不同氮素形态配比对菜用甘薯产量和品质的影响

菜用甘薯存在产量低、品质差以及在种植过程中由于不合理施肥造成生态环境恶化等问题,因此,针对以上问题开展本研究。氮肥作为农业肥料投入的主要部分,是影响菜用甘薯产量和品质的重要因素,通过设置不同氮素形态配比处理,根据菜用甘薯茎尖产量和品质相关指标的变化,揭示菜用甘薯产量和品质对氮素形态配比的响应机制,为提升菜用甘薯产量和品质的同时减轻因不合理施肥造成环境污染提供理论依据。本研究为大田试验,供试品种为生产上主栽的2个菜用甘薯品种‘福薯18’（F18）和‘鄂薯10号’（E10）,采用两因素裂区试验设计,设5个氮素形态配比处理为：（1）NH₄⁺-N∶NO₃^--N∶CONH₂-N =1∶1∶1 (N₁);（2）NH₄⁺-N∶NO₃^--N∶CONH₂-N = 1∶0∶2 (N₂);（3）NH₄⁺-N∶NO₃^--N∶CONH₂-N = 2∶0∶1 (N₃);（4）NH₄⁺-N∶NO₃^--N∶CONH₂-N = 1∶2∶0 (N₄);（5）NH₄⁺-N∶NO₃^--N∶CONH₂-N = 2∶1∶0 (N₅)。研究结果表明,N₄和N₅处理均可显著提高菜用甘薯的茎尖产量、总酚含量、总黄酮含量、可溶性糖含量、苯丙氨酸解氨酶(PAL)酶活性和IbPAL基因表达量;同一时期不同处理间差异显著,随着生育期的不断推进,各项指标的变化呈先升后降的趋势,其中以N₄处理效果更为显著,除可溶性糖含量在N₃处理下最低外,其他各项指标均在N₂处理下最低,由相关性分析证实,总酚、总黄酮和可溶性含量及PAL酶活性与IbPAL基因表达量呈显著正相关,而可溶性糖含量与基因表达量呈负相关,表明可溶性糖含量的变化与IbPAL基因表达无相关性;由氮素形态配比处理可知,相对于N₂和N₃处理,N₄和N₅处理为植株提供了更多的NO₃^--N,由此推断NO₃^--N在菜用甘薯生长发育过程中起到更为重要的促进作用,而CONH₂-N在本研究中对甘薯产量和品质的促进作用并不突出。而N₄处理即NH₄⁺-N∶NO₃^--N∶CONH₂-N = 1∶2∶0的配肥方案是促进菜用甘薯产量和品质提升的最佳配施组合。本研究结果可为合理配肥以获得理想的作物产量和品质提供理论依据,为在其他作物上开展相关研究提供参考。     

Hyperthyroidism and the kidney

Hyperthyroidism and chronic renal failure (CRF) are both common diseases of older cats. Hyperthyroidism increases GFR by a variety of physiologic effects. Chronic renal failure can suppress total T4 concentrations in cats with concurrent hyperthyroidism, and free T4 is not a useful distinguishing test. Medical therapy (ie, methimazole) is recommended in cats with pre-existing CRF. Overt renal failure occurs in approximately 30% of cats treated for hyperthyroidism. It usually occurs within one month of treatment and tends to remain mild and stable over time. There is no practical way to predict which cats will develop CRF after treatment of hyperthyroidism, although GFR measurement does seem useful.     

A three-stage symbiosis forms the foundation of seagrass ecosystems

Seagrasses evolved from terrestrial plants into marine foundation species around 100 million years ago. Their ecological success, however, remains a mystery because natural organic matter accumulation within the beds should result in toxic sediment sulfide levels. Using a meta-analysis, a field study, and a laboratory experiment, we reveal how an ancient three-stage symbiosis between seagrass, lucinid bivalves, and their sulfide-oxidizing gill bacteria reduces sulfide stress for seagrasses. We found that the bivalve-sulfide-oxidizer symbiosis reduced sulfide levels and enhanced seagrass production as measured in biomass. In turn, the bivalves and their endosymbionts profit from organic matter accumulation and radial oxygen release from the seagrass roots. These findings elucidate the long-term success of seagrasses in warm waters and offer new prospects for seagrass ecosystem conservation.     

Restricted lateral diffusion of PH-20, a PI-anchored sperm membrane protein

The rate of lateral diffusion of integral membrane proteins is constrained in cells, but the constraining factors for most membrane proteins have not been defined. PH-20, a sperm surface protein involved in sperm-egg adhesion, was shown to be anchored in the plasma membrane by attachment to the lipid phosphatidylinositol and to have a diffusion rate that is highly restricted on testicular sperm, being more than a thousand times slower than lipid diffusion. These results support the hypothesis that lateral mobility of a membrane protein can be regulated exclusively by interactions of its ectodomain.     

Impact of Phytosanitary Quality of Seed Potato and Temporal Epidemic Progress on the Phenotypic Diversity of Phytophthora infestans Populations

Altogether 365 isolates of Phytophthora infestans were sampled from potatoes propagated from seed potatoes of high (multiplied for two years in open field after meristem phase) and low (commercial certified seed multiplied for several consecutive years in open field) phytosanitary quality at different phases of epidemic progress during the growing seasons of 2001–2007 from field plots at two experimental institutes in Estonia, North-East Europe. High or low phytosanitary quality of seed potatoes had no effect on mating type ratio or response to metalaxyl in populations of P. infestans isolated from these two different groups of potato material. In contrast, the incidence of certain virulence factors, as well as the diversity of pathotypes, was very high in populations collected from potatoes propagated from low-quality seed in comparison to those from high-quality seed. The incidence of A2 mating type and fully metalaxyl sensitive strains was statistically significantly higher at the epidemic outbreak than later during epidemic progress. The incidence of most virulence factors and overall pathotype diversity were not affected by the temporal progress of the epidemic. Rare virulence factors 5 and 9 were more frequent at the outbreak of the epidemic and declined in the population during the course of epidemic.     

Study of the spiral and spindle-shaped formations in cultures of Bacillus larvae (White 1906) causing foulbrood in bees]

The authors have been studying the bacterial diseases of the brood for a fairly long time. American and European foul brood has been studied with the highest attention. Cultures of Bacillus larvae (White, 1906) were examined both in freshly isolated strains and in collection strains of this micro-organism. In cases of foul brood, the pathological material was found to contain not only the typical rods of B. larvae but also immobile spiral forms which are usually referred to in literature as fragments or developmental forms of B. larvae. These spiral forms were found to constitute spindle-shaped formations in the culture of B. larvae; the multiplication of these spindles depends on the presence of the rods of B. larvae and their development and reproduction can be observed on wet gelatine agar in a Petri dish turned upside down under a normal microscope (10 X 10 magnification). In the combined liquid medium, used in the experiments, these formations disintegrate into immobile spirals; if re-cultivated on a solid medium they re-assume their spindle shape with transverse meridian arrangement (in different amounts). Staining for proving the presence of nucleic acids does not eliminate the possibility of these formations being separate micro-organisms which cannot be stained by current staining methods but can be represented by the contrast method according to Burri, or by silvering according to Klein. The authors succeeded to separate these micro-organisms, but without the rods of B. larvae the colonies of these formations are feeble.     

The development of the regulation of food intake during ontogenesis--the effect of hyperalimentation on body weight gain in suckling rats

In an experiment, the number of young rats per nest was reduced to two in time intervals from the 1st to the 6th, from the 6th to the 11th, from the 11th to the 16th, and from the 16th to the 21st day after birth (groups P1, P2, P3 and P4 respectively). The plenty of milk available to the young for a period of five days positively influenced the body weight of the rats in group P2, whereas in the remaining groups the total weight showed no significant change in comparison with normally fed animals. The subsequent normalization of nutrition in the test young (the number of the young in nests was increased to eight) induced a decrease in weight gains in the older test animals (groups P3, P4), whereas in the 6- to 11-day-old rats (P2) the higher weight gains were retained in the next growth stages. The results give evidence that an external interference in the nutrition of rats (hyperalimentation) in the period from the 6th to the 11th day of life can influence, for a longer time, feeding behaviour and weight gains. The relative stability of the body weight of the young after the 11th day of life suggests to the functional involvement of the regulatory mechanisms controlling feed intake in this period of life.