Phenological and physiological evaluation of first and second cropping periods of sorghum and maize crops

Environmental conditions influence phenology and physiological processes of plants. It is common for maize and sorghum to be sown at two different periods: the first cropping (spring/summer) and the second cropping (autumn/winter). The phenological cycle of these crops varies greatly according to the planting season, and it is necessary to characterize the growth and development to facilitate the selection of the species best adapted to the environment. The aim of this study was to characterize phenological phases and physiological parameters in sorghum and maize plants as a function of environmental conditions from the first cropping and second cropping periods. Two parallel experiments were conducted with both crops. The phenological characterization was based on growth analyses (plant height, leaf area and photoassimilate partitioning) and gas exchange evaluations (net assimilation rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration and water-use efficiency). It was found that the vegetative stage (VS) for sorghum and maize plants was 7 and 21 days, respectively, longer when cultivated during the second cropping. In the first cropping, the plants were taller than in the second cropping, regardless of the crop. The stomatal conductance of sorghum plants fluctuated in the second cropping during the development period, while maize plants showed decreasing linear behaviour. Water-use efficiency in sorghum plants was higher during the second cropping compared with the first cropping. In maize plants, in the second cropping, the water-use efficiency showed a slight variation in relation to the first cropping. It was concluded that the environmental conditions as degree-days, temperature, photoperiod and pluvial precipitation influence the phenology and physiology of both crops during the first and the second cropping periods, specifically cycle duration, plant height, leaf area, net assimilation rate, stomatal conductance and water-use efficiency, indicating that both crops respond differentially to environmental changes during the growing season.     

Direct and Residual Contributions of Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation by Legumes to the Yield and Nitrogen Uptake of Maize (Zea mays L.) in the Nigerian Savannah

Field experiments were conducted to determine the direct and residual contributions of legumes to the yield and nitrogen (N) uptake of maize during the wet seasons of 1994 and 1995 at the University Farm, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Nigeria, located in the Northern Guinea savannah of Nigeria. Nodulating soybean, lablab, green gram and black gram contributed to the yield and N uptake of maize either intercropped with the legumes or grown after legumes as a sole crop. Direct transfer of N from the nodulating soybean, lablab, green gram and black gram to the intercropped maize was 24.9–28.1, 23.8–29.2, 19.7–22.1 and 18.4–18.6 kg N ha^–1, respectively. However, the transfer of residual N from these legumes to the succeeding maize crop was 18.4–20.0, 19.5–29.9, 12.0–13.7 and 9.3–10.3 kg N ha^–1, respectively. Four years of continuous lablab cropping resulted in yields and N uptake of the succeeding maize crop grown without fertilizer N that were comparable to the yields and N uptake of the succeeding maize crop supplied with 40–45 kg N ha^–1 and grown after 4 years of continuous sorghum cropping. It may therefore be concluded that nodulating soybean, lablab, green gram and black gram may be either intercropped or grown in rotation with cereals in order to economize the use of fertilizer N for maize production in the Nigerian savannah.     

Effect of Low Night Temperatures on Photosynthetic Activity of the Maize Seedlings (Zea mays L.)

Night chilling (5 °C) subsequently lowered photosynthetic intensity in the leaves of maize seedlings at 20 °C through an increase in leaf diffusive resistance brought on by lower tissue water content in morning hours. A more significant increase in leaf diffusion resistance was observed when soil temperature was lowered than in the case of lower air temperature.
The unfavorable effect of soil and air cooling temperature on photosynthesis was limited by air saturated with water vapour. However, as a result of lowering the night temperature from 5 °C to 1 °C, the efficiency of the protective influence of higher atmospheric humidity was decreased. This demonstrates that the participation of factors unrelated to plant water status in inhibiting photosynthesis increases with lower night temperatures.
An additional reason for inhibited photosynthesis following cool nights was a decrease in chlorophyll accumulation, below 50 μg per 1 cm² of leaf area.     

Radiation Balance Components of Maize Hybrids Grown at Various Plant Densities

Components of the energy and heat balances were examined in two maize hybrids grown at three different plant densities (40, 70 and 100 thousand plants per hectare). One of the hybrids was drought tolerant, while the other was bred for cultivation under irrigated conditions. An increase in plant density influenced not only the size of the leaf area, but also the distribution of the leaves at various plant heights. The extinction coefficient, which provides a quantification of radiation penetration, was higher in the irrigated treatments. By contrast to the other two treatments, the plant canopy in the thinly sown stands remained open throughout the vegetation period, and thus behaved quite differently to the closed stands, making it impossible to compare them. Smaller albedo values were recorded for the hybrid bred for irrigation and in thinly sown stands. The low plant density allowed more energy to reach the soil, from which it was reflected, making a considerable contribution to the final temperature in the stand. The latent heat, in keeping with the quantity of water transpired, was the greatest in the densely sown stands. There was little difference between the latent heat values of the normal and dense stands in either hybrid, indicating that they both had a similar sensitivity to increased stand density. If sufficient water is available it would appear that the stand density could be increased even for the drought-tolerant hybrid.     

玉米青枯病病原腐霉对其伴生镰刀菌的影响

 本试验以玉米青枯病病原肿囊腐霉(Pythium inflatum Malthews)与禾生腐霉(Pythium gramlnicola Subram)为材料,着重研究了两种腐霉的生长与代谢对其伴生病原禾谷镰刀菌(Fusarium graminearum Schw.)的影响,结果表明:1.腐霉的定殖生长能力弱于禾谷镰刀菌。在腐霉菌落上,禾谷镰刀菌仍可生长,而在禾谷镰刀菌菌落上,腐霉则不能生长。2.在伴生条件下,腐霉被镰刀菌覆盖的时间长短随接种间隔而有变化,接种间隔愈短,则覆盖愈快。3.两种腐霉的培养滤液均对禾谷镰刀菌的孢子萌发与芽管伸长及菌落扩展有明显的促进作用,表明滤液中含有对镰刀菌生长有利的活性成分。4.腐霉培养滤液对禾谷镰刀菌红色色素的产生有一定的抑制作用,其原因可能与腐霉的嗜糖性有关。5.田间结果表明,腐镰复合接种的发病率接近禾谷镰刀菌单菌接种,但低于腐霉单菌接种。     

Abscisic Acid May Alter the Salicylic Acid‐Related Abiotic Stress Response in Maize

The effect of 0, 0.05 or 0.1 mm abscisic acid treatment on chilling tolerance and salicylic acid‐related responses was investigated in young maize seedlings (Zea mays L., hybrid Norma). Although the pre‐treatment of maize seedlings with abscisic acid slightly decreased the chlorophyll content, it also reduced the level of chilling injury caused by 6 days of cold treatment at 5 °C. Under normal growth conditions, increased levels of bound salicylic acid and of bound ortho‐hydroxycinnamic acid were observed in the leaves during abscisic acid treatment. In the roots, abscisic acid did not affect the free and bound salicylic acid levels, but increased the amount of free and bound ortho‐hydroxycinnamic acid. The activity of glutathione‐S‐transferase increased on the 3rd day of abscisic acid treatment, whereas it did not change when followed by cold stress, compared with the control leaves. In the roots, the activities of glutathione reductase, glutathione‐S‐transferase and ascorbate peroxidase increased during the abscisic acid treatment, and those of glutathione‐S‐transferase and ascorbate peroxidase were also stimulated when abscisic acid pre‐treatment was followed by cold stress, compared with the control roots. Our results suggest that an overlap may exist between the abscisic acid‐induced cold acclimation and the salicylic acid‐related stress response.     

基于机器视觉的玉米秸秆行实时定位机器人设计

为了实现机器人玉米秸秆行的精确定位,对耕作玉米机器人的结构进行了改进,并提出了一种基于泰勒级数展开式的RSSI定位方法,提高了机器人玉米秸秆行的定位精度。定位系统使用高清晰度的摄像机采集图像,并采用PID闭环反馈的方式控制机器人的位移,利用PC主控端图像处理,实现了实时定位功能。为了验证机器人玉米秸秆行定位的可靠性,采用田间试验的方法对机器人的性能进行了测试。结果表明:RSSI定位方法的定位精度较高,且图像处理系统可以准确地标定玉米秸秆行,实现机器人在玉米田中的精确定位,避免了机器人在作业过程中对农作物造成损害。     

玉米茎秆抗倒伏遗传的研究进展

茎秆倒伏严重影响玉米产量、品质和机械化收获,是当前玉米生产和育种亟待解决的主要问题之一。加强对玉米茎秆抗倒伏性的研究,对提高品种抗倒伏能力具有重要意义。本文综述了玉米茎秆倒伏的主要影响因素及其遗传特征。茎秆倒伏与茎秆自身的强度密切相关。茎秆强度越高,抗倒伏性越强。茎秆强度受茎秆所处的发育阶段、茎秆内部结构和外部形态,及其细胞壁成分等影响。处于分生组织的茎秆细胞分裂旺盛,较易折断,而进入生殖生长后,茎秆表皮、厚壁组织增厚,维管束发育成熟,对茎秆的支撑作用增强。茎秆细胞壁的主要成分——纤维素、半纤维素、木质素、可溶性糖、无机物等均可提升茎秆强度。目前,研究者借助高通量表型平台,利用玉米连锁群体和自交系群体,采用各种定位方法,鉴定到一系列影响茎秆形态、强度、细胞壁成分的相关QTL和候选基因。研究表明,基于单倍型的QTL定位方法比基于单个SNP的定位效果好。一致性QTL分析将不同遗传群体的研究整合到一起,能够提高QTL结果的通用性。茎秆强度的遗传基础复杂,受微效多基因控制,位点间具有加性效应。茎秆成分QTL中的候选基因涉及细胞壁代谢、转录因子、蛋白激酶等。MAIZEWALL是玉米细胞壁相关基因的重要数据库。目前该数据库包含1 156个玉米细胞壁生物学相关的候选基因,为该领域的深入研究提供强大的资源。已鉴定到一系列影响玉米茎秆细胞壁成分、茎秆形态和强度的基因,其功能涉及纤维素合成路径,如纤维素合成酶类、Cobra类、糖基转移酶和核糖转运蛋白类;苯丙烷路径基因,如控制bm1—bm5的相关基因;植物激素类,如赤霉素、生长素、油菜素甾醇相关基因;转录因子如NAC、MYB;miRNA（ZmmiR528）以及F-box基因（stiff1）等。今后应积极探索不同发育时期玉米茎秆倒伏的力学机制;广泛发展自然群体或育种群体进行遗传分析;采取多种定位策略,提高抗倒伏相关基因鉴定的功效;针对优良等位基因,开发各类分子标记,加强抗倒伏分子标记辅助选择。本文将为玉米茎秆抗倒伏遗传机制解析及抗倒伏玉米品种的分子育种提供参考。     

不同水分环境下玉米叶面积QTL定位及候选基因分析

玉米叶面积的大小及分布特征不仅影响其光合效率、蒸腾速率,而且与其耐旱性、耐密性、抗倒伏性及产量形成紧密相关。深入剖析不同水旱环境下玉米不同生育时期不同叶位叶面积的分子遗传机理对玉米耐旱高产新品种的选育具有重要意义。本研究以构建的2套F_2∶3群体为试材,在8种水分环境下,采用复合区间作图法（CIM）和基于混合线性模型的复合区间作图法（MCIM）对玉米相应叶（V₁₈时期第10片叶、R₁时期穗三叶）叶面积进行单环境和多环境联合QTL分析;参考玉米基因组B73 RefGen_v3挖掘稳定表达的QTLs （sQTLs）区间内的候选基因,并对其进行功能分析。结果表明,采用CIM法,单环境下2个生育时期2套F_2∶3群体间总共定位到了7个玉米相应叶叶面积QTLs,主要受显性（81.0%）、部分显性（14.3%）和超显性（4.7%）等遗传效应的调控,其中在干旱环境下定位到了5个QTLs。采用MCIM法,在2套F_2∶3群体间总共检测到6个相应叶叶面积的联合QTLs,其中1个表现为显著的QTL与环境的互作（QTL×E, Bin 2.08~2.09）,1对QTLs （Bin 1.08~1.10与 Bin 2.08~2.09）参与了显著的加性与加性（AA）上位性互作。结合CIM和MCIM法进一步分析在2套F_2∶3群体间检测到了6个sQTLs,其分别位于Bin 1.08~1.10、Bin 2.08~2.09、Bin 4.08~4.09、Bin 6.05、Bin 8.03和Bin 10.03处,并在这些sQTLs区间内确定了12个玉米叶发育相关候选基因。采用生物信息学,总共收集了75个玉米叶发育相关候选基因,通过系统进化树分析表明,这些候选基因划分为3大进化分支,且上述检测到的12个候选基因分布于这3大进化分支上。这些结果为系统地解析玉米不同生育时期不同水旱环境下相应叶叶面积的分子遗传机理提供理论依据,检测到的sQTLs可作为叶面积改良的重要染色体区段,检测到的候选基因为其进一步克隆、功能分析及育种应用提供了信息参考。