Annals of Applied Biology最新文献

Grafting facilitates the management of phytodiseases, especially of soils, but the growth and development of the grafted plant depend on the compatibility with rootstocks. The objective was to evaluate the graft union and survival, the growth characteristics, fruit biometrics, yield and physiological characteristics of the tomato plant ‘Santa Clara’ on five rootstocks. The study was conducted at the Pici Campus of the Federal University of Ceará in Fortaleza, Ceará state, Brazil. The seven treatments were tomato ‘Santa Clara’ ungrafted and self-grafted, or grafted onto cherry tomato ‘Vermelho’, hybrid tomato ‘Guardiao’, eggplant ‘Comprida Roxa’, jiló ‘Comprido Grande Rio’ (Solanum gilo) and cocona (Solanum sessiliflorum). Cleft grafting was used. The growth characteristics evaluated were stem diameter (SD), plant height (PH), and number of commercial (NCF) and total (NTF) fruits. The biometric characteristics of the fruits (diameter-FD, length-FL and average mass-AMF) and productive (commercial-CFM and total-TFM fruit mass) and yield of commercial (YCF) and total (YTF) fruits were estimated per hectare. Physiological evaluations were performed to obtain the internal concentration of CO₂ (Ci), transpiration rate (E), stomatal conductance (Gs), liquid photosynthesis (A), ratio between internal CO₂ and the environment (Ci/Ca) and carboxylation efficiency (A/Ci). The graft union and survival of S. lycopersicum plants was 100% at 10 days after grafting. The number of commercial and total fruits were higher in non-grafted tomato plants. The FD of the plants was higher with rootstocks of the ‘Vermelho’ cherry tomato and ‘Guardião’ hybrid, the CFM and TFM with ungrafted, the AMF and TFM with ‘Vermelho’ cherry tomato and the YCF and YTF with ungrafted and grafting on the ‘Vermelho’ cherry tomato. The tomato plant ‘Santa Clara’ completed its development in rootstocks and, therefore, they are compatible with this plant. The production of tomato fruits was higher with grafting on the ‘Vermelho’ cherry tomato with diameter and productivity similar to those of the ungrafted plants, indicating that this tomato cultivar can be used as rootstock.

One pillar of sustainable agriculture is grassland resilient and resistant to climate perturbation and capable of attaining multiple services. Novel or exotic and, so far, minor or underutilised plant species may become increasingly important against this background and exploration of such plant species seems of importance to maintain grassland functioning. We chose a set of 21 dicotyledonous plant species from seven botanical families. The set included 10 legumes, of which four were, so far, not used in temperate climate grassland and are named exotic henceforward. The other species are named minor as they are mostly not in widespread use. We evaluated different plant functions including herbage accumulation, herbage quality and functional traits in a pilot study under semi-controlled conditions under increased temperatures compared to ambient conditions. The factor species had a significant influence (p < .001, F-test) on all target variables, including the leaf dry matter content, the herbage biomass and the protein contents. All studied species had a high concentration of organic matter in the dry-matter, had low concentrations of neutral detergent fibre and reached relatively large protein concentrations. In addition, fibre-bound protein concentration was low resulting in pre-caecal digestible protein concentrations that meet the nutritional requirements of horses. In contrast, protein concentrations were often too low for intensive livestock feeding. Since no fertiliser N was applied, non-legumes accumulated on average 29% less herbage than legumes. The exotic legumes accumulated the highest herbage biomass on average while the minor legumes produced on average 22% less. Of the exotic legumes, Bituminaria bituminosa and Hedysarum coronarium were within the upper quartile for herbage accumulation. Plant functional traits of several species were in similar ranges showing potential for mixture design to follow traits rather than species. The study may pave the way for informed breeding of distinct plant species on the basis of relevant traits in order to improve herbage provision in the future under ongoing climate changes.

Footpad dermatitis (FPD) is characterized by lesions on the plantar region of the footpad. It is one of the most common foot health problems and welfare issues mainly described for broilers and turkeys. This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the presence of this footpad disorder in laying hens as well as to identify typical risk factors for FPD during the laying period. Data were collected from 39 German laying hen flocks visited up to 16 times during production, where the housing system, flock size, age of flock, season, litter type and quality as well as hens' foot health were recorded in 30–200 randomly selected animals/visit using a four-point scoring system (FPD-Score 0–3). In total, 15,448 randomly selected laying hens were scored and classified, recording the highest degree of FPD per animal as well as whether FPD was detected in one or both of its feet. Of the hens examined, 78.9% showed no alterations, 18.6% showed slight ones, 2.2% moderate alterations, and 0.3% showed severe FPD. In the animals related to FPD (n = 3253), 48.0% of the hens showed an alteration in one foot and 52.0% in both feet. While few animals showed FPD at the first two visits (AF0, AF1), the percentage of animals related to FPD increased at the laying peak (~28th week of life). At the end of the laying period, 34.4% of the hens showed at least slight alterations (n = 955/2776). The results of the statistical analysis showed that the FPD-Score was statistically affected by the type of litter, the season, and the age of flock (all P < .0001), while the quality of litter at the time of visit (P = .0940), the housing system (P = .2696), and flock size (P = .8776) were not related to FPD. In summary, this study detected that more than a third of the animals examined showed alterations in their footpads at the end of the laying period. Such changes in foot health occurred from the laying peak and increased to the end of the laying period. In addition to the age of the hens, the type of litter and the season were determined as potential risk factors. Moreover, this study shows how common this foot health problem is, not only in turkeys and broilers but also for laying hens.

Pythium sensu stricto (s.s.) and Globisporangium species are important components of the soil microbial community and exhibit diverse lifestyles, including mycoparasitism. However, a comprehensive understanding of the species diversity of these mycoparasites in the West Azarbaijan province of Iran is lacking. In this study, a total of 114 mycoparasitic Pythium s.s. and Globisporangium isolates were obtained from agricultural soils collected from six regions in the province. Through DNA barcoding, all Globisporangium isolates were identified as G. nunn, while the barcode markers were insufficient to accurately resolve species boundaries in Pythium s.s. By combining morphological and multilocus sequence data, five species within the genus Pythium s.s. were identified: P. salmasense sp. nov., a potentially new species, and three known species, P. acanthicum, P. ornamentatum, and P. periplocum. Pythium ornamentatum was the most common species and found in all regions studied, followed by G. nunn and P. acanthicum, which were both isolated from four regions. While the isolates of G. nunn showed no mycoparasitic activity against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, all Pythium s.s. species were capable of infecting the hyphae of this pathogen. The existence of mycoparasitic species is promising for biological control of soil-borne fungal pathogens in the province. The widespread occurrence of P. ornamentatum, G. nunn, and P. acanthicum may suggest their adaptation to local soil and environmental conditions, indicating their potentially superior effectiveness in controlling plant diseases across different regions if used as biocontrol agents.

Flower strips are an effective way to enhance agroecosystem biodiversity and ecosystem services. Most flower strips are composed of perennial species. Despite their ecological benefits, perennial flower strips are not widely adopted. Barriers to adoption include the long-term commitment required and concerns about weeds. This study explores whether annual flower strips might be feasible for more farmers. We conducted an on-farm experiment on five commercial farms in New York, USA. On each farm, we established four treatments. At maize planting time, we seeded an early-established planting (EP) treatment with a commercial mix of annual flowers. An early-established control (EC) was set up at the same time with no seeding. Four weeks later, we prepared a new seedbed for late-established planting (LP) and late-established control (LC) treatments. We observed significant effects of planting on plant species richness and Shannon diversity (F-test, p < .001). Planted treatments were more diverse than control treatments. However, there was no effect of establishment time on diversity. Both planting (F-test, p = .004) and establishment time (F-test, p = .04) affected the number of dicot species at the flowering stage, which was highest in the EP treatment. This flowering species richness was positively associated with spider abundance in sweep-net samples. Overall, our results demonstrate that annual flower strip establishment is possible even under weedy conditions. In addition, they show that a delay in planting date does not eliminate the benefits of this practice. This information could help farmers make informed, site-specific decisions about whether flower strips are a good fit for their farms.

Melon (Cucumis melo), a member of the Cucurbitaceae family, is consumed worldwide. In melon cultivation, abiotic stress has been found to negatively affect crop growth and productivity. Various biotechnological approaches can be used to ameliorate stress tolerance. Previous studies have investigated the effects of major abiotic stress conditions (e.g., drought, salt, cold and heat) on melon growth and development at the phenotypic and physiological levels, and are pivotal to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying abiotic stress responses in melons. This review aims at systematically reviewing current efforts to understand the abiotic stress biology in melon plants. In addition, we discuss several approaches (e.g., fertilization, breeding, genetic engineering) that have been examined to improve melon growth and production under stressful conditions.

Drought stress (DS) is one of the main environmental stresses that determines crop productivity. It has been estimated that DS depresses over 40%–60% of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) and common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) production worldwide, respectively. Although different agronomic strategies are sometimes implemented, the current goal in sustainable agriculture could involve the inoculation with native microorganisms to mitigate DS effects. A potential fungal candidate is Trichoderma, which is recognized as a ubiquitous soil inhabitant with growth-promoting and biocontrol potentiality. However, its potential for mitigating the stress for water deficit is less well-documented. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of inoculation with native Trichoderma harzianum strains on soybean and common bean growth under contrasting conditions of water availability. Seeds were independently inoculated (or not) with IB-J15 and IB-363 strains, and plants were submitted to DS or were kept under optimal irrigation (well-watered, WW). In both legumes, the most evident effect after being inoculated was the modification of plant root architecture, the increase in root area and the development of lateral roots in plants under WW and DS conditions. In soybean, both Trichoderma strains had a positive inoculation response, both fresh and dry root biomass increased under WW, and remarkably under DS conditions. The main effect was an increase of about 110% in root dry weight under WW and, about 330% in DS in plants inoculated with IB-J15 strain, meanwhile, plants inoculated with IB-363 increased root dry weight 60% in WW and 177% in DS conditions. Notably in soybean, the inoculation with both Trichoderma strains increased the root area more than 70% in both WW and DS conditions. Common beans inoculated with IB-363 under WW conditions, reached a positive inoculation responsiveness of around 247% in shoot dry weight biomass, and under WW both strains increased the root area more than 50%. Further, IB-363 increased leaf area by 25% in WW and 72% in DS. Additionally, the in vitro co-culture between both Trichoderma strains and nodulating Rhizobium etli and Bradyrhizobium japonicum E109 showed compatibility between microorganisms, since no inhibition of their growth was observed. We emphasize that plants inoculated with Trichoderma showed better resistance to water deficit, as seen by redistribution of photosynthates, prioritizing mainly, the development of the root system. © 2024 Association of Applied Biologists.