis tanaceti is one of the most important diseases of pyrethrum (Tanacetum cinerariifolium), a perennial herbaceous plant cultivated for the extraction of insecticidal pyrethrins in Australia. The disease is responsible for complete yield loss in severe outbreaks. Infected seed is considered as the principal source of S. tanaceti. Infection hyphae remain only in the seed coat and not in the embryo, resulting in pre- and post-emergence death of seedlings and latent infection. Therefore, quantification of the level of infection by S. tanaceti within seed using a qPCR assay is important for efficient management of the disease. Stagonosporopsis tanaceti completes its life cycle within 12 days after leaf infection through production of pycnidia and can infect every tissue of the pyrethrum plant except the vascular and root tissues. Ray blight epidemics occur in pyrethrum fields through splash dispersal of pycnidiospores between adjacent plants. Besides steam sterilization, thiabendazole/thiram and fludioxonil are effective seed-treating chemicals in controlling S. tanaceti before planting begins. Ray blight is currently managed in the field through the foliar application of strobilurin fungicides in the first 1–2 years of crop establishment. Later on, difenoconazole and multisite specific fungicides in the next 2–3 years during early spring successfully reduce ray blight infestation. Avoiding development of resistance to fungicides will require more sustainable management of ray blight including the development and deployment of resistant cultivars.     

Do cover crops change the lability of phosphorus in a clayey subtropical soil under different phosphate fertilizers?

Plants have developed different mechanisms to absorb and solubilize phosphorus (P) in the soil, especially in environments with low P availability. This study evaluated the effects of different winter cover crops on soil P availability in a clayey subtropical (Hapludox) soil receiving soluble P fertilizer and a rock phosphate applied to the summer crop, under no‐tillage. The experiment was carried out over 3 yrs (2009–2011) with five different cover crop species: common vetch, fodder radish, ryegrass, black oat, white clover and fallow as control. The soil was sampled after the third year of cover crop cultivation and analysed for inorganic and organic P forms according to the well‐established Hedley fractionation procedure. Phosphate fertilizers promoted accumulation of both labile and nonlabile P pools in soil in the near surface layer, especially under rock phosphate. Fertilizer applications were not able to change P fractions in deeper layers, emphasizing that the Brazilian clayey soils are a sink of P from fertilizer and its mobility is almost nil. Although the cover crops recycled a great amount of P in tissue, in a short‐term evaluation (3 yrs) they only changed the content of moderately labile P in soil, indicating that long‐term studies are needed for more conclusive results.     

Assessing seed desiccation responses of native trees in the Caribbean

New Forests - Native trees from the Caribbean were tested for seed desiccation responses, by adapting the “100-seed test” protocol. Ninety-seven seed lots of 91 species were collected...     

施肥对春青稞干物质积累、分配及产量的影响

为研究施肥对青稞干物质积累、分配及产量的调节作用,以‘藏青27’、‘QTB13’和‘QTB25’为试验材料,比较分析不同施肥处理下干物质积累、分配及产量的变化规律。结果表明：增加施肥量促进青稞分蘖期—成熟期的干物质积累及开花期和成熟期干物质向营养器官和籽粒的分配,提高了花前营养器官贮藏同化物转运量及对籽粒贡献率,降低了花后同化物输入籽粒量对籽粒贡献率。‘QTB13’和‘QTB25’在F₂条件下,更有利于干物质积累及向营养器官和穗部的分配,花后同化物输入籽粒量最大,产量也最大。‘藏青27’在F₃条件下,更有利于干物质积累及向营养器官和穗部的分配,花后同化物输入籽粒量和对籽粒贡献率最大,产量也最大。说明合理施肥有利于青稞干物质积累分配及产量提高。     

我国国家公园与自然保护地法律制度衔接研究

我国既有的各类自然保护地存在空间交叉重叠、权责模糊、多头管理等突出问题，成为制约我国生态文明建设的体制难题。建立以国家公园为主体的自然保护地体系，正是国家破解这一难题的制度举措。文中在介绍国家公园与自然保护地概念、分析我国自然保护地现有法律制度存在主要问题的基础上，提出了国家公园与自然保护地法律制度衔接的设想。在国家公园体制建设的过程中，理顺国家公园与既有自然保护地之间的关系，加强国家公园与自然保护地法律制度的衔接显得尤为重要。具体思路为:在宏观政策法律层面，从国家统一立法、提升立法协调性、扩大公众参与等方面提出国家公园体制法律建构的整体设想；在微观制度保障层面，吸纳保护原则、差异原则及衔接原则，建立国家统一自然保护地管理制度。建议以《国家公园法》的制定为契机，统筹考量制定符合我国国情的统领自然空间保护的基本法——《自然保护地法》。