Identification of genetic regions associated with black point in barley

Black point (BP) can cause severe losses to the barley industry through downgrading and discounting of malting barley. The genetic improvement in BP resistance of barley is complex, requiring reliable screening tools, an understanding of genotype by environment interactions and an understanding of the biochemical mechanisms of melanisation involved in BP development. Thus the application of molecular markers for resistance to BP may be a useful tool for plant breeders. We have investigated the genetic regions associated with BP resistance in the barley F₂ population, Valier/Binalong. Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) contributed by the resistant parent Valier, were detected on chromosomes 2HS, 2HC, 3HL, 4HL and a QTL contributed by the susceptible parent, Binalong was detected on 5HL. Three of the four QTLs were detected in two distinctly different environments. The differences observed in BP resistance between these two environments and the implications for accelerated screening are discussed. Identified SSR markers in these regions may be useful for selecting black point resistance in related breeding materials.     

DROUGHT STRESS: Soil Water Availability Alters the Inter‐ and Intra‐Cultivar Competition of Three Spring Wheat Cultivars Bred in Different Eras

Competition for water generates a classic aspect of the tragedy of the commons, the ‘race for fish’, where crops must allocate more resource to acquisition of the limiting resource than is optimal for crop yield allocation. A pot experiment using a simple additive (target–neighbour) design was conducted to examine the above‐ground and below‐ground growth of three spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars when grown alone and in mixtures at three levels of water availability. The effects of competition and water availability were compared by observing patterns of growth, biomass allocation and below‐ground outcomes. Competitive interactions were investigated among cultivars ‘HST’, ‘GY602’ and ‘LC8275’, target plant of each cultivar grown without neighbouring plants are referred to herein as control plant and one target plant of each cultivar sown surrounded either by same or another cultivar as intra‐ or inter‐cultivar competition. Competitive ability was assessed as the response ratio (lnRR) between the target plant surrounded by six other plants and the target plant in isolation. Our results showed that the cultivar ‘HST’, released over a century ago, produced a higher biomass and grain yield than the more recently released cultivars ‘LC8275’ and ‘GY602’ when grown as isolated plants with sufficient water supply. However, competition for resources from neighbours led to target plant biomass and grain yield being significantly reduced relative to controls in all three cultivars, particularly in ‘HST’. When subjected to intra‐cultivar competition, the two recently released cultivars ‘LC8275’ and ‘GY602’ had higher grain yields and water use efficiency for grain than ‘HST’ in all three water regimes. The landrace ‘HST’ had better and significantly linear relationships between biomass and biomass allocation, root length and specific root length, whereas the recent and modern cultivars had much more water‐related species‐specific changes in root morphology and allocation patterns. These results suggest that crop traits that influence competitive ability, such as biomass allocation to roots and root plasticity in response to drought have changed in modern wheat cultivars because of breeding and selection.     

Does repeated burial of skeletal muscle tissue (Ovis aries) in soil affect subsequent decomposition?

The repeated introduction of an organic resource to soil can result in its enhanced degradation. This phenomenon is of primary importance in agroecosystems, where the dynamics of repeated nutrient, pesticide, and herbicide amendment must be understood to achieve optimal yield. Although not yet investigated, the repeated introduction of cadaveric material is an important area of research in forensic science and cemetery planning. It is not currently understood what effects the repeated burial of cadaveric material has on cadaver decomposition or soil processes such as carbon mineralization. To address this gap in knowledge, we conducted a laboratory experiment using ovine (Ovis aries) skeletal muscle tissue (striated muscle used for locomotion) and three contrasting soils (brown earth, rendzina, podsol) from Great Britain. This experiment comprised two stages. In Stage I skeletal muscle tissue (150 g as 1.5 g cubes) was buried in sieved (4.6 mm) soil (10 kg dry weight) calibrated to 60% water holding capacity and allowed to decompose in the dark for 70 days at 22 °C. Control samples comprised soil without skeletal muscle tissue. In Stage II, soils were weighed (100 g dry weight at 60% WHC) into 1285 ml incubation microcosms. Half of the soils were designated for a second tissue amendment, which comprised the burial (2.5 cm) of 1.5 g cube of skeletal muscle tissue. The remaining half of the samples did not receive tissue. Thus, four treatments were used in each soil, reflecting all possible combinations of tissue burial (+) and control (−). Subsequent measures of tissue mass loss, carbon dioxide-carbon evolution, soil microbial biomass carbon, metabolic quotient and soil pH show that repeated burial of skeletal muscle tissue was associated with a significantly greater rate of decomposition in all soils. However, soil microbial biomass following repeated burial was either not significantly different (brown earth, podsol) or significantly less (rendzina) than new gravesoil. Based on these results, we conclude that enhanced decomposition of skeletal muscle tissue was most likely due to the proliferation of zymogenous soil microbes able to better use cadaveric material re-introduced to the soil.     

Intracerebroventricular Infusion of Leptin into Mature Merino Rams of Different Metabolic Status: Effects on Blood Concentrations of Glucose and Reproductive and Metabolic Hormones

In mature Merino rams, nutrition is one of the external cues that most strongly affects the reproductive centres of the preoptic-hypothalamic continuum. The signalling pathways that link dietary status and the activity of the neurones that produce gonadotrophin-releasing hormone signals are thought to be partly hormonal in nature to reflect the amount of body reserves. Among the hormones thought to be involved are insulin and leptin. This study tested whether recombinant bovine leptin infused (0.4 microg/h) into the third cerebral ventricle would stimulate pulsatile luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion in mature Merino rams when their energy status was low or decreasing, during both chronic (fasting) and acute reductions of energy balance. Leptin may interact with other hormones that depend on energy availability, so we also monitored changes in circulating concentrations of insulin, thyroid hormones, growth hormone, prolactin and adrenocorticotrophin. Overall, our data do not support this hypothesis. The dietary regimes induced clear responses in the metabolic profiles of the animals but there was no clear effect of central leptin administration on LH pulse frequency. The relationships between the hormonal systems measured in the present study add weight to the contention that leptin plays only a permissive role in the nutritional control of the reproductive axis and that other hormonal signals (particularly insulin) or pathways are acting in concert with leptin to stimulate the reproductive axis.     

Diploid female gametes induced by colchicine in Oriental lilies

The young flower buds of diploid Oriental cultivars: ‘Con. Amore’ and ‘Acapulco’ (Lilium) were treated with 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.2% colchicine to induce diploid egg (female gamete). The treated young buds between the two cultivars were crossed reciprocally as female parents with normal pollen respectively. The polyploid plants were identified by measuring stoma size and chromosome number. The results showed: that triploid progenies could be obtained through this way, and the fact that the treated young flower buds were successfully used as female parents indicated the formation of 2n or 2x egg cells. The above results implied that polyploidization by artificially induced diploid female gametes could be a powerful method to create novel variations in the breeding of Oriental lilies.     

The Common Modelling Protocol: A hierarchical framework for simulation of agricultural and environmental systems

A modular approach to simulation modelling offers significant advantages for its application to agricultural and environmental questions, including re-use of model equations in different contexts and with different user-interfaces; configuration of model structures that are most appropriate to a given problem; and facilitation of collaboration between modelling teams. This paper describes the Common Modelling Protocol (CMP), a generic, open and platform-independent framework for modular simulation modelling that is in widespread use. The CMP is distinguished from existing simulation frameworks by taking an explicitly hierarchical view of the biophysical system being simulated and by representing continuous and discontinuous processes equally naturally. Modules of model logic are represented in the CMP by entities known as “components”. Each component may possess “properties” that convey the value of the quantities in its equations and “event handlers” that compute model logic. Low-level information-transfers in the CMP are carried out by means of a message-passing system. Co-ordinated sequences of messages carry out tasks such as initialization, exchange of variable values and the control of computation order. Extensible Markup Language (XML) is used in the protocol for tasks such as denoting data types, submitting simulations for execution and describing components to user-interface software. Examples are presented showing how the CMP can be used to couple modules developed by different teams and to configure a complex model structure. The choices and trade-offs encountered when building a framework for modular simulation are analyzed, using the CMP and other simulation frameworks as examples. The kinds of scientific issues that arise when the CMP is used to realize collaboration between modelling groups are discussed.     

Old and New Cultivars of Soya Bean (Glycine max L.) Subjected to Soil Drying Differ in Abscisic Acid Accumulation,Water Relations Characteristics and Yield

Two old (Huangsedadou and Longxixiaohuangpi (LX)) and two new (Jindou 19 (JD) and Zhonghuang 30 (ZH)) soya bean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) cultivars were used to investigate the influence of soil drying on the abscisic acid (ABA) accumulation in leaves, stomatal conductance (g_s), leaf water relations, osmotic adjustment (OA), leaf desiccation tolerance, yield and yield components. The greater ABA accumulation was induced by soil drying, which also inducing g_s decreased at higher soil water contents (SWC) and leaf relative water content (RWC) significantly decreased at lower SWC in the new soya bean cultivars than in the old soya bean cultivars. The soil water threshold between the value at which stomata began to close and the RWC began to decrease was significantly broader in the new cultivars than in the old cultivars. The new cultivars had significantly higher OA and lower lethal leaf water potential than old cultivars when the soil dried. The old cultivars had greater biomass, but lower grain yield than the new cultivars in well‐watered, moderate stress and severe stress conditions. Thus with soil drying, the new soya bean cultivars demonstrated greater adaptation to drought by inducing greater ABA accumulation, stomatal closure at higher SWC, enhanced OA and better water relations, associated with increased leaf desiccation tolerance, greater water use efficiency and higher yield.     

Toward delineating hydro-functional soil mapping units using the pedostructure concept: A case study

Current soil maps contain qualitative attributes which are challenging to integrate into agronomic models or decision support systems. In this paper, a new approach is proposed that will enable the use of soil maps as a suitable information system of soils hydrostructural properties for agronomic and environmental models. This enhancement is possible through a new methodology for characterizing the soil units on the basis of the multi-scale soil–water functionality of the pedon which is a representative soil mapping unit delineated by pedologists according to the geomorphology. The hydro-functional mapping units should represent soil mapping units that are theoretically homogenous from the perspective of the pedostructure parameters of the pedon. For the purpose of this study, the Haggerty–Cox property, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA was selected. The soil data “soil mapping units and physical characteristics” of the study area were obtained from SSURGO. Due to time and cost constraints, the research was restricted to three SSURGO soil units (SwA, Starks–Fincastle complex with 0–2% slope; MsC2, Miami silt loam, 6–12% slopes; and HoA, Hononegah fine sandy loam with 0–2% slopes) to check their spatial homogeneity according to the pedostructure parameters (PS).The discriminant statistical analysis for the area of study shows that the PS parameters are unique for each soil mapping unit and can be effectively used to characterize these units and validate their delineation. The resulting hydro-functional soil mapping units match SSURGO units but have additional physical attributes. In general, subsurface horizons (B) are more distinguishable than surface horizons (Ap), and using pedostructure parameters from both potential and shrinkage curves gives the highest distinguishing value. Results confirm that the pedostructure parameters are discriminant characteristics of the hydrostructural functioning of soils as delineated by pedologists. Having the hydro-functional soil mapping units will assist in the decision support system data analysis, which in turn, will allow for the prediction of water and chemical transport and interactions.     

Eco-phenotypic growth in juvenile smooth marron, Cherax cainii (Decapoda: Parastacidae)

Abstract  The smooth marron, Cherax cainii Austin, now occurs in regions of Western Australia that are warmer and drier than those of the natural distribution. Animals sourced along a south to north geographical axis decrease in body mass per unit length. Juveniles reared from gravid females sourced from four sites along this axis were raised in common laboratory conditions for 14 weeks. No differences between sites were observed in body mass, standardised for length, indicating that in situ differences are a phenotypic response to local conditions.     

Tumbleweeds in the Western Australian cropping system: seed dispersal characteristics of Salsola australis

Salsola australis, like other agricultural weed species of the Salsola genus, produces a mobile seedbank. Aspects of this mobile seedbank were investigated in three field trials, including total seed production, rate of seed shedding, rate at which seeds lose germinability and the distance and directionality of plant movement. Total seed production was highly variable (ranging from 138 to 7734 seeds per plant), but was directly related to aboveground plant biomass at maturity. Following senescence, mature plants broke free of their root system and the wind driven plants moved considerable distances (1.6–1247.2 m). Half of the mobile plants moved <100 m, as they became entangled with other S. australis plants within the stand. Seed shedding commenced before the plants became mobile and increased with movement, but was also related to the aging and weathering processes experienced by stationary or mobile plants. All plants retained a proportion of their seed in spite of movement, weathering and ageing of the plants, although germinability of retained seed dropped to <2% after 2 months. Salsola australis engages in broad scale seed dispersal similar to that observed in other species of the Salsola genus, allowing this species to maintain a high rate of invasion and range expansion.