Highland barley (Hordeum vulgare L. var. nudum) is a grain crop that grows on the plateau under poor and high salt conditions. Therefore, to cultivate high-quality highland barley varieties, it is ...necessary to study the molecular mechanism of strong resistance in highland barley, which has not been clearly explained. In this study, a high concentration of NaCl (240 mmol/L), simulating the unfavorable environment, was used to spray the treated highland barley seeds. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that the expression of more than 8,000 genes in highland barley seed cells was significantly altered, suggesting that the metabolic landscape of the cells was deeply changed under salt stress. Through the KEGG analysis, the phenylpropane metabolic pathway was significantly up-regulated under salt stress, resulting in the accumulation of polyphenols, flavonoids, and lignin, the metabolites for improving the stress resistance of highland barley seed cells, being increased 2.71, 1.22, and 1.17 times, respectively. This study discovered that the phenylpropane metabolic pathway was a significant step forward in understanding the stress resistance of highland barley, and provided new insights into the roles of molecular mechanisms in plant defense.
Cocoa is a climate sensitive species that has never been reported to grow or survive outside its natural climate belt (20°N-20°S of the equator). Recent reports claimed that cocoa is currently ...cultivated in Eswatini (26°S), Botswana (22°S), Namibia (22°S), Lesotho (29°S), and the Republic of South Africa "RSA" (30°S). How true are these reports? Climatological and epidemiological investigations were setup to debunk or support these claims. The clime of RSA was investigated since it was the farthest from the cocoa production clime. A review of the climate data of RSA showed 12.4 and 6.1% increase in night-time and day-time temperatures, respectively i.e., from 9.7 and 24.4°C (1901-1930) to 10.9 and 25.9°C (1991-2020), affirming the influence of global warming. The consistent increase in the moving average from 1901-2021 with a fluctuation in the seasonal variation, validates this research. A global connection was established between climate suitability for cocoa production and cocoa disease/pathogen establishment (r = -0.39, P-value = 0.089) at P<0.05. Further analysis showed that the annual temperature (10.8°Cgreater than or equal toTempgreater than or equal to25.8°C), humidity (62%) and sunshine distribution (8.4hours/month) of RSA was suitable for cocoa farming, even though water availability was below the recommended level (rainfallgreater than or equal to463.6mm and rainy_daysless than or equal to5days/month), farm irrigation systems are currently in use. Other findings showed that KwaZulu-Natal was 100% suitable for cocoa farming, followed by Gauteng, Mpumalanga (86%), Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Northwest (71%), Free State, Northern Cape, and Western Cape (57%). The estimated black pod disease status of KwaZulu-Natal (8.6%) and Eastern Cape (6.6%) affirmed the conduciveness of RSA for cocoa farming.
It has been proposed that the composition of the culture medium, especially its amino acids, is an important part of getting microspore androgenesis to occur in some plants. However, there have been ...far fewer studies done on the Solanaceae family. In this study, we studied what happened to eggplant microspore culture when we mixed casein hydrolysate (0 and 100 mg L.sup.-1) with four amino acids: proline (0, 100, 500, and 900 mg L.sup.-1 ), glutamine (0 and 800 mg L.sup.-1 ), serine (0 and 100 mg L.sup.-1 ), and alanine (0 and 100 mg L.sup.-1). The results showed that a combination of 800 mg L.sup.-1 of glutamine, 100 mg L.sup.-1 of serine, 100 mg L.sup.-1 of casein hydrolysate, and 500 mg L.sup.-1 of proline produced the maximum number of calli per Petri dish (938). Calli had a globular shape and a compact appearance when formed in media containing 500 mg L.sup.-1 of proline (alone or combined with serine, alanine, and/or casein hydrolysate). Most of these structures were observed in a medium with 500 mg L.sup.-1 of proline, 100 mg L.sup.-1 of casein hydrolysate, and 100 mg L.sup.-1 of serine. We also investigated what happened when gum arabic (2400, 2600, 3600, 4600, and 5600 mg L.sup.-1) was combined with proline (0 and 500 mg L.sup.-1 ), casein hydrolysate (0 and 100 mg L.sup.-1 ), and glutamine (0, 400, and 800 mg L.sup.-1). The findings demonstrated the involvement of proline in the increase of calli. Overall, the results give us new information about how amino acids work in eggplant microspore culture and suggest that proline can move this plant's microspore androgenesis pathway forward.
To accurately assess pain and support broadly-based analgesic protocols to mitigate swine pain, it is imperative to develop and validate a species-specific pain scale. The objective of this study was ...to investigate the clinical validity and reliability of an acute pain scale (UPAPS) adapted for newborn piglets undergoing castration. Thirty-nine male piglets (five days of age, 1.62 ± 0.23 kg BW) served as their own control, were enrolled in the study and underwent castration in conjunction with an injectable analgesic administered one-hour post-castration (flunixin meglumine 2.2 mg/kg IM). An additional 10, non-painful female piglets were included to account for the effect of natural behavioral variation by day on pain scale results. Behavior of each piglet was video recorded continuously at four recording periods (24 h pre-castration, 15 min post-castration, 3 and 24 h post-castration). Pre- and post-operative pain was assessed by using a 4-point scale (score 0-3) including the following six behavioral items: posture, interaction and interest in surroundings, activity, attention to the affected area, nursing, and miscellaneous behavior. Behavior was assessed by two trained blinded observers and statistical analysis was performed using R software. Inter-observer agreement was very good (ICC = 0.81). The scale was unidimensional based on the principal component analysis, all items except for nursing were representative (r.sub.s greater than or equal to 0.74) and had excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha greater than or equal to 0.85). The sum of scores were higher in castrated piglets post-procedure compared to pre-procedure, and higher than in non-painful female piglets confirming responsiveness and construct validity, respectively. Scale sensitivity was good when piglets were awake (92.9%) and specificity was moderate (78.6%). The scale had excellent discriminatory ability (area under the curve > 0.92) and the optimal cut-off sum for analgesia was 4 out of 15. The UPAPS scale is a valid and reliable clinical tool to assess acute pain in castrated pre-weaned piglets.
Terpenes are high-value chemicals which can be produced by engineered cyanobacteria from sustainable resources, solar energy, water and COsub.2. We previously reported that the euryhaline unicellular ...cyanobacteria Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 (S.6803) and Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 (S.7002) produce farnesene and limonene, respectively, more efficiently than other terpenes. In the present study, we attempted to enhance farnesene production in S.6803 and limonene production in S.7002. Practically, we tested the influence of key cyanobacterial enzymes acting in carbon fixation (RubisCO, PRK, CcmK3 and CcmK4), utilization (CrtE, CrtR and CruF) and storage (PhaA and PhaB) on terpene production in S.6803, and we compared some of the findings with the data obtained in S.7002. We report that the overproduction of RubisCO from S.7002 and PRK from Cyanothece sp. PCC 7425 increased farnesene production in S.6803, but not limonene production in S.7002. The overexpression of the crtE genes (synthesis of terpene precursors) from S.6803 or S.7002 did not increase farnesene production in S.6803. In contrast, the overexpression of the crtE gene from S.6803, but not S.7002, increased farnesene production in S.7002, emphasizing the physiological difference between these two model cyanobacteria. Furthermore, the deletion of the crtR and cruF genes (carotenoid synthesis) and phaAB genes (carbon storage) did not increase the production of farnesene in S.6803. Finally, as a containment strategy of genetically modified strains of S.6803, we report that the deletion of the ccmK3K4 genes (carboxysome for COsub.2 fixation) did not affect the production of limonene, but decreased the production of farnesene in S.6803.
Bees have been known to visit the male-fertile cultivars of self-incompatible flowering plants more frequently than the male-sterile cultivars, but the origin of this preference is poorly understood. ...Here, we demonstrate that this preference is driven by the higher protein/lipid ratio of male-fertile pollen compared with male-sterile pollen by way of two caged-behavioral assays with six cultivars. In the first assay, flower-naïve bumblebees (Bombus ignitus Smith) showed a significantly higher flower-visitation rate to male-fertile cultivars (pollen germination rate > 55%; > 14 visits/10 min) of the Japanese pear (Pyrus pyrifolia Nakai) than male-sterile cultivars (pollen germination rate less than or equal to 20%; > 6 visits/10 min). In the second, bees still preferred the anthers of male-fertile cultivars (5-9 visits/10 min) more than those of male-sterile ones (less than 1 visit in 10 min) even in the absence of all other organs (i.e., petals, pistil, nectar), indicating that pollen is responsible for the preference. We then analyzed the macronutrient content of the pollen and its visual cues, and found that the bee preference was highly correlated with the protein/lipid ratio (0.3-1.6) but not color variables such as (a)chromatic contrast, intensity, and spectral purity. We conclude that the protein/lipid ratio influences the foraging behavior of the bumblebees likely by serving as (1) a chemotactile cue while antennating, (2) a gustatory cue after intake, and (3) an olfactory cue. In addition, the low bee visitation rate to poorly viable pollen could be due to its low protein/lipid ratio.
Determinants and constraints of carrot Djoufack, Maxime Merlin Tonfack; Kouam, Eric Bertrand; Foko, Edith Marius Kouam ...
PloS one,
01/2024, Letnik:
19, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The market gardening sector in Cameroonian agriculture is facing a challenge in producing vegetables to meet consumer needs. Among these vegetables, carrot is known to play an important role in the ...livelihood of millions of people around the world. It is therefore important to understand its technical itinerary in the different agricultural basins in order to provide further information on carrot production. This study aimed to identify the different production constraints faced by carrot growers by providing information on applied growing systems. Two surveys were conducted using a questionnaire simultaneously with carrot traders and producers. A total of 218 carrot traders and 62 producers were interviewed. Nine basins were identified as main carrot production zones in Cameroon. In the production basins, five main varieties namely New Kuroda, Pamela+, Madona, Amazonia and Vanessa F1 were identified. The agricultural yield of carrots is related to the growing area, fertilization method, size of the field and ploughing. Farmers use an integrated fertilization approach based on chemical fertilizer (N-P-K: 20-10-10) and chicken manure at various doses, from 250 to 500 Kg.ha.sup.-1 and 2.5 to 9 t.ha.sup.-1 respectively. Factors such as farmland area, number of cultivated plots, experience in cultivation, family size and amounts of organic and chemical fertilizers used have been found to have significant impact on carrot production. However, among the many technical problems faced by producers and which result in low carrots yields, is the lack of knowledge of soil properties. This in turn contributes to inappropriate fertilization and poor choice of the appropriate variety to be cultivated. Low germination, the lack of efficient irrigation systems and the high costs of agricultural inputs are the main constraints that affect carrot production. Although valued by market gardeners, the benefit in a production season is not always enough to encourage more farmers to grow carrots. Thus, there is a need to develop a follow-up policy for the quality and high yield production of the carrot sector.
