A crop growth model, integrating genotype, environment, and management factor, was developed to serve as an analytical tool to study the influence of these factors on crop growth, production, and agricultural planning.  A major challenge of model application is the optimization and calibration of a considerable number of parameters.  Sensitivity analysis (SA) has become an effective method to identify the importance of various parameters.  In this study, the extended Fourier Amplitude Sensitivity Test (EFAST) approach was used to evaluate the sensitivity of the DSSAT-CERES model output responses of interest to 39 crop genotype parameters and six soil parameters.  The outputs for the SA included grain yield and quality (take grain protein content (GPC) as an indicator) at maturity stage, as well as leaf area index, aboveground biomass, and aboveground nitrogen accumulation at the critical process variables.  The key results showed that: (1) the influence of parameter bounds on the sensitivity results was slight and less than the impacts from the significance of the parameters themselves; (2) the sensitivity parameters of grain yield and GPC were different, and the sensitivity of the interactions between parameters to GPC was greater than those between the parameters to grain yield; and (3) the sensitivity analyses of some process variables, including leaf area index, aboveground biomass, and aboveground nitrogen accumulation, should be performed differently.  Finally, some parameters, which improve the model’s structure and the accuracy of the process simulation, should not be ignored when maturity output as an objective variable is studied.

Received  22 June, 2017    Accepted  15 November, 2017

    The experiments were conducted for three consecutive years across 14 locations using 9 non-waxy proso millet genotypes and 16 locations using 7 waxy proso millet genotypes in China. The objectives of this study were to analyze yield stability and adaptability of proso millets and to evaluate the discrimination and representativeness of locations by analysis of variance (ANOVA) and genotype and genotype by environment interaction (GGE) biplot methods. Grain yields of proso millet genotypes were significantly influenced by environment (E), genotype (G) and their interaction (G×E) (P<0.1%). G×E interaction effect was six times higher than G effect in non-waxy group and seven times in waxy group. N04-339 in non-waxy and Neimi 6 (NM6) in waxy showed higher grain yields and stability compared with other genotypes. Also, Neimi 9 (NM9, a non-waxy cultivar) and 90322-2-33 (a waxy cultivar) showed higher adaptability in 7 and in 11 locations, respectively. For non-waxy, Dalat, Inner Mongolia (E2) and Wuzhai, Shanxi (E5) were the best sites among all the locations for maximizing the variance among candidate cultivars, and Yanchi, Ningxia (E10) had the best representativeness. Wuzhai, Shanxi (e9) and Yanchi, Ningxia (e14) were the best representative locations, and Baicheng, Jilin (e2) was better discriminating location than others for waxy genotypes. Based on our results, E10 and e14 have enhanced efficiency and accuracy for non-waxy genotypes and waxy genotypes selection, respectively in national regional test of proso millet varieties.

The Elongator complex is a multifunction protein complex which has been shown to be involved in transcriptional elongation, DNA replication and repair, tubulin and histone acetylation, gene silencing and tranfer RNA uridine modification. The composition of the Elongator complex is found to be highly conserved in eukaryotes, protein homologs of various subunits have been identified in fungi, plant, animal, and human. Remarkably, mutation in genes encoding the Elongator complex structural components all results in defects of transfer RNA wobble uridine modification, and this function of the Elongator complex is also conserved in eukaryotes. The Elongator complex mutants in higher plants have pleiotropic phenotypes including defects in vegetative growth, abiscisic acid hypersensitivity, elevated tolerance to drought and oxidative stress. What is the relationship between the Elongator complex’s function in nucleoside modification and its activity in other cellular pathways? This review summarizes the recent advances in study of function of the Elongator complex, in the aspects of cell physiology and molecular biology.

Soil moisture and salinity are two crucial coastal saline soil variables, which influence the soil quality and agricultural productivity in the reclaimed coastal region. Accurately characterizing the spatial variability of these soil parameters is critical for the rational development and utilization of tideland resources. In the present study, the spatial variability of soil moisture and salinity in the reclaimed area of Hangzhou gulf, Shangyu City, Zhejiang Province, China, was detected using the data acquired from radar image and the proximal sensor EM38. Soil moisture closely correlates radar scattering coefficient, and a simplified inversion model was built based on a backscattering coefficient extracted from multi-polarization data of ALOS/PALSAR and in situ soil moisture measured by a time domain reflectometer to detect soil moisture variations. The result indicated a higher accuracy of soil moisture inversion by the HH polarization mode than those by the HV mode. Soil salinity is reflected by soil apparent electrical conductivity (ECa). Further, ECa can be rapidly detected by EM38 equipment in situ linked with GPS for characterizing the spatial variability of soil salinity. Based on the strong spatial variability and interactions of soil moisture and salinity, a cokriging interpolation method with auxiliary variable of backscattering coefficient was adopted to map the spatial variability of ECa. When compared with a map of ECa interpolated by the ordinary kriging method, detail was revealed and the accuracy was increased by 15.3%. The results conclude that the integrating active remote sensing and proximal sensors EM38 are effective and acceptable approaches for rapidly and accurately detecting soil moisture and salinity variability in coastal areas, especially in the subtropical coastal zones of China with frequent heavy cloud cover.