Poorly crystalline iron and aluminium oxides contribute to the carbon saturation and sorption of dissolved organic carbon in the soil

Soil carbon (C) saturation implies an upper limit to a soil's capacity to store C depending on the contents of silt + clay and poorly crystalline Fe and Al oxides. We hypothesized that the poorly crystalline Fe and Al oxides in silt + clay fraction increased the C saturation and thus reduced the capacity of the soil to sorb additional C input. To test the hypothesis, we studied the sorption of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) on silt + clay fractions (<53 µm) of highly weathered oxic soils, collected from three different land uses (i.e., improved pasture, cropping and forest). Soils with high carbon saturation desorbed 38% more C than soils with low C saturation upon addition of DOC, whereas adsorption of DOC was only observed at higher concentration (>15 g kg^?1). While high Al oxide concentration significantly increased both the saturation and desorption of DOC, the high Fe oxide concentration significantly increased the desorption of DOC, supporting the proposition that both oxides have influence on the DOC sorption in soil. Our findings provide a new insight into the chemical control of stabilization and destabilization of DOC in soil.     

Effect of farm management on topsoil organic carbon and aggregate stability in water: A case study from Southwest England,UK

There are few reliable data sets to inspire confidence in policymakers that soil organic carbon (SOC) can be measured on farms. We worked with farmers in the Tamar Valley region of southwest England to select sampling sites under similar conditions (soil type, aspect and slope) and management types. Topsoils (2–15 cm) were sampled in autumn 2015, and percentage soil organic matter (%SOM) was determined by loss on ignition and used to calculate %SOC. We also used the stability of macroaggregates in cold water (WSA) (‘soil slaking’) as a measure of ‘soil health’ and investigated its relationship with SOC in the clay‐rich soils. %SOM was significantly different between management types in the order woodland (11.1%) = permanent pasture (9.5%) > ley‐arable rotation (7.7%) = arable (7.3%). This related directly to SOC stocks that were larger in fields under permanent pasture and woodland compared with those under arable or ley‐arable rotation whether corrected for clay content (F = 8.500, p < .0001) or not (F = 8.516, p < .0001). WSA scores were strongly correlated with SOC content whether corrected for clay content (SOC_adj R² = .571, p < .0001) or not (SOC_unadj R² = 0.490, p = .002). Time since tillage controlled SOC stocks and WSA scores, accounting for 75.5% and 51.3% of the total variation, respectively. We conclude that (1) SOC can be reliably measured in farmed soils using accepted protocols and related to land management and (2) WSA scores can be rapidly measured in clay soils and related to SOC stocks and soil management.     

荞麦品种改良与产业发展现状及趋势分析

根据国内外荞麦生产现状及存在的问题,对未来荞麦产业发展、品种改良方向及品种选育技术进行了讨论。近年来,世界范围内荞麦种植面积稳中有升,荞麦消费量呈增加趋势,但荞麦生产中普遍存在生产条件差、产量低、品种改良难和不适宜机械化生产等问题,因此广适、高效、优质和高产等特性是荞麦品种改良的目标,传统杂交技术与分子育种技术的结合是未来荞麦品种改良的主要手段。     

TCD燃烧系统对柴油机燃烧和排放性能改善效果的试验研究

为探究道依茨TCD2015柴油机上配备的导流燃烧系统(简称TCD燃烧系统,T表示涡轮增压器,Turbocharger,C表示进气中冷,Charge air cooling,D为柴油颗粒捕集器,Diesel particle filter)对改善柴油机燃烧性能和降低污染物排放的效果,采用单缸机试验对TCD燃烧系统在不同转速、负荷和过量空气系数下的燃烧和排放性能进行研究。试验结果表明不同工况下TCD燃烧系统燃油消耗率和Soot排放量均低于传统ω燃烧系统,燃油消耗率最大降幅为7.01%,Soot排放量最大降幅为86.67%,且低过量空气系数(1.2～1.6)下TCD燃烧系统仍具有较好的性能。为揭示TCD燃烧系统改善油气混合促进燃烧的机理,采用AVL Fire软件建立了柴油机性能仿真模型。计算结果表明,TCD燃烧系统的环状凸起结构将燃油导向内外两室,从而促进了缸内燃油发展过程,燃油当量比大于4的浓混合气区域燃油质量比例相比ω燃烧系统降幅最大为9.75%,活塞下移时TCD燃烧系统内油束撞击浅盘侧壁形成撞壁射流扩大了燃油扩散面积,从而改善了缸内油气混合质量,燃油当量比小于1的均匀混合气区域燃油质量比例相比ω燃烧系统降幅最大为7.45%,因此TCD燃烧系统能够有效改善柴油机的燃烧和排放性能,可应用于柴油机高负荷和低过量空气系数工况综合性能提升。研究结果可为柴油机燃烧系统开发和改进提供参考。     

Banishing barberry: The history of Berberis vulgaris prevalence and wheat stem rust incidence across Britain

Wheat stem rust, caused by the fungus Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt), is a notoriously damaging disease of wheat and barley. Pgt requires two hosts to complete its lifecycle; undergoing asexual reproduction on cereal crops and completing sexual reproduction on Berberis spp. The latter stage of its lifecycle is of particular importance in temperate regions such as western Europe, where asexual urediniospores are unable to survive cold winter weather. In the past, the crucial role of Berberis in the lifecycle of stem rust led to intensive eradication campaigns, initially carried out by farmers in the face of hostile scientific opinion. In the United Kingdom, common barberry (Berberis vulgaris) is today a relatively rare plant. Stem rust is, however, currently experiencing a resurgence; at the same time, there has been a general increase in the prevalence of barberry and an upsurge in its planting which, in the United Kingdom, is associated with attempts to encourage the endangered barberry carpet moth (Pareulype berberata). This article situates current developments within a broader chronological framework, examining changing attitudes towards barberry and rust in England in the past and the history of the plant's use and cultivation. It assesses how widespread B. vulgaris really was in the environment historically, and thus the scale of its eradication. We suggest that Berberis was never widely established as an archaeophyte in the United Kingdom. Current attempts to re-establish it are based on a misunderstanding of the plant's historical status and could potentially pose a serious threat to food security.     

SnToxA,SnTox1, and SnTox3 originated in Parastagonospora nodorum in the Fertile Crescent

The centre of origin of the globally distributed wheat pathogen Parastagonospora nodorum has remained uncertain because only a small number of isolates from the Fertile Crescent were included in earlier population genetic and phylogeographic studies. We isolated and genetically analysed 193 P. nodorum strains from three naturally infected wheat fields distributed across Iran using 11 neutral microsatellite loci. Compared to previous studies that included populations from North America, Europe, Africa, Australia, and China, the populations from Iran had the highest genetic diversity globally and also exhibited greater population structure over smaller spatial scales, patterns typically associated with the centre of origin of a species. Genes encoding the necrotrophic effectors SnToxA, SnTox1, and SnTox3 were found at a high frequency in the Iranian population. By sequencing 96 randomly chosen Iranian strains, we detected new alleles for all three effector genes. Analysis of allele diversity showed that all three effector genes had higher diversity in Iran than in any population included in previous studies, with Iran acting as a hub for the effector diversity that was found in other global populations. Taken together, these findings support the hypothesis that P. nodorum originated either within or nearby the Fertile Crescent with a genome that already encoded all three necrotrophic effectors during its emergence as a pathogen on wheat. Our findings also suggest that P. nodorum was the original source of the ToxA genes discovered in the wheat pathogens Phaeosphaeria avenaria f. sp. tritici 1, Pyrenophora tritici-repentis, and Bipolaris sorokiniana.     

Genetic variation of seedling traits responded to brassinosteroid and gibberellin inhibitors in maize (Zea mays) doubled haploid lines

The purpose of this study was to examine the genotypic variation in maize doubled haploid (DH) lines response to brassinosteroid and gibberellin inhibitors. Plant responses to hormone inhibitors were determined in growth chamber experiments using germination paper for three different seedling treatments: application of propiconazole (Pcz), uniconazole (Ucz) or water (control). Mesocotyl length (ML) was more sensitive to hormone inhibitors, especially to the Ucz treatment, than other seedling traits. ML was significantly correlated with other traits in the Ucz treatment. All the seedling traits showed moderate-to-high broad sense heritability values, ranging from 0.39 to 0.82. The Euclidian genetic distances of inbred line pairs ranged from 1.27 to 19.94, indicating there was a high level of variability across the maize DH lines used in this study. DH lines with extreme MLs were identified, which can provide valuable breeding resources for improving abiotic stress tolerance, and for further genetic studies.     

增施有机肥改善黑土物理特性与促进玉米根系生长的效果

为改善东北黑土区粘重耕层的土壤物理特性,通过玉米秸秆还田基础上增施有机肥试验,拟明确增施有机肥对黑土物理特性和根系生长的提升效果。利用2015～2018年吉林省公主岭市和黑龙江省克山县黑土区的定位试验,测定了玉米抽雄期3种秸秆还田处理及其增施有机肥(旋耕秸秆还田+有机肥RSM、深翻秸秆还田+有机肥DSM、深松秸秆还田+有机肥SSM)处理的土壤物理指标;并采用微根管法原位测定了根系生长指标,计算出增施有机肥后各土壤物理特性与根系生长指标的变化量。结果表明,相比秸秆还田处理,增施有机肥降低了土壤容重、土壤紧实度,提升了土壤含水量,同时根长密度、根尖数密度和根平均直径均显著增加,其中根长密度和根尖数密度各土层平均增加了0.18 cm/cm~2和34.9×10~(-3)个/cm~2。不同秸秆还田方式增施有机肥后对黑土物理特性和根系生长的改善效果不同,其中0～15 cm土层RSM处理改善效果最明显,15～45 cm土层SSM和DSM处理改善效果最明显。有机肥和秸秆还田方式互作对黑土物理特性和促进根系生长指标具有显著的正向互作效应。上述结果表明,深松秸秆还田和深翻秸秆还田基础上增施有机肥模式更有利于改善黑土物理特性和促进根系生长,是改善东北黑土区粘重耕层的技术选择。     

Molecular identification of blast resistance genes in rice landraces from northeastern India

Rice blast disease caused by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae is one of the most devastating diseases causing huge losses worldwide. In the present study, major blast resistance genes were investigated in landraces originating from northeastern India. Based on phenotypic evaluation, 288 landraces were classified into three distinct groups: resistant (75), moderately resistant (127) and susceptible (86). The genetic frequencies of the 18 major blast resistance genes were between 6.2% and 27.4%, with only two genotypes possessing a maximum of nine blast resistance genes. The cluster and population structure analysis grouped the landraces into two groups. Through principal coordinate analysis, the scatter plots partitioned the resistant and moderately resistant landraces into different groups. Analysis of molecular variance showed maximum (96%) diversity within populations and least (4%) diversity between populations. Association analysis identified six markers, CRG4_2, RM72, tk59-2, pi21_79-3, RM1233 and RM6648, that are significantly associated with blast disease and explained a phenotypic variance of 1.1–6.5%. The associated genes could be used in marker-assisted rice breeding programmes for gene pyramiding to develop rice varietal resistance against blast disease. The present study represents a valuable blast resistance genetic resource that could be used for identification of new R genes, donors for blast resistance, and genomic studies.