Under natural conditions, plants constantly encounter various biotic and abiotic factors, which can potentially restrict plant growth and development and even limit crop productivity. Among various abiotic factors affecting plant photosynthesis, light serves as an important factor that drives carbon metabolism in plants and supports life on earth. The two components of light (light quality and light

Alginate oligosaccharides (AOS), belonging to the class of functional marine oligosaccharides, are low-molecular polymers linked by β-1,4-mannuronic acid (M) and α-1,4-guluronic acid (G), which could be classically obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis of alginate. With low viscosity and good water solubility, as well as anti-oxidant, immune regulation, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory activities, AOS

Hybrid rice significantly contributes to the food supply worldwide. Backbone parents play important roles in elite hybrid rice breeding systems. In this study, we performed pedigree-based analysis of the elite backbone parent rice variety, namely, Shuhui 527 (SH527, Oryza sativa), to exploit key genome regions during breeding. Twenty-four cultivars (including SH527, its six progenitors and 17 derived

Sucrose non-fermenting 1-related protein kinase 2 (SnRK2) is a plant-specific serine/threonine kinase involved in response to adverse environmental stimuli. Previous studies showed that TaSnRK2.4 was involved in response to abiotic stresses and conferred enhanced tolerance to multiple stresses in Arabidopsis. Further experiments were performed to decipher the underlying mechanisms and discover new

Peanut diseases seriously threaten peanut production, creating disease-resistant materials via interspecific hybridization is an effective way to deal with this problem. In this study, the embryo of an interspecific F1 hybrid was obtained by crossing the Silihong (Slh) cultivar with Arachis duranensis (ZW55), a diploid wild species. Seedlings were generated by embryo rescue and tissue culture. A true

To identify the major factors that contribute to the difference in lodging among different rice varieties under machine transplanting and their responses to nitrogen (N), field experiments were conducted at Danyang County (a representative eco-site of the Lower Yangtze River) in Jiangsu Province, China in 2017 and 2018, 22 hybrid indica varieties (HIs), 22 inbred japonica varieties (IJs) and two indica

Optimal planting density and proper fertilization method are important factors to improve maize yield and nutrient utilization. A two-year (2016 and 2017) field experiment was conducted with three plant densities (6.0, 7.5 and 9.0 plants m–2) and three fertilization modes (no fertilizer, 0F; one-off application of slow-released fertilizer, SF; twice application of conventional fertilizer, CF). Results

Recently, drought-induced damaging impact in reducing the crop growth and development is drastically ranked at the top under various abiotic stresses. And especially water stress at the reproductive growth stages termed as terminal drought has become a severe threat for mungbean productivity. To mitigate the drought stress condition, “bio-priming” has emerged as a newly agronomic and sustainable technique

To clarify the effect of the N deficit on the amount of square Bt insecticidal protein, different N application rates (0, 75, 150, 225, and 300 kg ha–1) were imposed on the conventional cultivar Sikang 1 (SK-1) and hybrid cultivar Sikang 3 (SK-3) during 2015–2016 cotton growth seasons. Under different N application rates, the square number per plant, square volume and square dry weight reduced when

Soil water deficit and salt stress are major limiting factors of plant growth and agricultural productivity. The primary root is the first organ to perceive the stress signals for drought and salt stress. In this study, maize plant subjected to drought, salt and combined stresses displayed a significantly reduced primary root length relative to the control plants. GC-MS was used to determine changes

Radish (Raphanus sativus L.), an important root vegetable crop of the Brassicaceae family, has a high level of anthocyanin accumulation in its pigment root tissues. It was reported that MYB transcription factors (TFs) play vital roles in plant development and anthocyanin metabolism, and the PAP1/2 could promote expression of anthocyanin biosynthesis genes. In this study, a total of 187 radish MYB genes

We conducted an integrative system biology of metabolome and transcriptome profile analyses during pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) seed germination and utilized a weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) to describe the functionality and complexity of the physiological and morphogenetic processes as well as gene expression and metabolic differences during seed germination stages. In total

Homologous recombination (HR) and nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) are considered the two main double-strand break (DSB) repair approaches in eukaryotes. Inhibiting the activities of the key component in NHEJ commonly enhances the efficiency of targeted gene knockouts or affects growth and development in higher eukaryotes. However, little is known about the roles of the NHEJ pathway in foliar pathogens

The fungistatic activity of a lactic acid bacterium, which had been isolated from yellow pitahaya cultures, against fungi associated with basal rot (Fusarium oxysporum and Fusarium fujikuroi) was measured in the present study. Its activity was assessed in three fractions: fermented (S1), metabolic products (S2), and biomass (S3), using two fermentation substrates: Man Rogosa Sharpe agar (MRS) and potato

Root-knot nematodes (RKNs; Meloidogyne spp.) are becoming a serious problem in legume production. This study identified Vigna genotypes exhibiting resistance to M. incognita (RKN) and characterized the modes of the resistance to M. incognita. In total, 279 accessions from 21 Vigna species were screened for resistance based on a galling index (GI) and an egg mass index (EI). Seven accessions were highly

Plant resistance against insects mainly depends on nutrient restriction and toxic metabolites, but the relative importance of nutrition and toxins remains elusive. We examined performance, nutrition ingestion, and transcriptome response of the English grain aphid, Sitobion avenae, feeding on resistant Xiaoyan 22 (XY22) and susceptible Xinong 979 (XN979) wheat cultivars. Aphids had lower body weight

Invasive alien species (IAS) are species whose introduction to areas outside of their native range cause harm to economics, biodiversity, and the environment. Understanding the genetic basis of invasiveness is critical for preventing invasion by an alien species and managing IAS with eco-friendly control methods. In addition, uncovering the genomic features of IAS is essential for accurately predicting

Pigs are globally farmed animals which provide protein for human consumption in the form of skeletal muscle. To better understand the function of long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) in porcine skeletal muscle growth and development, we collected RNA-seq data from porcine longissimus dorsi muscle (LDM) during embryonic development. We identified a total of 739 lincRNA transcripts, which were distributed

Skeletal muscle accounts for about 40% of mammalian body weight, the development of which is a dynamic, complex and precisely regulated process that is critical for meat production. We here described the transcriptome expression profile in 21 goat samples collected at 7 growth stages from fetus to kid, including fetal 45 (F45), 65 (F65), 90 (F90), 120 (F120), and 135 (F135) days, and birth 1 (B1) day

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of selenium (Se) source and level on growth performance, carcass traits, antioxidative ability and meat quality of broilers. A total of 320 one-d-old Arbor Acres commercial broilers were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 treatments with 8 replicates in a completely randomized design involving a 2×2 factorial arrangement of treatments plus one Se-unsupplemented

Long-term straw return is an important carbon source for improving soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in croplands, and straw removal through burning is also a common practice in open fields in South China. However, the specific effects of long-term rice straw management on SOC fractions, the related enzyme activities and their relationships, and whether these effects differ between crop growing seasons

Returning crop straw to the field not only improves the nitrogen (N) supplying capacity and N retention of soil but also decreases the amount of rural organic waste and prevents air pollution. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms of the N release and re-adsorption dynamics on crop straw residue during straw decomposition in agricultural soil is important, and this understanding can help us strengthen

The Loess Plateau is one of the main regions for growing apple trees in China, but a shortage of water resources and low utilization of nitrogen have restricted its agricultural development. A 2-year field experiment was conducted which included three levels of soil water content (SWC), 90–75%, 75–60%, and 60–45% of field capacity, and five levels of nitrogen application (Napp), 0.7, 0.6, 0.5, 0.4

The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of three models for estimating daily evapotranspiration (ET) by employing flux observation data from three years (2007, 2008 and 2009) during the growing seasons of winter wheat and rice crops cultivated in a farmland ecosystem (Shouxian County) located in the Huai River Basin (HRB), China. The first model is a two-step model (PM–Kc); the other

Climate change severely impacts agricultural production, which jeopardizes food security. China is the second largest maize producer in the world and also the largest consumer of maize. Analyzing the impact of climate change on maize yields can provide effective guidance to national and international economics and politics. Panel models are unable to determine the group-wise heteroscedasticity, cross-sectional

The two-stage dough mixing process was innovated to improve the qualities of bread made from potato flour (PF) and wheat flour at a ratio of 1:1 (w/w). The final dough was first prepared from wheat flour before being added with PF. The effects of the method on enhancing the dough qualities were verified, and the distribution of water in gluten-gelatinized starch matrix of the doughs was investigated

Phosphorylation post-translational modification plays an important role in postmortem muscle quality traits. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is an energy source and a key substrate of phosphorylation which provides the phosphatase groups to proteins in the presence of protein kinases. However, in postmortem muscle, the effects of ATP content on phosphorylation are poorly studied. The study investigated

Livestock cultivation is a significant source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, accounting for 14.5% of the total anthropogenic emissions. China is responsible for a considerable share of the global livestock emissions, particularly caused by pork production. We used the Kaya identity and the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) to decompose the national annual GHG emissions from enteric fermentation

Previous studies have demonstrated that income has a significant effect on food demand in rural China. However, little research has focused on the dynamic impact of income and income distribution on food demand in rural China. Using China Health and Nutrition Survey data, this study employs a consistent two-step quadratic almost ideal demand system model, with addressed problems of endogeneity of total

The recent outbreak of COVID-19 has spread rapidly across the world. The pandemic has been seriously affecting public health and national and global economies since the beginning of 2020. By 3 November 2020, the world's cumulative reported infections exceeded 46 million and the number of deaths reached 1.2 million (WHO 2020). The rapid spread of COVID-19 and its induced pandemic control through territory

The COVID-19 pandemic had an enormous impact on the vegetable supply chain in China. Effective evaluation of the pandemic's influences on vegetable production is vital for policy settings to enhance the security of vegetable supply. Based on first-hand data from 526 households, we explored regional differences in different types of loss and potential factors affecting the severity farmer households

In the face of the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, it is essential to stabilize the security of urban “shopping baskets”. Through a survey and interviews with 46 agricultural cooperatives in Shanghai, this paper analyzes the impact of the pandemic on vegetable production and offers suggestions on agricultural insurance. The research results show that: (1) the pandemic has impacted almost

Family farms are considered the most desirable form of Chinese agriculture. Studies on the risk management of family farms are rare, while the COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to explore how family farms respond to risks. Based on an online survey of 2 324 family crop farms, we examine for the first time the short-term impact (immediate impact or short-term fluctuation, and farms' instantaneous

Pig farmers' willingness to recover production under the COVID-19 pandemic shock is significant to recover live pigs' supply in China in 2020. Increasing farmers' willingness to recover pig production contributes to enhance pig supply, stabilize the pig and pork market, and to improve pig farmers' income. This research studies the determinants of pig farmers' willingness to recover production under

The purposes of this study are to assess the COVID-19 pandemic's impacts on the dairy industries in China and the United States and to derive policy recommendations for enhancing the diary industries' resilience to pandemics and other market shocks. Specifically, data from the two nations are used to analyze and compare the mechanisms through which the pandemic has affected their dairy industries and

Food hoarding is prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic. To investigate the mechanism of urban consumers' food hoarding behaviors, we categorize hoarding motives into rational and irrational ones. Using random online survey samples from three cities in China, we employ the multivariate probit model to investigate the rational and irrational motives on food hoarding behavior. Our results confirmed the

This study assesses the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Chinese residents' food safety knowledge and behavior, and explores the possible influence mechanism, namely, focus on media information. The study is based on internet survey data of 1 373 residents in China. A series of econometric models are developed to estimate food safety knowledge and behavior of residents. Both the descriptive and

The COVID-19 outbreak has shocked the world's economies in the year of 2020. As this pandemic spreads around the globe, many experts feared that the global food supplies might start running short, especially if supply chains were disrupted. COVID-19 also added to the uncertainty of the business operation. Therefore, it is critical to understand how COVID-19 pandemic affected global food supply and

Given the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a timely study on the impacts of and policy response to the pandemic on rural poverty in China is critically important because China has aimed to completely eradicate extreme poverty by the end of 2020. This paper uses data from the latest round of a nationally representative household panel survey to examine the impacts of the pandemic on rural poverty

The integrated use of molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS) and anther culture has potential to significantly increase efficiency in plant breeding; however, reports on this kind of practical use are very limited. In the present study, we report the development of cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) maintainers with aroma, disease resistance and red-brown hulls, as an example of integration of MAS and

Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important oil crop globally and high oil content is one of the major targets in peanut breeding programs. Previous studies indicated that the osmotic pressure (OP) of the leaves of peanut plants subjected to drought stress was negatively correlated with kernel oil content. Based on this knowledge, we established a practical and reliable method for creating new peanut

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) quality depends mainly on the characteristics of starch stored in kernels. Understanding the changes in starch characteristics in kernels during variety improvement would have great significance to improve rice quality. This study was designed to investigate the starch characteristics in the kernels and associated physiological traits of indica rice varieties in the lower reaches

Double-maize cropping system is an effective option for coping with climate change in the North China Plain. However, the effects of changes in climate on the growth and yield of maize in the two seasons are poorly understood. Forty-six cultivars of maize with different requirements for growing degree days (GDD), categorized as high (H), medium (M) or low (L), and three cultivar combinations for two

Purple blotch disease of Allium spp. crops caused by Alternaria porri has remained a major concern in agriculture for both farmers and research fraternity as it severely damages the crops and drastically reduces the yield. The symptoms appear after 1–4 days of infection and bulb rot begin, and eventually turn into dark reddish-purple and then brownish/black lesions. Many factors like season, time of

The innate immune system of insects is the front line of self-defense against pathogen invasion. Peptidoglycan recognition proteins (PGRPs) are important components and play key roles in insect immune systems by recognizing peptidoglycan (PGN) in bacterial cell walls. We characterized two isoforms of the PGRP-LC gene, BdPGRP-LCa and BdPGRP-LCb, from Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), an important fruit

Host-plant volatiles play an important role as cues for herbivores in search of resources, mates and oviposition sites in complex environments. Plant volatile-based attractants can be developed for pest monitoring and control. Previously, we indicated that mated female adults of Callosobruchus chinensis showed choice preference behavior toward 2-hexenal and benzaldehyde. Our objective here was to investigate

During winter wheat production, aphids need to be controlled with pesticides for the entire growth period. Controlled-release technology has been regarded as an alternative method for the improvement of pesticide efficiency. This study investigated two types of imidacloprid controlled-release granule (CR-GR): 2% imidacloprid CR-GR and 0.2% imidacloprid pesticide-fertilizer controlled-release granule

Lin28A and Lin28B are homologous RNA-binding proteins that participate in the development of primordial germ cells. The mechanisms underlying expression and regulation of Lin28A have been well documented, but such information for Lin28B is limited. In this study, a fragment of the Lin28B promoter was cloned, the pEGFP-pLin28B vector was constructed. DF-1 chicken fibroblasts were transfected and the

The bactericidal/permeability increasing protein (BPI) has an important function of nonspecific killing of Gram-negative bacteria. In this study, qPCR was used to detect the expression of the BPI gene in twelve tissues of Meishan piglets from birth to weaning. BPI gene overexpression, bacterial adhesions count and indirect immunofluorescence were applied to analyze the relationship between BPI gene

Leaf color has been considered an important agronomic trait in rice (Oryza sativa L.) for a long time. The changes in leaf color affect the yield of rice. In this study, a green-revertible albino (graS) mutant was isolated from a 60Co-gamma-irradiated mutant pool of indica cultivar Guangzhan 63-4S. The fine mapping indicated that graS mutant was mapped to chromosome 1, and was located in a confined

Receptor-like cytoplasmic kinases (RLCKs) represent a large family of proteins in plants. In Arabidopsis and rice, several RLCKs in subfamily VII (RLCKs-VII) have been implicated in pathogen-associated molecular pattern-triggered immunity and basal resistance against bacterial and fungal pathogens. However, little is known about roles of RLCKs-VII of the important crop common wheat (Triticum aestivum)

Haynaldia villosa (2n=14, VV), a wild grass of the subtribe Triticeae, serves as potential gene resources for wheat genetic improvement. In this study, the proteome characterization during grain development of Yangmai 5 and Yangmai 5-H. villosa 6VS/6AL translocation line was investigated by a comparative proteomic approach. Two-dimensional electrophoresis identified 81 differentially accumulated proteins

It is widely reported that japonica/indica hybrids (JIH) have superior grain yield over other main varietal groups such as indica hybrids (IH) under sufficient resource inputs. To date, little attention has been paid to yield performance of JIH under input-reduced practices, and whether JIH could have better grain yield performance over IH under input-reduced practices. In this study, three JIH varieties

Sustainability of traditionally cultivated rice in the rice-wheat cropping zone (RWCZ) of Pakistan is dwindling due to the high cost of production, declining water resources and escalating labour availability. Thus, farmers and researchers are compelled to find promising alternatives to traditional transplanted rice (TPR). A field study was conducted in Punjab, Pakistan, in 2017 and 2018 to explore

Global change is bringing barley with more frequency of suffering from high temperature. However, little has been known about the influence of high temperature on malt quality traits. In this study, we investigated the impact of 1-wk heat stress (32°C/26°C, day/night, 12 h/12 h) initiating from the 7th (HT7) and 14th (HT14) days after heading on some grain and malt quality traits of two barley cultivars

The most significant problem of maize grain mechanical harvesting quality in China at present is the high grain breakage rate (BR). BR is often the key characteristic that is measured to select hybrids desirable for mechanical grain harvesting. However, conventional BR evaluation and measurement methods have challenges and limitations. Microstructural crack parameters evaluation of maize kernel is

Dopamine (DA) is a neurotransmitter which takes charge of brain activities about memory and self-stimulation behavior in animals. Interestingly, our results suggest that DA could also give maize an “excited state”. The results showed that 1 mmol L−1 DA promoted maize germination by 23.2% significantly, and accelerated the growth rate of roots and shoots by 21.4 and 24.7%, respectively. As we all known

BRI1-EMS-SUPPRESSOR 1 (BES1) transcription factor is closely associated with the brassinosteroid (BR) signaling pathway and plays an important role in plant growth and development. SLB3 is a member of BES1 transcription factor family and its expression was previously shown to increase significantly in tomato seedlings under drought stress. In the present study, we used virus-induced gene silencing

Dopamine plays numerous physiological roles in plants. We explored its role in the regulation of growth, nutrient absorption, and response to nitrogen (N) deficiency in Malus hupehensis Rehd. Under low N condition, plant growth slowed, and the net photosynthetic rates, chlorophyll contents, and maximal quantum yield of PSII (Fv/Fm) decreased significantly. However, the application of 100 μmol L−1 exogenous

Grape white rot is a destructive fungal disease occurring worldwide. Recently, Coniella vitis was identified as the predominant pathogen causing this disease in China. As the periderms of grape shoots are severely degraded by C. vitis, it was speculated that cell wall-degrading enzymes (CWDEs) might play a key role in the pathogenesis of this disease. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the hydrolytic