Annals of Agricultural Science最新文献

There is a constant search for safer, eco-friendly and effective insect control agent alternatives of natural origin due to concerns in human health, ecology and development of insect resistance to conventional chemical insecticides. Accordingly, a fumigant molecule, isosecotanapartholide (ISTP) from Artemisia vulgaris L., has been isolated and characterized following laboratory bioassays against stored grain insect pests. Physicochemical and spectroscopic analyses correlated with literature data to yield the structure of ISTP, a volatile organic compound. The isolated organic compound is highly toxic to adults of Sitophilus oryzae (L.), Tribolium castaneum (Herbst.) and Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton) with LC₅₀ values of 1.82, 2.19 and 1.83 μg/L respectively. ISTP also exhibits potent acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor activity in vivo and in vitro analysis. Additionally, molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation analysis provide insight into the possible interaction between ISTP and AChE of S. oryzae, without any adverse effect on seed germination. In summary, ISTP from A. vulgaris source is a potential insecticide against stored grain insect pests and alternative to synthetic pesticides.

Kiwifruit plants are highly susceptible to increased atmospheric temperature, and the extreme high temperature often causes the loss of production and quality of the fruit. The γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) has been widely proved to play important roles in plants in response to abiotic stresses, showing an important potential for application in agricultural industry to overcome environmental challenges. However, application of GABA in kiwifruit plants to resist external stresses has not been reported yet. This study found that pre-irrigation of kiwifruit plants with 0.5 mM GABA was effective in alleviating the heat damage on them. GABA treatment led to better antioxidant capacity and reduced ROS production in kiwifruit plants under high temperature. Moreover, exogenous GABA protected the photosynthetic system of kiwifruit plants when exposed to high temperature. Particularly, we found that endogenous ABA, Glu, Pro metabolisms were participated in the GABA-mediated heat resistance of kiwifruit plants. Furthermore, GABA treatment induced higher expression of AdHsps in kiwifruit plants, being partly responsible for their better performance under heat stress. In summary, this research first demonstrated that exogenous GABA treatment plays a positive role in kiwifruit plants to response to extreme heat stress.

The mutation types GDF9 S395F and S427R increase the ovulation rate in heterozygotes, while the homozygous form leads to infertility. This study presents a meta-analysis of GDF9 and BMP15 SNPs related to sheep litter size (LS). The results showed that simulation of the molecular recognition of GDF9 R453H, S395F, and S427R was performed to study the effect on the GDF9 dimer. S395F and S427R dimer binding ability of mutant heterozygotes was improved, thereby improving LS. The binding ability of mutant homozygous dimers was reduced, resulting in infertility. The results of this study will provide important references for animal breeding.

Continuous application of fermented organic fertilizer can improve soil quality, while the performance of nitrogen (N) in the improved soils is rarely investigated. To investigate the fate of applied N in the soils with organic management history, the ¹⁵NH₂CO¹⁵NH₂ (¹⁵N abundance of 19.6 %) was employed as the exogenous N source to conduct an experiment in the Chinese cabbage and tomato rotation system under plastic shed condition. The cultivated soils have received 15-year of effective microorganism (EM) fermented organic fertilizer (EM-OF), N, P, K inorganic fertilizer (NPK-IF) and no fertilizer (NoF). The ¹⁵N use by cabbage and tomato, the soil ¹⁵N forms, as well as the ¹⁵N distribution were observed. Results showed that the ¹⁵N use efficiency of cabbage in the EM-OF, NPK-IF and NoF soils were 55.1 %, 37.3 % and 26.6 % respectively, showing significant (p ≤ 0.05) differences. The succeeding crop tomato could take up the soil residual ¹⁵N, and the highest ¹⁵N reuse efficiency was 7.1 % that detected in the NoF soil. The total ¹⁵N loss (6.0 %) from the rotation system was the lowest in the EM-OF soil, compared to that in the NPK-IF and NoF soils. It was concluded that the long-term fermented organic fertilizer applied soils can reduce urea ¹⁵N loss from plastic shed agriculture, mainly through improving the in-season crop ¹⁵N use efficiency.

Vegetable waste extracts (VWE) contain a great variety of antioxidants such as polyphenols, which have shown to potentiate baculovirus infections, making them ingredients for pest control ingredients. In the present study, the mortality enhancement of different vegetable extracts obtained from food residues when combined with baculoviruses was evaluated. Extracts from spent coffee (E2), rosehip (E17), asparagus (E28), artichoke (E29), beet stalks (E32) and banana peel (E37) were selected as they increased mortality of Spodoptera littoralis nucleopolyhedrovirus (SpliNPV) in second instar S. littoralis larvae, when comparing with the virus inoculation alone. Extracts were assayed at 1 % w/v. In S. littoralis-SpliNPV system, the selected extracts reduced the median lethal concentration (LC₅₀) of SpliNPV against second instar larvae. The E37 extract presented the highest potentiation, as it reduced the LC50 13.61 times, while the rest of the extracts presented LC50 reductions from 3.71 to 7.72-fold. In Spodoptera exigua-SeMNPV (Spodoptera exigua multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus) system, none of the extracts decreased the LC₅₀ of SeMNPV. In contrast, in Spodoptera frugiperda-SfMNPV (Spodoptera frugiperda multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus) system, E2 showed the greatest potentiating effect. In the heterologous systems, none of the extracts tested increased the effective host range of SfMNPV, AcMNPV (Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus), and MbMNPV (Mamestra brassicae multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus) in second instar S. littoralis larvae. Thus, the viral enhancing effect of VWE was host-pathogen and instar dependent. However, the potentiation effect of the extracts could not be directly related with the antioxidants content of the extracts.

The study aimed to examine the effect of tiger nut milk on the quality characteristics of ice milk when fresh skim milk was partially replaced. At levels of substitution of 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 %, the chemical and physical composition of the samples, the antioxidant and total phenolic content, the cytotoxic activity, the sensory properties, and the microstructure were evaluated. The results indicated that increasing the substitution levels of fresh skim milk for tiger nut milk significantly increased fat, fiber, antioxidant, total phenolic content, and hardness of the ice milk treatments (P < 0.05), whereas their ash content, overrun and viscosity decreased. Furthermore, total solids, protein concentrations, or pH values between all treatments did not have significant effects (P > 0.05). The IM1 treatment (ice milk without tiger nut milk) melted slower than the other treatments. Additionally, increasing the substitution levels of fresh skim milk for tiger nut milk decreased CaCo-2 cell viability (colorectal cancer cells). Furthermore, sensory properties were significantly affected (P < 0.05) when fresh skim milk was replaced with tiger nut milk. The compact structure can be observed in the images of the treatments IM2 (75 % cow's skim milk +25 % tiger nut milk), IM3 (50 % cow's skim milk +50 % tiger nut milk), IM4 (25 % cow's skim milk +75 % tiger nut milk), and IM5 (100 % tiger nut milk), which were made with different ratios of tiger milk using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). On the other hand, the IM1 treatment image displays larger voids. Therefore, tiger nut milk offers a safe, plant-based alternative to cow's skim milk, provides a source of total phenolics and a natural antioxidant to make functional ice milk with good sensory acceptance, and can be used alongside colon anticancer therapy.

Fusarium wilt of watermelon caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum (Fon) results in a substantial economic losses in agriculture. Biological control agents (BCAs) help in controlling the infection of Fon. However, it remains unclear whether the application of BCAs can invoke soil suppression by inducing specific microbial groups concerned with disease suppression to synergistically resist fungal pathogens. The objective of this project was to determine the microbial mechanisms involved in disease suppression by BCAs. Here, we conducted pot experiments to explore Fusarium wilt in watermelon and soil microbial communities in response to different treatments. We found that the application of Bacillus velezensis WB enhanced disease suppression in nonsterilized soil. We further found that disease suppression in the WF treatment was connected to influence on the resident soil microbial communities, explicitly by causing an increase in Hyphomicrobiaceae and Chitinophagaceae. Pathogen suppression by the above two families was further studied in laboratory and pot experiments. The results showed that a synthetic community consisting of specific bacterial taxa effectively decreased the incidence of Fusarium wilt. B. velezensis WB introduction impacts the resident soil microbiome and invokes soil suppression by inducing resident microbes. Our results should help in designing synthetic microbial communities to improve soil function.

Appropriate harvesting management is essential for sustainable forage production and improving nutritional quality. In this study, four forage crops, including Medicago sativa (Ms), Vicia sativa (Vs), Avena sativa (As), and Sorghum Sudangrass (Ss) were evaluated under two harvesting modes, i.e. single harvest and multiple cuttings. Results showed that multiple cuttings increased the forage yield of Ms., As, and Ss by 82 %–114 %, 7.5 %–51 %, and 21 %–150 % compared to the single harvest. The acid and neutral detergent fiber concentration decreased, while crude protein contents increased with multiple cuttings. Also, multiple cuttings increased the ether extract content of Ms. and Ss and reduced the ash content by 9.42 % to 33.04 % from 2015 to 2016. The variation range of legume forages' annual yield was 18.66 %–33.04 %, while that of gramineous forages was 9.42 %–25.98 %. The relative feeding value (RFV) of Ms. was higher than that of other forages under multiple cuttings. In general, multiple cuttings decreased the SOC content, but the effect was insignificant for the two leguminous forages. Correlations analysis showed a significant positive relationship of RFV and CP with precipitation while a negative relationship of ADF and NDF with temperature. Moreover, results of yield stability, contribution rate, and TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution) analysis showed that the response of legume crops to multiple cutting was superior to that of gramineous crops. Overall, the cultivation of leguminous forage under multiple cuttings can provide a basis for the development of pastoral agriculture production and animal husbandry in arid regions of China.

Glasshouse films can be used to reduce energy costs by limiting non-productive heat-generating radiation, but the impact on yield of greenhouse horticultural crops remains unknown. The effects of energy-saving film ULR-80 (ultra-low-reflectivity film with 80 % light transmission referred to as Smart Glass; SG) designed to block long wavelength light that generates heat also reduced photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) consequently affecting crop morphology, photosynthesis, leaf pigments, and yield of two hydroponically grown capsicum (Capsicum annuum L.) cultivars (Red and Orange). The crops were grown in four high-tech glasshouse bays over two seasons of similar daily light integrals (DLI) during ascending [Autumn Experiment (AE)] and descending [Summer Experiment (SE)] photoperiods. The Red cultivar exhibited higher photosynthetic rates (light saturated - A_sat) and yield than the Orange cultivar in control glass but displayed stronger reductions in modelled photosynthetic rates at growth light and yield in SG without changes in photosynthetic capacity. Foliar pigment ratios of chlorophyll a/b and carotenoid:chlorophyll remained unaffected by the SG during both seasons indicating that chloroplast homeostasis was similar between SG and control. The seasonal differences in photosynthetic pigments and xanthophyll de-epoxidation state (DPS) revealed that cultivars were able to sense the SG-altered light environment during the AE, but not SE. The SE correlated with a lower daily light level and a substantial yield reduction of 29 % and 13 % in Red and Orange cultivars, respectively. Thus, SG-induced higher reductions in yield during the SE indicate that SG may be more beneficial for capsicum crops planted during AE.