Search Results (11)

Solid state Cross-Polarization/Magic-Angle-Spinning ¹³C CP/MAS Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectra were obtained for cellulose and α-cellulose isolated from rapeseed stalks. This study provides the first characterization of the rapeseed stalk cellulose, revealing that native cellulose occurs as cellulose I allomorph, while α-cellulose exhibits distinct crystalline structures similar to those found in cellulose II. Additionally, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Energy-Dispersive X-ray Microanalysis (EDX) were employed to further investigate and unveil the structural properties of cellulose extracted from rapeseed stalks. These complementary techniques offered a more comprehensive understanding of the cellulose morphology, crystallinity, and chemical composition, providing valuable insights into the potential utilization of rapeseed stalks as a renewable biomass resource for various industrial applications. Full article

This study aimed to investigate the effects of planting density, irrigation volume, and nitrogen application on the resistance of rapeseed to lodging and yield and to provide technical support for achieving high yield and lodging resistance. We employed an L₉ (3⁴) orthogonal array, different planting densities, irrigation levels, and nitrogen applications to investigate their impact on rapeseed lodging and yield. The results showed the following: (1) Irrigation had the greatest effect on rapeseed lodging. This effect was most pronounced for the combination (A3B3C2), which exhibited the most severe lodging phenomenon (90%). Planting density had the greatest effect on yield, and the optimal combination was A2B2C3, which reached 3744 kg/hm² in 2023 and 3420 kg/hm² in 2024. (2) The agronomic practices increased the content of lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose, crude fiber, pectin, and soluble sugar fractions in the stalks by enhancing their flexural, puncture, and stress resistance. This led to the highest yield while reducing the rate of lodging. This emphasizes the importance of agricultural practices for rapeseed lodging and yield, providing critical insights into rapeseed cultivation in the Aksu region of Xinjiang. Full article

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of sorption of Basic Red 46 (BR46) dye by lignocellulosic biomass on the susceptibility of the sorbed waste to anaerobic decomposition by anaerobic digestion. The research material used in the experiment consisted of two types of biomass: stalks with leaves and inflorescences after mowing Canadian goldenrod (Solidago canadensis L.) (GB), and rapeseed hulls (RHs) after oil pressing. During the anaerobic decomposition of RHs, 732.30 NmL/gVS and 646.63 NmL/gVS of methane were obtained from the non-sorbed substrate and the plant material after dye sorption, respectively. Similarly, in the variants using Canadian goldenrod, the production was 220.70 NmL/gVS and 183.20 NmL/gVS. The GB sorbent sorbed 34% more BR46 dye than the RH sorbent, which is likely to have resulted in the accumulation of VFA and contributed to the partial inhibition of methane production. In light of the obtained results and the literature data, it is concluded that there is a possibility of effective use of dye sorption waste for methane production. Full article

Environmental pollution caused by increasing levels of heavy metals (HM) is a pressing problem throughout the world. Phytoremediation is considered a prospective remediation approach for HM-contaminated soil, but more research is required to enhance remediation efficiency. Biochar is a promising bio-residue material that can be used for the sustainable remediation of heavy metal-contaminated soil. In this study, a pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of biochar from different bio-substrates (digestate, waste of biodiesel production from rapeseed, corn stalk) on HM (Cr, Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) accumulation in buckwheat and white mustard cultivated in sewage sludge-contaminated soil. The total amount of HM in soil, plant above- and below-ground biomass, leachate, and bioconcentration and translocation factors were studied to explore the mechanism of how the different bio-substrates’ biochar affects HM accumulation in selected plants. It was observed that rapeseed biochar showed the greatest significant effect in reducing the HM content in soil, plant biomass, and lysimetric water. Meanwhile, the incorporation of digestate biochar significantly increased the HM content in all the soil-plant systems and affected the HM leaching from the soil. The concentration of HM in the leachate decreased from 2.5 to 10 times. It was determined that phytostabilization is the core process of HM accumulation in buckwheat, in contrast to mustard, where the mechanism is phytoextraction. This study confirmed that biochar addition enhances the phytoremediation efficiency in soil, which can potentially improve the development of ecofriendly in-situ bioremediation technology for HM-contaminated sites. Full article

The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate changes in fermentation quality, chemical composition, aerobic stability, anti-nutritional factors, and in situ disappearance characteristics of various protein-based total mixed rations. Soybean meal (control, non-fermented), fermented cottonseed meal (F-CSM), and fermented rapeseed meal (F-RSM) group were used to prepare the TMRs with corn, whole-plant corn silage, corn stalks, wheat bran, and premix. The test groups were inoculated at 50% moisture with Bacillus clausii and Saccharomyces cariocanus and stored aerobically for 60 h. The nylon-bag method was used to measure and study the rumen’s nutrient degradation. The pH of all TMRs after 48 h of air exposure was below 4.8, whereas that of the F-CSM and control and F-RSM groups increased to 5.0 and >7.0, respectively. After 8 h of aerobic exposure, the temperatures of all groups significantly increased, and 56 h later, they were 2 °C higher than the surrounding air. The lactic acid concentration in the F-CSM and F-RSM groups increased after 12 h of aerobic exposure and then decreased. The acetic acid concentrations in the fermented groups decreased significantly with the increasing air-exposure time. The yeast population of the TMRs increased to more than 8.0 log₁₀ CFU/g before 72 h of air exposure, followed by a decrease in the population (5.0 log₁₀ CFU/g). After fermentation, the free gossypol (FG) concentration in F-CSM decreased by half and did not change significantly during the air-exposure period. Fermentation with probiotics also reduced the F-RSM’s glucosinolate concentration, resulting in a more than 50% detoxification rate. Compared with the F-CSM and F-RSM groups, the effective degradation rates of nutrients in the control group were the lowest, and the dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), natural detergent fiber (NDF), and acid detergent fiber (ADF) all degraded effectively at rates of 28.4%, 34.5%, 27.8%, and 22.8%, respectively. Fermentation with B. clausii and S. cariocanus could improve the fermentation quality and nutrient composition, decrease the anti-nutritional factor, and increase nutrient degradation of the TMR with cottonseed meal or rapeseed meal as the main protein source, thus achieving detoxification. Full article

In order to reduce the silique shattering loss of the rapeseed mechanical harvesting process, based on the state of force on the silique during the rapeseed harvesting reel branch stage, Ningza 1810, Zhenyou 8, and Fengyou 306 were used as research objects, and the experimental research on the factors affecting rapeseed silique shattering was carried out using the swing impact method. The experimental analysis showed that rapeseed varieties, silique moisture content, silique growth position, collision material, impact speed, force position, and other factors had significant effects on silique shattering. The impact velocity was less than 1.5 m·s⁻¹, the difference in the effect of each factor on pod shattering was not significant, and it was not easy to shatter when the moisture content of the rapeseed silique was higher. The impact resistance of the front side of rapeseed was two to four times that of the bonding surface of rapeseed petals, the shattering rate of the top rapeseed silique was twice that of the bottom siliques, and when siliques were supported, they were more likely to shatter under external forces than when they were unsupported. The experimental study of the mechanical properties of rapeseed siliques was carried out using the impending fracture method; the experimental analyses showed that the support position and force position of the silique, the loading speed, and the growth position of the silique had a significant effect on the mechanical properties of the silique. The maximum cracking force was higher and the bending strength was stronger when the body of the silique was supported; the range of the maximum cracking force was 3.05 N to 4.16 N, and the bending strength range was 8.48 MPa to 11.57 MPa. The maximum cracking force and bending strength of the silique were stronger when the front side of the silique petal was pressurized than when the bonding surface of the petal was pressurized. Based on Pearson’s correlation and grey correlation analysis, the morphological characteristics of rapeseed siliques were ranked in order of their influence on the performance of siliques in terms of the angle between the silique and stalk, stalk diameter, petal thickness, beak length, silique thickness, silique width, and silique length. This study can be used as a reference for the design and optimization of the rapeseed harvesting reel branch mechanism and the selection of machine-harvestable rapeseed varieties. Full article

Timely harvest can effectively guarantee the yield and quality of rapeseed. In order to change the artificial experience model in the monitoring of rapeseed harvest period, an intelligent prediction method of harvest period based on deep learning network was proposed. Three varieties of field rapeseed in the harvest period were divided into 15 plots, and mobile phones were used to capture images of silique and stalk and manually measure the yield. The daily yield was divided into three grades of more than 90%, 70–90%, and less than 70%, according to the proportion of the maximum yield of varieties. The high-dimensional features of rapeseed canopy images were extracted using CNN networks in the HSV space that were significantly related to the maturity of the rapeseed, and the seven color features of rapeseed stalks were screened using random forests in the three color-spaces of RGB/HSV/YCbCr to form a canopy-stalk joint feature as input to the subsequent classifier. Considering that the rapeseed ripening process is a continuous time series, the LSTM network was used to establish the rapeseed yield classification prediction model. The experimental results showed that Inception v3 of the five CNN networks has the highest prediction accuracy. The recognition rate was 91% when only canopy image features were used, and the recognition rate using canopy-stalk combined features reached 96%. This method can accurately predict the yield level of rapeseed in the mature stage by only using a mobile phone to take a color image, and it is expected to become an intelligent tool for rapeseed production. Full article

Polysaccharides such as hemicellulose in rapeseed can be used as an abundant resource to develop biomass energy. In the present study, the hemicellulose content in the middle stalk and taproot of a rapeseed core population of 139 accessions in Guizhou, Hubei and Anhui provinces was determined. Genotyping of the core population was carried out by a 60 K single nucleotide polymorphism chip, and a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed to reveal the associated sites of hemicellulose content in rapeseed. The results of the GWAS showed that 28 SNPs (p ≤ 0.001) were significantly associated with hemicellulose content, and revealed that three sites—qHCs.C02 (contribution rate = 17.20%), qHCs.C05 (10.62%), and qHCs.C08 (8.80%)—are significantly associated with hemicellulose content in the stalk and three sites—qHCt.A09 (9.49%), qHCt.C05 (9.18%) and qHCt.C08 (13.10%)—are significantly associated with hemicellulose content in the taproot. Seven candidate genes associated with hemicellulose synthesis were identified in these major loci. Further RNA-seq analysis showed that two key differentially expressed genes (BnaC05G0092200ZS and BnaC05G0112400ZS) involved in hemicellulose synthesis were identified as having underlying QTL. This study excavated the key loci and candidate genes for regulating hemicellulose synthesis, providing a theoretical basis for developing rapeseed varieties with high hemicellulose content. At the same time, our results will be helpful in producing rapeseed cultivars with high lodging-resistance as well as highlighting the value of rapeseed as a resources for the bioenergy industry. Full article

Rapeseed is a significant oil-bearing cash crop. As a hybrid crop, Brassica napus L. produces a high yield, but it also has drawbacks such as a tall stalk, easy lodging, and is not suitable for mechanized production. To address these concerns, we created the DW871 rapeseed dwarf variety, which has a high yield, high oil content, and is suitable for mechanized production. To fully comprehend the dwarfing mechanism of DW871 and provide a theoretical foundation for future applications of the variety, we used transcriptome and proteome sequencing to identify genes and proteins associated with the dwarfing phenotype, using homologous high-stalk material HW871 as a control. By RNA-seq and iTRAQ, we discovered 8665 DEGs and 50 DAPs. Comprehensive transcription and translation level analysis revealed 25 correlations, 23 of which have the same expression trend, involving monolignin synthesis, pectin-lignin assembly, lignification, glucose modification, cell wall composition and architecture, cell morphology, vascular bundle development, and stalk tissue composition and architecture. As a result of these results, we can formulate a hypothesis about the DW871 dwarfing phenotype: plant hormone signal transduction, such as IAA and BRs, is linked to the formation of dwarf phenotypes, and metabolic pathways related to lignin synthesis, such as phenylpropane biosynthesis, also play a role. Our works will contribute to a better understanding of the genes and proteins involved in the rapeseed dwarf phenotype, and we will propose new insights into the dwarfing mechanism of Brassica napus L. Full article

Lignocelluloses residues from the post-harvest crop are receiving great scientific attention nowadays. Generally, the composite materials based on lignocelluloses waste present low density and weight, and better insulation properties compared with those petroleum-based. This study presents the results of experimental investigations regarding soundproofing capabilities for a composite material based on expanded perlite (EP) and natural polymers matrix (starch) reinforced with rapeseed stalks waste. The preparation of light-weight samples of composites was performed at room temperature through a mechanical mixing process of EP with starch polymers and rapeseed residues until optimum moisture content composition was obtained. Rapeseed stalks long fibers were avoided through the preliminary dry grinding procedure, and the composite was air-dried at room temperature for 48 h. Four samples of composites with different ratio of EP and rapeseed waste were considered. The evaluation of sample sound insulation characteristics was performed using the transfer-matrix method based on a four-microphone acoustic impedance tube. The paper concludes that the proposed composite provides comparative sound insulation capabilities to actual materials, with few particular aspects presented within the paper. Thus, these new materials are promising as a viable alternative to the actual large-scale utilization solutions in soundproofing applications. Full article

The development of composite materials from alternative raw materials, and the design of their properties for the intended purpose is an integral part of the rational management of raw materials and waste recycling. The submitted paper comprehensively assesses the physical and mechanical properties of sandwich composite material made from particles of winter rapeseed stalks, geopolymer and reinforcing basalt lattices. The developed composite panel is designed for use as a filler in constructions (building or building joinery). The observed properties were: bending characteristics, internal bonding, thermal conductivity coefficient and combustion characteristics. The results showed that the density of the particleboard has a significant effect on the resulting mechanical properties of the entire sandwich panel. On the contrary, the density of the second layer of the sandwich panel, geopolymer, did not have the same influence on its mechanical properties as the density of the particleboard. The basalt fibre reinforcement lattice positively affected the mechanical properties of sandwich composites only if it was sufficiently embedded in the structure of the particle board. All of the manufactured sandwich composites resisted flame for more than 13 min and the fire resistance was positively affected by the density of the geopolymer layer. Full article