End Of Growth Cycle Research Articles

Stemflow generation as influenced by sugarcane canopy development.

Rainfall is generally partitioned into throughfall, stemflow, and interception in ecosystems. Stemflow variability can affect the hydrology, ecology, and soil chemistry patterns. However, the influence of canopy structure and rainfall characteristics on stemflow production in sugarcane plantations which are important for renewable energy production remain poorly understood. By using funnels attached to the sugarcane stems, the present study determined the stemflow amount during the period of sugarcane growth and its relationship with plant development. Approximately, 14% of gross rainfall reached the soil as stemflow, and the funneling ratios was 60. In general, it was observed a positive relationship between stemflow rates with both leaf area index and plant height. This was attributed to an increasing number of acute branching angles of the sugarcane leaves as well as high stem tillering and density. However, at the end of growth cycle, stemflow rate was lower than in previous periods which can be attributed to changes in sugarcane canopy such as stems inclination and lodging, reducing the effectiveness of water conveyance along the stem. Our study showed the need to include stemflow to better understand the hydrology of sugarcane plantations.

Physiological and structural responses of hybrid firs embryogenic tissue under cadmium stress

The study was focused on the investigation of cadmium (Cd) effect on the embryogenic tissue of hybrid firs growing under in vitro conditions. Two cell lines AC78 (Abies alba x A. cephalonica) and AN72 (Abies alba x A. numidica) were cultured on DCR medium supplemented with 100 and 250 µM of Cd(NO3)2·4H2O. The tissue accumulated heavy metal ions during the culture period and at the end of growth cycle 91.4% of Cd2+ present in the medium was accumulated in AN72 and 94.6% in cell line AC78. Higher concentration of Cd2+ affected negatively the growth of tissue exerted as decline in fresh as well as dry mass accumulation, although in comparison to control tissue statistically significant reduction has been recorded only for cell line AN72. The toxic effect of cadmium was also apparent on the micromorphology of early somatic embryos and resulted in loss of bipolarity as well as complete structural disintegration. The increased malondialdehyde content in response to Cd2+ in culture medium indicated lipid peroxidation as a consequence of membrane damage. The embryogenic tissue is suitable experimental system for the study of cadmium effect on the cells cultured in extremly controlled environment in vitro.

English

There are few studies that demonstrate the influence of water stress in biometric variables and cotton growth. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate different levels of water supply in the BRS 2 cotton growth, in the field of Campus Rio Verde - GO, in 2015. Experimental design used was randomized blocks, with three replications in a split-plot scheme of 5 x 4 with five water replacements (WR) (25, 50, 75, 100 and 125%) of evapotranspiration, and four times of evaluation (ET) during the growth cycle (40-60, 61-80, 81-100 and 1-20 days after emergence). The variables analyzed were plant height (PH), leaf area (LA), dry phytomass stem (DPS), dry phytomass of leaves (DPL), dry phytomass of reproductive organ (DPRO), dry phytomass of aerial part (DPAP), absolute growth rate (AGR), relative growth rate (RGR), net assimilation rate (NAR) and leaf area ratio (LAR). The behavior of PH and LA under the influence of water levels revealed that for a better performance of studied variables, it is important to consider the irrigation management, besides the crop coefficient. Water replacement influenced the cotton growth. Low cotton growth rate was caused by the reduction of water supply until the end of growth cycle. Key words: Gossypium hirsutum L., dry phytomass, drip irrigation, crop evapotranspiration.

DVT Grown GeSe Single Crystals and their Thermal Parameters in N<sub>2</sub>

Most of the applications of semiconductors involve either photon absorption to form free carriers (photodetectors or solar cells) or the formation of photons by free carrier recombination (light emittiing diodes or lasers). Both kinds of applications require high quality single crystals having desirable dimensions, devoid of defects, grain boundaries, or impurities that act as electron scatterers, traps and non radiative recombination centers. As a consequence of the requirement of high quality, fabrication and growth conditions for the semiconductors must be carefully controlled for most applications. Hence single crystals of GeSe were grown by Direct Vapor Transport (DVT) technique, in a two zone horizontal furnace with temperature difference of 50 K between growth and source zones. The material crystallizes in the form of shining gray and platelets like crystals at the end of growth cycles. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) has been used for many years to evaluate thermal stability of material as it will determine the range of stable operation for a device made up out of these materials under investigation. Thermal characteristics of GeSe crystals were studied employing thermoanalytical techniques, viz. TGA and DTA. Thermal analysis experiments were carried out with constant heating rate of 10 °C/ min in N2. The objective of this study is to determine activation energy and other kinetic parameters of GeSe crystals. Broido and Coats-Redfern (C-R) methods are used to evaluate different kinetic parameters of GeSe crystals viz. activation energy, entropy, enthalpy, Gibbs mean free energy etc.

Competition between species can stabilize public-goods cooperation within a species.

Competition between species is a major ecological force that can drive evolution. Here, we test the effect of this force on the evolution of cooperation within a species. We use sucrose metabolism of budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as a model cooperative system that is subject to social parasitism by cheater strategies. We find that when cocultured with a bacterial competitor, Escherichia coli, the frequency of cooperator phenotypes in yeast populations increases dramatically as compared with isolated yeast populations. Bacterial competition stabilizes cooperation within yeast by limiting the yeast population density and also by depleting the public goods produced by cooperating yeast cells. Both of these changes induced by bacterial competition increase the cooperator frequency because cooperator yeast cells have a small preferential access to the public goods they produce; this preferential access becomes more important when the public good is scarce. Our results indicate that a thorough understanding of species interactions is crucial for explaining the maintenance and evolution of cooperation in nature.

The HAL1 function on Na+ homeostasis is maintained over time in salt‐treated transgenic tomato plants, but the high reduction of Na+ in leaf is not associated with salt tolerance

To achieve a deeper knowledge on the function of HAL1 gene in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants submitted to salt stress, in this study, we studied the growth and physiological responses to high salt stress of T3 transgenic plants (an azygous line without transgene and both homozygous and hemizygous lines for HAL1) proceeding from a primary transformant with a very high expression level of HAL1 gene. The homozygous plants for HAL1 gene did not increase their salt tolerance in spite of an earlier and higher reduction of the Na(+) accumulation in leaves, being moreover the Na(+) homeostasis maintained throughout the growth cycle. The greater ability of the homozygous line to regulate the Na(+) transport to the shoot to long term was even shown in low accumulation of Na(+) in fruits. By comparing the homozygous and hemizygous lines, a higher salt tolerance in the hemizygous line, with respect to the homozygous line, was observed on the basis of fruit yield. The Na(+) homeostasis and osmotic homeostasis were also different in homozygous and hemizygous lines. Indeed, the Na(+) accumulation rate in leaves was greater in hemizygous than in homozygous line after 35 days of 100 mM NaCl treatment and only at the end of growth cycle did the hemizygous line show leaf Na(+) levels similar to those found in the homozygous line. With respect to the osmotic homeostasis, the main difference between lines was the different contribution of inorganic and organic solutes to the leaf osmotic balance. Taken together, these results suggest that the greater Na(+) exclusion ability of the homozygous line overexpressing HAL1 induces a greater use of organic solutes for osmotic balance, which seems to have an energy cost and hence a growth penalty that reverts negatively on fruit yield.

Acumulação de biomassa, características fisiológicas e rendimento de grãos em cultivares de feijoeiro irrigado e sob sequeiro

Em experimento de campo, foram avaliados o crescimento vegetativo e o rendimento de grãos de quatro cultivares de feijoeiro (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), sob condições de irrigação ou de sequeiro, correspondendo respectivamente a lâminas totais de água de 252 e 123 mm. Foram efetuadas amostragens semanais da área foliar e da biomassa da parte aérea e seus componentes. Sob estresse hídrico, a biomassa da parte aérea, o índice de área foliar e a taxa de crescimento da cultura foram reduzidos em todas as cultivares. Não houve diferença significativa no rendimento de grãos sob sequeiro entre cultivares, mas sob deficiência hídrica o rendimento das cultivares foi reduzido, com exceção da 'NegroArgel'. O número de vagens por planta foi o componente de produção mais afetado pelo regime de irrigação. Sob estresse hídrico, verificaram-se menores reduções na biomassa de ramos ao final do ciclo de 'NegroArgel', na duração da área foliar e no rendimento de grãos, indicativos de maior tolerância à seca, enquanto na cultivar Carioca observou-se maior sensibilidade ao estresse hídrico.

Analysis of the nutritive value of timothy grown with varying N nutrition

AbstractNitrogen fertilization affect growth and yield of timothy (Phleum Pratense L.), but there are conflicting report on its effect on nutritive value. Two experiments were conducted to describe changes in nutritive value of field‐grown timothy fertilized with four rates of N fertilizer during spring and summer growth cycles, and to analyse relationships between parameters of nutritive value and the leaf to weight ratio (LWR). Early in the regrowth cycles when the harvestabe shoot biomass was approximately 200 g dry matter (DM) m−2 and under non‐limiting N and water conditions, the in vitro true digestibility (IVTD) of DM was greater in spring than in summer because the concentration of neutral‐detergent fibre (NDF) was lower and its in vitro cell wall digestibility (IVCWD) was greater. However, the rates of decline in IVTD and IVCWD and the rate of increase in NDF were greater in spring than in summer. Nitrogen deficiency decresed IVTD and IVCWD, and increased NDF concentration early in the regrowth cycles. Nitrogen deficiency, however, reduced the rate of change in the three parameters of nutritive value. By the end of growth cycles, IVTD was 59 and 42 g kg−1 DM greater when no N was applied than with non‐limiting N conditions in spring and summer respectively. When no N was applied, the IVCWD was 76 and 52 g kg−1 NDF greater, whereas the NDF concentration was 35 and 42 g kg−1 DM less than under non‐limiting N conditions in spring and summer respectively. The N deficiency increased the proportion of leaves in the biomass, which can explain for the most part the positve effect of the N deficiency on the nutritive value of timothy. This positive effect of the N deficiency on nutritive value though the proportion of leaves in the biomass, however, was reduced by the negative effect of N deficiency on the nutritive value of leaves or stems or both.

Producton of single‐cell protein from cellulose by Aspergillus terreus

Cellulose fermentation studies were conducted with a thermotolerant strain of Aspergillus terreus. Batch cultivation of A. terreus using purified or complex cellulose showed that 80-88% of the available cellulose was utilized in 30-36 h with an average doubling time of 7.5-8.3 h. The protein content in the biomass ranged from 23 to 38%. Semicontinuous cultivation studies, in which 90% of the biomass was withdrawn at the end of growth cycle, indicated that 84% of added cellulose was utilized with the biomass containing 32% crude protein. No loss in cellulose consumption, growth rate, or protein production occurred through two growth cycles. Continuous cultivation of A. terreus showed that 78-84% cellulose consumption occurred over growth temperatures ranging from 35 to 45 degrees C. Maximum specific growth rates (0.14 h(-1)) occurred at 40 and 45 degrees C with a minimum doubling time of 4.9 h.