Abstract
To disclose the relationship between lignin content and lodging resistance, field experiments were conducted in 2012 and 2013 to investigate the dynamic changes of lignin content, the activities of four enzymes involved in lignin metabolism in culm, as well as the snapping resistance and lodging index of buckwheat. The lignin content and activities of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), tyrosine ammonia-lyase (TAL), cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD), and 4-coumarate: CoA ligase (4CL) were tested with the 2 nd internode of four cultivars with different lodging resistance. The snapping resistance and culm lodging index were determined at anthesis, grain filling, and maturity stages. The lignin content varied significantly among cultivars. The XD cultivar, which showed high resistance to culm snapping and lodging, had higher lignin content and higher activity of PAL, TAL, 4CL, and CAD than other cultivars. The lignin content was significantly negatively correlated with the actual lodging percent ( r = -0.844, P 0.05), 0.927 ( P < 0.01), and 0.862 ( P < 0.01), respectively. In conclusion, our results indicate that the activities of PAL and 4CL were the key enzymes that influenced the lignin content, and that the lignin content can be used as main indicators to evaluate the lodging resistance of buckwheat.
Highlights
Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is a pseudo-cereal used for human food that belongs to the Polygonaceae family of plants (Lin & Chai, 2007)
Our results indicate that the activities of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and 4-coumarate: CoA ligase (4CL) were the key enzymes that influenced the lignin content, and that the lignin content can be used as main indicators to evaluate the lodging resistance of buckwheat
There was no lodging in the XD cultivar, the NQ01 and XN01 cultivars were lodging at maturity, and the WK cultivar was lodging at anthesis (Table 2)
Summary
Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is a pseudo-cereal used for human food that belongs to the Polygonaceae family of plants (Lin & Chai, 2007). The permanent displacement of the stem from the vertical, has long been a problem in crop cultivation (Crook & Ennos, 1994). It can reduce yield, quality of production, and mechanical harvesting efficiency. It was reported that lodging caused a loss of 14.3% in rice production in coastal regions of Jiangsu China (Zhang et al, 1996) and a loss of as much as 8.3% of average grain yield in spring wheat (Tripathi et al, 2004). Lodging is reported to be one of the limiting factors of buckwheat production in Nepal (Baniya, 1990)
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