Search Results (954)

Cultivation of perennial mixtures has emerged as an efficient way to produce a large amount of forage, supporting a sustainable livestock industry. The stability and sustainability of forage production is largely controlled by soil health. However, variation in soil health in perennial mixtures still needs further investigation under diverse conditions. Clarifying the relationships between soil physicochemical properties and microbial community is of great importance in better understanding soil health in perennial cultivated grasslands. The effects of mixing combination of alfalfa with timothy or smooth bromegrass on soil health were evaluated through comparing soil nutrients, enzyme activities, microbial community, and forage yield in alfalfa–grass mixtures and corresponding monocultures after seven years of establishment. Mixtures significantly increased forage dry matter yield by 61.39% and 1188.29% in the alfalfa–timothy mixture compared with alfalfa and timothy monocultures, respectively, and by 54.36% and 736.38% in the alfalfa–smooth bromegrass mixture compared with alfalfa and smooth bromegrass monocultures, respectively. Mixtures enhanced soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen and ammonium nitrogen contents, and urease activity, but reduced microbial alpha diversity. Beneficial taxa, such as Bacillus, Paenibacillus, and Mortierella, were enriched. Soil nitrate nitrogen was identified as a key driver influencing bacterial functional composition, while soil organic carbon, ammonium nitrogen, water, alkaline phosphatase, and sucrase exhibited significant effects on fungal functional composition. This study demonstrated that alfalfa–grass mixtures enhance system productivity by improving soil physicochemical properties and reconstructing soil microbial community. It provides a theoretical basis from the viewpoint of soil health for establishing and managing sustainable cultivated grasslands. Full article

Seed coating technology is regarded as one of the optimal strategies to promote sustainable agricultural development. It can effectively optimize the physical and physiological characteristics of seeds, improve germplasm quality, and enhance crop resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. Saline–alkali soils, characterized by high salinity and alkalinity, severely restrict plant growth and development. However, alfalfa, a high-quality leguminous forage, faces substantial challenges in large-scale popularization and cultivation in saline–alkali regions. At present, research on the application of microbial seed coating technology in alfalfa production under saline–alkali conditions remains insufficient, and relevant techniques and formulations still require optimization. Under field conditions, this study used a randomized complete block design with alfalfa as the research material. Different coating treatments combining plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), rhizobia, and extracellular polysaccharides (EPSs) were established to systematically investigate the effects of various coating formulations on alfalfa yield, nutritional quality, root system architecture, and rhizosphere soil properties. Meanwhile, high-throughput sequencing was employed to analyze shifts in rhizosphere soil microbial community structure. The results demonstrated that all microbial coating treatments exerted significant growth-promoting effects on alfalfa grown in saline–alkali soils, among which the T8 treatment (combined coating of rhizobia + PGPR + EPS) performed the best. This treatment not only significantly improved alfalfa yield and nutritional quality but also modified root system architecture and enhanced soil enzyme activities, soil nutrient contents, and soil physical structure, thereby creating a favorable growth environment for plants. Among the single microbial coating treatments, the combined coating of rhizobia and EPS outperformed other single treatments and exhibited favorable application potential. Sequencing results revealed that microbial seed coating treatments significantly increased the relative abundance of beneficial soil bacteria, decreased the abundance of harmful fungi, regulated rhizosphere microbial community structure, and consequently promoted improvements in alfalfa yield and quality by optimizing the plant growth microenvironment. The findings of this study provide important theoretical support for the popularization and application of microbial seed coating technology in crop cultivation in saline–alkali soils, offer a key reference for optimizing alfalfa-specific seed coating formulations for saline–alkali conditions, and are of great significance for promoting the efficient utilization of saline–alkali land resources and the development of ecological agriculture. Full article

This study used highland barley straw from the Tibetan Plateau to cultivate Pleurotus ostreatus, Pholiota nameko, Lentinula edodes, Pleurotus eryngii, and Hericium erinaceus, addressing straw waste, forage shortages, and underutilized barley straw. The results showed that highland barley straw was suitable for cultivating P. ostreatus and P. nameko, with P. ostreatus yielding significantly more. After fruiting, spent mushroom substrates (SMS) from both species had higher crude protein, fat, and ash, with reduced fiber content compared to raw straw. P. ostreatus SMS showed greater protein accumulation and fiber degradation, offering better feed quality than P. nameko. Fungal communities were more concentrated under P. ostreatus, while P. nameko had higher diversity. Multivariate analyses showed that fungal community structure correlated with protein, fat, and feed quality, while bacterial communities were linked to fiber content. Functional predictions indicated that P. ostreatus enriched carbohydrate and energy metabolism pathways, while P. nameko was more associated with biosynthetic functions. Overall, cultivating mushrooms on barley straw improved SMS feed quality, with P. ostreatus showing greater potential for feed use. Full article

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a major forage legume worldwide. Developing multifoliolate germplasm has been explored as a strategy to improve forage nutritive value and support more efficient forage livestock production. Here, we developed a multifoliolate population, SJ-ML, using CRISPR/Cas9-generated palmate-like pentafoliate mutants as donor parents. Molecular and phenotypic analyses indicated a stable inheritance of the edited alleles and the multifoliolate trait in SJ-ML. SJ-ML was evaluated under solar greenhouse and field conditions, with the recipient cultivar ‘Aohan’ as the greenhouse control and the commercial cultivars ‘Galaxie-Max’ and ‘GN5’ as field controls. SJ-ML showed a greater leaf area and a higher leaf-to-stem ratio, without reductions in yield or plant height. Nutritive analyses indicated that SJ-ML had a higher crude protein content, relative feed value, digestible dry matter, and dry matter intake, while acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber, and lignin were lower than those of the controls. Across regrowth stages, SJ-ML generally maintained a higher nutritive value than controls. These results support SJ-ML as a multifoliolate germplasm resource for improving nutritive value without a trade-off in agronomic traits, with potential relevance for sustainable agriculture through enhanced forage protein value and a reduced reliance on supplemental protein in some ration contexts. Full article

Red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) is a crop used as a forage that possesses an exceptional nutritional profile and digestibility. Unfortunately, this crop has low seed yield. Within the framework of the “Legume Generation” EC-funded project, our team aimed to investigate the role of foliar boron application on pollen viability and pollen tube development, and to assess its overall effect on red clover cultivation. Plants of six commercial diploid red clover cultivars, Nika 11, Sofia 52, AberClaret, Milvus, Global, and S123, were field-grown and boron-treated by spraying with the commercial product “Lebasol”, 11% active water-soluble boron. To reach our purpose, the transcript levels of genes related to flower, pollen, and pollen tube development and boron transport were measured by qRT-PCR; pollen grain viability and count were assessed microscopically. For this research, eight genes were selected: Auxin Response factor (TprARF17); TprAPETALA3; Walls are thin (TprWAT1 and TprWAT2); NIPs genes (Nodulin Intrinsic Protein) TprNIP4;2, TprNIP7;1, TprNIP5;1, and TprNIP6;1. Additionally, total nitrogen content in leaves detached from field-grown boron-treated and untreated plants was assessed and compared with the expression levels of two TprNIP5;1 and TprNIP6;1 transporters. The fresh and dry biomass weight from the first and second cuts was evaluated, as well as the seed collected from the red clover plants. Seed germination percentage and vigor of seedlings were examined in vitro for both boron-treated and untreated groups of two specific cultivars. Collected data confirm that foliar application of boron affects pollen viability and plant development of red clover in the cultivation conditions of South East Europe. Full article

Kernza^®, a perennial grain crop created from intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium), has the potential to mitigate soil degradation in semiarid croplands of the Northern High Plains. From 2021 to 2023, Kernza was grown for the first time in Wyoming and compared at the field scale to winter wheat–fallow and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) systems on a working farm. We measured grain and forage yields, root biomass, and soil health and microbiology in bulk and rhizosphere soils. The first growing season was dry, and Kernza produced substantial forage (2995 kg ha⁻¹) but insufficient grain for harvest. In the second year, Kernza produced 286 kg ha⁻¹ of grain, compared to 2172 kg ha⁻¹ for wheat. After two years, Kernza and wheat differed in rhizosphere—but not bulk—soil properties; Kernza rhizosphere organic matter, enzyme activities, and microbial communities were more similar to the rhizosphere of intermediate wheatgrass from CRP than to that of winter wheat. Kernza also produced nearly three times more root biomass and rhizosphere organic matter than winter wheat. Although Kernza remains a low-yielding crop in development, potential soil health benefits, a high market value, and the flexibility to harvest grain or forage may make it a viable option for this region. Full article

Common vetch (Vicia sativa L.) is a well-adapted winter legume in the Mediterranean area, used for both forage and grain production. Phosphorus (P) is a key nutrient influencing plant growth, development, yield, and nutritional quality. This study evaluated how phosphorus availability (0 vs. 60 kg ha⁻¹ P₂O₅) affected the growth, physiological characteristics, yield and environmental resource-use efficiency of two common vetch cultivars, BK-45 and Evinos, over two growing seasons (2020–2021 and 2021–2022). Phosphorus fertilization significantly enhanced vegetative growth, increasing plant height (37.5%) and leaf area index (57%) compared with the control. Improved physiological performance was also observed, as P application increased the chlorophyll content (SPAD) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), particularly during later growth stages. Evinos showed better growth and chlorophyll content around anthesis, whereas BK-45 retained more chlorophyll at maturity. These influences on canopy development and photosynthetic capacity translated into improved yield components, with increases in seeds per pod (40%) and pods per plant (33%), resulting in a higher seed yield (0.127 kg m⁻² vs. 0.06 kg m⁻² in the control). The dry biomass increased by 50%, with BK-45 showing the strongest response to P fertilization. P fertilization also improved water-use efficiency (WUE) and radiation-use efficiency (RUE), thereby promoting resource use and also the sustainability of the crop. These findings underscore that phosphorus fertilization plays a key role in improvement of common vetch seed yield, forage yield and the sustainability of the cultivars, with the interactions depending on the seasonal variation. Full article

Low forage productivity of natural grasslands remains a major limitation for sustainable livestock production in the forest–steppe zone of Northern Kazakhstan, highlighting the need for high-yield, locally adapted forage systems. This study evaluated nine forage agrophytocenoses, including perennial grasses and legume–grass mixtures, established in 2024 and assessed over two growing seasons on leached chernozem soils. Plant height, stand density, and biomass yields were quantified at optimal harvest stages, with statistical differences tested using one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s HSD (p < 0.05). Legume-containing agrophytocenoses consistently outperformed natural grass cover and grass monocultures in canopy development and biomass accumulation. The highest productivity was achieved in Lolium multiflorum + Medicago sativa (I+A), Medicago sativa + Festuca arundinacea (A+TF), and Onobrychis viciifolia + Festulolium + Phleum pratense (S+F+T), reaching up to ~19.66 t ha⁻¹ green biomass and ~5.24 t ha⁻¹ dry matter. In contrast, Agropyron cristatum monoculture yielded minimally during establishment, while ryegrass mixtures with annuals declined in the second year. Optimized legume–grass agrophytocenoses represent the most productive and agronomically reliable strategy to enhance forage supply and improve environmental resilience in Northern Kazakhstan. Full article

In agricultural automation, trajectory planning for fruit-picking robot arms must satisfy dynamic obstacle avoidance and real-time control constraints in complex orchards, forming a high-dimensional, constrained optimization problem. Due to strong nonlinearity and steep gradients, traditional planners often yield high-cost trajectories with unstable quality. This paper introduces a Reinforced Arctic Puffin Optimization (RAPO) algorithm for trajectory planning in high-dimensional, complex, constrained scenarios. RAPO improves Arctic Puffin Optimization (APO), which uses a two-stage foraging strategy but may suffer premature convergence, insufficient population diversity, and weak boundary handling. Dynamic fitness–distance balance (DFDB) adaptively coordinates exploration and exploitation. An elite-pool dynamic search strategy (DEPSS) combines t-distribution perturbation and Lévy flight to maintain diversity and enhance exploitation. A convex-lens opposition-learning boundary control method (CLOBC) improves out-of-bounds handling and reduces invalid search. Stochastic centroid opposition learning (SOBL) further suppresses premature convergence and expands coverage. On the CEC2017 benchmark (30/50/100 dimensions), RAPO outperforms nine algorithms in convergence speed and solution quality, verified by Wilcoxon and Friedman tests. In dense, narrow, and dynamic obstacle scenarios, RAPO achieves the lowest path cost, converges within 30 iterations, reduces variance, and generates smoother trajectories. This case study demonstrates RAPO’s robust mathematical performance, providing a robust and efficient framework for agricultural picking robots. Full article

Oat (Avena sativa L.), as an essential dual-purpose grain and forage crop, exhibits lodging resistance as a key factor directly impacting yield and quality. Therefore, breeding new oat varieties with lodging resistance is important to increase crop productivity and economic benefits. Using 130 oat germplasm as materials, 7 lodging resistance-related traits of oat, including plant height (PH), the fresh weight of single stem (FWSS), the length of basal second internode (LBSI), diameter of basal second internode (DBSI), wall thickness of basal second internode (WTBSI), stem breaking strength (SBS), and stalk puncture strength (SPS), were investigated in two experimental sites for one year. The results indicate that the seven lodging resistance-related traits exhibit a continuous distribution overall and generally follow a typical distribution pattern. A total of 36,928,068 high-quality Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) generated from whole-genome resequencing were used for genome-wide association study (GWAS). Based on the BLINK (Bayesian-information and Linkage-disequilibrium Iteratively Nested Keyway) model threshold (−log₁₀(P) ≥ 6), 379 quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs) associated with lodging resistance-related traits were identified. Among them, 38, 34, 78, 66, 55, 18, and 94 QTNs were associated with PH, FWSS, SBS, SPS, LBSI, DBSI, and WTBSI, respectively. Notably, three QTNs associated with FWSS and one QTN associated with SBS were stably detected across both environments, representing valuable markers for molecular breeding. From these loci, 54 candidate genes were annotated. Ranked by the number of candidate genes per trait, LBSI contained the highest number (14), followed by WTBSI (12), SPS (11), SBS (7), PH (5), and FWSS (5). Our findings provide critical support for analyzing the genetic mechanism of oat lodging resistance. Moreover, this study also offers a material and theoretical basis for the subsequent development of molecular markers and the breeding of new lodging-resistant oat varieties. Full article

Under the background of a supply gap expansion for high-quality forage grass in China and the high degree of dependence on foreign countries, it is necessary to clarify the best feeding and harvesting period for Cichorium intybus in the temperate continental monsoon climate zone of Northern China. To achieve this goal, this study systematically explored the agronomic traits and nutritional quality of Cichorium intybus during the nutritional period (June–July), flowering period (July–August), and fruiting period (August–September) in the Hohhot experimental base. We measured agronomic indexes, such as the plant height and basal stem, and nutrients, such as the dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP), and calculated the total digestible nutrients (TDN) and other feeding value indexes. The results showed that the plant height of Cichorium intybus increased from 54.60 cm in the vegetative stage to 204.10 cm in the fruiting stage, and the fresh grass yield increased from 8775.045 kg/hm² in the vegetative stage to 19,035.09 kg/hm² in the fruiting stage. The DM content of the stems and leaves was the lowest (stem: 8.73%; leaf: 14.04%), but the CP (leaf: 20.32%) and crude fat (EE, leaf: 5.02%) contents were the highest. The TDN was 66.78%, the relative feed value (RFV) was 255.61, the comprehensive membership function value was 0.54 for the stems and 0.60 for the leaves, and the feeding value was the best. WSC accumulation was significant during the flowering stage; the fiber content of the DM (stem: 20.52%; leaf: 20.31%) and the acid detergent fiber (ADF, stem: 42.43%) were the highest during this stage; and the CP decreased to 10.97%. A correlation analysis showed that the plant height and stem diameter were significantly positively correlated with the yield and fiber accumulation. This study confirmed that the nutritional period was the best harvest period for obtaining high-protein and high-digestibility forage, and the fruiting period was suitable for processing hay or silage. These results provide a scientific basis for the large-scale feed development of Cichorium intybus. Full article

Cenchrus fungigraminus is a high-yielding forage material, but due to its relatively high lignin content and low carbohydrate content, its current feed utilization primarily relies on silage methods. However, current research on C. fungigraminus silage faces challenges such as unclear fermentation strains and low fiber degradation efficiency of traditional commercial starters, which prevent them from meeting the requirements for C. fungigraminus silage production. So, this study aimed to evaluate the fiber degradation effects of Bacillus velezensis JC2 (isolated from C. fungigraminus), the commercial cellulose-degrading bacterium Bacillus velezensis (CBV), and Trichoderma longibrachiatum (CTL) on C. fungigraminus. The degradation performance of JC2 was assessed based on the lignocellulose content of silage samples, scanning electron microscopy observations, crystallinity, and changes in chemical bonds and functional groups. Furthermore, the three strains exhibiting the highest activities of CMCase, FPase, and β-glucosidase during the screening process were combined with enzyme preparations to develop a specialized silage additive suitable for C. fungigraminus. The results indicate that: (1) Compared to commercial cellulose-degrading strains, after 14 days of fermentation with JC2 treatment, the lignin in C. fungigraminus was effectively degraded. (2) The silage feed of C. fungigraminus treated with a mixture of JC2, JC3, and JC28 showed significant improvements in sensory evaluation, lactic acid content, and cellulose degradation rate. The pH value decreased rapidly (<4.2), while the LA content and the LA/AA ratio increased, and the NDF content decreased by 4.2% DM, effectively enhancing the quality of the silage feed. In summary, the Bacillus velezensis JC2 selected in this experiment effectively degraded the fiber structure of C. fungigraminus, improved the quality of the silage, and enhanced its nutritional value, demonstrating significant potential as a specialized silage additive for C. fungigraminus. Full article

The Late Cretaceous deposits of Morocco have yielded one of the richest and most diverse assemblages of marine reptiles in the world, with the mosasaurids representing the dominant group. Among the most common mosasaurs are members of the subfamily Halisaurinae. Halisaurines ranged in size from the relatively small Halisaurus, which reached 4–5 m in length, to the larger Pluridens serpentis, which may have reached 7.5 m in length. Here we report a new, giant species of Pluridens, Pluridens imelaki. The new Pluridens is characterized by a slender, rectangular snout, a T-shaped premaxilla–maxilla junction, interlocking premaxilla–maxilla joint, a prominent dorsal ridge on the premaxilla, an exceptionally long and slender mandible, a tooth count of ~25 dentary teeth, straight, triangular tooth crowns that are strongly bent back just above the tooth–root junction, a low coronoid process and a tall and slender retroarticular process. The skull is 1.25 m long, suggesting a body length of ~9 m or more, comparable in size to large predators such as Thalassotitan. Differences between P. imaleki and P. serpentis in the jaw and tooth structure, eye size and innervation of the rostrum, as well as overall size, suggest they had different foraging strategies and occupied distinct ecological niches. Pluridens imelaki reveals that Halisaurinae were not only more species-rich than previously recognized, but also exhibited greater diversity in tooth morphology, jaw shape, and body size than previously thought. Rather than simply being outcompeted by Mosasaurinae, the Halisaurinae staged a minor adaptive radiation in the Late Cretaceous and were important members of the ecosystem in low latitudes. Pluridens imelaki appears to have been exceptionally rare in the phosphates, being documented by only a single specimen among the many hundreds of mosasaur remains recovered over many years. This underscores how the species richness of the phosphates and other diverse assemblages is driven by rare taxa that are only revealed through extensive sampling. Full article

To address the seasonal forage shortage in the southern foothills of the Greater Khingan Mountains in Inner Mongolia, this study investigated the effects of intercropping forage oat with rapeseed on forage yield, nutritional quality, and resource utilization. The experiment was conducted in Arun Banner, Hulunbuir City during 2023–2024, where a second crop was established after a first cut of forage oat. Three planting patterns were compared: monoculture oat (AO), monoculture rapeseed (BR), and oat–rapeseed intercropping (CO‖CR). The results showed that the yield of the intercropping system was higher than monoculture oat but lower than monoculture rapeseed. However, the system demonstrated an advantage in land use efficiency, with a land equivalent ratio (LER) of 1.161. Compared to their respective monocultures, intercropping significantly increased the dry matter yield of rapeseed by 38.4%, whereas the effect on oat yield was limited. Intercropping significantly increased the crude protein and crude fat content in both crops compared to their monocultures but had no significant effect on soluble sugar content. Furthermore, intercropping significantly reduced the neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber content in both crops, resulting in higher relative feed value. Regarding water and nitrogen utilization, the water use efficiency of monoculture rapeseed was significantly higher than that of the intercropping system and monoculture oat by 20.7–21.5% and 90.2–113.2%. The total nitrogen accumulation in the intercropping system was significantly higher than in monoculture oat by 97.7–117.3% but showed no significant difference from monoculture rapeseed. In conclusion, adopting the oat–rapeseed intercropping pattern can significantly increase forage yield, improve nutritional quality, enhance water and nitrogen uptake and utilization efficiency, and achieve a coordinated improvement in high yield, quality, and efficiency for forage production in the southern foothills of the Greater Khingan Mountains. Full article

Medicago sativa is one of the world’s most important forage plants, possessing strong nitrogen-fixing and regrowth capabilities. Promoting its growth not only enhances stress resistance but also reduces the use of chemical fertilizers. The value of Centella asiatica is primarily reflected in its medicinal properties. Currently, endophytic fungal resources of C. asiatica are scarce, and their potential to promote medicinal components and the underlying mechanisms remains unclear. This study employed DNA extraction techniques to isolate and identify endophytic fungi from different parts of C. asiatica. We systematically analyzed the plant growth-promoting traits of endophytic fungi. After screening for the optimal strain and inoculating it into Medicago sativa, we elucidated the mechanisms underlying its growth-promoting effect using metabolomic sequencing. Research findings: A total of 18 endophytic fungal strains were isolated, belonging to 12 genera. Among them, five indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) strains were identified, with strain J4 demonstrating the highest IAA production (17.157 mg·L⁻¹). The J4 strain has iron-transporting carrier activity, while 15 strains exhibit nitrogen-fixing activity. Inoculation with the Plectosphaerella plurivora strain significantly increases M. sativa’s germination rate, fresh weight, dry weight, and plant height. Metabolomic analysis indicates that P. plurivora may promote anthocyanin and jasmonic acid accumulation by regulating pathways such as flavonoid biosynthesis and pyrimidine metabolism, thereby promoting growth. This study reveals the mechanism by which endophytic fungi enhance M. sativa growth at the metabolomic level. This study reveals the growth-promoting mechanism of endophytic fungi in M. sativa from a metabolomic perspective, providing a theoretical basis for increasing forage yield and offering new insights into sustainable agricultural development. Full article