Determination of drought tolerance using root activities in Robinia pseudoacada ''''Idaho'''' transformed with mtl-D gene

Idaho locust (Robinia pseudoacacia 'Idaho') is an exotic multi-purpose tree used in landscaping, soil and water conservation, fodder sources and others. To improve its drought tolerance for reclaiming arid land, five lines of transformed mtl-D gene, as osmotic regulator in plant cells, have been selected and managed to determine their drought tolerance under experimental conditions. Qualitative and quantitative variables of transformed plants were studied. The critical value of drought tolerance was determined by detecting the 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC) reductants in roots and soil water content (SWC). The critical value for drought tolerance was SWC 6% while for the control plants the critical SWC was 8%; a moderate level of SWC is 13% and the highest SWC for plant endurance was 18%. The method proved to be reliable and sensitive in the evaluation of drought tolerance for forest trees.     

Determination of drought tolerance using root activities in Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Idaho’ transformed with mtl-D gene

Idaho locust (Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Idaho’) is an exotic multi-purpose tree used in landscaping, soil and water conservation, fodder sources and others. To improve its drought tolerance for reclaiming arid land, five lines of transformed mtl-D gene, as osmotic regulator in plant cells, have been selected and managed to determine their drought tolerance under experimental conditions. Qualitative and quantitative variables of transformed plants were studied. The critical value of drought tolerance was determined by detecting the 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC) reductants in roots and soil water content (SWC). The critical value for drought tolerance was SWC 6% while for the control plants the critical SWC was 8%; a moderate level of SWC is 13% and the highest SWC for plant endurance was 18%. The method proved to be reliable and sensitive in the evaluation of drought tolerance for forest trees.     

千阳县刺槐人工林纯林与混交林土壤水分测定分析

刺槐人工林地土壤水分随着林龄增加而增高,土层含水量也是随着加深增加。刺槐纯林和混交林无论是各土层含水量,各月含水量还是平均含水量,刺槐油松混交林都多于刺槐纯林。     

黄土高原不同气候区刺槐细根表面积的差异

以生长在黄土高原半干旱气候区陕西省安塞县和半湿润气候区甘肃省泾川县的刺槐人工林为研究对象,采用土钻法获取根样和土样,研究不同气候区刺槐细根表面积垂直分布、季节动态及其与林地土壤水分的相关性。结果表明:安塞和泾川刺槐细根垂直分布深度、细根表面积数量和季节动态均有一定的差异。0～200cm和0～150cm土层分别为安塞和泾川刺槐细根表面积的主要分布层,分别有86.5%和87.6%的细根表面积分布。2007年生长季内,泾川和安塞刺槐细根表面积的峰值分别出现在4月和6月,但6月份安塞与泾川刺槐的累积细根表面积差异不显著。与泾川刺槐细根表面积特征相比,安塞刺槐细根表面积表现为,减小单位土体内细根表面积数量,增大细根垂直分布深度,以维持树木生长所需要的细根表面积总量。     

Drought tolerance of Acacia karroo, a native tree species to South Africa, in Beijing

Acacia karroo is an indigenous, strong drought-tolerant and widely planted tree in South Africa. In order to match the plant with its adaptation to forest sites in China, it is important to know the drought-tolerance of this species under Chinese forest site conditions. Our study was carried out in cinnamon soils in Beijing and with Platycladus orientalis, the most drought-tolerant tree in Beijing, as control. Physiological parameters of young plants of the trees were measured and divided into three groups in response to soil drying. The first group included root activity, ABA content in roots and peroxidase (POD) activity in leaves. Their values changed similarly to those of P. orientalis and dramatically increased to maximum values when the soil water content (SWC) decreased from its normal level of 20% to 7.6% where the three indices decreased dramatically when SWC was reduced further from 7.6%. The second group of parameters included the contents of proline, soluble protein and malondialdehyde (MDA). Their values showed greater variation than those of P. orientalis and significantly increased when SWC decreased from 20% in response to soil drying. However, the proline and soluble protein contents fluctuated in A. karroo at a lower level than those in P. orientalis. In contrast, the content of MDA in A. karroo was much higher than that in P. orientalis which almost did not increase in the drying soil. The third group of parameters consisted of soluble sugar, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT). These parameters showed greater diversity and fluctuations among the three varieties of A. karroo compared with the control in response to soil drying. These results suggest that A. karroo is characterized as a strong, drought tolerant species in most of physiological parameters but weaker than P. orientalis in membrane lipid antioxidation.     

Anti-Helicobacter pylori activity of Terminalia macroptera root

The root of Terminalia macroptera Guill. & Perr. (Combretaceae) is widely used in African traditional medicine to treat various infectious diseases, including stomach-associated diseases. This study investigates the in vitro activity of T. macroptera root extract against reference strains and clinical isolates of H. pylori and attempts to localize the extract bioactivity. T. macroptera hydroethanol (80% V/V) root extract (Tmr) activity was tested against three standard strains and sixty two clinical strains of H. pylori. Tmr liquid-liquid partition fractions were screened against twenty H. pylori strains. Qualitative analysis of Tmr and its fractions was performed by HPLC-UV/DAD. The antibiotic characterization of the H. pylori strains revealed that 20% of the tested clinical isolates were resistant to at least two of the three antibiotics belonging to the main groups of antibiotics used in multi-therapy to eradicate H. pylori infections. In contrast, Tmr showed anti-H. pylori activity against the majority (92%) of the tested strains (MIC(50) and MIC(90)=200 μg/ml). The Tmr water liquid-liquid fraction (Tmr-3) and the precipitate obtained from this fraction (Tmr-5) were the most active tested samples, showing a MIC(50) of 100 μg/ml. The present work proves the in vitro activity of T. macroptera against H. pylori, thus confirming the utility of this traditional medicinal plant to treat stomach complaints due to H. pylori infection. The main compounds of Tmr and of Tmr-3 were the ellagitannins terchebulin and punicalagin. These compounds can be considered as markers of T. macroptera root active extracts against H. pylori.