5‐Aminolevulinic Acid Activates Antioxidative Defence System and Seedling Growth in Brassica napus L. under Water‐Deficit Stress

The present study assesses the effects of 5‐aminolevulinic acid (ALA, 0, 0.1, 1 and 10 mg l^?1) on the growth of oilseed rape (Brassica napus L. cv. ZS758) seedlings under water‐deficit stress induced by polyethylene glycol (PEG 6000, 0 and ?0.3 MPa). Water‐deficit stress imposed negative effects on seedling growth by reducing shoot biomass, cotyledon water potential, chlorophyll content and non‐enzymatic antioxidants (glutathione and ascorbic acid) levels. On the other hand, water‐deficit stress enhanced the malondialdehyde (MDA) content, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, enzymatic antioxidants activities, reduced/oxidized glutathione ratio (GSH/GSSG) and reduced/oxidized ascorbic acid (ASA/DHA) ratio in seedlings. Application of ALA at lower dosages (0.1 and 1 mg l^?1) improved shoot weight and chlorophyll contents, and decreased MDA in rape seedlings, whereas moderately higher dosage of ALA (10 mg l^?1) hampered the growth. The study also indicated that 1 mg l^?1 ALA improved chlorophyll content, but reduced MDA content and ROS production significantly under water‐deficit stress. Lower dosages of ALA (0.1 and 1 mg l^?1) also enhanced GSH/GSSG and ASA/DHA as compared to the seedlings under water‐deficit stress. The antioxidant enzymes (ascorbate peroxidase, peroxidase, catalase, glutathione reductase and superoxide dismutase) enhanced their activities remarkably with 1 mg l^?1 ALA treatment under water‐deficit stress. It was also revealed that 1 mg l^?1 ALA treatment alone induced the expression of APX, CAT and GR substantially and under water‐deficit stress conditions ALA treatment could induce the expression of POD, CAT and GR to a certain degree. These results indicated that 0.1–1 mg l^?1 ALA could enhance the water‐deficit stress tolerance of oilseed seedlings through improving the biomass accumulation, maintaining a relative high ratio of GSH/GSSG and ASA/DHA, enhancing the activities of the specific antioxidant enzymes and inducing the expression of the specific antioxidant enzyme genes.     

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in the Asia‐Pacific region: The role of international assistance

Abstract: The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a set of international development targets agreed to by members of the United Nations in 2000. The goals aim to improve many of the dimensions of extreme poverty and are to be achieved by 2015. This paper provides an overview of the issues relevant to the achievement of the MDGs in the Asia‐Pacific region. The paper begins by discussing the critiques of the MDGs before assessing whether countries in the region are on track to achieve them. Issues relating to data availability and accuracy are discussed and the need to tailor the MDG targets to the special circumstances of some Asia‐Pacific countries is examined. The paper proceeds by discussing the role of international assistance via international foreign development aid and non‐governmental organisations in the achievement of the MDGs. The paper concludes with some policy implications for the international donor community.     

Introduction: That most remarkable of outside men – Harold Brookfield's intellectual legacy

Abstract: Harold Brookfield's academic career spans more than half a century, traversing small tropical and subtropical islands and mountainous uplands, focusing on people–environment relations and linking to a diversity of institutions and disciplines. His unwavering commitment to fieldwork at the local level and to comparative study is paralleled by a healthy scepticism with respect to academic trends and orthodoxy of any kind, whether intellectual or physical. It is the farmers of the developing world who are the source of much of his inspiration. His theoretical contributions are based essentially on his observations of their practices and his learning from their experiences. His academic insights into the processes of change in rural areas of Melanesia, East and South‐East Asia, Africa and South America, where small‐scale ecological studies are linked to global forces, are of lasting significance.     

Choice of shrinkage parameter and prediction of genomic breeding values in elite maize breeding populations

Genomic selection (GS) is a promising alternative to marker‐assisted selection particularly for quantitative traits. In this study, we examined the prediction accuracy of genomic breeding values by using ridge regression best linear unbiased prediction in combination with fivefold cross‐validation based on empirical data of a commercial maize breeding programme. The empirical data is composed of 930 testcross progenies derived from 11 segregating families evaluated at six environments for grain yield and grain moisture. Accuracy to predict genomic breeding values was affected by the choice of the shrinkage parameter λ², by unbalanced family size, by size of the training population and to a lower extent by the number of markers. Accuracy of genomic breeding values was high suggesting that the selection gain can be improved implementing GS in elite maize breeding programmes.     

2000年以来中国芦笋的国际贸易及产业竞争力研究

中国是世界芦笋生产大国,面积和产量都位居世界第一,芦笋产业已发展成为具有竞争优势的新兴产业,在全球芦笋贸易中占有举足轻重的地位。为了研究中国芦笋的国际贸易和产业竞争力,根据FAO、WTO和中国海关（一般贸易）的芦笋贸易数据,对中国芦笋的进出口贸易现状进行了分析,选取生产者价格、国际市场占有率、贸易竞争力指数和出口价格比4个分析指标,对中国芦笋的产业竞争力给予评价。结果表明：中国芦笋贸易以出口为主,一直处于贸易顺差状态,2008年以后,进口增长很快,进出口差距显著缩小,2019年进口量是出口量的1/3,而进口额超过了出口额。芦笋价格方面,中国芦笋生产成本和生产价格较低,占据优势,但是出口单价和出口额相对也较低,出口创汇不显著,2013年以来进口单价快速上涨超过了出口单价,进口芦笋价格昂贵,未来芦笋进口不会明显增加,出口保持稳定。在国际芦笋出口大国中,秘鲁、墨西哥基本上是芦笋净出口国家,具有极强的贸易竞争力;其次是希腊,竞争力指数也较高;美国、西班牙、荷兰的优势也比较明显。中国是全球最大芦笋生产国,但芦笋的国际市场占有率不高,贸易竞争力指数为正数时接近1,出口额远大于进口额,反映出中国芦笋...     

Analysis on the Constructor Associations Localization

Along with the establishment of the constructor association,how to locate the constructor association is extremely important at present,which is not only related to the efficiency of the constructor trade management,but also related to the future development of the constructor trade.This paper launches the discussion on the constructor association's localization from three aspects,namely the legal localization,the profession localization and the relation localization with the government and its members,and puts forward some proposals and individual opinions.