在生猪产业链中，胴体分割是提升猪胴体经济价值的非常重要的加工过程。本研究的目的是确定猪分割肉的重量及其在猪胴体中的占比，以及探究猪胴体重、性别和品种组成对分割肉的影响。同时，我们还研究了分割肉与胴体性状和肉质性状之间的相关性。本研究选择长白猪(LD)、大白猪(YK)、长白与大白二元杂交猪(LY)以及三元杂交后代杜长大（DLY）组成的4个不同猪群进行胴体分块测定。共计分割测定了2,012头猪胴体，每个胴体测定了17个分块肉性状、12个胴体性状和6个肉质性状。结果表明，胴体重、性别和品种组成对大多数分块肉的重量和胴体占比均有显着影响（P<0.05）。肉类和骨类分割肉的胴体占比随胴体重的增加而下降，而脂肪类分块肉的胴体占比随胴体重的增加而增加。此外，四点背膘的厚度也随胴体重的增加显著增加（P<0.001），这表明育肥期猪只摄入的能量更多用于脂肪沉积。此外，阉公猪的前段（SC）和背膘（BF）的比例显著高于母猪（P <0.001），而后段（LC）则相反。阉公猪的三号肉（LO）的比例和背最长肌纵切面的面积（LMA）显著低于（P<0.001）母猪，但肌间脂肪含量（PFAI）和大理石纹评分（VMS）显著高于（P<0.001）母猪。在不同品种中，LD的胴体直长显著长于（P<0.001）其他三个群体，这解释了四个群体中LD的中段(MC)占比最高。此外，在四个群体中，DLY的前段胴体占比最高。最后我们发现，大多数分块肉的胴体占比之间的相关性较低或不显著（P>0.05），并且大多数分块肉的胴体占比与肉质性状和胴体性状之间的相关性也较低或不显著（P>0.05）。综上所述，胴体重、性别和品种组成对分割肉、胴体性状和肉质性状受品种和生长阶段的影响，也揭示了不同性别之间生长曲线不同步性。本研究首次基于中国的猪胴体分割标准，在大规模群体中探究了猪胴体分割肉的组成以及胴体重、性别和品种组成对分割肉的影响，为猪胴体分割肉的育种研究奠定了基础。

【目的】马铃薯纺锤形块茎类病毒属的多种类病毒可侵染番茄，造成严重病害，威胁产业发展。研发番茄类病毒检测技术可为病害防控提供技术支撑。此外，虽然国外有报道说我国出口的番茄种子上携带类病毒，但仍未有定论，尚需确认，并且有必要弄清楚我国番茄上类病毒的发生情况。【方法】 使用序列比对的方法，比较能够侵染番茄的不同类病毒的基因组序列，找到保守序列，以此为模板，通过体外转录的方法制备RNA探针。通过斑点杂交的方法，测试该探针的检测灵敏度和特异性。另外，利用该通用探针，使用斑点杂交的方法，普查我国番茄上的类病毒发生情况。【结果】能够侵染番茄的6种类病毒：金鱼花潜隐类病毒（CLVd）、辣椒小果类病毒（PCFVd）、马铃薯纺锤块茎类病毒（PSTVd）、番茄顶缩类病毒（TASVd）、番茄褪绿矮缩类病毒（TCDVd）和番茄雄性株类病毒（TPMVd）的基因组序列含有一段长度为61 bp的保守序列。利用该序列制备的RNA探针能够同时检测这6种类病毒，其杂交检测的适宜反应温度为55℃~60℃。虽然该探针的检测灵敏度略低于每种类病毒的特异性探针，但可以满足田间大量样品的快速检测的需求。利用该探针，从我国番茄温室栽培的番茄植株上检测到了PSTVd，这是PSTVd在我国番茄上的首次报道。基因组序列比较分析发现，我国PSTVd番茄分离物的序列与国外茄科作物上PSTVd的序列最为接近，并且感染PSTVd的番茄的种子是从国外进口的。这表明我国番茄上的PSTVd应该是通过进口的番茄种子从国外传入的。【结论】研发出了一种能够同时检测侵染番茄的6种类病毒的通用探针，该探针具有快速灵敏的特点，适用于大量样品的快速检测，为番茄类病毒的监测及防控提供了技术支撑；此外，证实我国温室栽培的番茄上的确有PSTVd的发生，应该是通过种子由国外传入的，因此，需要加强进口种子及繁殖材料的检验和检疫，也要加强田间种植番茄的监测。

由核盘菌（Sclerotinia sclerotiorum）引起的莴苣菌核病是我国常见的病害。由于缺乏可商业化的抗性品种，目前主要依赖杀菌剂进行防控。啶酰菌胺（boscalid, 简称Bos），隶属于琥珀酸脱氢酶抑制剂类（SDHI）杀菌剂，在我国用于核盘菌防治已有十多年，部分地区出现该药剂对莴苣菌核病的防效下降现象，但核盘菌的抗药性状况尚不清楚。为此，本实验室于2019年从江苏六个市的莴苣病样中共分离了172株核盘菌。采用鉴别剂量（5 μg mL^-1的浓度）法，进行抗药性菌株鉴定，发现对该药剂的低抗（Bos^LR）群体占所检测菌株总数的76.74%。进一步研究表明：Bos^LR菌株的生物适合度不低于啶酰菌胺敏感（Bos^S）菌株；大多数Bos^LR菌株的草酸积累和胞外多糖（EPS）含量较Bos^S菌株均增加，但膜透性降低，对供试的胁迫因子耐受性差异显著；离体防效测定也验证了田间确实存在Bos^LR的抗药性亚群体；田间存在3种对啶酰菌胺的抗性基因型（①SDHB^A11V，②SDHC^Q38R，③SDHB^A11V+SDHC^Q38R），该抗性可能由药剂和靶标间的亲和力下降导致；但Bos^LR菌株对噻呋酰胺、氟唑菌酰羟胺、氟啶胺和戊唑醇间均无交互抗性。本研究首次报道了我国莴苣核盘菌对啶酰菌胺存在田间抗性，这对该病的抗药性治理和精准防控具有指导意义。

提高小麦产量是全球小麦育种者的长期目标。发掘优良遗传资源，解析小麦重要农艺性状的遗传基础，是小麦高产育种的必经之路。本研究评价了两年七个环境中由156个育成品种和77个地方品种组成的四川小麦自然群体的9个重要农艺性状表现。农艺性状调查结果表明，地方品种分蘖较多，穗粒数（KNS）较高，育成品种千粒重（TKW）和穗粒重（KWS）较高。9个农艺性状的广义遗传力（H ²）在0.74到0.95之间。利用来自小麦55K SNP芯片的43198个单核苷酸多态性（SNP）标记进行群体结构分析可以将自然群体分为三组。基于混合线性模型Q+K方法的全基因组关联分析（GWAS）共鉴定出67个数量性状位点（QTL）。本研究主要对三个重要性状的QTL进行了分析，即分别检测到的可育分蘖数（FTN）位点QFTN.sicau-7BL.1的四种单倍型、KNS位点QKNS.sicau-1AL.2的三种单倍型和TKW位点QTKW.sicau-3BS.1的四种单倍型。从2002—2013年区域试验的42个品种的产量表现来看，FTN-Hap2、KNS-Hap1和TKW-Hap2分别是每个QTL中的优良单倍型。具有三个优良单倍型的品种相比具有两个或一个优良单倍型的品种产量更高。此外，基于每穗粒数的QTL位点 QKNS.sicau-1AL.2开发了连锁的KASP-AX-108866053标记能在2018年至2021年区域试验中鉴定63个品种的三种单倍型（或等位基因）。这些遗传位点和连锁标记可用于标记辅助选择或基于图谱的基因克隆，用于小麦产量的遗传改良。

多巴胺是一种儿茶酚胺和一种抗氧化剂，在应对逆境时起作用，它与植物激素相互作用以介导植物发育。目前，关于苹果中多巴胺功能的研究较少。本研究开发了一种用于分析苹果种质中的多巴胺测定方法，以阐明多巴胺在苹果树的组织分布、发育变化、昼夜变化和逆境响应。首先，对所提出的方法进行了验证，定量的线性范围在0.1-20 ng mL^-1范围内稳定，仪器、日间精密度和样品重复性相对标准偏差分别为1.024%、5.607%和7.237%，加标回收率大于100%，表明该方法的可行性及其适用于快速分析苹果属种质中的多巴胺。接下来，测量了322个苹果组织中的多巴胺含量。结果表明，苹果的多巴胺水平较低，叶片中多巴胺的平均含量高于果皮和果肉。多巴胺在栽培品种和野生种质中向右偏。最后，分析了组织特异性、发育变化、昼夜变化和对逆境的响应。在栽培品种‘皮诺娃’（Malus domestica）中，多巴胺含量在叶芽中最高，在果肉中最低。叶片和果肉中多巴胺含量随着栽培品种‘凉香’（Malus domestica）的生长发育而降低。与对照相比，干旱或盐胁迫后苹果叶片的多巴胺含量更高。在本研究中，建立了一种基于HPLC-MS的苹果多巴胺检测方法，并证明是一种稳健的方法。本研究为未来阐明苹果树中多巴胺的组织分布、发育变化、昼夜变化和逆境响应提供了一个框架。

本试验以“甬优1540”为材料，通过2年的田间重复试验，在头季稻总施纯氮量（225.00kg·hm^-2）不变的前提下，设置头季不同氮肥运筹处理（基肥：第一次分蘖肥：第二次分蘖肥：穗肥比分别为3:1:2:4(N1)、3:2:1:4(N2)、3:3:0:4(N3)、4:3:0:3(N4)），从水稻群体分蘖特性、冠层结构特点、光合生理变化及干物质积累与运转规律入手，探讨了东南稻作区机械化栽培下头季稻氮肥运筹对再生稻产量形成的影响。结果表明，头季前氮后移施肥的N1处理有助于增加头季分蘖数，提高分蘖成穗率，N1处理成穗率高达70.18%，比基蘖肥比重高的当地常规施肥N4处理提高了9.15%。N1处理还有助于提高群体LAI值，其头季及再生季齐穗期LAI值分别比N4处理提高了16.52% 和29.87%。就茎鞘物质运转率及冠层光能截获率而言，N1处理下其头季稻茎鞘物质运转率比N4处理提高了50.57%，而其再生季齐穗期的冠层光能截获率比N4处理提高了5.07%。在本试验中,头季稻前氮后移的N1处理两季实际总产量最高，2年平均实际总产达17351.23 kg·hm^-2，比当地常规施肥N4处理提高了23.00%。由此可见，头季稻合理氮肥处理有利其提高健桩存量，从而为再生季作物的群体及产量形成奠定基础。在本研究中，低留桩机械化栽培下头季稻适当的前氮后移，不仅提高头季稻产量，而且还有利其再生腋芽的萌发，增加再生季成穗率，从而实现水稻一种两收目的。

葡萄是一种重要的水果作物，我国的葡萄产量约占全球总产量的15%，位列世界第一。扦插是葡萄快速繁殖的重要手段，然而近两年来我们在日照莒县的葡萄扦插苗圃中发现大量葡萄新芽受病菌侵染而腐烂死亡，给葡萄苗生产造成严重损失。为了明确引起该现象的原因，在本研究中，我们通过组织分离法获得了36个真菌菌株，经菌落和分生孢子的形态鉴定以及利用转录间隔区(ITS)、翻译延伸因子（Tef）和β-微管蛋白（Tub2）进行多基因系统发育分析鉴定，36个菌株分别属于Sclerotium, Neopestalotiopsis, Botryosphaeria, Fusarium, Clonostachys 和Botrytis 6个属，而其中的N. eucalypti是一种首次在葡萄上分离到的菌株。按照柯赫氏法则，对葡萄枝蔓进行离体和活体接种，结果显示N. eucalypti引起葡萄枝蔓的组织腐烂坏死，并在坏死斑表面产生大量黑色分生孢子盘。本文首次报道了N. eucalypti侵染能够引发葡萄枝枯病，该研究结果为苗圃中葡萄新芽腐烂坏死防控策略的制定奠定了基础。

甘蓝型油菜是食用植物油和饲用蛋白的重要来源，然而种子中色素严重影响菜籽油的品质和饼粕的饲用价值。本研究以甘蓝型油菜黄籽母本GH06和黑籽父本中油821构建的重组自交系群体为研究对象，对不同环境下种子（种胚和种皮）色素组份进行QTL定位分析和候选基因的鉴定。结果共检测到94个影响种皮和种胚色素组份含量的QTL位点，44个在种胚中被检测到，50个在种皮中被检测到，分别位于甘蓝型油菜15条不同染色体上。其中包括28个花色素含量相关的QTL，单个QTL可解释2.41-44.46％的表型变异；24个类黄酮含量相关的QTL，单个QTL可解释2.41-20.26％的表型变异；16个总酚含量相关的QTL，单个QTL可解释2.74–23.68％的表型变异；26个黑色素含量相关的QTL，单个QTL可解释表型变异的2.37–24.82％，说明这些性状是由多基因控制的数量性状。同时，在A06，A09和C08染色体上存在多个QTL集中分布的现象，分别包含15个、19个和10个色素相关的QTL，且大多数QTL解释的表型变异>10%被认为是主效QTL。根据甘蓝型油菜“Darmor-bzh”参考基因组注释信息，在被重复检测到的QTL区间内筛选到67个候选基因，通过RNA-seq和qRT-PCR分析结果推断12个差异表达基因可能是参与种子色素合成相关的重要候选基因。本研究结果为甘蓝型油菜种子色素合成遗传机理提供了新的认识并为深入解析甘蓝型油菜粒色形成的分子机制奠定了基础。

Certain agricultural management practices are known to affect the soil microbial community structure; however, knowledge of the response of the fungal community structure to the long-term continuous cropping and rotation of soybean, maize and wheat in the same agroecosystem is limited.  We assessed the fungal abundance, composition and diversity among soybean rotation, maize rotation and wheat rotation systems and among long-term continuous cropping systems of soybean, maize and wheat as the effect of crop types on fungal community structure.  We compared these fungal parameters of same crop between long-term crop rotation and continuous cropping systems as the effect of cropping systems on fungal community structure.  The fungal abundance and composition were measured by quantitative real-time PCR and Illumina MiSeq sequencing.  The results revealed that long-term continuous soybean cropping increased the soil fungal abundance compared with soybean rotation, and the fungal abundance was decreased in long-term continuous maize cropping compared with maize rotation.  The long-term continuous soybean cropping also exhibited increased soil fungal diversity.  The variation in the fungal community structure among the three crops was greater than that between long-term continuous cropping and rotation cropping.  Mortierella, Guehomyces and Alternaria were the most important contributors to the dissimilarity of the fungal communities between the continuous cropping and rotation cropping of soybean, maize and wheat.  There were 11 potential pathogen and 11 potential biocontrol fungi identified, and the relative abundance of most of the potential pathogenic fungi increased during the long-term continuous cropping of all three crops.  The relative abundance of most biocontrol fungi increased in long-term continuous soybean cropping but decreased in long-term continuous maize and wheat cropping.  Our results indicate that the response of the soil fungal community structure to long-term continuous cropping varies based upon crop types.

本研究以花育25为材料，设置非盐胁迫(CK)，0.15％(S1)和0.3％盐胁迫(S2)三个处理，探究了盐胁迫对花生光合特性、植株不同器官干物质积累与分配及荚果发育动态的影响。结果表明，盐胁迫降低了花生的净光合速率(P_n)，SPAD值，单株叶面积和产量；播种后第50天，CK的P_n分别较S1和S2处理高出13.71％和28.72％。同一生育期内，处理间的SPAD值差异均为CK>S1>S2。盐胁迫降低了花生的单株荚果重，百果重，百仁重和出米率，大小为CK>S1>S2。与CK相较，花生通过改变了光合产物在不同器官中的分配比例来适应盐胁迫，在营养生长和早期生殖期生长阶段，S1和S2处理增加了光合产物在茎和荚果中分配比例。整个生育期内，S1和S2处理的根系干重集中分布在0-40厘米的土壤层中。荚果发育过程中，S1和S2处理的荚果体积、干重和果仁干重的最大生长速率(V_max)均下降；收获时，S1和S2处理的荚果和果仁的体积较CK均降低，因此盐胁迫下花生通过降低荚果和果仁体积来提高饱满度。以上发现为盐碱地种植花生提供了理论指导。

Auxin signaling plays a significant role in the whole process of plant growth and development from embryogenesis to senescence. Auxin response factors (ARFs) are reported to regulate the expression of auxin response genes by binding to auxin response elements. ARF is the most critical transcription factor family which has been released in most species, but few reports in strawberry. In this study, the structure characterization of 12 FvARF genes in strawberry, their expression patterns at different development stages, different organizations, and different indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) treatments were analyzed. The expression of 12 FvARFs was found in all experiment tissues and showed almost the same trend during fruit development. All FvARFs respond to the treatment of IAA. Our study provides comprehensive information on ARF family in strawberry, including gene structures, chromosome locations, phylogenetic relationships and expression patterns. The information on FvARF genes paves the way for future research on strawberry ARF genes. Keywords:

The nonstructural protein 10 (nsp10) of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) encodes for helicase which plays a vital role in viral replication.  In the present study, a truncated form of nsp10, termed nsp10a, was found in PRRSV-infected cells and the production of nsp10a was strain-specific.  Mass spectrometric analysis and deletion mutagenesis indicated that nsp10a may be short of about 70 amino acids in the N terminus of nsp10.  Further studies by rescuing recombinant viruses showed that the Glu-69 in nsp10 was the key amino acid for nsp10a production.  Finally, we demonstrated that nsp10a exerted little influence on the growth kinetics of PRRSV in vitro. 

The common fig (Ficus carica L.) was one of the earliest horticultural crops to be domesticated.  A number of different viruses can infect fig trees including Fig mosaic virus (FMV) that has been detected in several commercial fig trees in Xinjiang, China.  However, the distribution of FMV and other fig-infecting viruses in China remains unknown.  In the present study, a sample from an ancient fig tree growing in Xinjiang was investigated by electron microscopy (EM) followed by PCR/RT-PCR, and FMV, Fig badnavirus 1 (FBV-1) and Fig leaf mottle-associated virus 1 (FLMaV-1) were detected.  Fig leaf samples (252) from commercial orchards across China were subjected to PCR/RT-PCR, and FMV, FBV-1 and Fig fleck-associated virus (FFkaV) were relatively abundant (44.4, 48.4 and 44%, respectively), while FLMaV-1 and Fig mild mottle-associated virus (FMMaV) were much scarcer (5.6 and 0.4%, respectively), and FLMaV-2, Fig cryptic virus (FCV), and Fig latent virus (FLV) were not detected.  The presence of disease-causing viruses in fig trees presents a significant challenge for fig producers in China.  This study may help to promote actions aimed at controlling fig viruses, especially FMV.

Genes controlling fruit appearance determine fruit shape and size.  In ethylmethane sulfonate (EMS)-mutagenized lines of Fragaria vesca accession Yellow Wonder (YW), two fruit shapes are observed: wild-type long fruit and mutated shortened fruit (sf).  In this study, we first characterized sf based on morphology, histology, cytology and physiology.  The sf was identified as a gibberellin (GA)-deficient mutant, and four complementary DNA (cDNA) libraries separately constructed from flower buds and small green fruits of YW and sf were sequenced to comparatively analyze transcriptome differences.  A total of 29 differentially expressed GA pathway genes were identified by comparisons between YW1 and sf1, and 28 differentially expressed GA pathway genes were identified between YW2 and sf 2.  In addition, the expression patterns of 45 differentially expressed genes were validated by quantificational real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), and the results were highly concordant with the RNA-Seq results.  This transcriptome analysis provides valuable information for understanding the molecular mechanisms of fruit development of strawberry.

The highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), Duke, was used to construct a de novo transcriptome sequence library and to perform data statistical analysis.  Mega 4, CLC Sequence Viewer 6 software, and quantitative PCR were employed for bioinformatics and expression analyses of the basic helix-loop-helix (BHLH) transcription factors of the sequencing library.  The results showed that 28.38 gigabytes of valid data were obtained from transcriptome sequencing and were assembled into 108 033 unigenes.  Functional annotation showed that 32 244 unigenes were annotated into Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COG) and Gene Ontology (GO) databases, whereas the rest of the 75 789 unigenes had no matching information.  By using COG and GO classification tools, sequences with annotation information were divided into 25 and 52 categories, respectively, which involved transport and metabolism, transcriptional regulation, and signal transduction.  Analysis of the transcriptome library identified a total of 59 BHLH genes.  Sequence analysis revealed that 55 genes of that contained a complete BHLH domain.  Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis showed that BHLH genes of blueberry (Duke) could be divided into 13 sub-groups.  PCR results showed that 45 genes were expressed at various developmental stages of buds, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits, suggesting that the function of BHLH was associated with the development of different tissues and organs of blueberry, Duke.  The present study would provided a foundation for further investigations on the classification and functions of the blueberry BHLH family.

Although the phosphate 1 (PHO1) gene family has been implicated in inorganic phosphate transport and homeostasis, the underlying mechanism of this gene in the strawberry has not yet been revealed.  In the present study, we analyzed the expression of the PHO1;H9 gene in the strawberry (Fragaria×ananassa), revealing the involvement of this gene in the regulation of phosphorus (P) content.  The coding sequence (CDS) of the PHO1;H9 gene, was isolated from the cultivated strawberry ‘Sachinoka’ and named as FaPHO1;H9.  The full-length CDS of this gene was 2 292 bp, encoding 763 amino acids, and the protein contained both SYG1/Pho81/XPR1 (SPX) and ERD1/ XPR1/SYG1 (EXS) domains, which were involved in phosphate (Pi) signaling.  Real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) data suggested that the level of FaPHO1;H9 expression was consistent with the P content in different organs, except for the petiole.  Particularly, its expression level was also correlated with P content in fruits of different developmental stages.  The expression of FaPHO1;H9 was also consistent with P content in leaves under different concentrations of P fertilizer application.  Furthermore, transgenic Arabidopsis lines were generated, and the P content in Arabidopsis plants over-expressing FaPHO1;H9 was significantly higher than that in wild-type plants.  Therefore, we proposed that FaPHO1;H9 functions in P transport.

China is the largest potato producing country worldwide, with this crop representing the fourth largest staple food crop in China. However, the steady presence of Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) over the past five decades has a significant economic impact on potato production. To determine why PSTVd control measures have been ineffective in China, more than 1 000 seed potatoes collected between 2009 and 2014 were subjected to PSTVd detection at the Supervision and Testing Center for Virus-free Seed Potatoes Quality, Ministry of Agriculture, China. A high PSTVd infection rate (6.5%) was detected among these commercial seed potatoes. Some breeding lines of potato collected from 2012 to 2015 were also tested for PSTVd infection, revealing a high rate of PSTVd contamination in these potato propagation materials. Furthermore, comparison of the full-length sequences of 71 different Chinese PSTVd isolates revealed a total of 74 predominant PSTVd variants, which represented 42 different sequence variants of PSTVd. Comparative sequence analysis revealed 30 novel PSTVd sequence variants specific to China. Comprehensive phylogenetic analysis uncovered a close relationship between the Chinese PSTVd sequence variants and those isolated from Russia. It is worth noting that three intermediate strains and six mild strains were identified among these variants. These results have important implications for explaining the ineffective control of PSTVd in China and thus could serve as a basic reference for designing more effective measures to eliminate PSTVd from China in the future.

  Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), the first enzyme of phenylpropanoid pathway, is always encoded by multigene families in plants. In this study, using genome-wide searches, 13 PAL genes in cucumber (CsPAL1–13) and 13 PALs in melon (CmPAL1–13) were identified. In the corresponding genomes, ten of these PAL genes were located in tandem in two clusters, while the others were widely dispersed in different chromosomes as a single copy. The protein sequences of CsPALs and CmPALs shared an overall high identity to each other. In our previous report, 12 PAL genes were identified in watermelon (ClPAL1–12). Thereby, a total of 38 cucurbit PAL members were included. Here, a comprehensive comparison of PAL gene families was performed among three cucurbit plants. The phylogenetic and syntenic analyses placed the cucurbit PALs as 11 CsPAL-CmPAL-ClPAL triples, of which ten triples were clustered into the dicot group, and the remaining one, CsPAL1-CmPAL8-ClPAL2, was grouped with gymnosperm PALs and might serve as an ancestor of cucurbit PALs. By comparing the syntenic relationships and gene structure of these PAL genes, the expansion of cucurbit PAL families might arise from a series of segmental and tandem duplications and intron insertion events. Furthermore, the expression profiling in different tissues suggested that different cucurbit PALs displayed divergent but overlapping expression profiles, and the CsPAL-CmPAL-ClPAL orthologs showed correlative expression patterns among three cucurbit plants. Taken together, this study provided an extensive description on the evolution and expression of cucurbit PAL gene families and might facilitate the further studies for elucidating the functions of PALs in cucurbit plants.

Organic manure application is an important measure for high yield and good quality vegetable production, whereas organic manure is also a main source of residual antibiotic in soils. A 3-yr experiment was conducted on a fluvo-aguic soil in Tianjin of northern China. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of different fertilization patterns on yield of six-season vegetables with celery and tomato rotation, and dynamic change of tetracyclines residues in the soil during the sixth growing season (tomato season). The field experiment comprised six treatments depending on the proportion of nitrogen of each type of fertilizer: 4/4 CN (CN, nitrogen in chemical fertilizer), 3/4 CN+1/4 MN (MN, nitrogen in pig manure), 2/4 CN+2/4 MN, 1/4 CN+3/4 MN, 2/4 CN+1/4 MN+1/4 SN (SN, nitrogen in corn straw), and CF (conventional fertilization, the amounts of nitrogen application were 943 and 912 kg N ha–1 for celery and tomato season, respectively). In addition to CF treatment, the amount of nitrogen application in other treatments was greatly reduced and equal (450 and 450 kg N ha–1 for celery and tomato season, respectively). Results showed that the combined application of 3/4 CN+1/4 MN achieved the highest yield and economic benefit in the first four seasons, but addition of straw (2/4 CN+1/4 MN+1/4 SN treatment) performed better in the subsequent two seasons, and the average yields of 2/4 CN+1/4 MN+1/4 SN treatment were respectively higher by 9.9 and 12.8% than those of 4/4 CN treatment, and by 5.6 and 10.5% than those of CF treatment. The residual chlortetracycline (CTC) in manure-amended soil for three consecutive years increased along with the increase of applied amount of pig manure. Under the same amount of pig manure application, content of CTC in straw-amended soil was obviously decreased compared with no straw-amended soil (3/4 CN+1/4 MN treatment), and averagely decreased by 41.9% for four sampling periods in the sixth season. Addition of crop straw facilitated the degradation of CTC in manure-amended soil. As a whole, the conventional fertilization was not the desirable pattern based on yield, economic benefit and environment, the optimal fertilization pattern with the highest yield and profit and the least soil chlortetracycline residue was the treatment of 2/4 CN+1/4 MN+1/4 SN under this experimental condition.

Overestimation of nitrogen (N) uptake requirement is one of the driving forces of the overuse of N fertilization and the low efficiency of N use in China. In this study, we collected data from 1 844 site-years of rice (Oryza sativa L.) under various rotation cropping systems across the Yangtze River Valley. Selected treatments included without (N0 treatment) and with N application (N treatment) which were recommended by local technicians, with a wide grain range of 1.5–11.9 t ha–1. Across the 1 844 site-years, over 96% of the sites showed yield increase (relative yield>105%) with N fertilization, and the increase rates decreased from 78.9 to 16.2% within the lowest range <4.0 to the highest >6.5 t ha–1. To produce one ton of grain, the rice absorbed approximately 17.8 kg N in the N0 treatment and 20.4 kg N in the N treatment. The value of partial factor productivity by N (PFPN) reached a range of 35.2–51.4 kg grain kg–1 with N application under the current recommended N rate. Averaged recovery rate of N (REN) was above 36.0% in yields below 6.0 t ha–1 and lower than 31.7% in those above 6.0 t ha–1. Soil properties only affected yield increments within low rice yield levels (<5.5 t ha–1). There is a poor relationship between N application rates and indigenous nitrogen supply (INS). From these observations and considering the local INS, we concluded there was a great potential for improvement in regional grain yield and N efficiency.

One concern about the use of transgenic plants is their potential risk to natural enemies. In this study, using the eggs of the rice brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens, as a food source, we investigated the effects of Cry1Ab rice on the biological characteristics and functional response of an important predator Cyrtorhinus lividipennis. The results showed that the survival ability (adult emergence rate and egg hatching rate), development (egg duration, nymphal developmental duration), adult fresh weight, adult longevity and fecundity of C. lividipennis on Bt rice plants were not significantly different compared to those on non-Bt rice plants. Furthermore, two important parameters of functional response (instantaneous search rate and handling time) were not significantly affected by Bt rice. In conclusion, the tested Cry1Ab rice does not adversely impact the biological character and functional response of C. lividipennis.