Large-scale exploration of nitrogen utilization efficiency in Asia region for rice crop: Variation patterns and determinants.

Improving rice nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUtE) is imperative to maximizing future food productivity while minimizing environmental threats, yet knowledge of its variation and the underlying regulatory factors is still lacking. Here, we integrated a dataset with 21,571 data compiled by available data from peer-reviewed literature and a large-scale field survey to address this knowledge gap. The overall results revealed great variations in rice NUtE, which were mainly associated with human activities, climate conditions, and rice variety. Specifically, N supply rate, temperature, and precipitation were the foremost determinants of rice NUtE, and NUtE responses to climatic change differed among rice varieties. Further prediction highlighted the improved rice NUtE with the increasing latitude or longitude. The indica and hybrid rice exhibited higher NUtE in low latitude regions compared to japonica and inbred rice, respectively. Collectively, our results evaluated the primary drivers of rice NUtE variations and predicted the geographic responses of NUtE in different varieties. Linking the global variations in rice NUtE with environmental factors and geographic adaptability provides valuable agronomic and ecological insights into the regulation of rice NUtE.

Soil ionomic and enzymatic responses and correlations to fertilizations amended with and without organic fertilizer in long-term experiments.

To investigate potential interactions between the soil ionome and enzyme activities affected by fertilization with or without organic fertilizer, soil samples were collected from four long-term experiments over China. Irrespective of variable interactions, fertilization type was the major factor impacting soil ionomic behavior and accounted for 15.14% of the overall impact. Sampling site was the major factor affecting soil enzymatic profile and accounted for 34.25% of the overall impact. The availabilities of Pb, La, Ni, Co, Fe and Al were significantly higher in soil with only chemical fertilizer than the soil with organic amendment. Most of the soil enzyme activities, including α-glucosidase activity, were significantly activated by organic amendment. Network analysis between the soil ionome and the soil enzyme activities was more complex in the organic-amended soils than in the chemical fertilized soils, whereas the network analysis among the soil ions was less complex with organic amendment. Moreover, α-glucosidase was revealed to generally harbor more corrections with the soil ionic availabilities in network. We concluded that some of the soil enzymes activated by organic input can make the soil more vigorous and stable and that the α-glucosidase revealed by this analysis might help stabilize the soil ion availability.

Detection of the dynamic response of cucumber leaves to fusaric acid using thermal imaging.

Fusarium wilt is a major disease that causes severe losses in crop yield. Fusaric acid (FA), a non-specific fungal toxin produced by many Fusarium species, can accelerate the wilting of many crops. Unraveling the role of FA in the wilt process can enrich the understanding of the mechanism of pathogenesis. To investigate the dynamic process of the cucumber's response to FA, we used digital infrared thermography (DIT) to detect leaf temperature during the alternation of light and dark conditions in greenhouse hydroponic experiments. During FA treatment, we found that the leaf temperature of cucumber plants increased when stomata closure was induced by FA. Under the alternation of light and dark, FA-treated plants had a higher leaf temperature in the light and a lower temperature in the dark, when compared to untreated plants. To confirm the uncontrolled water loss was from damaged leaf cells, as a result of FA treatment, and not from the stomata, an experiment was conducted using a split-root system in which spatially separated cucumber roots were each supplied 0 ppm or 100 ppm of FA. In the split-root system, the low temperature areas of the leaves in the dark had a higher FA concentration and more severe membrane injury than the high temperature areas, demonstrating that FA is primary xylem transported. We concluded that membrane injury caused by FA led to non-stomata water loss and, ultimately, to wilting. Combining the response of the leaves under the light and dark conditions with the DIT employed in the present study permitted noninvasive monitoring and direct visualization of wilting development.