Search Results (1,618)

Straw removal is a method used to reduce cadmium (Cd) concentration in contaminated farmland. Experiments in Hunan Province tested different stubble heights (0, 15, 30, 45 cm) in three Cd-polluted paddy fields with different contamination levels. The results showed that lower stubble heights resulted in larger straw biomass and more Cd removed from the field, while the residual biomass and Cd returned to the field decreased accordingly. At stubble heights of 0, 15, 30, and 45 cm, the removed straw biomass accounted for 100%, 69.19%, 48.84%, and 28.17% of the total straw biomass, respectively. The corresponding Cd removal amounts were 12.89, 7.18, 4.18, and 1.83 g ha⁻¹, which constituted 100%, 54.06%, 29.85%, and 12.54% of the total Cd accumulation in straw for the season, respectively. According to the fitted curve, the biomass of returned and removed straw was equal at a stubble height of 31 cm, while at 23 cm, the Cd return and removal amounts were balanced. Rice varieties Huanghuazhan and Nongxiang 42 had better Cd removal but risked grain Cd exceeding limits. Since Cd concentration in straw determines removal efficiency, varieties with high straw Cd accumulation and low grain Cd are more suitable for remediation, rather than high-Cd-accumulating types. Full article

Fumonisins, primarily produced by Fusarium spp. and Aspergillus section nigri, are common contaminants in maize, cereal grains, and other processed and derived products, representing a significant risk to food safety and public health. This study presents the development and optimisation of a high-performance liquid chromatography method with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD) for the quantification of fumonisin B1 (FB1) and B2 (FB2) in various food matrices. In contrast with conventional protocols employing potassium phosphate buffers as the mobile phase, the proposed method utilises formic acid, offering enhanced compatibility with liquid chromatography systems. An automated online precolumn derivatisation with o-phthaldialdehyde (OPA) was optimised through experimental design and response surface methodology, enabling baseline separation of FB1 and FB2 derivatives in less than 20 min. The method demonstrated high sensitivity, with limits of detection of 0.006 µg mL⁻¹ for FB1 and 0.012 µg mL⁻¹ for FB2, and excellent repeatability (intraday RSD values of 0.85% and 0.83%, respectively). Several solid-phase extraction (SPE) strategies were evaluated to enhance sample clean-up using a variety of food samples, including dried figs, raisins, dates, corn, cornmeal, wheat flour, and rice. FumoniStar Inmunoaffinity columns were the only clean-up method that provided optimal recoveries (70–120%) across all tested food matrices. However, the MultiSep™ 211 column yielded good recoveries for both fumonisins in dried figs and raisins. Additionally, the C18 cartridge achieved acceptable recoveries for both fumonisins in dried figs and wheat flour. Full article

Achieving food security for a growing population under a changing climate is a key concern in Senegal, where agriculture employs 77% of the workforce with a majority of small farmers who rely on the production of crops for their subsistence and for income generation. Moreover, due to the underproductive soils and variable rainfall, Senegal depends on imports to fulfil 70% of its food requirements. In this research, we considered four crops that are crucial for Senegalese agriculture: millet, sorghum, peanuts and rice. We used crop simulation models to explore existing yield gaps and optimal agronomic practices. Improving the N fertilizer management in sorghum and millet resulted in 40–100% increases in grain yields. Improved N symbiotic fixation in peanuts resulted in yield increases of 20–100% with highest impact in wetter locations. Optimizing irrigation management and N fertilizer use resulted in 20–40% gains. The best N fertilizer strategy for sorghum and millet included applying low rates at sowing and in early development stages and adjusting a third application, considering the expected rainfall. Peanut yields of the variety 73-33 were higher than Fleur-11 in all locations, and irrigation showed no clear economic advantage. The best N fertilizer management for rainfed rice included applying 30 kg N/ha at sowing, 25 days after sowing (DAS) and 45 DAS. The best combination of sowing dates for a possible double rice crop depended on irrigation costs, with a first crop planted in January or March and a second crop planted in July. Our work confirmed results obtained in field research experiments and identified management practices for increasing productivity and reducing yield variability. Those crop management practices can be implemented in pilot experiments to further validate the results and to disseminate best management practices for farmers in Senegal. Full article

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the most important food crops in the world, ranking fourth after rice, maize, and wheat. Potatoes are exposed to biotic and abiotic environmental factors, which lead to economic losses and increase the possibility of food security threats in many countries. Traditional potato breeding faces several challenges, primarily due to its genetic complexity and the time-consuming nature of the process. Therefore, gene editing—CRISPR-Cas technology—allows for more precise and rapid changes to the potato genome, which can speed up the breeding process and lead to more effective varieties. In this review, we consider CRISPR-Cas technology as a potential tool for plant breeding strategies to ensure global food security. This review summarizes in detail current and potential technological breakthroughs that open new opportunities for the use of CRISPR-Cas technology for potato breeding, as well as for increasing resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses, and improving potato tuber quality. In addition, the review discusses the challenges and future perspectives of the CRISPR-Cas system in the prospects of the development of potato production and the regulation of gene-edited crops in different countries around the world. Full article

This study investigated the impact of nitrogen (N) fertilization on the yield and grain filling (GF) characteristics of two conventional japonica rice varieties with distinct panicle types: Yangchan 3501 (large-panicle: spikelets per panicle $> 150$) and Nangeng 46 (medium-panicle: $100 <$ spikelets per panicle $< 150$). Field experiments were conducted over two growing seasons (2022–2023) with three N application rates (T1: 225 kg ha⁻¹, T2: 270 kg ha⁻¹, T3: 315 kg ha⁻¹). Key measurements included tiller dynamics, panicle composition, GF parameters modeled using the Richards equation, and enzyme activities related to nitrogen metabolism (Fd-GOGAT, NR) and carbohydrate transport (α-amylase, SPS). Results showed that the yield increased with higher N levels for both varieties, with Yangchan 3501 achieving higher yields primarily through increased grains per panicle (15.65% rise under T3 vs. T1), while Nangeng 46 relied on panicle number (8.83% increase under T3 vs. T1). Nitrogen application enhanced Fd-GOGAT and NR activities, prolonging photosynthesis and improving GF rates, particularly in the inferior grains of Yangchan 3501 during middle and late stages. However, a high N reduced seed-setting rates and 1000-grain weight, with larger panicle types exhibiting a greater sensitivity to N-induced changes in branch structure and assimilate allocation. This study highlights that optimizing N management can improve nitrogen-metabolism enzyme activity and GF efficiency, especially in large-panicle rice, while medium-panicle types require higher N inputs to maximize panicle number. These findings provide actionable insights for achieving high yields and efficient nutrient use in conventional rice cultivation. Full article

Alterations in rice qualities during ageing are related to changes in starch molecular structures. However, if and how storage temperature determines starch structure–function relations remain unknown. This study applied four storage temperatures to investigate the effects of ageing on starch structure–function relations. A small but significant variation was observed for starch chain lengths, and this variation depended on both rice varieties and storage temperatures. Rice grains aged at higher temperatures had much higher peak (~25% larger) and setback viscosities (~50% larger) compared to those stored at lower temperatures. The digestion rate constant was lowered (~10%) most significantly at 40 °C. However, the maximum starch digested percentage increased after ageing. All rice varieties showed the lowest hardness at 4 °C and the highest hardness at 40 °C (~20% larger) after ageing. The changes in starch molecular structures were consistent with altered rice properties according to the established structure–property correlations. These results could improve our understanding of the complex rice ageing process. Full article

Cadmium (Cd) contamination in rice (Oryza sativa L.) poses serious health risks for human, necessitating effective mitigation strategies. This study investigated the effects of Cd stress on iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), and Cd accumulation and translocation in rice varieties with high (MY46) or low (ZS97B) Cd accumulation capacities grown in acidic and alkaline soils. Results demonstrated that Cd stress significantly inhibited plant growth, reducing plant height, shoot biomass, and grain yield in both soil types. Cd accumulation increased in roots, shoots, and grains, while Fe, Mn, and Zn concentrations decreased markedly. Molecular analysis revealed upregulation of metal transporter genes (OsIRT1, OsNRAMP1, OsNRAMP5) and the vacuolar sequestration gene (OsHMA3) in roots under Cd exposure. The translocation factor (TF) values of Mn and Zn from root to shoot were reduced in acidic soils, whereas Mn and Zn TFs exhibited an increasing trend in alkaline soils despite Cd exposure. Furthermore, correlation analyses indicated Mn and Zn play crucial roles in suppressing Cd accumulation in both acidic and alkaline soils. These findings provide critical insights for developing soil-specific strategies to reduce Cd accumulation in rice through micronutrient management. Full article

GOLDEN2-LIKEs (GLKs) are important transcription factors for the chloroplast development influencing photosynthesis, nutrition, senescence, and stress response in plants. Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is a highly photosynthetic plant; here, a GLK-homologues gene HaGLK was identified from the sunflower genome by bioinformatics. To analyze the bio-function of HaGLK, transgenic rice plants overexpressing HaGLK (HaGLK-OE) were constructed and characterized via phenotype. Compared to the wild-type control rice variety Zhonghua 11 (ZH11), the HaGLK-OE lines exhibited increased photosynthetic pigment contents, higher net photosynthetic rates, and enlarged chloroplast area; meanwhile, genes involved in both photosynthesis and chlorophyll biosynthesis were also significantly up-regulated. Significantly, the HaGLK-OE plants showed a 12–13% increase in yield per plant. Additionally, the HaGLK-OE plants were demonstrated to have improved salt and drought tolerance compared to the control ZH11. Our results indicated that the HaGLK gene could play multiple roles in photosynthesis and stress response in rice, underscoring its potential value for improving crop productivity and environmental adaptability in breeding. Full article

Hyperspectral imaging for seed vigor detection faces the challenges of handling high-dimensional spectral data, information loss after dimensionality reduction, and low feature differentiation between vigor levels. To address the above issues, this study proposes an improved dynamic optimize MDS (DO-MDS) dimensionality reduction algorithm based on multidimensional scaling transformation. DO-MDS better preserves key features between samples during dimensionality reduction. Secondly, a dual-stream spectral collaborative attention (DSCA) module is proposed. The DSCA module adopts a dual-modal fusion approach combining global feature capture and local feature enhancement, deepening the characterization capability of spectral features. This study selected commonly used rice seed varieties in Zhejiang Province and constructed three individual spectral datasets and a mixed dataset through aging, spectral acquisition, and germination experiments. The experiments involved using the DO-MDS processed datasets with a convolutional neural network embedded with the DSCA attention module, and the results demonstrate vigor discrimination accuracy rates of 93.85%, 93.4%, and 96.23% for the Chunyou 83, Zhongzao 39, and Zhongzu 53 datasets, respectively, achieving 94.8% for the mixed dataset. This study provides effective strategies for spectral dimensionality reduction in hyperspectral seed vigor detection and enhances the differentiation of spectral information for seeds with similar vigor levels. Full article

The value realization of ecological products is an important part of rural and agricultural development. As a significant force for protecting traditional agricultural systems and promoting rural revitalization, agricultural heritage systems (AHSs) have formed diverse value realization paths of ecological products in the process of dynamic protection and adaptive management. Through theoretical research, this article analyzed the characteristics of ecological products in AHS sites (EPAHSSs) and summarized the framework of value realization paths of EPAHSSs. Then, the Wannian Rice Culture System in China was selected as a case for conducting empirical research. The results showed that EPAHSSs exhibit obvious uniqueness in terms of climate environment, germplasm resources, farming and breeding models, and cultural heritage. The value realization paths of EPAHSSs mainly include industrial development support, such as the extension of agricultural industrial chains and the development of tourism, as well as fiscal transfer payments. The case analysis results indicated that Wannian County contains a rich variety of ecological products and developed a value realization pathway mainly based on the integration of industries and supplemented by fiscal transfer payments during the process of protection and development. However, further optimization is needed to promote the development of tourism and other paths. This study not only contributes to the sustainable development of the Wannian Rice Culture System, but the proposed framework is also applicable to other heritage systems and similar regions. Full article

The utilization of saline–alkali land for rice cultivation is critical for global food security. However, most existing studies on rice salt tolerance focus on the seedling stage, with limited insights into tolerance mechanisms during reproductive growth, particularly at the panicle initiation stage (PI). Leveraging precision salinity-control facilities, this study imposed four salt stress gradients (0, 3, 5, and 7‰) to dissect the differential response mechanisms of six rice varieties (YXYZ: Yuxiangyouzhan, JLY3261: Jingliangyou3261, SLY91: Shuangliangyou91, SLY138: Shuangliangyou138, HLYYHSM: Hualiangyouyuehesimiao, and SLY11:Shuangliangyou111) during PI. The results revealed that increasing salinity significantly reduced tiller number (13.14–68.04%), leaf area index (18.58–57.99%), canopy light interception rate (11.91–44.08%), and net photosynthetic rate (2.63–52.42%) (p < 0.001), accompanied by reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced membrane lipid peroxidation. Integrative analysis of field phenotypic and physiological indices revealed distinct adaptation strategies: JLY3261 rapidly activated antioxidant enzymes under 3‰ salinity, alleviating lipid peroxidation (no significant difference in H₂O₂ or malondialdehyde content compared to 0‰ salinity) and maintaining tillering and aboveground biomass. SLY91 tolerated 7‰ salinity via CAT/POD-mediated lipid peroxide degradation, with H₂O₂ and malondialdehyde contents increasing initially but decreasing with escalating stress. These findings highlight genotype-specific antioxidant strategies underlying salt-tolerance mechanisms and the critical need for integrating phenomics–physiological assessments at reproductive stages into salt-tolerance breeding pipelines. Full article

Late sowing and spring low temperatures have a great impact on the growth and maturation of wheat in the rice–wheat rotation region. In order to analyze the impacts of cold stress in February in early spring on yield formation and agronomic traits of wheat on different sowing dates, a controlled pot experiment was performed using the widely promoted and applied spring-type wheat variety Yangmai23 (YM23). The yield of wheat treated with late sowing date II (SDII, 21 November) and overly late sowing date III (SDIII, 9 December) were both lower than that of wheat sown on the suitable date I (SDI, 1 November). The yield of late-sown wheat decreased by 40.82% for SDII and by 66.77% for SDIII, compared with SDI, and these three treatments of wheat all grew under the natural conditions as the control treatments. The plant height, stem diameter of the internode below the ear, flag leaf length and area, and total awn length of the spike, as well as the spike length of late-sown wheat, were all significantly lower than those of wheat in SDI treatment. Early spring low temperatures exacerbated the decline in yield of wheat sown on different dates, to some extent. Despite showing higher net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, and transpiration rate in flag leaves of the SDIII treatment under low-temperature stress than those of the other treatments at anthesis, overly late sowing led to minimal leaf area, shorter plant height, fewer tillers, and smaller ears, ultimately resulting in the lowest yield. Our study suggested that additional focus and some regulation techniques are needed to be studied further to mitigate the combined negative impacts of late sowing and low-temperature stress in early spring on wheat production. Full article

Sheath blight (ShB), caused by the necrotrophic fungus Rhizoctonia solani (R. solani), poses severe threats to global rice production. Developing a resistant variety with an ShB-resistance gene is one of most efficient and economical approaches to control the disease. Here, we identified a highly conserved chloroplast-localized stem-loop-binding protein encoding gene (OsCSP41b), which shows great potential in developing an ShB-resistant variety. OsCSP41b-knockout mutants exhibit chlorotic leaves and increased ShB susceptibility, whereas OsCSP41b-overexpressing lines (CSP41b-OE) display significantly enhanced resistance to R. solani, as well as to drought, and salinity stresses. Notably, CSP41b-OE lines present a completely comparable grain yield to the wild type (WT). Transcriptomic analyses reveal that chloroplast transcripts and photosynthesis-associated genes maintain observably elevated stability in CSP41b-OE plants versus WT plants following R. solani infection, which probably accounts for the enhanced ShB resistance of CSP41b-OE. Our findings nominate the OsCSP41b gene as a promising molecular target for developing a rice variety with stronger resistance to both R. solani and multi-abiotic stresses. Full article

This study assessed the host plant selection behavior of female stalk-eyed flies (SEFs) or Diopsis apicalis, where a Y-tube olfactometer was used to compare SEF attraction to the odor of leaves from four rice varieties (ITA306, WAB56-104, CG14, and RAM55). Another step of the evaluation consisted of pairing leaf odors from two rice varieties. Also, potted plants of the tested varieties were displayed in a screened cage and submitted to female SEF selection. The results indicated that the odor produced by leaves from rice varieties CG14, WAB56-104, and ITA306 significantly attracted SEFs, at rates of 81%, 70%, and 97%, respectively, while SEF females were rarely attracted by the odor of leaves from the resistant rice variety RAM55, at a rate of 35%. The results suggested that the use of a Y-tube olfactometer was similar to the use of a screened cage. The resistance exhibited by rice variety CG14 against SEFs is related to an antibiosis interaction acting as bait, while that in RAM55 is an antixenosis one. Farmers can plant the traditional CG14 variety on the edge of rice fields to draw SEFs and poison their larvae. However, RAM55 can be inserted in an intercropping system to repel SEFs from laying eggs. The authors recommend CG14 and RAM55 as candidates for breeding to create resistant lines against SEF. Full article

The quality of rice, one of the most important food crops in the world, is directly related to people’s dietary experience and nutritional health. With the improvement in living standards, consumer requirements for the taste quality of rice are becoming increasingly strict. Japonica rice occupies an important position in rice production due to its rich genetic diversity and excellent agronomic characteristics. In this study, LJ433, JY653, LJ218, LJ177, LY66, and LX21, which are mainly popularized in northern China and have different taste values, were selected as the experimental subjects, and YJ219, which won the gold award in the third China high-quality rice variety taste quality evaluation, was taken as the control (CK). Low-field nuclear magnetic resonance and spectral analysis were adopted as the main detection techniques. The effects of free water (peak area increased by 13.24–86.68% when p < 0.05), bound water, appearance characteristics (such as chalkiness, which decreased by 18.48–86.48%), and chemical composition (amylose content decreased by 3.76–26.47%) on the taste value of rice were systematically analyzed, and a multi-dimensional “appearance–palatability–nutrition” evaluation system was constructed. The experimental results indicated that increasing the free water content, reducing the chalkiness and chemical component content could significantly improve the taste value of rice (p < 0.05). The results of this research provide a theoretical basis for breeding new high-yield and high-quality rice varieties and have guiding significance for the practice of rice planting and processing. Full article