Atmospheric humidity and genotype are key determinants of the diurnal stomatal conductance pattern

Great understanding of the genotypic difference in diurnal stomatal conductance (g_s) pattern and the key determinants of the pattern is important for saving water by adopting cultivars appropriately. Fifteen wheat genotypes were studied under different soil conditions and various meteorological conditions with pot cultivation in rain shelter for two years. Genotype and air humidity were found to be key determinants of diurnal g_s pattern. All genotypes under low relative humidity (LRH) and most genotypes under high relative humidity (HRH) displayed a gradual decline pattern from morning through the afternoon. Under moderate relative humidity (MRH), all genotypes present a single-peak curve pattern, but they differed in peak time, which may lead to unreliable g_s comparison between genotypes and get ostensible contrasting materials. The stomatal conductance was significantly different among genotypes under LRH and the increased g_s magnitude is also significantly different when it was compared between LRH and HRH. The present results provide new thinking for selecting and adopting appropriate cultivars with specific stomata traits for the area with various meteorological conditions.     

Acquired Thermo‐Tolerance and Trans‐Generational Heat Stress Response at Flowering in Rice

In rice, pre‐exposure to sublethal treatment followed by harsh lethal treatment is known to improve tolerance of different abiotic stresses at the vegetative stage within and across generations. Our major aim was to test the phenomenon of thermo‐tolerance at flowering across (trans)‐generations and within generation using rice cultivars contrasting for heat stress tolerance at flowering. To test trans‐generational response, plants were exposed to higher temperature at flowering stage and seeds obtained from previous generations were exposed to heat stress during flowering, which recorded significantly lower fertility when exposed to the same degree of stress in their subsequent generations. A pre‐acclimation to moderately high acclimating temperatures imposed over three different durations during the vegetative and initial reproductive stage showed positive response in the tolerant N22, particularly under severe heat stress (40 °C). This finding indicates the possibility of acquiring ameliorative thermo‐tolerant mechanisms at anthesis, restricted to tolerant genetic backgrounds to combat subsequent harsh conditions within the same generation. However, trans‐generational memory was ineffective in mitigating spikelet sterility losses in both tolerant and susceptible backgrounds. Rice is extremely sensitive to heat stress during flowering; hence, similar exercise across other crops of interest needs to be carried out before generalizing conclusions.     

甘蓝型油菜耐低温生长生理生化响应机制

为提高甘蓝型油菜耐寒育种过程中的筛选效率，研究甘蓝型油菜耐低温机理，以8个不同抗寒性的甘蓝型油菜为材料，对低温条件下各材料的生物量、叶绿素、脯氨酸和相对电导率进行测定，发现在室外平均气温2.75℃时，抗性材料的生物量、叶绿素和脯氨酸的累积量都显著高于敏感材料，相对电导率没有显著差异；当平均气温7.52℃回升至12.39℃，抗性材料和敏感材料生物量的累积量无显著差异；在恒定低温10℃/4℃处理下抗性材料和敏感材料在处理前3周生物量均持续累积，但从第4周开始敏感材料新叶出现白斑，生物量减少，抗性材料老叶出现白斑，生物量维持不变。结果表明，耐低温材料在低温条件下叶绿素含量受到的影响较小，脯氨酸的积累量持续上升，具有较强的快速适应能力，在低温下具有显著的持续生长优势。     

Genetic analysis and QTL mapping of growth period traits and plant height traits in soybean recombinant inbred lines from Dongnong 47 × PI 317334-B

High and stable yield is the main goal of soybean genetic improvement. In this study, association analysis was used to detect the quantitative trait loci (QTL) for the plant height, and soybean growth period using 182 SSR markers in the RIL population of 136 F_4:8 lines, which developed from a cross between photoperiod-insensitive cultivar ‘Dongnong 47’ and photoperiod-sensitive variety PI317334–B. The results showed that 33 QTLs related to soybean growth period and plant height traits were detected by compound interval mapping, and were located on 12 linkage groups including N, C1, C2, J, D1a, B2, E, G, A2, O, L, I, with the contribution rate of 7.85–33.84%. These QTL loci and linkage markers related to soybean photoperiod sensitivity, would be helpful to identify key genes that control soybean photoperiod sensitivity, and provide an important basis for the breeding of new photoperiod-insensitive soybean varieties based on molecular design breeding.     

Ss-Bi1 encodes a putative BAX inhibitor-1 protein that is required for full virulence of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a destructive necrotrophic plant pathogen with global distribution. Although S. sclerotiorum has been studied extensively, substantial research on aspects of the pathogen's ability to cause disease is still needed. Bax inhibitor-1 protein functions as a suppressor of programmed cell death and is involved in the response to biotic and abiotic stress in animals, plants and yeast. In this study, we functionally characterized a putative Bax inhibitor-1 protein, Ss-Bi1, from S. sclerotiorum. Ss-Bi1 is predicted to contain a BAX inhibitor-1-like super family domain and shows significant homology with many BAX inhibitor-1 proteins. High expression levels of Ss-Bi1 were observed in hyphae under various stresses. Targeted silencing of Ss-Bi1 resulted in reduced virulence in host plants. Ss-Bi1 gene-silenced strains were more sensitive to heat stress and ER stress than the wild-type strain. The results suggest that Ss-Bi1 encodes a putative BAX inhibitor-1 protein that is required for full virulence of S. sclerotiorum.     

基于响应面法和NSGA-II算法的麦弗逊悬架优化

应用响应面法和经过改进的非支配排序遗传算法(NSGA-II)进行悬架结构参数优化.在ADAMS/Insight软件中进行设计参数的灵敏度分析，针对灵敏度较大的设计参数，建立车轮定位参数在车轮跳动过程中最大变化量的2阶响应面近似数学模型对该模型进行稳定性分析，并且应用加入精英保持策略和去除重复个体算法的NSGA-II优化算法对多目标响应面模型进行优化求解.优化结果表明该方法具有较高的精确性与有效性.     

The optimal nutrition of maize in the hungarian national long‐term field experimental network

In Hungary, maize is grown on 1 million ha and occupies more than 20% of the arable land. The rich assortment of maize cultivars of different vegetation periods and different responses to nutritional effects, water supply etc. gives the growers the possibility to choose the cultivars suiting best the site characteristics (Jolânkai et al. 1999). Among the cereals maize has the highest genetical potential. To utilize its yield and quality potential, soil types of high nutrient content and regular nutrient supply are required (Gyõrffy, 1979). Both over‐ and under‐fertilization have an unfavourable effect on the yield and quality of maize (Debreczeni, 1985). Crops can be supplied with the appropriate nutrient amounts only with the knowledge of soil characteristics in the different agro‐ecological regions (nutrient content, water supply, soil compactness, pH, nutrient supplying capacity etc.). In Hungary, a network of long‐term field fertilization trials with uniform fertilizer treatments has been maintained at nine experimental sites representing different agro‐ecological regions of the country. This experimental network gives a basis to test the nutrient responses of our main crops and calibrate their optimal nutrient supply (Kismányoky, 1991).     

Single oral β-cryptoxanthin administration increases its serum concentration and enhances peripheral blood neutrophil function in Holstein cattle

We investigated the effect of oral administration of β-cryptoxanthin (β-CRX) on its serum concentration and peripheral neutrophil functions by the chemiluminescence (CL) response in Holstein cattle. A single oral administration of β-CRX was performed for serum β-CRX concentration (0, 0.05, 0.1, or 0.2 mg/kg body weight [BW]) and for peak CL response of peripheral neutrophils (0.2 mg/kg BW). The serum β-CRX concentration was peaked on 2 days after, similar to peak CL response on 3 days after β-CRX administration. Therefore, a single oral administration of β-CRX (0.2 mg/kg BW) induces higher serum concentration and concurrently enhances bactericidal ability of peripheral neutrophils in Holstein cattle.     

Improving the reproductive,immunity and health status of rabbit does using honey bee venom

The aim of the present study was to investigate the long-term effect of using bee venom (BV) on the reproductive performance, immune, and health status of rabbit does and its effect on their litters. Sixty mature does, from Spanish V-line rabbit stock, were randomly assigned to four homogeneous groups with 15 does each. The 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd groups were injected twice weekly under the neck skin with 0.1 ml solution contains 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 mg BV/rabbit respectively. The 4^th group served as a control group. From the results, litter size at birth, litter weight and survival rate at weaning age as well as milk yield were significantly (p ≤ 0.05) increased in BV groups than in the control group. Serum estradiol 17-β (E2) was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher (15%) in the rabbit does treated with BV compared to the control group. The treated does with BV at any study doses showed a gradual and significant (p ≤ 0.05) decrease (12%) in serum progesterone levels (P4) compared to the control. They also showed a significant (p≤0.05) increase in conception (17%) and fertility rates (10%) compared to the control does. Treatment of rabbit does with BV caused a gradual and significant (p ≤ 0.05) reduction in both aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (16%) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (37%) liver enzyme activities. Additionally, results have shown that BV resulted in a gradual and significant (p ≤ 0.05) increase in total antioxidant capacity (TAC), antioxidative enzymes such as glutathione S-transferase (GST) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx), serum IgG, IgM and IgA levels with significant (p ≤ 0.05) decrease in malondialdehyde (MDA) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) in BV groups compared to the control group. Results suggest that BV can be used in rabbit farming as an effective and safe alternative to artificial chemical drugs (sexual-stimulants) to improve certain reproductive traits, immune response and health.