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.     

菠萝蜜种子淀粉制备香草兰微胶囊的工艺研究

以菠萝蜜种子淀粉为壁材,采用饱和水溶液法制备香草兰精油微胶囊,以包埋产率为指标,采用响应面分析法对微胶囊的包埋条件进行优化探讨。结果表明:5个单因素中,影响最显著的因素为壁芯材比例、包埋温度和包埋时间。响应面优化得到香草兰精油微胶囊的最佳工艺条件为壁芯材比例为7.5∶1;包埋时间72 min;包埋温度54℃,此条件下的包埋产率为(95.46±0.2)%,包埋率为(76.35±0.6)%,载油量为(27.73±0.3)%。试验证明,此条件结果与模型预测值相吻合,此工艺条件可为菠萝蜜种子淀粉包埋香草兰精油微胶囊工艺提供理论依据。     

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...     

基于森林健康理念的森林康养产业发展研究

阐述了森林健康理念和森林康养的基本概念,介绍了森林健康理念和森林康养的发展现状,分析了森林健康与森林康养产业之间的关系。结果表明:森林康养产业的理论基础就是基于森林健康理念继承发展来的,必然会促进森林健康产业的发展。运用森林健康理念指导森林康养产业发展是森林康养产业可持续发展的有效途径,森林健康理念在中国会不断完善和发展,也更有利于中国森林康养产业的发展。展望康养产业,会形成一种新的经济形态,成为国民福祉。     

11个葡萄品种在乐山地区的花芽分化规律

研究了11个葡萄品种3年生树在四川乐山地区避雨栽培条件下的花芽分化表现。结果表明,结果母枝的花芽分化率,魏可、维多利亚、黑芭拉多、金手指、金优2号和巨玫瑰6个品种的都高于50%,较易形成花芽;户太8号、巨峰、夏黑的在43%~48%;美人指和红指较难形成花芽。结果母枝不同节位的花芽分化率,多数品种在第3节位≥50%;结果枝上花穗着生节位在第3.8~4.9节,其中双花率以巨玫瑰、巨峰和户太8号较高,分别为83.45%、73.61%和73.06%。以结果母枝的花芽分化率≥50%节位作为冬剪的最低节位,则金优2号、户太8号、巨玫瑰、金手指、维多利亚5个品种在第3~4节,黑芭拉多和巨峰2个品种在第2~3节,魏可在1~2节。夏黑表现花芽分化率较低,为43.33%,可能与夏黑不耐弱光有关,设施栽培时应加强透光性。     

花生栽野种间杂交异源多倍化早期世代基因表达变化分析

为了进一步认识花生种间杂交异源多倍体进化过程中的基因表达变化规律,采用cDNA-HFO-TAG技术,研究花生种间杂交组合(四倍体栽培种‘仲恺花4号’×二倍体野生种Arachis. diogio)杂种F_1和早期多倍体世代S0~S3的基因表达变化情况。14条HFO-TAG引物共扩增出121条cDNA片段,其中差异片段84个,主要包括三种类型:亲本转录物完全沉默(3个),双亲转录物在后代部分材料中沉默(59个)和新转录物激活(22个),上述变化在F1代即开始发生。筛选其中大小为500~2 000 bp的35个TDFs进行克隆测序,有27个和NCBI数据库中已录入的基因具有较高的相似性,包括抗逆相关基因(10条)、未知功能蛋白基因(8条)、能量与代谢相关基因(7条)和转录因子相关的基因(2条)。这些研究结果进一步表明在花生种间杂交异源多倍化早期发生着快速、剧烈的基因表达变化,从中获得的差异基因片段,有助于了解花生属种间杂交异源多倍化早期分子机制变化,这对有效利用野生花生种质优异基因具有重要意义。cDNA-HFO-TAG技术简单、有效且实用,完全适用于花生属基因表达变化研究,可以作为花生属及其它物种基因表达变化分析技术的有效补充。     

茶树几丁质酶基因的克隆及其在干旱胁迫下的表达分析在干旱胁迫下的表达分析

以铁观音茶树叶片为材料,利用逆转录PCR及RACE法,克隆了茶树几丁质酶基因CsChi(GenBank登录号为KR078345).CsChi基因的cDNA全长为1 192 bp,包含972 bp的开放阅读框(ORF),编码323个氨基酸.生物信息学分析结果表明,CsChi蛋白的分子量为34.33 ku;理论等电点pI为8.44;原子组成为C1519H2285N413O464S18,总原子数为4 699;蛋白质结构分析显示该蛋白有6个蛋白的跨膜区域,属于跨膜蛋白;存在于细胞外;没有卷曲螺旋结构存在;CsChi基因编码的蛋白属于糖苷水解酶19家族,含有保守的ChtBD1结构域,与溶菌酶的保守结构域类似,可能兼具几丁质酶活性和溶菌酶活性,qPCR定量分析结果显示在不同干旱胁迫处理下茶树的CsChi基因的表达量,与对照组相比有所增加.推测CsChi基因在茶树干旱等逆境胁迫中起重要作用.