Growth Responses and Differences in Gene Expression depending on Cultivation Temperature between Alternative type Wheat Varieties

Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology - Two domestic wheat varieties were grown in the growth chamber set at 17°C, 20°C, 23°C and 26°C on average after the emergence of...     

Long‐Term Field Drought Affects Leaf Protein Pattern and Chloroplast Ultrastructure of Winter Wheat in a Cultivar‐Specific Manner

Recurrent drought periods of varying duration often cause extensive crop damage and affect wheat production in Southern Europe. This study compares biochemical and ultrastructural responses of four wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars to long‐term field drought, and their contribution to final grain yield. Gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting analyses combined with transmission electron microscopy and grain yield evaluation were employed to assess drought susceptibility of the wheat cultivars. Two of them behaved as drought‐tolerant, the other two presented as drought sensitive. Enhanced degradation of Rubisco large subunit (RLS), Rubisco small subunit (RSS) and Rubisco activase (RA) accompanied by an increased protease activity and reduced levels of heat shock proteins (HSP70) and dehydrins (DHNs) were associated with drought sensitivity. Drought tolerance coincided with relatively stable or increased HSP70 and DHN contents, and unchanged/higher levels of RLS, RSS and RA. Sensitive cultivars were more vulnerable to ultrastructural damages, showing obvious degradation of chloroplast membrane systems and depletion of leaf starch reserves. These drought responses affected yield potential, as tolerant cultivars gave higher yield under intense drought. Thus, our results provide additional insights into the complexity of plant drought responses, identifying multiple interacting traits that may serve as indirect selection criteria for wheat drought tolerance.     

Effects of Salinity and Soil–Drying on Radiation Use Efficiency,Water Productivity and Yield of Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.)

Drought and salinity reduce crop productivity especially in arid and semi‐arid regions, and finding a crop which produces yield under these adverse conditions is therefore very important. Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is such a crop. Hence, a study was conducted in field lysimeters to investigate the effect of salinity and soil–drying on radiation use efficiency, yield and water productivity of quinoa. Quinoa was exposed to five salinity levels (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 dS m^?1) of irrigation water from flower initiation onwards. During the seed‐filling phase the five salinity levels were divided between two levels of irrigation, either full irrigation (FI; 95 % of field capacity) or non‐irrigated progressive drought (PD). The intercepted photosynthetically active radiation was hardly affected by salinity (8 % decrease at 40 dS m^?1) and did not differ significantly between FI and PD. Radiation use efficiency of dry matter was similar between salinity levels and between FI and PD. In line with this, no negative effect of severe salinity and soil–drying on total dry matter could be detected. Salinity levels between 20 and 40 dS m^?1 significantly reduced the seed yield by ca. 33 % compared with 0 dS m^?1 treatment owing to a 15–30 % reduction in seed number per m², whereas the seed yield of PD was 8 % less than FI. Consequently, nitrogen harvested in seed was decreased by salinity although the total N‐uptake was increased. Both salinity and drought increased the water productivity of dry matter. Increasing salinity from 20 to 40 dS m^?1 did not further decrease the seed number per m² and seed yield, which shows that quinoa (cv. Titicaca) acclimated to saline conditions when exposed to salinity levels between 20 and 40 dS m^?1.     

Gas Exchange of Five Warm‐Season Grain Legumes and their Susceptibility to Heat Stress

Objective of this study was to compare the heat stress performance of four pulses from dry and hot areas (mungbeans, limabeans, and teparybeans and cowpeas) with that of soybeans. Two experiments were conducted in growth chambers, and data were pooled because results of both experiments were similar. Plants were raised up to flowering at 24/17 °C (day/night) and were then either exposed to these temperatures until maturity or stressed with 33/24 °C for 2 weeks starting at day 1 or 15 after onset of flowering (early vs. late stress). Before, during and after these stress intervals, gas exchange of representative upper leaves was examined; additionally, immediate effects of increasing leaf temperatures from 24 to 32 or 40 °C on chlorophyll fluorescence were assessed. Without heat stress rates of photosynthesis (P_n), and of transpiration (TR), stomatal and mesophyll conductance (g_s, g_m) and intrinsic transpiration efficiency (iTE) differed significantly among the five crops at each date. However, because of crop‐specific time‐courses ranking among unstressed crops was instable with time, so values were integrated or averaged over time. This procedure revealed high P_n potentials in mung‐ and teparybeans and high iTE values in limabeans compared to the other crops. Heat stress lowered P_n and g_s considerably, but increased TR in all five crops. Relative lowering of P_n during heat stress displayed a crop‐specific pattern with limabeans being least susceptible to both early and late heat stress, while cowpeas were highly susceptible to early stress. Effects on P_n were mainly attributable to lowering of g_s and only in part to g_m. The latter was supported by very small changes (<10 %) of various chlorophyll fluorescence signals shortly after raising leaf temperature to 32 °C in all species. However, in limabeans, a decreased electron transport rate (e‐rate, ?18 %) and an increased non‐photochemical quenching (Q_N, +16 %) pointed to an adaptive mechanism to avoid oxidative strains under heat. Leaf temperatures of 40 °C immediately provoked stronger changes in all fluorescence signals than 32 °C; substantial damages at 40 °C were indicated by effective quantum yield, photochemical quenching and ratio of fluorescence decrease in mungbeans and low ones in cowpeas and soybeans. Nevertheless, some adaptive responses of e‐rates and Q_N were observed in all crops and were most expressed in limabeans.     

Genetic relationships and hybrid vigour in olive (Olea europaea L.) by microsatellites

The olive (Olea europaea) is one of the most important oleaginous crops of the Mediterranean basin. Increased demand for olive oil creates a need for new olive varieties to help meet the requirements of the global market. However, olive breeding has been handicapped by such varied challenges as a prolonged juvenile period, agrotechnical problems and insufficient genetic knowledge. The use of DNA markers has the potential to overcome these problems and increase the effectiveness of classical breeding programmes. In this study, co‐dominant polymorphic simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were used as markers to analyse the genetic relationships between several local and other ‘non‐native’ olive cultivars. Cluster analysis revealed four major groups among the 15 cultivars examined in this study. Table and oil cultivars were clustered in different groups. However, the clusters did not differentiate between cultivars of different geographical origins. In addition, we used the data gathered to analyse genetic relationships to evaluate the effects of heterosis in agricultural traits. Genetic distances between cultivars were determined based on the SSR genotype data and were used for evaluating the possible effects of heterosis in various F₁ populations. Interestingly, phenotypic data of F₁ progenies from crosses between different cultivars indicated the potential effects of heterosis as expressed in several traits. Genetic distance between parents was significantly correlated to F₁ performance for three traits: percentage of dry fruit weight, oil content and commercial oil production. Thus, crosses between olive cultivars exhibiting relatively extensive genetic distances one from the other are expected to result in better progeny performance in future Olea breeding programmes. Our study linked assessment of biodiversity of commercial olive cultivars with the application of this information in olive breeding programmes for selection of specific parents to generate superior new cultivars.     

The Situation for Quinoa and Its Production in Southern Bolivia: From Economic Success to Environmental Disaster

In Bolivia, one of the world’s most important centres of plant domestication, there is growing awareness of the value of native Andean crops, both for domestic consumption and for market sale – notably the virtually boom‐like consumer demand for quinoa around the world. The southern altiplano of Bolivia, south of Oruro, relies almost purely on the production of quinoa and breeding of llamas, which have also been selected as the two commodities of priority to the government to increase the income of the country. Presently, however, quinoa is facing increasing problems in production, owing to its increasing export market and price. The flat areas around the salt desert of the southern altiplano, previously characterized by natural vegetation fed by the llamas, are being increasingly sown with quinoa, hence transformed into deserts, because intensive cultivation methods make the soil loose its fertility. Possible solutions to these problems will require extensive efforts in the south, in addition to various strategies, which also include other parts of the Bolivian altiplano and a strengthened focus on other Andean crops.     

Copper‐Induced Oxidative Stress and Responses of the Antioxidant System in Roots of Medicago sativa

The effects of various copper (Cu) concentrations on the antioxidative system in the roots of Medicago sativa were explored. The results indicated that the Cu content of the roots reached a value of 854 μg g^?1 DW at 10 μm Cu and a value of 4415 μg g^?1 DW at 100 μm Cu, suggesting that M. sativa has better ability to tolerate and accumulate Cu than other Cu‐bioaccumulators, and is a potential plant for phytoremediation. Treatment with Cu resulted in a significant increment in the levels of H₂O₂, O₂˙^? and OH˙. The reduced form of ascorbate and glutathione reached a peak at 30 μm Cu, and was followed by a sharp depletion to a lower level than that of the control. In contrast, the levels of the oxidised forms of ascorbate and glutathione showed a progressive increment with increasing Cu concentrations, suggesting that the antioxidant system was unable to cope with Cu stress at higher Cu levels. Under the Cu concentrations tested, the activity of catalase (CAT, EC 1.11.1.6), ascorbate peroxidase (APX, EC 1.11.1.11) and glutathione reductase (GR, EC 1.6.4.2) increased at lower Cu concentrations, and then decreased, reaching a maximum at 30 μm of Cu for APX and GR, at 10 μm for CAT, whereas the activities of guaiacol peroxidase (POD, EC 1.11.1.7) were gradually increased with increasing Cu concentrations. PAGE analysis of superoxide dismutase (SOD, EC 1.1.5.1.1) revealed that one band is a Mn‐SOD and five bands are identified as Cu, Zn‐SOD, whereas Fe‐SOD isoforms were not found in the roots of alfalfa. Cu at 10–100 μm increased the intensity of constitutive isozymes of CAT, APX and POD, whereas it decreased the intensity of isozymes of glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH, EC 1.1.1.49) significantly. The activities of lipoxygenases (LOX, EC 1.13.11.12) were gradually augmented with increasing Cu concentrations, demonstrating that LOXs are probably involved in production of lipid hydroperoxides and superoxide anion. There was a continuous and pronounced enhancement in the activity of esterase (EST, EC 3.1.1.1) in roots treated with 10–30 Cu μm , whereas EST activity in roots exposed to above 30 μm Cu declined, suggesting that EST plays a protective role under lower Cu concentrations stress.     

Characterizing Submergence Survival Strategy in Rice Via Chlorophyll Fluorescence

Rice plants cope with flash floods using either an ‘escape strategy’ involving rapid shoot elongation or a ‘quiescence strategy’ involving survival underwater with minimal activity. To clarify the differences in the response of leaf photosynthesis properties to conditions during and after submergence, two rice cultivars were compared: a non‐shoot‐elongating cultivar IR 67520‐B‐14‐1‐3‐2‐2 (IR67520) and a shoot‐elongating cultivar IR72442‐6B‐3‐2‐1‐1 (IR72442). Twenty‐three‐day‐old seedlings were submerged in 80‐cm‐deep water for 14 days. During submergence, the chlorophyll contents of the upper fully expanded leaf (5th leaf) and newly developed leaf later (6th leaf) and the maximal quantum yield of photosystem II (F_v/F_m) of the fifth leaf decreased earlier in IR72442 than in IR67520. In the submerged sixth leaf, F_v/F_m was higher in IR72442 than in IR67520 at early measurement. Although F_v/F_m of the sixth leaf in submerged IR67520 increased substantially from 2 days post‐submergence, IR72442 decreased because of leaf chlorosis. Therefore, a non‐shoot‐elongating cultivar coped with submergence by inhibiting photodamage and maintaining high chlorophyll content in the leaves. The shoot‐elongating cultivar was able to maintain the photosynthetic capacity of the newly developed leaf during submergence by prompt reduction of chlorophyll and chlorophyll fluorescence in the leaf that developed before submergence.