The physiological and metabolic differences in maize under different nitrogen (N) levels are the basis of reasonable N management, which is vital in improving fertilizer utilization and reducing environmental pollution.  In this paper, on the premise of defining the N fertilizer efficiency and yield under different long-term N fertilization treatments, the corresponding differential metabolites and their metabolic pathways were analyzed by untargeted metabolomics in maize.  N stress, including deficiency and excess, affects the balance of carbon (C) metabolism and N metabolism by regulating C metabolites (sugar alcohols and tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediates) and N metabolites (various amino acids and their derivatives).  L-alanine, L-phenylalanine, L-histidine, and L-glutamine decreased under N deficiency, and L-valine, proline, and L-histidine increased under N excess.  In addition to sugar alcohols and the above amino acids in C and N metabolism, differential secondary metabolites, flavonoids (e.g., kaempferol, luteolin, rutin, and diosmetin), and hormones (e.g., indoleacetic acid, trans-zeatin, and jasmonic acid) were initially considered as indicators for N stress diagnosis under this experimental conditions.  This study also indicated that the leaf metabolic levels of N2 (120 kg ha^–1 N) and N3 (180 kg ha^–1 N) were similar, consistent with the differences in their physiological indexes and yields over 12 years.  This study verified the feasibility of reducing N fertilization from 180 kg ha^–1 (locally recommended) to 120 kg ha^–1 at the metabolic level, which provided a mechanistic basis for reducing N fertilization without reducing yield, further improving the N utilization rate and protecting the ecological environment.

Understanding the factors behind apple farmers’ willingness to pass on the management of their farms to their descendants is crucial to the continuity of apple production. Due to the high specificity of the human capital, physical assets, land assets, and geographical location in apple production, this study used a binary logistic regression and a mediating effect model to explore the impact of asset specificity on farmers’ intergenerational succession willingness of apple management (FISWAM) and to examine the mediating effects of loss aversion in the impact of asset specificity on the FISWAM. The results showed that about 18.68% of the respondents expressed willingness to transfer their apple business between generations, and the FISWAM was generally weak. In addition to the negative impact of geographical location specificity (GLS), human capital specificity (HCS), physical assets specificity (PAS), and land assets specificity (LAS) can enhance the FISWAM. Loss aversion plays a partial mediating role in the impact of PAS, LAS, and GLS on the FISWAM

Plant-associated microbes represent a key determinant of plant fitness through acquiring nutrients, promoting growth, and resisting to abiotic and biotic stresses.  However, an extensive characterization of the bacterial and fungal microbiomes present in different plant compartments of soybean in field conditions has remained elusive.  In this study, we investigated the effects of four niches (roots, stems, leaves, and pods), four genotypes (Andou 203, Hedou 12, Sanning 16, and Zhonghuang 13), and three field locations (Jining, Suzhou, and Xuzhou) on the diversity and composition of bacterial and fungal communities in soybean using 16S and internal transcribed spacer rRNA amplicon sequencing, respectively.  The soybean microbiome significantly differed across organs.  Host genotypes explained more variation in stem bacterial community composition and leaf fungal community composition.  Field location significantly affected the composition of bacterial communities in all compartments and the effects were stronger in the root and stem than in the leaf and pod, whereas field location explained more variation in stem and leaf fungal community composition than in the root and pod.  The relative abundances of potential soybean fungal pathogens also differed among host organs and genotypes, reflecting the niches of these microbes in the host and probably their compatibility to the host genotypes.  Systematic profiling of the microbiome composition and diversity will aid the development of plant protection technologies to benefit soybean health.  

In higher plants, the shoot apical meristem produces lateral organs in a regular spacing (phyllotaxy) and timing (plastochron).  The molecular analysis of mutants associated with phyllotaxy and plastochron would increase our understanding of the mechanism of shoot architecture formation.  In this study, we identified mutant mnd8^ynp5 that shows an increased rate of leaf emergence and a larger number of nodes in combination with a dwarfed growth habit from an EMS-treated population of the elite barley cultivar Yangnongpi 5.  Using a map-based cloning strategy, the mnd8 gene was narrowed down to a 6.7-kb genomic interval on the long arm of chromosome 5H.  Sequence analysis revealed that a C to T single-nucleotide mutation occurred at the first exon (position 953) of HORVU5Hr1G118820, leading to an alanine (Ala) to valine (Val) substitution at the 318th amino acid site.  Next, HORVU5Hr1G118820 was defined as the candidate gene of MND8 encoding 514 amino acids and containing two multidrug and toxic compound extrusion (MATE) domains.  It is highly homologous to maize Bige1 and has a conserved function in the regulation of plant development by controlling the leaf initiation rate.  Examination of modern barely varieties showed that Hap-1 was the dominant haplotype and was selected in barley breeding around the world.  Collectively, our results indicated that mnd8^ynp5 is a novel allele of the HORVU5Hr1G118820 gene that is possibly responsible for the shortened plastochron and many noded dwarf phenotype in barley.

Large-scale crop mapping using remote sensing data is of great significance for agricultural production, food security and the sustainable development of human societies. Winter rapeseed is an important oil crop in China that is mainly distributed in the Yangtze River Valley. Traditional winter rapeseed mapping practices are insufficient since they only use the spectral characteristics during the critical phenological period of winter rapeseed, which are usually limited to a small region and cannot meet the needs of large-scale applications. In this study, a novel phenology-based winter rapeseed index (PWRI) was proposed to map winter rapeseed in the Yangtze River Valley. PWRI expands the date window for distinguishing winter rapeseed and winter wheat, and it has good separability throughout the flowering period of winter rapeseed. PWRI also improves the separability of winter rapeseed and winter wheat, which traditionally have been two easily confused winter crops. A PWRI-based method was applied to the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River Valley to map winter rapeseed on the Google Earth Engine platform. Time series composited Sentinel-2 data were used to map winter rapeseed with 10 m resolution. The mapping achieved a good result with overall accuracy and kappa coefficients exceeding 92% and 0.85, respectively. The PWRI-based method provides a new solution for high spatial resolution winter rapeseed mapping at a large scale.

The co-utilization of green manure (GM) and rice straw (RS) in paddy fields has been widely applied as an effective practice in southern China. However, its effects on soil aggregate and soil organic carbon (SOC) stability remain unclear. In the present study, the effect of GM, RS, and co-utilization of GM and RS on particle size distribution of soil aggregates and SOC density fractions were measured in a field experiment. The experiment included six treatments, i.e., winter fallow (WF) without RS return (Ctrl), WF with 50% RS return (1/2RS), WF with 100% RS return (RS), GM without RS return (GM), GM with 50% RS return (GM1/2RS) and GM with 100% RS return (GMRS). The results showed that the proportion of small macro-aggregates (0.25–2 mm) and the mean weight diameter (MWD) of aggregates in the GMRS treatment was greater (by 18.9 and 3.41%, respectively) than in the RS treatment, while the proportion of silt+clay particles (<0.053 mm) was lower (by 14.4%). The concentration of SOC in microaggregates (0.053–0.25 mm) and silt+clay particles was higher in the GMRS treatment than in GM and RS treatments individually. The concentration and proportion of free light organic carbon (fLOC) in aggregates of various particle sizes and bulk soil was greater in the GMRS treatment than the RS treatment, whereas the concentration and proportion of mineral-associated organic carbon in small macroaggregates, microaggregates, and bulk was lower in the GMRS treatment than in the RS treatment. The proportion of intra-aggregate particulate organic carbon (iPOC) was greater in the GMRS treatment than in GM treatment. The GMRS treatment had strong positive effects on iPOC in small macroaggregates, suggesting that SOC was transferred from fLOC to iPOC. In conclusion, co-utilizing green manure and rice straw cultivated the SOC pool by increasing the concentration of fLOC and improved soil carbon stability by promoting the sequestration of organic carbon in iPOC as a form of physical protection.

The study aimed to evaluate the application of silage fermentation in storing vine tea residue.  Dynamic of fermentation-related product, chemical component and bacterial community of silage with or without Lactobacillus plantarum F1 inoculant were analyzed.  The results showed that F1 treatment had a significant (P<0.05) impact on the lactic acid and ammoniacal nitrogen concentrations and pH value.  Total phenols were well preserved in both treatments.  After 30 days of ensiling, L. plantarum occupied the majority of Lactobacillus genus (more than 95%) in all silage samples.  Spearman revealed a positive (P<0.01) correlation between lactic acid content and Lactobacillus.  Overall, ensiling vine tea residue with L. plantarum can effectively preserve the nutritional attributes and total phenols, which offers a new insight into utilizing vine tea residue.

This study attempted to monitor the development of microbial communities and reveal the correlation between the soil microbial community and soil nutrient factors over different years following the replanting of peach trees.  The replanted soil (RS) and nonreplanted soil (NRS) were collected from peach orchards with different growth years (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 years) in the same region.  The soil bacterial and fungal community diversities were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing technology.  Redundancy analysis (RDA) was used to show the correlation between the soil microbial community and environmental variables.  The alpha diversities of the bacterial and fungal communities indicated that RS contained a higher abundance of bacterial and fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) than NRS.  NMDS and ANOSIM analyses showed that the soil bacterial and fungal communities were significantly (P<0.01) affected by planting years, and that the main changes occurred in the first and ninth planting years.  The presence of the bacterial orders Sphingobacteriales, Burkholderiales and Actinomycetales changed significantly after replanting.  Some bacteria associated with bioremediation, such as Burkholderiales and Intrasporangiaceae, and some harmful pathogens, such as Penicillium and Ophiostomatales, significantly increased after replanting (LDA score>3.0).  In addition, the soil nutrient contents were lower in RS than in NRS in the early stage (1–5 years), and the RDA showed that bacterial and fungal phyla are closely associated with environmental variables, including the potential of hydrogen (pH), ammonium nitrogen (AN), available phosphorus (AP) and available potassium (AK).  These results lead to a deeper understanding of the microbial responses to replanting in peach orchards. 

The dense and erect panicle (EP) genotype conferred by DEP1 has been widely used in the breeding of high-yield Chinese japonica rice varieties.  However, the breeding value of the EP genotype has rarely been determined at the plant population level.  Therefore, the effects of the interaction of EP genotype and the environment at different locations and times on rice yield and its various components were investigated in this study.  Two sets of near-isogenic lines (NILs) of EP and non-EP (NEP) genotypes with Liaojing 5 (LG5) and Akitakomachi (AKI) backgrounds were grown in the field in 2016 and 2017 in Shenyang, China, and Kyoto, Japan.  In 2018, these sets were grown only in Kyoto, Japan.  The average yields of the EP and NEP genotypes were 6.67 and 6.13 t ha⁻¹ for the AKI background, and 6.66 and 6.58 t ha⁻¹ for the LG5 background, respectively.  The EP genotype positively affected panicle number (PN) and grain number per square meter (GNPM), mostly resulting in a positive effect on harvest index (HI).  In contrast, the EP genotype exerted a negative effect on thousand-grain weight (KGW).  The ratio of the performance of the EP genotype relative to the NEP genotype in terms of yield and total biomass correlated positively with mean daily solar radiation during a 40-day period around heading.  These results indicate that the effectiveness of the EP genotype depends on the availability of solar radiation, and the effect of this genotype is consistently positive for sink formation, conditional in terms of source capacity, and positive in a high-radiation environment.

Phosphorus (P) is a nonrenewable resource and a critical element for plant growth that plays an important role in improving crop yield.  Excessive P fertilizer application is widespread in agricultural production, which not only wastes phosphate resources but also causes P accumulation and groundwater pollution.  Here, we hypothesized that the apparent P balance of a crop system could be used as an indicator for identifying the critical P input in order to obtain a high yield with high phosphorus use efficiency (PUE).  A 12-year field experiment with P fertilization rates of 0, 45, 90, 135, 180, and 225 kg P₂O₅ ha^–1 was conducted to determine the crop yield, PUE, and soil Olsen-P value response to P balance, and to optimize the P input.  Annual yield stagnation occurred when the P fertilizer application exceeded a certain level, and high yield and PUE levels were achieved with annual P fertilizer application rates of 90–135 kg P₂O₅ ha^–1.  A critical P balance range of 2.15–4.45 kg P ha^–1 was recommended to achieve optimum yield with minimal environmental risk.  The critical P input range estimated from the P balance was 95.7–101 kg P₂O₅ ha^–1, which improved relative yield (>90%) and PUE (90.0–94.9%).  In addition, the P input–output balance helps in assessing future changes in Olsen-P values, which increased by 4.07 mg kg^–1 of P for every 100 kg of P surplus.  Overall, the P balance can be used as a critical indicator for P management in agriculture, providing a robust reference for limiting P excess and developing a more productive, efficient and environmentally friendly P fertilizer management strategy.

The traditional soil-based rice seedling production methods for mechanical transplanting are resource-intensive, time consuming and laborious. The improvement and optimization of nutrient management in soil-less nursery raising methods like tandem long-mat seedlings (TLMS) are necessary for the resource-efficient cultivation of rice. In the present study, a controlled-release fertilizer (CRF)-polymer-coated compound fertilizer with 3 months release period (PCCF-3M) was applied as seedling fertilizer (SF), and five different dosages of SF (SF-0, SF-10, SF-20, SF-30, and SF-40) were compared with an organic substrate as the control (CK). Among all SF treatments, the best results were obtained with the application of 20 g/tray of SF (SF-20), as the seedling quality and machine transplanting quality were comparable to those of CK. In contrast, the lower dosages (SF-0 and SF-10) resulted in low nitrogen content and reduced shoot growth, while the higher dosages (SF-30 and SF-40) resulted in toxicity (increased malondialdehyde accumulation) and inhibited the root growth. Similarly, SF-20 increased panicle number (5.6–7.0%) and yield (4.3–5.3%) compared with CK, which might be related to the remaining SF entangled in the roots supporting the tiller growth of rice seedlings in the field. Moreover, SF-20 reduced the seedling block weight (53.1%) and cost of seedling production (23.5%) but increased the gross margin, indicating that it was easy to handle and economical. Taken together, our results indicate that SF-20 is a cost-effective way to promote the growth and transplanting efficiency of rice seedlings. To our knowledge, this study is the first to determine the optimum dosage of CRF for the soil-less production of rice seedlings.

Early flowering promotes early maturity, production, and the capacity to counteract biotic and abiotic stresses, making it an important agronomic trait in zucchini.  The present study demonstrated that the zucchini inbred line ‘19’ consistently flowered early, taking significantly fewer days to bloom the first female flower (DFF) than the inbred line ‘113’.  Genetic analysis revealed that DFF, an inheritable quantitative trait, is controlled by multiple genes.  Based on the strategy of quantitative trait locus (QTL) sequencing (QTL-seq) combined with linkage analysis, three QTLs for DFF were identified on chromosomes 4, 11, and 20.  This study used additional F₂ populations grown under different environmental conditions for QTL mapping analysis of DFF with insertion/deletion (InDel) markers to validate these results.  Using the composite interval mapping (CIM) method of R/qtl software, we only identified one major locus under all environmental conditions, located in a 117-kb candidate region on chromosome 20.  Based on gene annotation, gene sequence alignment, and qRT-PCR analysis, we found that the Cp4.1LG20g08050 gene encoding a RING finger protein may be a candidate gene for the opposite regulation of early flowering in zucchini.  In summary, these results lay a foundation for a better understanding of early flowering and improving early flowering-based breeding strategies in zucchini.

Molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS) can significantly accelerate and improve the efficiency of the breeding process in seedless grape cultivars.  In this study, we developed the KASP_VviAGL11 and VviAGL11_410 markers based on a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) site (Chr18: 26889437 (A/C)) of the VviAGL11 gene, and compared them with previously reported SSR markers p3_VvAGL11 and 5U_VviAGL11 by testing 101 cultivars and 81 F₁ hybrid progenies.  The results showed that both of the proposed markers obtained 100% accuracy rates in detecting allele A, which was closely associated with the seedless trait in grapes, while p3_VvAGL11 and 5U_VviAGL11 had lower accuracy rates due to their tendency to produce false positives.  After careful evaluation of the technical advantages and disadvantages associated with these markers, we concluded that KASP_VviAGL11 was superior in terms of simplicity, cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and accuracy.  Thus, we optimized the process of molecular MAS for seedless grapes, focusing on the KASP_VviAGL11 marker as a central component, to provide key technical support for the development of new seedless grape cultivars.

Efficient and stable expression of foreign genes in cells and transgenic animals is important for gain-of-function studies and the establishment of bioreactors.  Safe harbor loci in the animal genome enable consistent overexpression of foreign genes, without side effects.  However, relatively few safe harbor loci are available in pigs, a fact which has impeded the development of multi-transgenic pig research.  We report a strategy for efficient transgene knock-in in the endogenous collagen type I alpha 1 chain (COL1A1) gene using the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) system.  After the knock-in of a 2A peptide-green fluorescence protein (2A-GFP) transgene in the last codon of COL1A1 in multiple porcine cells, including porcine kidney epithelial (PK15), porcine embryonic fibroblast (PEF) and porcine intestinal epithelial (IPI-2I) cells, quantitative PCR (qPCR), Western blotting, RNA-seq and CCK8 assay were performed to assess the safety of COL1A1 locus.  The qPCR results showed that the GFP knock-in had no effect (P=0.29, P=0.66 and P=0.20 for PK15, PEF and IPI-2I cells, respectively) on the mRNA expression of COL1A1 gene.  Similarly, no significant differences (P=0.64, P=0.48 and P=0.80 for PK15, PEF and IPI-2I cells, respectively) were found between the GFP knock-in and wild type cells by Western blotting.  RNA-seq results revealed that the transcriptome of GFP knock-in PEF cells had a significant positive correlation (P<2.2e–16) with that of the wild type cells, indicating that the GFP knock-in did not alter the global expression of endogenous genes.  Furthermore, the CCK8 assay showed that the GFP knock-in events had no adverse effects (P_24h=0.31, P_48h=0.96, P_72h=0.24, P_96h=0.17, and P_120h=0.38) on cell proliferation of PK15 cells.  These results indicate that the COL1A1 locus can be used as a safe harbor for foreign genes knock-in into the pig genome and can be broadly applied to farm animal breeding and biomedical model establishment

The border effect (BE) is widely observed in crop field experiments, and it has been extensively studied in many crops.  However, only limited attention has been paid to the BE of ratoon rice.  We conducted field experiments on ratoon rice in Qichun County, Hubei Province, Central China in 2018 and 2019 to compare the BE in the main and ratoon crops, and to quantify the contribution of BE in the main crop to that in the ratoon crop.  The BE of two hybrid varieties was measured for the outermost, second outermost, and third outermost rows in each plot of both crops.  To determine the contribution of BE between the two crops, portions of hills in the outermost and second outermost rows were uprooted during the harvest of the main crop so that the second and third outermost rows then became the outermost rows in the ratoon crop.  Overall, the BE on grain yield was greater in the main crop than in the ratoon crop.  In the main crop, the BE on grain yield was 98.3% in the outermost row, which was explained by the BE on panicles m^–2, spikelets/panicle, spikelets m^–2, and total dry weight.  In the ratoon crop, the BE on grain yield was reduced to 60.9 and 27.6% with and without the contribution of the BE in the main crop, respectively.  Consequently, 55.1% of the BE on grain yield in the ratoon crop was contributed from the main crop.  High stubble dry weight and non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) accumulation at the harvest of the main crop were responsible for the contribution of BE in the main crop to that in the ratoon crop.  Our results suggest that increases in stubble dry weight and NSC accumulation at the harvest of the main crop could be important strategies for developing high-yielding cropping practices in the rice ratooning system.

This study investigated cold plasmas for multiple biological applications.  Our previous work has found dielectric barrier discharge plasma improves chicken sperm quality.  The number of Sertoli cells (SCs) decides spermatogenesis.  However, whether cold plasma can regulate SC proliferation remains unclear.  This study explored the effects of cold plasma on immature chicken SC proliferation and the regulation mechanism.  Results showed that cold plasma exposure at 2.4 W for 30 s twice with an interval of 6 h produced (P<0.05) the maximum SC viability, cell growth, and cell cycle progression.  SC proliferation-promoting effect of cold plasma treatment was regulated by increasing (P<0.05) the adenosine triphosphate production and the respiratory enzyme activity in the mitochondria.  This process was potentially mediated by the adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK)–mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway, which was regulated by the microRNA (miRNA) targeting regulation directly and by the intracellular reactive oxygen species homeostasis indirectly.  The cold plasma treatment increased (P<0.01) the miR-7450-5p expression and led to a decreased (P<0.01) AMPKα1 level.  On the other hand, miR-100-5p expression was reduced (P<0.05) and led to an increased (P<0.05) mTOR level in SCs.  A single-stranded synthetic miR-7450-5p antagomir and a double-stranded synthetic miR-100-5p agomir reduced (P<0.05) the SC proliferation.  However, this could be ameliorated (P<0.05) by the cold plasma treatment.  Our findings suggest that appropriate cold plasma treatment provides a safe strategy to improve SC proliferation, which is beneficial to elevating male chicken reproductive capacity.

Perilipin1 (PLIN1) is a major phosphorylated protein that specifically coats the surface of neutral lipid droplets (LDs) in adipocytes and plays a crucial role in regulating the accumulation and hydrolysis of triacylglycerol (TG).  Mammalian studies have shown that Plin1 gene transcription is mainly regulated by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARγ), the master regulator of adipogenesis.  However, the regulatory mechanism of the chicken Plin1 (cPlin1) gene is poorly understood.  The present study aimed to investigate whether Plin1 is regulated by PPARγ in chickens and identify its exact molecular mechanism.  Reporter gene and expression assays showed that PPARγ2, but not PPARγ1, activated (P<0.01) the cPlin1 gene promoter.  An electrophoretic mobility shift assay and mutational analysis revealed that PPARγ2 bound to a special site in the cPlin1 gene promoter to enhance its expression.  In summary, our results show that PPARγ promotes the expression of the cPlin1 gene and that PPARγ2 is the main regulatory isoform.

Wheat flour products are the main dietary component of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP) population in China.  However, the high altitude restricts the local wheat quality and quantity, and the applied nitrogen rate is higher than the optimal rate for wheat planting.  In this study, we considered whether reducing the amount of nitrogen fertilizer and introducing the superior varieties from the North China Plain (NCP) are viable ways to increase the wheat quality and quantity in the QTP.  Three and four winter wheat cultivars from QTP and NCP, respectively, were planted in Lhasa at an altitude of 3 647 m with reduced topdressing nitrogen application at the jointing stage.  The wheat from NCP exhibited higher grain hardness index and test weight, and better flour and dough quality.  Reducing the topdressing nitrogen fertilizer from 135 to 75 kg N ha⁻¹ at the jointing stage (with the same basal fertilization of 105 kg N ha⁻¹) did not significantly (P<0.05) affect the grain yield, grain quality, flour quality or dough quality in any of the cultivars.  In summary, introducing high-quality winter wheat varieties from the NCP to the Lhasa plateau is a viable way to enhance the wheat supply and quality in the QTP.  Reducing a certain amount of the nitrogen fertilizer is an economic and feasible approach for the QTP region.

Brassica napus is an important cash crop broadly grown for the vegetable and oil values.  Yellow-seeded B. napus is preferred by breeders due to its improved oil and protein quality, less pigments and lignin compared with the black-seeded counterpart.  This study compared the differences in flavonoid and fatty acid contents between yellow rapeseed from the progenies of B. napus–Sinapis alba somatic hybrids and the black-seeded counterpart using RNA-seq analysis.  Through HPLC-PDA-ESI(−)/MS² analysis, it was found that phenylpropanoids and flavonoids (i.e., isorhamnetin, epicatechin, kaempferol, and other derivatives) in yellow seed were significantly lower than those in black seed.  The fatty acid (FA) content in yellow rapeseed was higher than that in black rapeseed due to the variation of C16:0, C18:0, C18:1, C18:2, and C18:3 contents.  RNA-seq analysis of seeds at four and five weeks after flowering (WAF) indicated that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between black and yellow rapeseeds were enriched in flavonoid and FA biosynthesis, including BnTT3, BnTT4, BnTT18, and BnFAD2.  Also, genes related to FA biosynthesis, desaturation and elongation (FAD3, LEC1, FUS3, and LPAT2) in yellow seed were up-regulated compared to those in black seed, while genes involved in beta-oxidation cycle (AIM1 and KAT2) of yellow seed were down-regulated compared to those in black seed.  The DEGs related to the variation of flavonoids, phenylpropanoids, and FAs would help improve the knowledge of yellow seed character in B. napus and promote rapeseed improvement.

Embryo rescue technology plays an important role in seedless grape breeding.  However, the efficiency of embryo rescue, including the embryo formation, germination, and seedling rates, is closely related to the parental genotypes, degree of abortion, growth medium, and plant growth regulators.  In this study, we investigated the effects of different concentrations of paclobutrazol (PAC), a plant growth regulator, and embryo collection times on the embryo formation, germination, and seedling rates for different hybrid combinations of grape breeding varieties used for their aroma and cold-resistance traits.  The results showed that the different PAC concentrations had varying impacts on the development of ovules and embryos from the different grape varieties.  The embryo formation rates of the ‘Sultanina Rose’בBeibinghong’ and ‘Kunxiang Seedless’בTaishan-2’ crosses were the highest under the 5.1 μmol L^–1 PAC treatment.  The 1.0 μmol L^–1 PAC treatment was optimal for the germination and seedling development of the ‘Sultanina Rose’בBeibinghong’ embryos, whereas the 0.2 μmol L^–1 PAC treatment induced the highest germination rate for the ‘Sultanina Rose’בKunxiang Seedless’ cross.  The optimal sampling times for each cross varied as 39 d after pollination (DAP) for the ‘Flame Seedless’בMuscat Hamburg’ cross, 46 DAP for the ‘Kunxiang Seedless’בBeibinghong’ cross, and 41 DAP for the ‘Ruby Seedless’בBeibinghong’ and ‘Fantasy Seedless’בShuangyou’ crosses.  Moreover, the medium modified with 0.5 g L^–1 of indole-3-butyric acid allowed the malformed seedlings to develop into plantlets and achieve larger progenies.  This study provides a useful basis for further studies into grape embryo rescue and could improve breeding efforts for new seedless grape varieties.

High yields of wheat are mainly obtained through a high level of nitrogen and irrigation supplementation.  However, excessive nitrogen and irrigation supplication increase the risk of lodging.  The main objectives of this work were to clarify the capacity of lodging resistance of wheat in response to nitrogen and irrigation, as well as to explore the effective ways of improving lodging resistance in a high-yield wheat cultivar. In this study, field experiments were conducted in the 2015–2016 and 2016–2017 growing seasons.  A wheat cultivar Jimai 22 (JM22), which is widely planted in the northern of Huang-Huai winter wheat region, was grown at Tai’an, Shandong Province, under three nitrogen rates and four irrigation treatments.  The lodging risk was increased with increased nitrogen rate, as indicated by increasing lodging index (LI) and lodging rate across both growing seasons.  With nitrogen increasing, the plant height, the basal internode length and the center of gravity height, which were positively correlated with LI, increased significantly.  While the density of the basal 2nd internode (for culm and leaf sheath) and cell wall component contents, which were negatively correlated with LI, decreased conspicuous along with nitrogen increased.  Increasing irrigation supplementation increased the 2nd internode culm wall thickness, breaking strength and leaf sheath density within limits which increased stem strength.  Among the treatments, nitrogen application at a rate of 240 kg ha^–1 and irrigation application at 600 m3 ha^–1 at both the jointing and anthesis stages resulted in the highest yield and strongest stem.  A suitable plant height ensures sufficient biomass for high yield, and higher stem stiffness, which was primarily attributed to thicker culm wall, greater density of the culm and leaf sheaths and higher cell wall component contents are the characteristics that should be taken into account to improving wheat lodging resistance.

Fruit yield is the most important horticultural trait of tomato.  SlMBP21, a SEPALLATA subclass MADS-box gene has been reported to have functions in regulating pedicel abscission zone identity and development and controlling sepal size in tomato.  However, we generated transgenic tomato plants which overexpress SlMBP21 and found the transformants displayed curly leaves, abnormally shaped flowers with twisted and opened stamens, reduced yield parameters, and small and light seeds.  Our studies on the gain-of-function phenotype and gene expression level showed that its novel aspects played important roles in determining leaf morphology, flower and inflorescence architecture, and seed size, as well as the fruit yield.  Overexpression of SlMBP21 in tomato resulted in curly leaves with fewer leaflets due to the regulation of the critical leaf polarity genes that cause an imbalance between the midvein adaxial–abaxial cell growth.  Defects in the architecture of flowers and inflorescences resulted in reduced fruit set.  Furthermore, we demonstrated that SlMBP21 plays its role through inhibiting the expression of the genes involved in the determination of seed development in tomato and SlMBP21 protein can interact with other MADS-box protein (SlAGL11, TAGL1 and SlMBP3) to control seed size.  Thus, these results suggest that overexpression of SlMBP21 causes multiple types of damage to plant growth and development, especially fruit yield, in tomato.