ACS agricultural science & technology最新文献

Sweetpotato weevil, Cylas formicarius elegantulus (Summers) (Coleoptera: Brentidae), is one of the most devastating pests of sweetpotatoes in tropical and subtropical regions. Furanoterpenoids are produced when sweetpotato weevils feed on storage roots, making them potentially unmarketable and toxic to livestock and humans. However, accumulation of these furanoterpenoids in uninfested parts of weevil-infested storage roots is poorly characterized. Here we identified ipomeamarone and its precursor, dehydroipomeamarone, in weevil-infested sweetpotato storage roots and confirmed the identities of the compounds by LC-MS, LC-MS/MS, and NMR analysis. Ipomeamarone induction was systemic in the roots, with elevated levels detected in healthy parts of the roots 2-5 cm away from the site of infestation. A clear relationship between the presence of furanoterpenoids in the storage root and the behavior of C. formicarius elegantulus was found. When adults were presented with root slices taken at several distances from the point of infestation, the number of eggs laid increased progressively with distance from the point of infestation, peaking at 7 cm from the site of infestation. Both egg-laying and adult feeding were reduced on isolated root slices treated with pure ipomeamarone, underscoring the potential role of this compound as a deterrent against C. formicarius elegantulus. This study contributes to our understanding of host plant selection and could inform integrated pest management strategies against the sweetpotato weevil.

Liposomes are microscale lipid vesicles used in pharmaceuticals, food products, and most recently, agriculture. Several studies have shown that liposomes can deliver nutrients to plant leaves, often more efficiently than traditional forms. However, the delivery of plant nutrients to soil via liposomes remains understudied. Interactions between liposomes and soil microbes, including metabolism of the lipid carbon (C) and assimilation of liposome-encapsulated nutrients into soil microbial biomass, could alter the availability of nutrients within the soil. We assessed the impact of lecithin liposomes with nitrogen (N) cargo on C and N cycling during a 7-day incubation experiment. We quantified changes in concentrations of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and soil inorganic N pools including soil extractable nitrate (NO₃ ^--N) and ammonium (NH₄ ⁺-N). Liposome additions increased microbial respiration and resulted in rapid soil NO₃ ^--N immobilization, suggesting that liposomes may be a tool to immobilize N and reduce agricultural N losses.

The use of synthetic fertilizers is always more economically and environmentally unsustainable. It is necessary to improve current agricultural practices. Bioactivated fertilizers are a promising solution to enhance digestate solid fraction's fertilizing properties with an ad hoc microbial consortium and reach yields comparable to chemical fertilization (CF), thus combining circular economy with an upgraded organic agriculture. This study designed a new granulated formulation, obtained using a vacuum drying process at the industrial level, for an improved Trichoderma-activated digestate's solid fraction. This granulation aimed to improve both management operations and Trichoderma activity. After a greenhouse experimentation, yields obtained from the activated digestate (56 ± 7 g FW plant^-1) were similar to the one obtained with CF (62 ± 9 g FW plant^-1). Additionally, the bioactivated digestate gave yield production that were 21-30% higher yield than that of digestate alone. Microbial activation further led to higher nutritional values with an increment in the lycopene content between 8.8% and 15.8%. A metagenomic analysis further highlighted the persistence of Trichoderma in the tomato rhizosphere and its ability to establish positive interactions with other beneficial rhizospheric microorganisms. Activated digestate showed its potential to substitute CF, while granulation resulted in a functional formulation to convey this product.

The increasing demand for bee-derived products such as honey and bee pollen has led to a rise in adulteration and mislabeling, making it essential to develop reliable tools for authentication. Lipids, which are found in both matrices, are potential biomarkers for tracing their origin and may be used for detecting fraud. In this work, a solid-liquid extraction using hexane:isopropanol (10:1, v/v) followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) was optimized. The method was applied for tentative lipid screening of 15 honeys and 13 bee pollens showing a total number of lipids above 700, including fatty acyls, glycerolipids, glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, and sterol lipids. For the first time, a principal component analysis was carried out for botanical and geographical origin, classifying most of the samples correctly. Additionally, the method was categorized as green (environmentally friendly) and blue (practical).

The elimination of keratin-derived waste, such as pig bristles, represents a significant challenge due to its high production levels and resistance to degradation. However, the keratinous composition also makes pig bristles a valuable waste material with significant potential for bioconversion into biostimulants rich in bioavailable nitrogen, peptides, and amino acids. To achieve degradation, microorganisms with keratinolytic activity isolated from the raw material were selected. Based on the best performance in plant PGP traits, solubility, and protease activity, Sporosarcina luteola was chosen to implement a fermentation technology that converts pig bristle waste. The fermented product comprises three classes of biostimulant components: the biomass of S. luteola, the enzymatic secretions of this microorganism, and the hydrolyzed organic matter from pig bristles, which is rich in protein hydrolysates and free amino acids. The biostimulant was evaluated in soil at the biochemical level (enzymatic activities) and in plants under oxidative stress, demonstrating a positive effect. These findings highlight the fermentation process using S. luteola as a promising strategy for the comprehensive valorization of pig bristle waste, resulting in products with significant agronomic and environmental benefits.

As novel nanopesticides, cupric oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) have emerged as a cost-effective, ecofriendly, and sustainable alternative for controlling plant pathogens. However, additional research effort is still needed to elucidate the antibacterial mechanism involved. In this study, bioinspired CuO NPs were synthesized, and their antibiofilm strategies against R. solanacearum were systematically investigated. CuO NPs effectively inhibited the biofilm formation of R. solanacearum at various stages of maturity (24, 48, and 72 h) by damaging the cellular morphology and reducing the extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) and protein content of bacteria within biofilms. The motility activities of R. solanacearum, including swimming, swarming, and twitching, were significantly inhibited upon exposure to CuO NPs. Furthermore, we confirmed that both two-dimensional and three-dimensional structures of mature biofilms (at 24 h) were disrupted, as determined by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), revealing a scattered morphology and a disrupted surface topology pattern. Importantly, the quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was employed to assess the transcriptional levels of genes related to biofilm formation and virulence in R. solanacearum stems following treatment with CuO NPs. Notably downregulated genes included those involved in chemotaxis (cheA and cheW), EPS-related genes (xpsR and epsE), swimming activity (flgC, fliA), the quorum-sensing (QS) system (solR, phcB, phcS), the type III system (T3SS) (prhI and hrpG), and the two-component system (pehS and pehR). These findings provide insight into the antibiofilm properties of CuO NPs and hold promise regarding their potential as nanoenabled strategies for combating pathogens and sustainable management of crop diseases.

Pandanus amaryllifolius Roxb. (pandan) and Cocos nucifera L. (coconut) are traditional economic crops widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions, with intercropping being common in South and Southeast Asia. However, the effect of intercropping with coconut on the growth and quality of pandan has received little attention at present. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of intercropping modes on soil physicochemical properties, agronomic traits, photosynthetic characteristics, and volatile compound content of pandan. The results revealed that intercropping significantly enhanced soil moisture, leaf area, chlorophyll content, net photosynthetic characteristics, and carbon use efficiency of pandan. Furthermore, intercropping with coconut significantly enhanced the content of volatile compounds, including ketones, alcohols, esters, furanones, pyrroles, acids, and phenols. The increases in soil moisture, improvement in leaf structure, and enhancement of the photosynthetic process under intercropping were the primary drivers of the accumulation of volatile compounds, particularly key quality indicators such as 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline and phytol, in pandan leaves. These findings contribute to the identification of key regulatory factors for enhancing the growth and quality of pandan in intercropping mode.

Dioecious plant species have great agricultural, industrial, and ecological value, though their sexual diamorphism is reflected only at the reproductive stage, making early sex identification a tough job. At early stage (seedling) sex identification in dioecious plants is very important for the breeder, farmer, and economic agricultural productivity. The present review presents a comprehensive methodology of sex determination mechanisms in dioecious plants consisting of cytological, biochemical, morphological, and molecular traits which is an unquestionable requirement required for sexual distinction in dioecious plant species. A special emphasis is focused on molecular marker approaches like Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR), Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD), Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP), and Sequence Characterized Amplified Region (SCAR) molecular markers, which have potentially enhanced sex determination accuracy and efficiency. These markers have been utilized successfully in a range of dioecious crops such as Pandanus spp., Carica papaya, Cannabis sativa, and Asparagus officinalis. The review also points out the RAPD and ISSR conversion into SCAR for enhancing reproducibility and specificity, along with modern transcriptomic techniques for identifying floral sex-specific genes in economically important plants. Collectively, this review highlights the growing application of molecular marker-based approaches in early and reliable plant sex determination and suggests a future roadmap for high-throughput and genome-assisted strategies in breeding programs.

Sugar cane is one of the most important agricultural commodities globally, serving as a vital source of sugar, bioethanol, and employment for millions of people across more than 100 countries. Rising rainfall due to climate change, evolving environmental regulations, and cost-driven harvesting practices have increased extraneous matter (EM) in sugar cane, reducing factory efficiency and sugar recovery. Despite its significant impact, EM cannot be regularly quantified in sugar factories due to the lack of practical measurement methods and is therefore still excluded from cane payment systems. We introduce near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy as a rapid, nondestructive solution to this challenge. NIR calibration models for leaf content in shredded cane were developed using mixtures of clean cane, soil, and leaves with known EM concentrations, and soil content calibrations were built using incinerated ash as the reference method. Partial least-squares regression models with k-fold cross-validation were developed to correlate NIR spectra with reference values. Soil content based on ash analysis yielded strong calibration results (R² = 0.88), markedly outperforming sediment analysis (R² = 0.12). For the first time, NIR successfully predicted brown leaves (R² = 0.72), green leaves (R² = 0.73), and total leaves (R² = 0.88). These findings prove the potential of NIR spectroscopy to revolutionize EM analysis, providing a practical pathway for its integration into cane payment systems and improving sugar cane quality assessment.