This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of feed conditioners (single-layer, double-layer and retention-conditioner) on the growth performance, meat quality and intestinal morphology of pigs throughout the growing to finishing phase.  A total of 96 growing pigs ((28.70±3.20) kg) were selected and randomized into three treatment groups with four replicates per group.  Eight pigs were used per replicate for the 17-week feeding trial.  The grower diet was given at 0 to 6 weeks and a finisher diet was given at 6 to 17 weeks.  The treatments were as follows: SC diet (control; single-layer conditioning), DC diet (double-layer conditioning), and RC diet (retention-conditioning).  Starch gelatinization was significantly higher (P<0.05) in the RC treatment than in the SC treatment, however, there was no significant difference in the starch gelatinization between the DC group and the RC group.  In the growing phase, the feed to gain index (F:G) was significantly lower (P<0.05) in the RC group than in the SC and DC groups.  Between growing and finishing, the F:G was the lowest (P<0.05) in the SC group compared to the RC or DC group.  Drip loss, a measurement of meat quality, was significantly lower (P<0.05) in longissimus dorsi tissue collected from pigs fed the RC diet than in tissues collected from pigs fed the SC diet.  The intestinal quality of the duodenum and jejunum tissues showed a significant increase (P<0.05) in the crypt depth and villus height in the RC group compared to the SC- or DC-treated pigs.  These results demonstrated that the retention-conditioner treatment decreased the F:G in growing pigs, improved intestinal morphology and enhanced the meat quality in the finishing pigs.  However, the retention-conditioner treatment had a negative impact on growth performance in the finishing pigs.

In this study we report the results of a decade-long breeding program for japonica super rice made by Nanjing Branch of Chinese National Center for Rice Improvement in Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences.  We concluded that selection of parents with good comprehensive traits and complementary advantages and disadvantages of both parents in the hybrid combination, and early selection of high heritability traits in earlier segregating generations could significantly improve the breeding efficiency.  The use of closely-linked functional markers in pyramiding of multiple genes could greatly increase breeding efficiency, avoiding time-consuming and laborious steps that were used in traditional breeding program.  It is also important to coordinate the yield components with variety characteristics such as yield stability, wide adaptability, lodging resistance, and an attractive grain appearance during late growth stage of rice.

    Increases in the number of cases of identified genetically modified (GM) rice contamination can be traced back to the first Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) in 2006. In response to the lack of reliable detection methods, Decision 2011/884/EU proposed that new screening methods replace Decision 2008/289/EC, to identify all possible GM rice products originating in China. However, the synergy brands (SYBR) Green real-time PCR assay proposed by Decision 2011/884/EU has been shown to lack conformity with other TaqMan methods currently in use. To evaluate the specificity and repeatability of the methods recommended in Decision 2011/884/EU and Decision 2008/289/EC, we collected 74 rice products originating from six countries or districts. The 74 rice samples were tested using the Decision 2011/884/EU and Decision 2008/289/EC methods. The parallel use of different instruments and reagents were used for testing in parallel, and the results were analyzed statistically. To avoid the limitations of specific laboratories, eight GM organism detection laboratories in China participated in a collaborative trial. In our tests, 24.3% (18/74) of the samples tested were positive with the SYBR Green real-time PCR assay using the Decision 2011/884/EU method, but were negative with the TaqMan real-time PCR assay using the Decision 2011/884/EU and Decision 2008/289/EC methods. Sequencing the PCR-amplified CryIA(b/c) genes in three samples (6, 30 and 43) showed that the products consisted of primer dimers rather than the targeted sequence. The combined experimental results showed that testing for the nopaline synthase gene (NOS) of Agrobacterium tumefasciens terminator and CryIA(b/c) produced false-positive results when the Decision 2011/884/EU method was used. Because of the high rate of false-positive results, the Decision 2011/884/EU SYBR Green method to detect GM rice requires improvement.

   Assessing the impact of plantation on microbial respiration (MR) is vitally important to understand the interactions between belowground metabolism and land use change. In this study, cumulative MR was determined by alkali absorption method in 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, and 56 days from the soil in a representative plantations in the subtropical region of China. The treatment of plantations contained no plant (CK), orange trees (Citrus reticulata)+Bahia grass (Paspalum notatum) (GB), orange trees (C. reticulata)+Bahia grass (P. notatum)+soybean (Giycine max (L.) Merrill) (GBH). Results showed that plantation had significant effects on microbial respiration and the responses of microbial respiration to plantation from different soil layers and topographies were different: in 0–20 cm in uphill: GB>GBH>CK; in 20–40 cm in uphill: GBH>CK>GB; in 0–20 cm in downhill: GBH>CK>GB; in 20–40 cm in downhill: GB>CK>GBH. Furthermore, plantation also altered the relationships between MR and soil properties. In CK, microbial respiration was positively correlated with NH₄⁺ and soil total N, and negatively correlated with soil moisture, pH, NO₃^–, and microbial biomass carbon (MBC). In GB, microbial respiration under GB significantly negatively correlated with dissolved organic carbon (DOC). In GBH, microbial respiration under GBH was positively correlated with NH₄⁺, MBC, total soil carbon (TC), and total soil nitrogen (TN), and negatively correlated with soil moisture (SM), pH, NO₃^–, and DOC. The underlying mechanisms could be attributed to soil heterogeneity and the effects of plantation on soil properties. Our results also showed that plantation significantly increased soil C storage, which suggested plantation is a key measure to enhance soil C sequestration and mitigate global CO₂ emission, especially for the soil with low initial soil carbon content or bared soil.  

Previous studies demonstrated climate change had reduced rice yield in China, but the magnitude of the reduction and the spatial variations of the impact have remained in controversy to date. Based on a gridded daily weather dataset, we found there were obvious changes in temperatures, diurnal temperature range, and radiation during the rice-growing season from 1961 to 2010 in China. These changes resulted in a significant decline of simulated national rice yield (simulated with CERES-Rice), with a magnitude of 11.5%. However, changes in growing-season radiation and diurnal temperature range, not growing-season temperatures, contributed most to the simulated yield reduction, which confirmed previous estimates by empirical studies. Yield responses to changes of the climatic variables varied across different rice production areas. In rice production areas with the mean growing-season temperature at 12-14°C and above 20°C, a 1°C growing-season warming decreased rice yield by roughly 4%. This decrease was partly attributed to increased heat stresses and shorter growth period under the warmer climate. In some rice areas of the southern China and the Yangtze River Basin where the rice growing-season temperature was greater than 20°C, decrease in the growing-season radiation partly interpreted the widespread yield decline of the simulation, suggesting the significant negative contribution of recent global dimming on rice production in China’s main rice areas. Whereas in the northern rice production areas with relatively low growing-season temperature, decrease of the diurnal temperature range was identified as the main climatic contributor for the decline of simulated rice yield, with larger decreasing magnitude under cooler areas.