The cultivar Ganoderma lucidum Hunong 5 was obtained using cross-breeding.  Hunong 5 has high commercial value due to its high polysaccharide and triterpene content.  This is the first report of using a DNA pooling method to develop a stable sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR) marker for rapid identification of the G. lucidum Hunong 5 cultivar.  The SCAR marker was developed by first generating and sequencing a distinctive inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) fragment (882 bp) from G. lucidum Hunong 5 cultivar.  A stable SCAR primer pair GLH5F/GLH5R were obtained to identify the cultivar and the SCAR marker is a DNA fragment of 773 bp.

    The increasing demand for fresh sweet maize (Zea mays L. saccharata) in southern China has prioritized the need to find solutions to the environmental pollution caused by its continuous production and high inputs of chemical nitrogen fertilizers.  A promising method for improving crop production and environmental conditions is to intercrop sweet maize with legumes.  Here, a three-year field experiment was conducted to assess the influence of four different cropping systems (sole sweet maize (SS), sole soybean (SB), two rows sweet maize-three rows soybean (S2B3) intercropping, and two rows sweet maize-four rows soybean (S2B4) intercropping), together with two rates of N fertilizer application (300 and 360 kg N ha^–1) on grain yield, residual soil mineral N, and soil N₂O emissions in southern China.  Results showed that in most case, intercropping achieved yield advantages (total land equivalent ratio (TLER=0.87–1.25) was above one).  Moreover, intercropping resulted in 39.8% less soil mineral N than SS at the time of crop harvest, averaged over six seasons (spring and autumn in each of the three years of the field experiment).  Generally, intercropping and reduced-N application (300 kg N ha^–1) produced lower cumulative soil N₂O and yield-scaled soil N₂O emissions than SS and conventional-N application (360 kg N ha^–1), respectively.  S2B4 intercropping with reduced-N rate (300 kg N ha^–1) showed the lowest cumulative soil N₂O (mean value=0.61 kg ha^–1) and yield-scaled soil N₂O (mean value=0.04 kg t^–1) emissions.  Overall, intercropping with reduced-N rate maintained sweet maize production, while also reducing environmental impacts.  The system of S2B4 intercropping with reduced-N rate may be the most sustainable and environmentally friendly cropping system.   

This paper reported firstly successful cloning of lycopene ε-cyclase (IbLCYe) gene from sweetpotato, Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam. Using rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE), IbLCYe gene was cloned from sweetpotato cv. Nongdafu 14 with high carotenoid content. The 1 805 bp cDNA sequence of IbLCYe gene contained a 1 236 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a 411 amino acids polypeptide with a molecular weight of 47 kDa and an isoelectric point (pI) of 6.95. IbLCYe protein contained one potential lycopene ε-cyclase domain and one potential FAD (flavinadenine dinucleotide)/NAD(P) (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate)-binding domain, indicating that this protein shares the typical characteristics of LCYe proteins. The gDNA of IbLCYe gene was 4 029 bp and deduced to contain 5 introns and 6 exons. Real-time quantitative PCR analysis revealed that the expression level of IbLCYe gene was significantly higher in the storage roots of Nongdafu 14 than those in the leaves and stems. Transgenic tobacco (cv. Wisconsin 38) expressing IbLCYe gene accumulated significantly more β-carotene compared to the untransformed control plants. These results showed that IbLCYe gene has an important function for the accumulation of carotenoids of sweetpotato.