Publications

Our study underscores that late sowing of winter wheat results in reduced yields, but appropriate cultivation management practices can effectively alleviate these adverse effects. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry.

Uneven precipitation during the growing season and frequent seasonal droughts on the Loess Plateau in Northwest China adversely affect crop production and water use efficiency. While plastic mulching (PM) has been used to alleviate water stress, few studies have examined the traits maize cultivars need to adapt to the altered water environment under PM and achieve high yields. A two-year field experiment was conducted to assess the root characteristics and aboveground growth traits of three widely used high-yielding maize cultivars—Zhengdan 958 (ZD), Huanong 138 (HN), Heboshi 122 (HBS)—under no mulching (NM) and PM conditions. Among the three cultivars, HBS had the highest root system indices—root length density (RLD), root surface area density (RSD), and root biomass—in the topsoil (0–40 cm), followed by ZD and HN under both NM and PM conditions. Under NM, HBS_NM treatment exhibited strong water absorption, improving photosynthesis and yield, making it suitable for drought conditions. Under PM, topsoil moisture increased significantly, with root system indices increasing by 22.5–36.1 % for RLD, 30.2–36.1 % for RSD, and 25.2–36.5 % for root biomass across the cultivars compared to NM. While ZD_PM did not have the highest root system indices under PM, it exhibited higher green leaf area index (4.5–7.5 %), chlorophyll content (2.8–8.6 %), and photosynthetic rate (6.0–14.5 %), resulting in the highest aboveground biomass and yield among the treatments. These findings suggest ZD is better adapted to the enhanced soil moisture under PM. Future research should focus on breeding genotypes that thrive under PM conditions, emphasizing traits such as larger leaf areas and higher photosynthetic rates to boost crop productivity in rainfed areas. • HBS cultivar has the largest root system and yield under uncovered conditions. • Plastic mulching (PM) increased soil moisture and promotes root growth. • ZD cultivar shows the highest yield and water productivity under PM conditions. • ZD cultivar has the highest green leaf area and photosynthetic capacity under PM.

Lemons (<i>Citrus limon</i> L.) are one of the most economically important and consumed fruit worldwide. The species is vulnerable to several postharvest decay pathogens, of which <i>Penicillium italicum</i> associated with blue mold disease is the most damaging. This study investigates the use of integrated management for blue mold of lemon using lipopeptides (LPs) extracted from endophytic <i>Bacillus</i> strains and resistance inducers. Two resistance inducers; salicylic acid (SA) and benzoic acid (BA) were tested at 2, 3, 4, and 5 mM concentrations against the development of blue mold on lemon fruit. The 5 mM SA treatment produced the lowest disease incidence (60%) and lesion diameter (1.4 cm) of blue mold on lemon fruit relative to the control. In an <i>in vitro</i> antagonism assay eighteen <i>Bacillus</i> strains were evaluated for their direct antifungal effect against <i>P. italicum</i>; CHGP13 and CHGP17 had the greatest inhibition zones of 2.30 and 2.14 cm. Lipopeptides (LPs) extracted from CHGP13 and CHGP17 also inhibited the colony growth of <i>P. italicum</i>. LPs extracted from CHGP13 and 5 mM SA were tested as single and combined treatments against disease incidence and lesion diameter of blue mold on lemon fruit. SA + CHGP13 + PI had the lowest disease incidence (30%) and lesion diameter (0.4 cm) of <i>P. italicum</i> on lemon fruit relative to the other treatments. Furthermore, the lemon fruit treated with SA + CHGP13 + PI had the highest PPO, POD, and PAL activities. The postharvest quality analysis of the lemon fruit including fruit firmness, total soluble solids, weight loss, titratable acidity, and ascorbic acid content revealed that the treatment SA + CHGP13 + PI had little effect on fruit quality compared to the healthy control. These findings indicate that <i>Bacillus</i> strains and resistance inducers can be used as components of integrated disease management for the blue mold of lemon.

The two germplasm lines (TA5088 and TA5638) could be used in wheat breeding programs to improve drought tolerance in wheat and understand the underlying molecular genetic mechanisms of root architecture and drought tolerance.

Trehalose (Tre) is a non-reducing disaccharide found in many species, including bacteria, fungi, invertebrates, yeast, and even plants, where it acts as an osmoprotectant, energy source, or protein/membrane protector. Despite relatively small amounts in plants, Tre concentrations increase following exposure to abiotic stressors. Trehalose-6-phosphate, a precursor of Tre, has regulatory functions in sugar metabolism, crop production, and stress tolerance. Among the various abiotic stresses, temperature extremes (heat or cold stress) are anticipated to impact crop production worldwide due to ongoing climate changes. Applying small amounts of Tre can mitigate negative physiological, metabolic, and molecular responses triggered by temperature stress. Trehalose also interacts with other sugars, osmoprotectants, amino acids, and phytohormones to regulate metabolic reprogramming that underpins temperature stress adaptation. Transformed plants expressing Tre-synthesis genes accumulate Tre and show improved stress tolerance. Genome-wide studies of Tre-encoding genes suggest roles in plant growth, development, and stress tolerance. This review discusses the functions of Tre in mitigating temperature stress—highlighting genetic engineering approaches to modify Tre metabolism, crosstalk, and interactions with other molecules—and in-silico approaches for identifying novel Tre-encoding genes in diverse plant species. We consider how this knowledge can be used to develop temperature-resilient crops essential for sustainable agriculture.

Sowing rate influences plant establishment, growth, seed yield, and the profitability of a crop. However, there is limited published information on the optimum sowing rate and plant density for faba bean in Australia. The response of the growth and seed yield of faba bean (cv. Fiord) to sowing rate (70-270 kg/ha) was examined in 19 field experiments conducted over 3 years in south-western Australia. The economic optimum plant density was estimated at each site by fitting an asymptotic model to the data and calculating the point where the cost of extra seed equalled the return from additional seed yield, allowing a 10% opportunity cost for the extra investment. On average across all sites and seasons, only 71% of the seeds sown emerged. Increasing sowing rate resulted in more dry matter production at first flower and at maturity, and at about half of the sites there was a small trend of reduced harvest index. In general, the mean number of seeds per pod (1·8-2·6) and mean seed weight (32-45 g/100 seeds) were unaffected by sowing rate. As sowing rate increased, the number of pods per plant (5-35) generally decreased, but this was compensated by the large plant population and more pods per unit area. The asymptotic models fitted to the seed yield data accounted for 15-81% of the variance. In 8 experiments, the models indicated that yield was continuing to increase substantially as sowing rate increased at the largest sowing rate treatment. The estimated optimum plant densities in these experiments were beyond the range of the data or had large standard errors and, hence, were excluded from any further consideration. Among the remaining 11 experiments, the estimated optimum plant densities varied from 31 to 63 plants/m2, with a mean of 45 plants/m2. This study demonstrates that targeting sowing rates greater than the current commercial practice for faba bean in southern Australia of 15-30 plants/m2 results in more yield and profit. Additional experiments are required with sowing rates in excess of 270 kg/ha to estimate accurately the optimum plant density for faba bean. Fungal diseases were either absent or controlled with fungicides in these experiments but the interactions between disease, time of sowing, and sowing rates also deserve further attention.

Salinity is a major constraint on crop growth and productivity, limiting sustainable agriculture in arid regions. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of salt-stress adaptation in canola is important to improve salt tolerance and promote its cultivation in saline lands. In this study, roots of control (no salt) and 200 mM NaCl-stressed canola seedlings were collected for RNA-Seq analysis and qRT-PCR validation. A total of 5385, 4268, and 7105 DEGs at the three time points of salt treatment compared to the control were identified, respectively. Several DEGs enriched in plant signal transduction pathways were highly expressed under salt stress, and these genes play an important role in signaling and scavenging of ROS in response to salt stress. Transcript expression in canola roots differed at different stages of salt stress, with the early-stages (2 h) of salt stress mainly related to oxidative stress response and sugar metabolism, while the late-stages (72 h) of salt stress mainly related to transmembrane movement, amino acid metabolism, glycerol metabolism and structural components of the cell wall. Several families of TFs that may be associated with salt tolerance were identified, including ERF, MYB, NAC, WRKY, and bHLH. These results provide a basis for further studies on the regulatory mechanisms of salt stress adaptation in canola.

Defensin genes form part of a plant's defense system and are activated when exposed to biotic or abiotic stress. They play a vital role in controlling many signaling pathways involved in various plant defense mechanisms. This research aimed to isolate and characterize novel defensin genes from selected medicinally important plants to explore their signaling mechanisms and defense associated roles for breeding. The DNA of <i>Albizia lebbeck</i> and <i>Moringa oleifera</i> was subjected to PCR amplification using gene-specific primers of defensin genes. Two novel defensin genes were isolated in each species, with sequence lengths of 300 bp in <i>A. lebbeck</i> and 150 bp in <i>M. oleifera</i>. <i>In-silico</i> analysis undertaken to retrieve and align their orthologous sequences revealed 100% similarity of the <i>A. lebbeck</i> gene with the <i>Musa acuminate</i> peroxidase P7-like gene and 85% similarity of the <i>M. oleifera</i> gene with the <i>Manihot esculenta</i> GDP dissociation inhibitor gene. The reliability, stability and physiochemical properties of homology models of these sequences was confirmed through online computational studies. This preliminary study confirmed the presence of novel genes with peroxidase P7 and Rab GDP dissociation inhibitor gene-like activity in <i>A. lebbeck</i> and <i>M. oleifera</i>, respectively, and their potential defense role in plants. Thus, the defensin genes of both species could be used in the synthesis of transgenic self-defensive plants with increased disease resistance and as potential candidates for improved crop production and thraputic formulation in the future.

Geographically dry lands (hyper-arid, arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid ecosystems) are demarcated by a water deficit with precipitation to potential evaporation ratio (also called the aridity index; AI) &lt; 0.65 (Hassan et al. 2005; Cima et al. 2015; Plaza et al. 2018). The AI of humid drylands is &gt; 0.65, arid areas are≥ 0.05 and &lt; 0.2, and semi-arid regions are≥ 0.2 and &lt; 0.5 (Abatzoglou et al. 2018; Figure 7.1).