Characterization of Fusarium species causing head blight of highland barley (qingke) in Tibet, China.

Most of the research on the characterization of Fusarium species focused on wheat, barley, rice, and maize in China. However, there has been limited research in highland barley (qingke). Recently, Fusarium head blight (FHB) of qingke was recently observed in Tibet, China, especially around the Brahmaputra River. To gain a better understanding of the pathogens involver, 201 Fusarium isolates were obtained from qingke samples in 2020. Among these isolates, the most abundant species was F. avenaceum (45.3 %), followed by F. equiseti (27.8 %), F. verticillioides (13.9 %), F. acuminatum (9.0 %), F. flocciferum (3.5 %), and F. proliferatum (0.5 %). The distribution of Fusarium species varied along the Brahmaputra River, with F. avenaceum being predominant in the midstream and downstream regions, while F. equiseti was more common in the upstream region. Chemical analyses of all the isolates revealed the production of different mycotoxins by various Fusarium species. It was found that enniatins were produced by F. acuminatum, F. avenaceum, and F. flocciferum, beauvericin (BEA) and fumonisins were produced F. proliferatum and F. verticillioides, and zearalenone (ZEN) and nivalenol (NIV) were produced by F. equiseti. Pathogenicity test showed that F. avenaceum was more aggressive in causing FHB compared to F. acuminatum, F. equiseti, and F. flocciferum. The disease severity, measured by the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC), was significantly positively (P < 0.01) correlated with the concentration of total toxins produced by each species. Furthermore, all the Fusarium strains which were used for pathogenicity test were susceptible to carbendazim, and the 50 % effective concentration (EC50) ranged from 0.406 µg/mL to 0.673 µg/mL with an average EC50 of 0.551 ± 0.012 µg/mL.

Preparation parameters of polyaniline/polyvinyl chloride flexible wires for electrical conductivity performance analysis based on orthogonal arrays.

A flexible polyaniline/polyvinyl chloride (PVC) polymer conductive wire was prepared using flexible PVC polymer as the substrate by the swelling - in-situ polymerization method, the line-shaped dents were pressed on the substrate by the thermodynamic pre-deformation treatment technology. Based on the orthogonal test method, the effects of five main influencing factors - swelling time (A), swelling temperature (B), oxidation temperature (C), oxidation time (D), and oxidant concentration (E) - on the conductivity of the prepared polyaniline/PVC conductive wire was investigated. The results of the orthogonal array testing were subjected to range analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA), and the influencing factors, in terms of significance, follow the order of swelling temperature, oxidation time, swelling time, oxidation temperature, and oxidant concentration, with the optimal factor-level combination being A2B2C2D2E2, which led to a desirable conductivity up to 1.19 × 10-1 S/cm. In addition, the influence of different conductive line size characteristics on the molecular structure, microstructure, and conductivity of polyaniline/PVC flexible conductive wire was further studied. On the microstructure, as the line width increases, the infrared absorption intensity ratio of the quinone ring and the benzene ring in the polyaniline/PVC conductive wires gradually approaches 1. The microstructure, as the line width of the polyaniline/PVC conductive wire increases, the formed polyaniline gradually changes from flakes and granules to fibrous strips and entangles with each other to form a spatial network structure. The conductivity of the wire increases with the increase of its width up to 1.48 × 10-1 S/cm.