<Superscript>1</Superscript>H-NMR metabolite profiling of abalone digestive gland in response to short-term starvation

The effect of a short-term feeding and starvation experiment on juvenile abalone (Haliotis rubra × H. laevigata) was investigated (average length = 67 mm; average weight = 48 g). All aquaculture experiments were conducted at The University of Melbourne, Australia. Artificial feed was supplied ad libitum to the fed group, and no feed was supplied to the starved group. A modified metabolite extraction protocol using deuterated solvents was developed for ¹H-NMR-based metabolite profiling of digestive gland in response to the short-term feeding/starvation experiment, to avoid lyophilisation prior to biochemical analysis. PLS-DA revealed that fed and starved abalone are metabolically distinct from each other after 28 and 56 days. After 28 days, the fed group was defined by an increase in arginine, glucose, glutamate, glycine, inosine and uracil (P < 0.05), and the starved group was defined by an increase in N,N-dimethylglycine. After 56 days, the fed group still displayed increased glucose (P < 0.05), while N,N-dimethylglycine remained elevated in the starved group (P < 0.05). Arginine and glycogen were all higher at 28 days compared to 56 days, suggesting decreased anaerobic energy production at the later time point. Only glucose and N,N-dimethylglycine were significantly different between the fed and starved groups after 56 days, suggesting that abalone had not acclimatised to the starvation treatment after 28 days. These results infer N,N-dimethylglycine is a robust marker for short-term starvation in abalone. ¹H-NMR was also conducted on the artificial feed and starved abalone faecal matter, revealing the biochemical differences between them and digestive gland tissue. These methodology and results will facilitate a deeper understanding of the nutritional and physiological requirements of abalone in an aquaculture setting.     

黑土培肥效果的定位研究——Ⅱ 土壤养分的变化

不同培肥措施对土壤全氮、全磷、碱解氮、速效磷的积累为:有机肥>秸秆还田>草木樨还田>化肥>对照;速效钾的累积增长为秸秆还田居首位,有机肥次之,对照区呈下降趋势。有机物料的培肥效果优于化肥。     

基于离散元法的深松作业玉米秸秆运动规律

东北垄作区玉米秸秆还田条件下,针对垄台播种带秸秆残茬易导致深松铲以及后续机具缠草堵塞和阻力增加等问题,建立深松铲-土壤-秸秆-根茬的离散元模型,分析仿真因素秸秆距垄台中心距离、秸秆与机具前进方向夹角、根茬状态（根茬中间切割、根茬一侧切割、根茬挑起和无根茬）和秸秆之间相互影响对深松作业过程中秸秆拨离垄台的影响。进一步探究深松铲作用下垄上秸秆运动规律并分析其扰动比阻（秸秆扰动力矩与深松铲阻力之比）。仿真结果表明：秸秆距垄台中心距离对秸秆位移中的水平侧向运动的影响最大;秸秆水平侧向位移随着秸秆与机具前进方向夹角增大呈减小趋势;根茬状态影响秸秆位移的主次顺序依次为：根茬挑起、根茬一侧切割、无根茬、根茬中间切割;当秸秆距垄台中心距离为60 mm时,秸秆之间相互影响对秸秆位移中的前进方向运动的影响最大;当秸秆距垄台中心距离大于60 mm,秸秆前进方向位移呈增大趋势。秸秆运动的力矩变化趋势为平稳变化,后产生峰值,最后又趋于平稳;影响秸秆力矩的主次顺序依次为：根茬状态、秸秆之间相互影响、秸秆距垄台中心距离、秸秆与机具前进方向夹角。深松过程中,秸秆扰动比阻在切割根茬一侧时达到最大值0.152 mm。田间对比试验结果表明,仿真模型得到的秸秆总位移、水平侧向、前进方向和垂直方向位移与田间试验值的误差分别为0.36%～9.67%、0.16%～12.31%、0.56%～10.11%和0.43%～4.63%,秸秆力矩的误差为0.16%～11.06%。研究结果可为深松铲设计以及优化提供一定的理论依据。     

As contamination alters rhizosphere microbial community composition with soil type dependency during the rice growing season

Rhizosphere microbes play a cardinal role in transformation and crop uptake of arsenic (As), thereby relieving or intensifying the risk of As contamination in the food webs. How rhizosphere microbiomes respond to As contamination in different paddy soils and rice growth stages is still unclear. Here, we conducted a rice pot experiment to address the effects of rice developmental stage and As contamination on the rhizosphere microbial communities in two contrast paddy soils, a yellow clayey paddy soil (YP, pH 5.1, soil organic matter 20.8 g/kg) and red paddy soil (RP, pH 6.2, soil organic matter 46.1 g/kg). The rhizosphere microbial communities were investigated using phospholipid fatty acids analysis at tillering, panicle initiation, and maturity stages. The results showed that rice growing in YP soil accumulated 2-10 times higher contents of As in root than that in RP soil. There was a significant effect of rice growing stage, independent of soil types and As treatment, on rhizosphere microbial community composition in both YP and RP soils as depicted by canonical correspondence analysis. As contamination significantly altered rhizosphere microbial community composition only in YP soil, which showed the soil type dependency of the As contamination effect. In RP soil, the higher content of soil organic matter reduced the impact of As contamination. Soil pH explained more percentage of variation in microbial community composition than soil DOC and DON did. These influences of soil physiochemical properties on heavy metal available and rhizosphere microbial community may lay the foundation for exploration of bioremediation potential.     

Development and validation of species-specific primers that provide a molecular diagnostic for virus-vector longidorid nematodes and related species in German viticulture

The nematode species Longidorus attenuatus, L. elongatus, L. macrosoma and Paralongidorus maximusare economically important pests to the viticulture industry due to their ability to vector two nepoviruses (Raspberry Ringspot Virus and Tomato Black Ring Virus) to grapevines. In Germany, these species occur in vineyard soil with other non-vector but morphologically similar longidorid species, L. helveticus, L.profundorum and L. sturhani. Species-specific primers were designed from ribosomal DNA for all seven species to facilitate taxonomic identification for non-specialists. Primers were assessed for their reliability by screening, where possible, a number of populations of each species. Furthermore, their selectivity and sensitivity were determined when challenged with closely related longidorid species and general nematode communities typical of vineyard soil. A multiplex approach using a common forward primer combined with species-specific reverse primers enabled three target nematode species to be detected in the same PCR reaction. All primers were highly specific, detecting all nematode developmental forms from disparate populations and were sufficiently sensitive to detect a single target nematode within a whole nematode community typical of a vineyard soil comprising of a range of non-target species. Given their specificity, sensitivity and reliability, these diagnostic primers should be of great benefit to both phytosanitary/quarantine services related to the viticulture industry and also as a decision management tool for growers.     

大体积进样离子色谱法测定饮用水中溴酸盐等7种无机阴离子

建立大体积进样,离子色谱法(IC)测定饮用水中不同数量级F-,BrO3-,Cl-,Br-,NO2-,NO3-,SO4-等7种无机阴离子的新方法。采用离子色谱碳酸盐等度淋洗系统,高容量色谱分析柱AS-23,DS5电导检测器,500μL定量环直接进样分析饮用水中7种无机阴离子的保留时间等,并通过峰面积法定量各种阴离子含量。该法各离子线性相关性好(R>0.999 0),精密度高(RSD<3.6%),准确度好(平均回收率96.5%～102.4%),检出限低(3.56～6.74μg/L,以500μL进样量计算)。可同时测定饮用水中不同数量级浓度的7种无机阴离子,检出限低,操作简便,快速准确,不仅能够满足水质监测要求,而且大幅提高检测效率。     

Impact of time lags on diurnal estimates of canopy transpiration and canopy conductance from sap-flow measurements of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Populus cathayana</Emphasis> in the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

Recently, canopy transpiration (E_c) has been often estimated by xylem sap-flow measurements. However, there is a significant time lag between sap flow measured at the base of the stem and canopy transpiration due to the capacitive exchange between the transpiration stream and stem water storage. Significant errors will be introduced in canopy conductance (g_c) and canopy transpiration estimation if the time lag is neglected. In this study, a cross-correlation analysis was used to quantify the time lag, and the sap flow-based transpiration was measured to parameterize Jarvis-type models of g_c and thus to simulate E_c of Populus cathayana using the Penman–Monteith equation. The results indicate that solar radiation (R_s) and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) are not fully coincident with sap flow and have an obvious lag effect; the sap flow lags behind R_s and precedes VPD, and there is a 1-h time shift between E_c and sap flow in the 30-min interval data set. A parameterized Jarvis-type g_c model is suitable to predict P. cathayana transpiration and explains more than 80% of the variation observed in g_c, and the relative error was less than 25%, which shows a preferable simulation effect. The root mean square error (RMSEs) between the predicted and measured E_c were 1.91 × 10^?3 (with the time lag) and 3.12 × 10^?3 cm h^?1 (without the time lag). More importantly, E_c simulation precision that incorporates time lag is improved by 6% compared to the results without the time lag, with the mean relative error (MRE) of only 8.32% and the mean absolute error (MAE) of 1.48 × 10^?3 cm h^?1.     

Assessment of growth performance,immune responses,serum metabolites,and prevalence of leg weakness in broiler chicks submitted to early-age water restriction

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of two methods of early-age water restriction on performance, some immune responses, serum metabolites, and prevalence of leg weakness in broiler chicks. One-hundred-eighty-seven-day-old chicks (Ross 308) were allocated to three treatments with four replicates based on a completely randomized design. Treatments included the control group, where birds had free access to water, and water-restricted groups, where access to water was limited to three 2-h periods (WRT1) or a 12-h period (WRT2) per day from days 7 to 17. Chicks in the control group were significantly heavier (P < 0.05) at 17 and 46 days of age compared to the restricted birds. In the WRT2 group, feed intake decreased significantly over the 17- to 28-day period while feed conversion ratio was poorer during water restriction (P < 0.05). Antibody titers against Newcastle and SRBC were higher (P < 0.05) for chicks with ad libitum access to water. Birds in the restricted groups exhibited a higher heterophil to lymphocyte ratio compared to the control group (P < 0.05). The treatments had no significant impact on serum metabolites including protein, triglyceride, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein and low-density lipoprotein cholesterols, calcium, and phosphorus concentrations. Walking ability, tibial dyschondroplasia, foot pad, hock burn, and valgus/varus angulation were not significantly influenced by water restriction. In conclusion, the current results indicate that early-age water restriction negatively influenced productive traits and immunological responses of broiler chicks and failed to have any favorable impacts on leg health.     

Data analysis for molecular characterization of plant genetic resources

Characterizations of plant genetic resources based on molecular markers have been increased in the last years. Studies using a broad range of markers applied on hundreds of plant species are the theoretical basis for inferring genetic diversity to propose both breeding and conservation strategies. Despite increased importance of molecular characterization in plant genetic resources, there is scarce information about analysis of this type of data. To fill this gap of information, this review discuss the rationale behind analyses achieved to study genetic relationship among accessions (within and between groups) and to identify accession, and also discuss the adequacy of some analyses and/or parameters for specific purposes. Genetic diversity within groups may be either quantified for the whole group (parameters to choose will depend on type of marker), or quantified and visualized for the relationships among individuals. Quantification parameters will be chosen depending on type of marker, reproduction mode and relatedness of individuals. Visualization is achieved by hierarchical and non-hierarchical methods. Genetic diversity between groups should be quantified either by analysis of molecular variance, or Nei’s parameters, or Wright’s F-statistics. Efficiency of accession identification can be evaluated by maximal probability of identical match by chance and number of resolved genotypes.     

Effects of silviculture treatments in a hurricane-damaged forest on carbon storage and emissions in central Hokkaido,Japan

Hurricanes cause abrupt carbon reduction in forests, but silviculture treatment can be an effective means of quickly regenerating and restoring hurricane-damaged sites. This study assessed how silviculture treatments affect carbon balance after hurricane damage in central Hokkaido, Japan. We examined carbon storage in trees and underground vegetation as well as carbon emissions from silviculture operations in 25-year-old stands, where scarification and plantation occurred just after hurricane damage. The amount of carbon stored varied according to silviculture treatment. Among three scarification treatments, a scarified depth of 0 cm (understory vegetation removal) led to the largest amount of carbon stored (64.7 t·ha-1 C). Among four plantation treatments, the largest amount of carbon was stored in a Larix hybrid (L. gmelinii var. japonica × L. kaempferi) plantation (80.3 t·ha-1 C). The plantation of Abies sachalinensis was not successful at accumulating carbon (40.5·ha-1 C). The amount of carbon emitted from silviculture operations was 0.05-0.14 t·ha-1 C, and it marginally affected the net carbon balance of the silviculture project. Results indicate that silviculture treatments should beperformed in an appropriate way to effectively recover the ability of carbon sequestration in hurricane-damaged forests.