Potassium placement effect on dynamics of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) nutrition

The effects of local placement of potassium (K) on mineral nutrition dynamics of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) in fertile Сhernozem were studied. A pot experiment with local K-placement at 4–5 cm soil depth was carried out and the dynamics of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium (NPK) concentrations in tillers, organs and parts of spring barley was measured. K-placement increased the productivity index from 0.49 to 0.54, despite optimal and slightly varying NPK concentrations during the second half of the vegetation period (60–100 d). This occurs due to partitioning of assimilates, N, K, and especially P in generative organs of primary and secondary tillers forming quality grains. Nutrient concentrations in certain primary tiller parts of a 60-d plant (senescing leaves and the main spike axis) proved to be more sensitive indicators of the K-placement effect than average whole-plant characteristics. While being beneficial, K-placement had little impact on the overall NPK removal in barley, which shows a significant role of factors related to K uptake kinetics. Thus, the chosen parameters in the soil–plant system (the high content of available K in Chernozem, in the second part of the vegetation period) have for the first time allowed the evaluation of the impact of local K-placement on mineral nutrition dynamics in barley.     

The assessment of genetic variation in Spanish primitive cultivars of barley, Hordeum vulgare L., by a combination of isozymes and hordeins

Five isozyme and endosperm reserve protein systems were analysed using electrophoretic techniques in order to investigate the genetic diversity of 222 accessions of Spanish, local varieties of barley, Hordeum vulgare L., maintained at the Centro de Conservación de Recursos Fitogeneéticos of the I.N.I.A. (Alcalá de Henares, Spain). The esterase (EST) isozymes provided more information than did the other systems analysed, showing a total of 14 variable markers. The cathodic peroxidases (CPX) and acid phosphatases (ACPH) were also polymorphic. Malate dehydrogenase (MDH) and glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT) were monomorphic. The hordeins showed patterns of up to 15 bands, the majority of which were very useful in distinguishing genotypes. 17.2% of accessions showed a uniform genotype, 29.8% showed practically identical genotypes and 53% showed mixtures of different genotypes. It is noteworthy that the use of only two systems (EST and hordeins) and the analysis of only six loci (Est-1, Est-2, Est-4, Hor-1, Hor-2 and Hor-3) is sufficient to reveal the genetic diversity of the collection.     

Multiple element concentration in the grain of spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) collection

Multiple element analyses were carried out to investigate variation in element concentrations in barley grains of 336 genotypes. Of 13 elements analyzed, Ba ranged from 0.2 to 8.9?mg kg^?1, Ca from 186.4 to 977.5?mg kg^?1, Cu from 1.5 to 9.8?mg kg^?1, K from 353.2 to 7721.5?mg kg^?1, Mg from 1049.8 to 2024.2?mg kg^?1, Mn from 8.1 to 22.9?mg kg^?1, Na from 55.9 to 627.9?mg kg^?1, P from 2272.9 to 5428.8?mg kg^?1, S from 880.7 to 1898.0?mg kg^?1, Si from 19.1 to 663.2?mg kg^?1, and Sr from 0.35 to 2.62?mg kg^?1 in the barley grain. The least square means showed high Zn, Fe, Mg, P, and S concentration in AM-64 and AM-228 genotypes. The principal component analysis of element concentration showed four PCs explained 64.3% total variance. Strong positive correlations (p?<?0.001) of Fe-Mn, Fe-S, S-Mn, Zn-P, Zn-Mg, Mg-P, Mg-Mn, and Ca-Sr were found. The identification barley genotypes that showed high elements concentration furnish valuable genetic resources for biofortification in future.     

Distribution of microbial biomass across the rhizosphere of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) in soils

Summary The microbial activity at the soil-root interface (rhizosphere) of barley was examined using a rhizobox system. In this system, the soil was placed in several compartments separated from each other by a 500-mesh nylon cloth. Plants were grown in the central compartment and after a 2-month growing period the roots were still confined to this compartment. The soil from each compartment was then analyzed for ATP, NO₃ ^/–, total N, total C and CO₂ production. The increase in ATP concentration was found in a range of 4 mm around the roots. The ATP content and CO₂ production across the rhizosphere were correlated in all the soils used, but changes in NO₃ ^– were not correlated with ATP changes. The range of NO₃ ^– change was wider than that of the ATP change, indicating that NO₃ ^– production is not influenced by the biological activity in the rhizosphere.     

Genetic variability evaluation in a Moroccan collection of barley, Hordeum vulgare L., by means of storage proteins and RAPDs

The genetic variation existing in a set of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) landrace samples recently collected in Morocco was estimated. Two kinds of genetic markers, seed storage proteins (hordeins) and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), were used. Only six out of 31 landraces were subjected to RAPD analysis. Both kinds of markers, RAPD and storage proteins, yielded similar results, showing that the level of variation observed in Moroccan barley was high: all landraces showed variability; 808 different storage protein patterns (multilocus associations) were observed among 1897 individuals (2.32 seeds per association, on average) with an average of 43 multilocus associations per accession. In general, genetic variation within accessions was higher than between accessions. The 100 polymorphic RAPD bands generated by 21 effective primers were able to generate enough patterns to differentiate between uniform cultivars and even between individuals in variable accessions. One of the aims of this work was to compare the effectiveness of RAPD versus storage protein techniques in assessing the variability of genetic resource collections. On average hordeins were more polymorphic than RAPDs: they showed more alternatives per band on gels and a higher percentage of polymorphic bands, although RAPDs supply a higher number of bands. Although RAPD is an easy and standard technique, storage protein analysis is technically easier, cheaper and needs less sophisticated equipment. Thus, when resources are a limiting factor and considering the cost of consumables and work time, seed storage proteins must be the technique of choice for a first estimation of genetic variation in plant genetic resource collections.     

Shoot,root, soil and microbial nitrogen dynamics in two contrasting soils cropped to barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)

Summary Dynamics of barley N, mineral N, and organic N were compared at Ellerslie (Black Chernozem, Typic Cryoboroll) and Breton (Gray Luvisol, Typic Cryoboralf) in central Alberta, using ¹⁵N-urea. On average, shoot N and shoot ¹⁵N recoveries at Ellerslie (14.1 g m^–2, 36%) were greater than at Breton (4.5 g m^–2, 17%). Root N (g m^–2) did not significantly differ between sites (0–30 cm) but root ¹⁵N recovery was greater at Breton (3.4%) than Ellerslie (1.8%). Low levels of shoot N and shoot ¹⁵N at Breton were partly due to very wet soil conditions in July, which resulted in premature shoot senescence and low plant N uptake. Although the total ¹⁵N recoveries from the system (to 30 cm depth) at Ellerslie (63%) and Breton (56%) were similar, soil ¹⁵N was greater at Breton (35%) than at Ellerslie (26%). There were no differences in mineral N between sites but the average ¹⁵N recovery in the mineral-N pool was significantly greater at Ellerslie (3.3%) than at Breton (1.6%). There was no difference in ¹⁵N recovery in the microbial biomass (3%) between sites, although non-microbial organic ¹⁵N was greater at Breton (31 %) than at Ellerslie (20%). The two soils showed differences in the relative size of kinetically active N pools and in relative mineralization rates. Microbial N (0–30 cm) was greater at Ellerslie (13.3 g m^–2) than at Breton (9.9 g m^–2), but total microbial N made up a larger proportion of total soil N at Breton (1.6%) than at Ellerslie (0.9%). In the 0–10 cm interval, microbial N was 1.7-fold greater and non-microbial active N was 3-fold greater at Breton compared to Ellerslie, when expressed as a proportion of total soil N. Net N mineralization in a 10-day laboratory incubation was 1.4-fold greater in the Black Chernozem (0–10 cm interval) from Ellerslie, compared to the Gray Luvisol from Breton, when expressed per gram of soil. Net N mineralization in the soil from Breton was double that of the soil from Ellerslie, when expressed as a proportion of soil N. Although soil N (g m^–2) was 2.5-fold greater at Ellerslie compared to Breton, it was cycled more rapidly at Breton.     

水稻短根突变体ksr8的表型分析和基因克隆

本研究前期由籼稻品种Kasalath经EMS诱变获得一个短根突变体ksr8,为揭示该突变体根系发育的分子机制,对其进行了表型鉴定、遗传分析、基因定位、转基因互补验证以及外源精氨酸处理。表型分析表明,ksr8幼苗的株高、主根、侧根和不定根长度均变短,成熟期植株较野生型矮小、分蘖数与每穗实粒数都减少。根尖树脂半超薄切片及醋酸洋红染色显示,ksr8的短根表型与伸长区细胞变短和根尖细胞分裂有关。遗传分析结果表明,ksr8的突变表型受隐性单基因控制,利用图位克隆技术将突变基因定位于3号染色体的分子标记InD3和RM3280之间,物理距离约106 kb,在该定位区间内包含一个编码催化精氨酸合成通路最后一个步骤的精氨酰琥珀酸裂解酶基因OsASL1(LOC_Os03g19280)。测序结果表明,突变体ksr8中OsASL1基因第3外显子内(CDS 653 bp处)的G突变成A,导致编码的218位精氨酸(R)突变为赖氨酸(K);转基因互补试验证实ksr8的表型是由该基因突变引起;进一步分析发现,外源精氨酸添加可以恢复ksr8的根系缺陷表型。本研究结果证明了突变基因ksr8是OsASL...     

Microbial growth and nitrogen immobilization in the root zone of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.), and white clover (Trifolium repens L.)

Summary The effect of roots on microbial growth and N immobilization was investigated in a pot experiment with barley, Italian ryegrass, and white clover. We used a silty subsoil with a low soil organic matter content (0.16%C and 0.012%N), which allowed us to measure N immobilization as an increase in total soil organic N (planted versus unplanted). At sampling, the soil was easily removed from intact roots by gentle washing, with a negligible loss of root material. Plant growth and extra mineral N (in planted soil only) gave increased total counts (fluorescence microscopy) and viable counts (plate dilution) of bacteria, a higher proportion of larger cells, and increased viable counts as a percentage of total counts. Under monocots, 12–17% of the added fertilizer N was recovered as soil organic N. Although this N immobilization was attributed to microbial assimilation, less than 1/4 was actually recovered as microbial biomass N, as measured with the chloroform fumigation/N-extraction method or calculated from total bacterial counts. The white clover accumulated substantial amounts of N due to N₂ fixation. However, microbial N immobilization represented only 3% of the total N accumulation, showing that the microorganisms obtained a smaller share of biologically fixed N₂ than of the N applied as fertilizer. Extra additions of mineral N (monocots) enhanced microbial N assimilation, partly due to increased plant growth. The results also strongly indicated, however, that the microbial growth under monocots was N-limited in the latter part of the experiment and that fertilizer N had a direct effect on microbial growth. In the early phase of plant growth, N immobilization ranged from 33 to 58 mg N g^-1 root C. This level of immobilization required a release of organic C into the soil representing a minimum of 60–100% of that found in intact roots.     

Influence of soluble phosphorus fertilizer on the interaction between a vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus and Azospirillum brasilense in barley (Herdeum vulgare L.)

Summary Pot-culture studies were carried out to examine the response of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) to inoculation with Azospirillum brasilense and Glomus versiforme, singly and/or in combination, under varying levels of nitrogenous [(¹⁵NH₄)₂SO₄] and soluble phosphatic (single superphosphate) fertilizers. The interaction between both the endophytes led to increased growth and nutrition of the barley plants. Roots from plants inoculated with Azospirillum brasilense and Glomus versiforme exhibited very low acetylene reduction activity. N₂ fixation in the plants increased with the increase in plant growth but the mycorrhiza alone gave a low level of N₂ fixation in the plants compared to combined inoculation with both the endophytes.     

Genetic diversity changes and relationships in spring barley (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Hordeum vulgare</Emphasis> L.) germplasm of Nordic and Baltic areas as shown by SSR markers

To examine changes in the level of and pattern in variability in 197 Nordic and Baltic spring barley cultivars over time we used 21 mapped barley simple sequence repeats (SSRs). A total number of 191 alleles were found from 22 SSR loci. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 23, with average of 8.63 107 alleles were rare (frequency <0.05) among the cultivars and only one allele was frequently observed (frequency >0.95). The gene diversity between loci in Nordic and Baltic material varied between 0.033 and 0.891. Average gene diversity was 0.623. The SSR data separated two-rowed and six-rowed cultivars. According to analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) differentiation in two-rowed vs six-rowed accounted for 23.6% of the total variation. Overall no significant decrease of average gene diversity over time could be found. However, differences were observed when spring barleys from northern (north of ∼58°) and southern (south of ∼58°) parts of the Nordic and Baltic area were compared. For the southern ecogeographical region significant decrease of genetic diversity was observed in the middle of the 20th century, whereas no significant changes in the northern part were found. We found larger differentiation between modern and old cultivars in the South compared to the ones in North parts of the region. The magnitude of changes in genetic diversity differed also with the country of origin. Danish cultivars had a significant decrease in diversity in the middle of century, whereas changes in Finland, Norway and Sweden were not significant.     

水稻侧根突变体Oslrd2的表型分析和基因克隆

侧根是水稻胚后发育的重要器官,具有吸收养分和稳固植株的作用.本研究从甲基磺酸乙酯(EMS)诱变的水稻Kasalath突变体库中筛选得到一个水稻侧根突变体Oslrd2,对其进行了表型和遗传分析、图位克隆、候选基因测序及转基因互补验证.结果表明,与野生型相比,Oslrd2幼苗期的苗高和根系伸长都受到明显抑制,侧根短且数量少...     

水稻籽粒碳氮代谢与品质性状间遗传相关性的研究

研究分析水稻籽粒C、N代谢与稻米主要品质性状间遗传相关性结果表明,水稻籽粒C、N代谢与稻米主要品质性状间有一定遗传相关性,提高可溶性糖含量,则糖氮比显著提高,糙米长、千粒重和直链淀粉含量显著降低;提高全N含量可能显著提高糙米厚和直链淀粉含量,而糖氮比、糙米长和千粒重随之显著降低;随糖氮比的提高,糙米厚、千粒重和直链淀粉含量将显著降低。种子、细胞质和母体植株3套遗传体系同时对成对性状的遗传相关性起作用,且各遗传体系在不同成对性状间的作用效果各异,可溶性糖含量与糙米宽、可溶性糖含量与糙米厚、全N含量与糙米长、全N含量与糙米厚等成对性状间遗传相关性主要受种子直接效应的控制;而可溶性糖含量与糙米长宽比、可溶性糖含量与千粒重、可溶性糖含量与直链淀粉含量、全N含量与糙米宽、全N含量与糙米长宽比、糖氮比与糙米宽、糖氮比与糙米厚等成对性状则以母体植株效应为主。     

Pattern analysis of the diversity of morphological plant attributes and herbage yield in a world collection of white clover (trifolium repens L.) germplasm characterised in a summer moisture stress environment of Australia

Information on the variation available for different plant attributes has enabled germplasm collections to be effectively utilised in plant breeding. A world sourced collection of white clover germplasm has been developed at the White Clover Resource Centre at Glen Innes, New South Wales. This collection of 439 accessions was characterised under field conditions as a preliminary study of the genotypic variation for morphological attributes; stolon density, stolon branching, number of nodes, number of rooted nodes, stolon thickness, internode length, leaf length, plant height and plant spread, together with seasonal herbage yield. Characterisation was conducted on different batches of germplasm (subsets of accessions taken from the complete collection) over a period of five years. Inclusion of two check cultivars, Haifa and Huia, in each batch enabled adjustment of the characterisation data for year effects and attribute-by-year interaction effects. The component of variance for seasonal herbage yield among batches was large relative to that for accessions. Accession-by-experiment and accession-by-season interactions for herbage yield were not detected. Accession mean repeatability for herbage yield across seasons was intermediate (0.453). The components of genotypic variance among accessions for all attributes, except plant height, were larger than their respective standard errors. The estimates of accession mean repeatability for the attributes ranged from low (0.277 for plant height) to intermediate (0.544 for internode length).Multivariate techniques of clustering and ordination were used to investigate the diversity present among the accessions in the collection. Both cluster analysis and principal component analysis suggested that seven groups of accessions existed. It was also proposed from the pattern analysis results that accessions from a group characterised by large leaves, tall plants and thick stolons could be crossed with accessions from a group that had above average stolon density and stolon branching. This material could produce breeding populations to be used in recurrent selection for the development of white clover cultivars for dryland summer moisture stress environments in Australia. The germplasm collection was also found to be deficient in genotypes with high stolon density, high number of branches, high number of rooted nodes and large leaves. This warrants addition of new germplasm accessions possessing these characteristics to the present germplasm collection.     

Analysis of the contribution of Mesoamerican and Andean gene pools to European common bean (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Phaseolus vulgaris</Emphasis> L.) germplasm and strategies to establish a core collection

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) was introduced in Europe from both Mesoamerican and Andean centres of origin. In this study, a collection including 544 accessions from all European regions showed that the Andean phaseolin types ‘T’ (45.6%) and ‘C’ (30.7%) prevailed over the Mesoamerican ones ‘S’ (23.7%), and accessions with cuboid seed shape (34.9%), maroon coat darker colour seed (44.3%), uniform seed colour (69.6%) were the most frequent. European accessions with phaseolin ‘S’ showed a significantly larger average seed size compared to those from America in the same phaseolin class while those presenting ‘T’ and ‘C’ phaseolin did not. This suggests that, during crop expansion in Europe, sampling or selection favoured the large-seeded races within the Mesoamerican ‘S’ gene pool or, possibly, introgression from Andean germplasm did occur. A core collection was developed using sampling approaches based on the information available in the genebank databases and on phaseolin patterns. Four sampling strategies were used: simple random sampling, and three random-stratified samplings, by logarithm of frequency of accessions by country, by European region, and by phaseolin pattern, respectively. Two sampling strategies resulted in core collections significantly different for phaseolin electrophoretic patterns from the whole collection. Stratification by phaseolin patterns increased the frequency of ‘S’ types (‘C’ type = 33%, ‘T’ type = 5.7% and ‘S’ type = 31.3%). The core collections were validated using seven seed characters, and no significant difference was observed in all strategies. This first developed European bean core collection will help to assess the contribution of the two American gene pools to the European germplasm and their relative importance for breeding purposes.