Single-time fertilization (STF) with controlled release blended fertilizer (CRBF) improves grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in rice production.  However, the impact of soil nitrogen (N) distribution and root growth on rice yield and NUE under STF with CRBF remains unclear.  Here, a two-year field experiment investigated the effects of two fertilizer types (normal urea (U) and CRBF) and two single-time fertilization methods (broadcast and side-deep fertilization) on the soil N distribution, plant N uptake, root characteristics, grain yield, and NUE.  The results showed that CRBF under STF increased the averages of plant dry matter accumulation, N uptake, grain yield, nitrogen recovery efficiency (NRE), and nitrogen agronomic efficiency (NAE) by 8.29, 21.85, 10.57, 79.28, and 74.8% compared to the other treatments, respectively.  Side-deep fertilization with CRBF further increased NUE by 12.78% compared to broadcast.  Moreover, CRBF under STF increased the leaf SPAD value and glutamine synthetase (GS)/glutamine oxoglutarate aminotransferase (GOGAT) activity by 5.93 and 25.58%, respectively.  CRBF under STF increased the soil inorganic N concentration and showed a “rising early and stabilizing later” pattern.  In addition, CRBF under STF improved rice root growth and increased the averages of root biomass, total root number, root average diameter, total root length, total root surface area, and total root volume by 28.30, 28.56, 18.64, 13.38, 35.26, and 37.06%, respectively, at the tillering and heading stages.  Partial least squares path modeling indicated that CRBF under STF increased the soil inorganic N concentration which improved root morphology, thereby increasing N uptake and improving the rice yield and NUE.  Taken together, our findings show that CRBF with single-time fertilization is the preferred N fertilizer strategy for achieving high yield and efficiency in rice, and that side-deep fertilization is the optimal fertilization method.

Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is a highly lethal and contagious viral pathogen, and it is also a potent oncolytic virus that selectively replicates in tumor cells.  NDV demonstrates high replication efficiency in avian and tumor cells, causing various types of cell death, including ferroptosis, necrosis, apoptosis and autophagic cell death, with apoptosis being the most thoroughly studied.  Organelles play critical and distinctive roles in the regulation and execution of apoptosis.  However, the involvement of peroxisomes, an important organelle that regulates redox balance and lipid biosynthesis, in virus-induced apoptosis remains unclear.  Our findings reveal that NDV infection promotes the downregulation of several peroxisome biogenesis factors (PEXs) at the mRNA level.  Peroxisomal biogenesis factor 5 (PEX5), a critical peroxisomal shuttle protein, was identified to be significantly downregulated at both the mRNA and protein levels.  Further, gain- and loss-of-function experiments demonstrated the negative regulation of NDV-induced apoptosis by PEX5.  In addition, PEX5 inhibits NDV-induced apoptosis by regulating the anti-apoptotic protein B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) expression.  These findings reveal a novel mechanism by which NDV-induced apoptosis is modulated through the downregulation of PEXs, particularly PEX5, shedding light on the potential role of peroxisome in apoptosis regulation in response to virus infection.

Recent studies have shown that lipid metabolism is a key factor affecting anther development and male fertility.  However, how plants regulating the metabolic balance of multiple lipids to ensure proper anther development and male fertility remains unclear.  Analyzing lipid molecules related to anther fertility and genes responsible for their biosynthesis is crucial for understanding the physiological significance of lipid metabolism in crop fertility.  In this study, we compared the transcriptome and the composition and content of lipids in anthers of two upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) materials, Shida 98 (WT) and its nearly-isogenic male sterile line Shida 98A (MS).  Transcriptomics analysis identified many differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the two materials, with the genes of the alpha-linolenic acid metabolism pathway being the most significantly associated with the male sterility phenotype.  Investigations on lipids revealed that the MS anthers over-accumulated free fatty acids (FFAs), phosphatidic acid (PA), mono- and di-galactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG and DGDG), and had a decreased content of triacylglycerol (TAG), which was closely related to the abnormal metabolism of alpha-linolenic acid (C18:3); therefore, the major lipids containing C18:3-acyl chains, such as PA, MGDG, DGDG, and TAG, are proposed to play a major role in cotton anther development.  We also showed that an excessive level of MGDG and DGDG caused jasmonic acid (JA) overaccumulation in MS anthers, which in turn inhibited the expression of GhFAD3 and consequently reduced the C18:3 content, presumably via a feedback regulation mechanism, ultimately affecting plant fertility.  Together, our results revealed the importance of a balanced lipid metabolism in regulating the development of cotton anther and pollen and consequently male fertility.

The eutrophication of rivers and lakes is becoming increasingly common, primarily because of pollution from agricultural non-point sources.  We investigated the effects of optimized water and fertilizer treatments on agricultural non-point source pollution in the Nansi Lake basin.  The water heat carbon nitrogen simulator model (WHCNS model) was used to analyze water and nitrogen transport in wheat fields in Nansi Lake basin.  Four water and fertilizer treatments were set up: conventional fertilization and irrigation (CK), reduced controlled-release fertilizer and conventional irrigation (F2W1), an equal amount of controlled-release fertilizer and reduced irrigation (F1W2), and reduced controlled-release fertilizer and reduced irrigation (F2W2).  The results indicated that the replacement of conventional fertilizers with controlled-release fertilizers, combined with reduced irrigation, led to reduced nitrogen loss.  Compared with those of the CK, the cumulative nitrogen leaching and ammonia volatilization of F2W1 were reduced by 8.90 and 41.67%, respectively; under F1W2, the same parameters were reduced by 12.50 and 15.99%, respectively.  Compared with the other treatments, F2W2 significantly reduced nitrogen loss while producing a stable yield.  Compared with those of the CK, ammonia volatilization and nitrogen loss due to leaching were reduced by 29.17 and 27.13%, respectively, water and nitrogen use efficiencies increased by 11.38 and 17.80%, respectively.  F2W2 showed the best performance among the treatments, considering water and fertilizer management.  Our findings highlight the effectiveness of optimizing water and fertilizer application in improving the water and nitrogen use efficiency of wheat, which is of great significance for mitigating nitrogen loss from farmland in the Nansi Lake basin.

Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) are two major economic crops in China.  Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV; genus Tobamovirus) is the most prevalent virus infecting both crops.  Currently, some widely cultivated tobacco and tomato cultivars are susceptible to TMV and there is no effective strategy to control this virus.  Cross-protection can be a safe and environmentally friendly strategy to prevent viral diseases.  However, stable attenuated TMV mutants are scarce.  In this study, we found that the substitutions in the replicase p126, arginine at position 196 (R¹⁹⁶) with aspartic acid (D), glutamic acid at position 614 (E⁶¹⁴) with glycine (G), serine at position 643 (S⁶⁴³) with phenylalanine (F), or D at position 730 (D⁷³⁰) with S, significantly reduced the virulence and replication of TMV.  However, only the mutation of S⁶⁴³ to F reduced the RNA silencing suppression activity of TMV p126.  A double-mutant TMV-E614G-S643F induced no visible symptom and was genetically stable through six successive passages in tobacco plants.  Furthermore, our results showed that TMV-E614G-S643F double-mutant could provide effective protection against the wild-type TMV infection in tobacco and tomato plants.  This study reports a promising mild mutant for cross-protection to control TMV in tobacco and tomato plants.