耕作方式对豫南雨养区土壤微环境及冬小麦产量的影响

针对豫南雨养农业区降水基本满足作物生长需求但年内和年际间分配不均、土壤耕性差的生态实际,为解决小麦播种期和冬春干旱以及改善耕层水、肥、气、热等因子提供理论依据。于2007—2015年,在豫南雨养农业区进行了连续9a的大田定位试验,研究了不同耕作模式对小麦生长季土壤水分、容重、温度及冬小麦产量的影响。试验共设置6个处理:T1(传统翻耕)、T2(不覆盖/不深松+覆盖/免耕)、T3(覆盖/不深松+不覆盖/免耕)、T4(不覆盖/深松+不覆盖/免耕)、T5(覆盖/深松+覆盖/免耕)以及T6(不覆盖/不深松+还田/旋耕)。结果表明,(覆盖/深松+覆盖/免耕)T5可以有效提高小麦播种期0~40cm土层的含水量,为麦播提供较好的水分基础,不同耕作方式处理对冬小麦越冬期和返青期土壤日平均温度影响较小,不足以对冬小麦发育进程产生影响。(覆盖/深松+覆盖/免耕)T5能够有效降低耕层0~20cm和0~40cm的土壤容重。覆盖/深松+覆盖/免耕处理的前3a,冬小麦产量较对照有所降低,从第4年开始较对照增产,2011—2015年增产幅度分别为2.02%、2.83%、10.93%、5.88%、1.97%。以上结果表明,通过T5(覆盖/深松+覆盖/免耕)的简耕覆盖技术可以有效利用降水资源、培肥地力,提高产量,具有节本增效的作用。     

Powdery Mildew Resistance in a Collection of Chinese Barley Varieties

One hundred and forty-seven Chinese barley varieties maintained at the Gene Bank of the National Barley Improvement Centre, Zhejiang, and 84 progenies from these varieties were tested at the seedling stage for their reaction to 32 selected pathotypes of Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei. Eighteen resistance spectra were identified comprising single or combined resistances from eight known (Ml(Bw), Ml(Ch), Mla7, Mla8, Mla9, Mla13, MlaRu4 and Mlg) and six unknown resistance genes. The most frequent gene was Ml(Bw), which was found in 69 varieties and previously detected in only a few European winter barley varieties. The genes Mla8 and Ml(Ch) were also often present, but other resistance genes were rare. After inoculation, considerably fewer pathogen colonies were observed in ‘Aiganqi’ and one line of ‘Tong5’. Twenty varieties were composed of lines with different resistance genes. China is likely to be a region of origin of the genes Ml(Bw), Mla7, as well as three unknown genes found in original landraces and perhaps another three unknown genes detected in cultivars bred in China. The resistances of varieties from the Zhejiang province and those originating from 11 other Chinese provinces were quite different. Unfortunately, none of the varieties are promising sources of resistance to powdery mildew and China does not seem to be a region suitable for identifying such sources.     

Long-term effect of chemical fertilizer,straw, and manure on labile organic matter fractions in a paddy soil

To assess the effect of long-term fertilization on labile organic matter fractions, we analyzed the C and N mineralization and C and N content in soil, particulate organic matter (POM), light fraction organic matter (LFOM), and microbial biomass. Results showed that fertilizer N decreased or did not affect the C and N amounts in soil fractions, except N mineralization and soil total N. The C and N amounts in soil and its fractions increased with the application of fertilizer PK and rice straw. Generally, there was no significant difference between fertilizer PK and rice straw. Furthermore, application of manure was most effective in maintaining soil organic matter and labile organic matter fractions. Soils treated with manure alone had the highest microbial biomass C and C and N mineralization. A significant correlation was observed between the C content and N content in soil, POM, LFOM, microbial biomass, or the readily mineralized organic matter. The amounts of POM–N, LFOM–N, POM–C, and LFOM–C closely correlated with soil organic C or total N content. Microbial biomass N was closely related to the amounts of POM–N, LFOM–N, POM–C, and LFOM–C, while microbial biomass C was closely related to the amounts of POM–N, POM–C, and soil total N. These results suggested that microbial biomass C and N closely correlated with POM rather than SOM. Carbon mineralization was closely related to the amounts of POM–N, POM–C, microbial biomass C, and soil organic C, but no significant correlation was detected between N mineralization with C or N amounts in soil and its fractions.     

Diversity in White Lupin (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Lupinus albus</Emphasis> L.) Landraces from Northwest Iberianplateau

All the accessions (35) of white lupin (Lupinus albus L.) landraces collected from northwest Iberian plateau and maintained at the Spanish germplasm collection (CRF of INIA), were studied with the general objective of assessing the biodiversity of these landraces and to ascertain their value as genetic resources for the development of germplasm adapted to the areas where they were collected with long and chilly winters. The characterization study comprised 51 qualitative and 50 quantitative characters. Quantitative parameters were analyzed by Principal Components Analysis (PCA). The 2-dimensional plot (49.3% of cumulative variability) formed a main group of accessions and 4 outliers (#1, #9, #27 and #28) separated in the first PC. The characters with a higher contribution to the first PC were inflorescence length, leaf petiole length and leaf central foliole area. The presence of alkaloids, the percentage of plants killed by soil borne fungal diseases, the phenology, the yield per plant and yield components were also assessed. Twenty six accessions (the main group in the PCA plot) showed high homogeneity, with the following highlights: bitterness, indeterminate growth habit, early ripeness and spring sowing with the exception of #18, in which seeding date is unknown and it had a later phenology. By contrast accessions #9 and #27 were bitter of autumn sowing with determinate growing habit and they had the longest values of primary inflorescence length and a later phenology when they were sown in spring. Average values for yield and yield components showed a broad range of variation between accessions. The main yield component was the number of pods per plant. Accession #22 had the highest mean seed mass, although this had not significant influence in yield. Accession #17 showed the highest yield and #1 the lowest. This last also had the lowest values of inflorescence length, leaf petiole length and leaf central foliole area. No significant differences of resistance to soil-borne fungi were found between accessions. The year had a significant effect in the phenology, yield and yield components except for number of seeds per pod. The studied material might be of interest for the development of spring sowing germplasm adapted to north Iberian peninsula.     

Changes in soil chemistry associated with the establishment of forest gardens on eroded,acidified grassland soils in Sri Lanka

Topsoil properties were determined in forest gardens established about 20 years ago on eroded grassland soils (abandoned tea lands) in the wet zone of the Sri Lankan highlands. They were compared with adjacent, eroded grasslands (abandoned tea lands) on strongly weathered soils vs soils at earlier stages of pedogenic development in a two-way analysis of variance. Soil pH in forest gardens was, on average, 6.1, nearly one unit higher than in the adjacent grasslands. In the garden soils, the cation exchange capacity (CEC measured at pH 4.8) was nearly double, exchangeable calcium concentrations five times and exchangeable magnesium three times as high as in the grasslands soils. Total soil N content was found to be nearly 40% higher in the gardens. Topsoil gravel contents in the gardens were less than half as high as in the grasslands. The increases in exchangeable bases and N in gardens, relative to grasslands, were attributed to increased nutrient retention and acquisition. Higher retention was partly due to the higher CEC_pH4.8, and probably to reduced erosion and increased, continuous fine root density in the garden topsoils. Higher field CEC in gardens was likely to result from generally higher C contents and from the reversal of acidification, presumably caused by base accumulation and decomposition processes. Our results suggest that forest garden establishment on degraded grasslands can lead to accumulation of mobile nutrients in the topsoil, probably due to increased nutrient retention, subsoil uptake and litter input exceeding nutrient uptake by the standing biomass.     

Evaluating estimators of the numbers of females with cubs-of-the-year in the yellowstone grizzly bear population

Current management of the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) population in Yellowstone National Park and surrounding areas requires annual estimation of the number of adult female bears with cubs-of-the-year. We examined the performance of nine estimators of population size via simulation. Data were simulated using two methods for different combinations of population size, sample size, and coefficient of variation of individual sighting probabilities. We show that the coefficient of variation does not, by itself, adequately describe the effects of capture heterogeneity, because two different distributions of capture probabilities can have the same coefficient of variation. All estimators produced biased estimates of population size with bias decreasing as effort in creased. Based on the simulation results we recommend the Chao estimator for model M _h be used to estimate the number of the female bears with cubs of the year; however, the estimator of Chao and Shen may also be useful depending on the goals of the research.     

Eco-geographical distribution of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lactuca aculeata</Emphasis> natural populations in northeastern Israel

The wild lettuce, Lactuca aculeata Boiss. et Ky., is closely related and fully interfertile with cultivated lettuce, Lactuca sativa L. Altogether, 155 accessions of this wild species, which is rare conserved within the world’s germplasm collections, were collected from 12 localities throughout northeastern Israel. Ten of these localities represent different sites across the Golan Heights, while two, high-density populations were suprisingly found at the Hula Plain (first report of this species in this region). Lactuca aculeata was recorded at various elevations (222–968 m a.s.l.) and habitats. The taxonomic status of 30 L. aculeata accessions was morphologically validated during ex situ seed regeneration of 31 random accessions representing all 12 localities. Characterization of 12 traits showed that the Israeli populations of L. aculeata do not exhibit broad morphological variability, but more great levels of variation were obtained for developmental traits. Relatively little variability was observed in the morphology of cauline leaves or in the distribution of anthocyanin pigmentation in bracteae. In two cases, L. aculeata plants lacked trichomes in the inflorescence, a typical feature in the majority of plants. These unique collections of wild lettuce may carry novel sources of genetic variation for a wide range of traits and, thus, should be of interest for careful evaluation and exploitation in lettuce breeding.     

Comparison of dissolved organic matter from sewage sludge and sludge compost as electron shuttles for enhancing Fe(III) bioreduction

Purpose  

Land utilization of sewage sludge and sludge compost is a common practice in many countries. Soils amended with sewage sludge and sludge compost display different physicochemical properties, especially in terms of dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition that affects the electron-donating capacity (EDC) of DOM in soils. The aim of this paper was to compare the EDC of DOM derived from sewage sludge and sludge compost for enhancing Fe(III) bioreduction. It is expected that this research could be helpful for further understanding of soil remediation in the future.     

Chronic toxicity of contaminated sediments on reproduction and histopathology of the crustacean <Emphasis Type="Italic">Gammarus fossarum</Emphasis> and relationship with the chemical contamination and in vitro effects

Purpose  

The aim of the present study was to investigate possible relationships between the sediment contaminants and the occurrence of intersex in situ. Two of the studied sediments were from polluted sites with increased occurrence of intersex crustaceans (Lake Pilnok, black coal mining area in the Czech Republic, inhabited by the crayfish Pontastacus leptodactylus population with 18% of intersex; creek Lockwitzbach in Germany with Gammarus fossarum population with about 7% of intersex).     

Arbuscular mycorrhizal association is beneficial for growth and detoxification of xenobiotics of barley under drought stress

Background, aim, and scope  

Plant growth and productivity under abiotic stresses such as water shortage or pollution are major problems which currently worry scientists in the field of food production and plant health. Since the intensification of livestock production with its associated increased demand for fodder has encouraged farmers to rely more heavily on chemical fertilizers, very often, municipal waste and wastewater sludge is considered a possible source of plant nutrients, although it might carry a significant amount of anthropogeneous pollutants. The extent to which plants react to drought, as well as how pollutants are taken up or how they act on plants, might depend on rhizosphere processes such as mycorrhizal symbioses. Therefore, it seemed timely to investigate plant defense reactions in the presence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) toward a possible dangerous sewage sludge pollutant under the influence of drought.