Plant Growth Stages Research Articles

Genome-wide exploration of bZIP transcription factors and their contribution to alkali stress response in Helianthus annuus

The basic leucine zipper (bZIP) gene family is one of the largest transcription factors family in plants. These are involved in various biological processes including the regulation of light signaling, seed maturation, flower development, and the response to both biotic and abiotic stresses. Despite the crucial role of this gene family, no comprehensive investigation has been carried out to characterize bZIPs in sunflower. Therefore, an in silico analysis along with a wetlab experimental approach was adopted for bZIPs in sunflower plants. During the study, 73 bZIPs were identified in sunflower. Phylogenetic analysis involving bZIPs from A. thaliana, H. annuus, C. arabica, L. sativa, and V. vinifera divided these members into 11 groups and testified using conserved motif and gene structure analysis. Protein-Protein interaction analysis identified five clusters of HabZIPs. Intron diversity ranged from 0 to 12. The cis-regulatory elements analysis predicted various stress-responsive elements. RNA-seq data analysis reveiled that clusters of bZIPs were involved in stress response in roots and leaves during early or late stages of plant growth. Similatly, qRT-PCR analysis identified that HabZIP01, 04, 18, and 48 were significantly upregulated in response to mild or svere salt stress. Conversely, HabZIP08 was downregulated in response to both levels of salinity. Overall the study provides new insights into stress-responsive HabZIP genes in sunflower and provides a foundation for further research on their role in the plant's response to abiotic stress.

Effect of different types and levels of phosphorous fertilizers on kinetics of phosphorous release in the soil

A field experiment was carried out in one of the fields of Diwaniya governorate for the agricultural season 2019 to study the effect of adding organic fertilizer and sources of phosphate fertilizer during the growth stages of the maize plant (Zea mays. L) and its reflectance on growth and productivity of the plant. The experiment was conducted according to the design of the (split-split plots and included two levels of the organic fertilizer(L1-L0) standing for (0- 1.5 tons) and three sources of the following fertilizers: Tri super phosphate TSP, DiAmmonium phosphate DAP and Urea UP) as add to control treatment (p0) symbolized by p1, p2, p3, respectively. The seeds of maize (Zea mays. L) Behoth 5018s cultivar were planted in a 25 kg/H range. The kinetics of phosphorous in the soil were studied. The phosphorus release rate was determined during the stages of plant growth, and the best equation in describing the mechanism of desorption in the stages of plant growth (25, 50, 75, 100 and 125 days). The results showed that all used equations (first-order, diffusion and Elovich) have described the mechanism of phosphorous release from a solid phase to the soil solution. All equations gave a highly significant correlation (r) between released phosphorous in the stages of Plant growth. The first-order equation surpassed other equations describing the mechanism of phosphorous release in the soil. The values of the coefficient of phosphorous release rate (KP) ranged between (0.0045 - 0.004 mg. p. kg-1 . Day-1 ) for the equation of first- -order, where the results showed that the linear relationship between the amount of released phosphorous as a function of time for the equation of first-order, is the best equation in describing the release, which indicates the interest in the amount and timing of addition of p fertilizers during the stages of plant growth, according to what was shown in the kinetic equations. Keywords: Phosphorous desorption, fertilizers, maize, kinetic equations, soil solution.

The role of polyamines in plants: A review

Polyamines (PAs) are linear alkali nitrogenous with two, three or more amino groups that have a low molecular weight. PAs are created by organisms thru metabolism and can be found in nearly wholly cells. They are considered a unique type of plant stimulant because they acts significant roles in many kinds of plant growth and developmental stages as well as stress responses. More evidence suggests that the PA can be produced endogenously or exogenously applied to improve plant reproduction, productivity, and bear stress. While the mechanism of polyamines influencing plant growth and stress responses is still not clear. We are making an attempt to supply an inclusive review of the available literature that explained the association between PAs and flowering, stress responses and senescence. This review aimed at this is focused and abbreviates how PAs enhances and increase plant productivity and then serve as a foundation for forthcoming study on the mechanisms of PAs exploit in plant reproduction and growth.

Plant growth stages and weather index insurance design

AbstractGiven the assumption that weather risks affect crop yields, we designed a weather index insurance product for soybean producers in the US state of Illinois. By separating the entire vegetation cycle into four growth stages, we investigate whether the phase-division procedure contributes to weather–yield loss relation estimation and, hence, to basis risk mitigation. Concretely, supposing stage-variant interaction patterns between temperature-based weather index growing degree days and rainfall-based weather index cumulative rainfall, a nonparametric weather–yield loss relation is estimated by a generalized additive model. The model includes penalized B-spline (P-spline) approach based on nonlinear optimal indemnity solutions under the expected utility framework. The P-spline analysis of variance (PS-ANOVA) method is used for efficient estimation through mixed model re-parameterization. The results indicate that the phase-division models significantly outperform the benchmark whole-cycle ones either under quadratic utility or exponential utility, given different levels of risk aversions. Finally, regarding hedging effectiveness, the expected utility ratio between the phase-division contract and the whole-cycle contract, and the percentage changes of mean root square loss and variance of revenues support the proposed phase-division contract.

Effects of sowing date on bolting and frost damage to autumn-sown sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) in temperate regions

Sugar beet is mostly cultivated in relatively cool regions of the temperate zones by sowing in spring, but in some Mediterranean areas with mild winters, the crop is sown in autumn. Due to global warming, autumn cultivation of sugar beet is gradually extending towards new areas that are still characterized by relatively cold winters. Seedling loss and bolting are two factors limiting the adoption of autumn sugar beet cultivation in new areas. The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of sowing date on (i) duration and rate of field emergence, (ii) phenological stages of sugar beet during early growth, (iii) quantitative traits of seedlings and (iv) bolting occurrence as well as frost killing of autumn-sown sugar beet. Field experiments were conducted in a randomized complete block design to determine the appropriate sowing date for autumn-sown sugar beet in 2017/18 and 2018/19 in the Karaj and Mashhad regions of Iran, which are both characterized by relatively cold winters. The experiment was conducted with a bolting-resistant cultivar and six sowing date treatments. The results showed that to reach plant growth stages of cotyledon, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 leaves, 163, 200, 321, 418, 500, 600, 639, 700 and 757 growing degree days (GDD), respectively, were required. The average duration and speed of seedling emergence increased and decreased, respectively, with delay in sowing. The results suggest adjusting the sowing date of winter sugar beet so that when temperatures effective for bolting (6-8 °C) occur, the plant has already received about 300 to 400 GDD. At this time, the growth stage and the largest root diameter of sugar beet are approximately 4-6 leaves and 0.11-0.27 cm, respectively. After 14- to 16-leaf stage (≥700-750 GDD), the percentage of killed plants due to low temperatures were negligible. Although, the risk for frost losses is higher at 4- to 6-leaf stage (300-400 GDD), accepting higher losses is justified by a lower probability of bolting.

Effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on zinc uptake, translocation and accumulation in winter wheat during whole plant growth stages

Although arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) could play important roles in zinc (Zn) uptake in host plants, the effects of AMF on Zn uptake and transport in winter wheat during the whole growth stage remain unclear. A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of Funneliformis mosseae (Fm) and Claroideoglomus etunicatum (Ce) on Zn absorption, transport, and accumulation in winter wheat under different Zn levels (0, 2.5, and 25 mg kg–1) in soils. This study showed that there was a significant correlation between mycorrhizal colonization rate and Zn absorption efficiency in winter wheat roots during the post-anthesis period, but there was no significant correlation during the pre-anthesis period. AMF significantly increased Zn concentrations (0.64–0.81 times) in wheat grains under 0 mg kg-1 Zn level, but decreased Zn concentrations in wheat grains under 25 mg kg-1 Zn level. Additionally, under 0 and 2.5 mg kg–1 Zn treatments, AMF increased Zn absorption rate (3.3–14, 0.21–1.02 times) in roots at filling and maturity stages and the contribution of root Zn uptake (0.36–0.64, 0.27–0.37 times) to grain Zn. However, AMF decreased root Zn absorption rate (0.32–0.61 times) and increased the contribution of Zn remobilization (1.69–2.01 times) in vegetative tissues to grain Zn under 25 mg kg–1 Zn treatment. The present results would complement the mechanisms and effects of AMF on Zn absorption and transport in winter wheat and provide a potential method for the application of AMF to wheat grain Zn enrichment.

First report of Tomato spotted wilt orthotospovirus infecting agapanthus (Agapanthus praecox) in South Africa.

Agapanthus praecox Willd. is an ornamental flowering plant that is indigenous to southern Africa and was reported to be a host of tomato spotted wilt orthotospovirus (TSWV) in Australia in 2000 (Wilson et al. 2000). Tomato spotted wilt orthotospovirus (TSWV) belonging to the genus Orthotospovirus of the family Tospoviridae is a single-stranded negative sense RNA virus known to cause disease symptoms in many crops and ornamental plant species. This virus is in the top 10 of most economically important plant viruses worldwide (Rybicki 2015; Scholthof et al. 2011). In May 2021, leaf material from three agapanthus (Agapanthus praecox) plants displaying chlorotic mottling, and yellow lesions (Supplementary material 1A) was collected in Mbombela, South Africa. One gram of symptomatic leaf material was used for total RNA extraction from each of the three samples using a CTAB extraction protocol (Ruiz-García et al. 2019). The three RNA extracts were pooled, and a sequencing library was constructed using the Ion Total RNA-Seq Kit v2.0 and RiboMinus™ Plant Kit for RNA-Seq (ThermoFisher Scientific) (Central Analytical Facility (CAF), Stellenbosch University). The RNA library was sequenced on an Ion Torrent Proton Instrument (CAF). A total of 34,392,939 single-end reads were obtained. Data was trimmed for quality with Trimmomatic (CROP:250, MINLEN:50). De novo assembly was performed on the remaining 32,281,645 trimmed reads (average readlength: 100 nt, range: 50-250 nt) using SPAdes 3.13.0 and resulted in 4,788 contigs. BLASTn analysis identified viral contigs longer than 1,000 nucleotides (nts) with high nucleotide (nt) identity to TSWV (6 contigs), as well as to the newly discovered viruses, agapanthus tungro virus (AgTV) (1 contig), and agapanthus velarivirus (AgVV) (4 contigs) (Read et al 2021). Read mapping was performed against the relevant reference sequence with the highest nt identity to the contigs. For TSWV, 4995, 21221 and 14574 reads mapped to segment L (KY250488), M (KY250489) and S (KY250490) of isolate LK-1, respectively resulting in 99.97%, 100.00% and 99.97% genome coverage of the reference accessions. The nt identity between the reference accessions and the consensus sequences generated (OP921761-OP921763) were 97.26%, 97.64% and 97.82% for segment L, M and S. The presence of TSWV was confirmed in the HTS sample using an RT-PCR assay (primers L1 and L2) targeting the L segment of TSWV (Mumford et al. 1994). In July 2022, additional leaf samples displaying symptoms of chlorotic mottling, streaking, and ringspots were collected from 31 symptomatic and 3 asymptomatic agapanthus plants in public gardens in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Using the above-mentioned RT-PCR assay, 13 of the symptomatic samples tested positive for TSWV. All six plants displaying ring spot symptoms (Supplementary material 1B) were infected with TSWV. However, plants that displayed yellow streaking (five samples) and chlorotic mottling (two samples) (Supplementary material 1C-D) were also positive for TSWV which could be due to the presence of other viruses, plant growth stage, infection time or just variable symptom expression in a single host species as reported previously (Sherwood et al. 2003). The 275 bp RT-PCR amplicons of the HTS sample and three additional positive samples were validated with bidirectional Sanger sequencing (CAF) and had 96% identity to accession KY250488. The pairwise nt identity between amplicons was 98.55-100%. This is the first report of TSWV infecting agapanthus in South Africa. This study contributes information towards the distribution and incidence of TSWV and highlights the need for nurseries to screen plant material before propagation.

Phenotyping and Identification of Molecular Markers Associated with Leaf Rust Resistance in the Wheat Germplasm from Kazakhstan, CIMMYT and ICARDA.

Leaf rust (LR) is the most widespread disease of common wheat worldwide. In order to evaluate leaf rust resistance, 70 uncharacterized wheat cultivars and promising lines with unknown leaf rust resistance genes (Lr genes) were exposed to Kazakhstani Puccinia triticina (Pt) races at the seedling stage. Field tests were performed to characterize leaf rust responses at the adult plant growth stage in the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 cropping seasons. The wheat collection showed phenotypic diversity when tested with two virulent races of Pt. Thirteen wheat genotypes (18.6%) showed high resistance at both seedling and adult plant stages. In most cases, breeding material originating from international nurseries showed higher resistance to LR. Nine Lr genes, viz. Lr9, Lr10, Lr19, Lr26, Lr28, Lr34, Lr37, Lr46, and Lr68, either singly or in combination, were identified in 47 genotypes. Known Lr genes were not detected in the remaining 23 genotypes. The most commonly identified resistance genes were Lr37 (17 cultivars), Lr34 (16 cultivars), and Lr46 (10 cultivars), while Lr19, Lr68, Lr26, and Lr28 were the least frequent. Four Lr genes were identified in Keremet and Hisorok, followed by three Lr genes in Aliya, Rasad, Reke, Mataj, Egana and Almaly/Obri. The molecular screening revealed twenty-nine carriers of a single Lr gene, ten carriers of two genes, six carriers of three genes, and two carriers of four genes. Most of these accessions showed a high and moderate level of APR (Adult plant resistance) and may be utilized for the incorporation of Lr genes in well-adapted wheat cultivars. The most effective combination was Lr37, Lr34, and Lr68, the carriers of which were characterized by a low disease susceptibility index. The obtained results will facilitate breeding programs for wheat resistance in Kazakhstan.

Sand Burial, Rather than Salinity or Drought, Is the Main Stress That Limits the Germination Ability of Sophora alopecuroides L. Seed in the Desert Steppe of Yanchi, Ningxia, China.

Global change and environmental pollution have reawakened ecologists to the great threat of multi-stress interactions to different growth stages of plants. Sophora alopecuroides L., a dune plant, has been widely studied for its medicinal components and strong salinity tolerance. S. alopecuroides seeds, obtained from the desert steppe of Yanchi, Ningxia, China, were used to analyze the effects of sand burial, salinity, drought, and their interactions on seed germination (germination percentage, germination energy, and germination index). The results showed that sand burial and salinity stress had significant effects on the seed germination ability of S. alopecuroides, and drought stress had no significant effect, but the interaction of the three stresses had a significant effect. Under different drought-stress treatments, the interaction of no sand burial and a certain degree of salinity stress significantly improved the germination ability of S. alopecuroides, and the overall intensity of the effects of the three stresses showed that sand burial > salinity > drought. Considering the germination percentage, germination energy, and germination index of S. alopecuroides under various stress interactions, the treatment of no sand burial × 1% soil saline-alkali content × 18-20% soil water content was adopted to maximize the germination ability of S. alopecuroides. In the desert steppe area of Yanchi, Ningxia, sand burial stress was still the most limiting factor for seed germination of S. alopecuroides, and soil saline-alkali content should be increased moderately, and soil moisture should be ensured to obtain the best germination ability.

Impact of Introduced Tomato Cultivars and Chemical Fungicides on the Occurrence and Intensity of Late Blight in Western Cameroon

Late blight, caused by Phytophthora infestans, is the main constraint to tomato production and exportation in Cameroon. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of chemical and tomato varieties in the control of tomato Late blight in the field for the improvement of tomato production in the west region of Cameroon. Seedlings of 7 tomato varieties produced in the nursery were transplanted into pits each containing 100 g of fowl droppings and 30 g of the nematicide Carbofuran 5%. From the 21st day after transplanting, the different fungicides were applied every four days. Data were collected on the incidence, severity of the disease at different stages of plant growth and development and on yields. The results showed that the AVTO1219 and AVTO1311 varieties were less sensitive to Late blight. The control plants of AVTO1219 variety showed incidences of 7.7, 11.7 and 16.7% and severities of 1.7, 14.9 and 17.2% in the vegetative, flowering and fruiting phases respectively. Control plants of CLN1462A, CLN1464A, CLN1464B, RIOGRANDE 2 and RIOGRANDE + varieties showed incidence of 100% from the flowering phase. Control plants of varieties AVTO1213 (17.29 t ha-1) and AVTO1311 (11.33 t ha-1) produced the highest yields. Bonsoin was the more effective fungicide and AVTO1311 was the more effective variety to manage disease. However, the combination of Bonsoin with the AVTO1219 and AVTO1311 varieties was most effective in controlling late blight of tomatoes in the field. These results suggest that to improve tomato production, Late blight resistant varieties should be used and effective fungicides applied as treatments.

Sugar Starvation Disrupts Lipid Breakdown by Inducing Autophagy in Embryonic Axes of Lupin (Lupinus spp.) Germinating Seeds.

Under nutrient deficiency or starvation conditions, the mobilization of storage compounds during seed germination is enhanced to primarily supply respiratory substrates and hence increase the potential of cell survival. Nevertheless, we found that, under sugar starvation conditions in isolated embryonic axes of white lupin (Lupinus albus L.) and Andean lupin (Lupinus mutabilis Sweet) cultured in vitro for 96 h, the disruption of lipid breakdown occurs, as was reflected in the higher lipid content in the sugar-starved (-S) than in the sucrose-fed (+S) axes. We postulate that pexophagy (autophagic degradation of the peroxisome-a key organelle in lipid catabolism) is one of the reasons for the disruption in lipid breakdown under starvation conditions. Evidence of pexophagy can be: (i) the higher transcript level of genes encoding proteins of pexophagy machinery, and (ii) the lower content of the peroxisome marker Pex14p and its increase caused by an autophagy inhibitor (concanamycin A) in -S axes in comparison to the +S axes. Additionally, based on ultrastructure observation, we documented that, under sugar starvation conditions lipophagy (autophagic degradation of whole lipid droplets) may also occur but this type of selective autophagy seems to be restricted under starvation conditions. Our results also show that autophagy occurs at the very early stages of plant growth and development, including the cells of embryonic seed organs, and allows cell survival under starvation conditions.

Radish Growth Stage Recognition Based on GAN and Deep Transfer Learning

Image recognition of plant growth states provides technical support for crop monitoring; this reduces labor costs and promotes efficient planting. However, difficulties in data collection, the required high levels of algorithm efficiency, and the lack of computing power resources create challenges to the development of intelligent agriculture. As a result, a deep transfer learning algorithm is proposed in this paper. The main motivation for this study was the lack of a dataset of plant growth stages. The key idea was to collect radish growth stage images in an experimental field using standardized equipment and to generate more images using DCGAN. By improving the deep transfer learning model, radish growth stages can be identified much more accurately. In this study, five different deep migration models were selected, namely, Inception-v3, MobileNet, Xception, VGG-16, and VGG-19. Our experiment demonstrated that Inception-v3 was the most suitable model for the recognition of plant growth states. Based on Inception-v3, we propose three improved models. The test accuracies for the radish and Oxford Flower datasets were 99.5% and 99.3%, respectively. Additionally, the accuracy of the pest and disease dataset also achieved excellent performance, with an accuracy of 94.7%, 2.4% higher than previously. These results demonstrate the wide applicability of our model and the rationality of constructing a radish growth stage dataset.

Applicability assessment of five evapotranspiration models based on lysimeter data from a bioretention system

Evapotranspiration (ET) plays an important role in restoring stormwater retention capacity of bioretention systems and improving microclimate conditions in urban areas. However, there is still a lack of applicable methods to accurately predict ET from bioretention systems. In this study, the applicability of five commonly used models (i.e., ASCE Penman-Monteith, Priestley-Taylor, Penman, Hargreaves, and Blaney-Criddle) in predicting ET from bioretention systems was assessed based on lysimeter measurement data from a field-scale bioretention system located in Beijing. The measured average daily ET from the bioretention system using a lysimeter is 2.24 mm·d−1. ET from the bioretention system is significantly related to solar radiation, vapor pressure deficit, and air temperature (p < 0.001). The ASCE Penman-Monteith, Priestly-Taylor, Penman, and Blaney-Criddle models underestimate average daily ET by 23.31%, 18.50%, 18.93%, and 29.60%, respectively. However, the Hargreaves model overestimates ET by 35.13%. Incorporating various crop coefficients in different plant growth stages can significantly improve the accuracy of these five models. The Penman model is demonstrated to be the most accurate in predicting ET from the bioretention system, followed by the Priestly-Taylor, and ASCE Penman-Monteith models. These three models have relative errors ≤2.68%, RMSE ≤0.66 mm·d−1, R2 ≥0.92, and NSE ≥0.95. The Hargreaves or Blaney-Criddle models could not accurately predict ET from the bioretention system because solar radiation is not considered in these two models. The results provide references for selecting and implementing models to predict ET from bioretention systems.

EFFECTS OF DROUGHT STRESS ON GROWTH AND YIELD PARAMETERS OF ZEA MAYS- A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW

Maize serves as an important food source for human and livestock populations and its demand is heightening in response to the ever-increasing global population. Maize uses a total of 350-450 mm of water during its lifetime to complete its growth and development. However, as a result of global climate change and increased human activity, a significant portion of the Earth’s land is suffering from drought, leading to frequent periods of dryness that hamper the production of maize. This review article recounts the consequences of imposing moisture stress on various developmental stages, phenology, morphology, harvest, and yield-attributing characteristics of the maize crop. To form this review article, research papers expatiating on the consequences faced by maize crops in response to moisture stress were retrieved to gain a thorough understanding of the subject. Drought stress affected both vegetative and reproductive growth stages of the maize plant with significant alterations in seed germination, biomass accumulation, days to anthesis and silking, pollen number, kernel number, kernel weight, grain yield, nutrient uptake, and soluble proteins. The result has shown a decline in the yield of maize by 70% in response to moisture stress imposed by drought conditions. The development of drought-resistant lines and irrigation facilities is thus expected to salvage crops and farmers from an impending crisis of drought spells brought about by climate change.

Variations in chemical constituents of the rhizosphere of bread wheat genotypes and their significance for using as markers for heat and drought tolerance

In rhizosphere, root exudates act as food and chemo-attractants for the microbes, whereas microbes help in plant growth. The present study investigated the chemical changes in the rhizosphere of 10 contrasting wheat genotypes each for heat and drought stress at two stages of plant growth under stress conditions, and their root exudates profiles under semi-hydroponic conditions. The heat-tolerant genotypes exhibited significantly higher content of P by 1.59 fold, while drought-tolerant genotypes exhibited Mg and P by 1.22 and 1.24 fold, respectively compared to sensitive genotypes. Further, the heat stress tolerant genotypes exhibited significantly higher contents of Fe, Cu and Zn at anthesis by 1.53, 1.31 and 1.44 fold, respectively than at the booting stage, while the drought stress tolerant genotypes exhibited higher contents of Na, K, Mg and P at booting by 1.27, 3.05, 1.32 and 2.45 fold, respectively than at anthesis stage. Both heat and drought-tolerant genotypes exuded higher concentrations of most of the studied root exudates, and it ranged between 1.34 fold higher for succinic acid to 12.96 fold for sucrose in drought-tolerant genotypes. Similarly, in heat-tolerant genotypes, it varied from 1.01 fold for D-galactose to 10.39 fold for malic acid. Overall, the study revealed that the tolerant genotypes modulated their rhizosphere composition with respect to higher contents of Na, K, Mg, Fe, Cu, Zn and P, and exuding higher quantities of sugars and organic acids than the sensitive genotypes, which could contribute to their survival under abiotic stress conditions.

Role of Micronutrients Towards Crop Productivity under Biotic and Abiotic Stresses: A Review

In recent scenarios, the world’s food system is highly insecure and become a great challenge to the rapidly growing civilization. Agriculture is intricately tied to food security and life sustainability on earth. The arising climatic alteration forces plants to compete for nutrients from the soil. Crop yielding and their nutritional quality are highly influenced by environmental factors (biotic and abiotic stress), agronomic factors, pests and nutrient availability in the soil. These are the nanoparticle that monitors the elements in soil by sharing some signals. Micronutrients help to maximize plant growth and protect plants from diseases and pathogens. But the alteration of the environmental condition is highly responsible for nutrient limitation and growth inhibition. 35% of the world’s agricultural lands are decreasing their soil fertility, which leads to nutrient deficiency in plants. These insufficient nutrients of crops lower the yield and nutritional quality of food and affected human health. In the reproductive stage of plant growth, environmental stress is highly responsible for flower drop, pollen tube deformation, ovule abortion, pollen sterility and yield losses. A sufficient quantity of micronutrients can help to reduce the biotic and abiotic stress in agricultural crops. The current review gives a brief knowledge to understand the current features of micronutrients in the agricultural crop which focus on the mechanism, absorption activity, toxicity and deficiency of micronutrients in plants and how it secures our food system by increasing the yield and nutritional quality.

Seed biopriming at different concentrations to assess the effects of Cyanobacteria on germination and seedling performance of keystone arid species

AbstractIntroductionBiocrust cyanobacteria have a large potential as biofertilizers for restoring degraded ecosystems because of their ability to improve soil nutrition and stabilisation, and to produce metabolites such as phytohormones to enhance plant growth. However, important aspects regarding the effects of cyanobacteria on native plants, such as metabolite production or concentration of inoculants, remain unknown. Here, we investigated the effects of different concentrations of cyanobacteria, on the germination and seedling growth of keystone plant species used in dryland restoration. We hypothesised that the studied inoculant would improve germination and seedling growth rates, with specific effects associated with the inoculant's concentration and metabolomic profiles.MethodsWe bioprimed seeds of four native plant species, using a cyanobacterial inoculant with different proportions of Nostoc and Leptolyngbya at two different concentrations. We recorded germination, measured seedling growth, and determined the corrected vigour for each treatment and species. Metabolites produced by the cyanobacterial inoculant were assessed to identify plant growth hormones potentially driving any effects.ResultsThere was a clear positive effect on the total germination of Triodia epactia and Triodia wiseana, but negative impacts for Senna notabilis and Grevillea wickhamii. There were also positive effects on root growth, but only for T. epactia, with negative or neutral impacts on the root and shoot growth of other species tested. We detected phytohormones, salicylic acid and indole‐3‐acetic acid, that were produced by our cyanobacteria inoculant, which are strongly linked to positive effects in early plant growth stages, but also known to inhibit growth when in higher concentrations.ConclusionThe positive effects of the biopriming protocol used are not uniform and highlight the need to improve our understanding of the effects provided both from different consortia and the concentrations applied when inoculating. There is a very high value in improving restoration outcomes for native vegetation communities in arid and semi‐arid regions.

Drought attenuates plant responses to multiple rhizospheric pathogens: A study on a dry root rot-associated disease complex in chickpea fields

Root rots, a major factor contributing to yield loss in chickpea, often occur in disease complexes. Plant responses to disease complexes are not well elucidated. We sought a clear understanding of a newly identified disease complex in chickpea, dry root rot (DRR)–wilt disease complex, in the field and studied the effect of drought on the severity of the complex and its effect on yield. We compared plant responses to DRR alone and the disease complex under drought and determined the phytohormones involved in plant defense against the disease complex. We compared the effect of 14 environments (two soil moisture regimes at seven locations) on the incidence of the disease complex and yield loss in four chickpea genotypes. We also studied the effect of drought on rhizospheric and root endo-microbial communities by whole-genome and metagenomic sequencing and performed LC-MS-based phytohormonal profiling of chickpea roots. Soil moisture and plant genetic variability were critical in modulating disease incidence in field conditions. DRR was the primary driver of the disease complex under drought stress. Drought aggravated the yield reductions caused by the disease complex from 35% to 60% in susceptible genotypes. Further, drought-tolerant genotypes performed better under combined disease complex infection and drought stress and exhibited lesser yield losses than susceptible genotypes. Pathogenic fungi such as Macrophomina phaseolina, Fusarium oxysporum, and Rhizoctonia solani were enriched in the chickpea rhizosphere, and M. phaseolina was predominant in infected chickpea roots under both well-watered and drought conditions. Symbiotic associations of chickpea with nitrogen-fixing bacteria were suppressed under drought stress. Abscisic acid, jasmonic acid, and salicylic acid were found to be involved in defense against the disease complex across various stages of plant growth. We highlight the interaction between drought and soil pathogens affecting chickpea yield and suggest the utilization of drought-tolerant root traits as donor traits for improving combined stress resistance. We also demonstrate growth stage–dependent phytohormonal responses elicited by DRR and the DRR–wilt disease complex. The identification and management of root rots is essential, and our findings offer valuable new insights into a lesser-known but highly significant disease complex of chickpea. Manuscript data is available at Supplementary File S1. The soil microbe whole-genome and metagenome and root-microbe 16 S and ITS sequencing data are available at NCBI PRJNA871091 and PRJNA895851.

Woody Plant Diversity of Tropical Dry Deciduous Forest of Ranchi, Jharkhand

The study was conducted to determine the composition and diversity of three different growth stages of plant in tropical dry deciduous forest in Horhap under Mahilong Range, Ranchi during the year 2018- 2019. The entire area was divided into two sites based upon the physiographic factors. The simple random sampling procedure was followed with quadrates of 10×10 m2 for trees and saplings and 2×2 m2 quadrates for seedlings were taken. A total of 1430–1810 stems ha-1 in trees, 1080–1240 stems ha-1 in saplings and 45500–56500 stems ha-1 in seedlings were encountered. The total basal area was varied between 35.97 to 48.01 m2 ha-1 for trees, 4.67 to 5.42 m2 ha-1 for saplings and 3.78– 3.88 m2 ha-1 for seedlings. Shorea robusta showed highest value of IVI in tree sapling and seedling layers. Shannon index ranged from 2.43–2.97 for trees, 3.07–3.08 for saplings and 2.21–2.26 for seedlings. The concentration of dominance was 0.24–0.33 for trees, 0.19–0.21 for saplings and 0.37–0.4 for seedlings. Equitability ranged from 0.92–0.99 for trees, 1.0 for saplings and 0.84–0.86 for seedlings. Species richness ranged from 1.79–2.53 for trees, 2.11–2.43 for saplings and 1.19–1.21 for seedlings. However there is a need for ideal silvicultural operations and scientific approach-based management practice to retain the diversity ultimately a healthy forest ecosystem.

Effect of Soaking Tubers in Potassium Humate and Foliar Application of Nano-Calcium Fertilizer on some Growth Traits of Two Potato Cultivars

In the spring of 2022, researchers from the University of Mosul’s Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry conducted an experiment on a vegetable field. In this experiment, we looked at three variables: first, the effects of two different potato cultivars (Montreal and EL-Beida). For the second part, we soaked potatoes in a solution of potassium humate with a concentration of (0, 0.5, 1 g L-1). Therefore, the experiment had 18 treatments (2 3 3), with the third factor being Nano-calcium fertilizer with three concentrations of (0, 1.5, and 2.5 g L-1) applied to plants at three stages of plant growth: the first 20 days after full germination, the second and third stages, with a 20-day interval between addition and another. Cultivars were positioned in the primary plots, with the interaction between two additional variables located in sub-plots, as part of a factorial experiment inside a split-plot utilizing the Randomized Complete Block Design with three repetitions. Duncan’s multiple range test for comparing means was used to analyze the data at a 5% significance level. This leads to the following conclusion: Of the cultivars tested, the Montreal variety performed best when soaked in potassium humate at two different concentrations, increasing both leaf area and dry matter percentage in the vegetative development (0.5 and 1). both total chlorophyll content and leaf area were significantly increased by g.L-1. The best statistically significant data for plant height, number of aerial stems, and leafy area were obtained after spraying calcium Nano-fertilizer at two doses.