Sugarcane/peanut intercropping system improves the soil quality and increases the abundance of beneficial microbes.

Sugarcane/peanut intercropping is a highly efficient planting pattern in South China. However, the effects of sugarcane/peanut intercropping on soil quality need to be clarified. This study characterized the soil microbial community and the soil quality in sugarcane/peanut intercropping systems by the Illumina MiSeq platform. The results showed that the intercropping sugarcane (IS) system significantly increased the total N (TN), available N (AN), available P (AP), pH value, and acid phosphatase activity (ACP), but it had little effect on the total P (TP), total K (TK), available K (AK), organic matter (OM), urease activity, protease activity, catalase activity, and sucrase activity, compared with those in monocropping sugarcane (MS) and monocropping peanut (MP) systems. Both intercropping peanut (IP) and IS soils contained more bacteria and fungi than soils in the MP and MS fields, and the microbes identified were mainly Chloroflexi and Acidobacteria, respectively. Intercropping significantly increased the number of unique microbes in IS soils (68 genera), compared with the numbers in the IP (14), MS (17), and MP (16) systems. The redundancy analysis revealed that the abundances of culturable Acidobacteriaceae subgroup 1, nonculturable DA111, and culturable Acidobacteria were positively correlated with the measured soil quality in the intercropping system. Furthermore, the sugarcane/peanut intercropping significantly increased the economic benefit by 87.84% and 36.38%, as compared with that of the MP and MS, respectively. These results suggest that peanut and sugarcane intercropping increases the available N and P content by increasing the abundance of rhizospheric microbes, especially Acidobacteriaceae subgroup 1, DA111, and Acidobacteria.

Allergen composition analysis and allergenicity assessment of Chinese peanut cultivars.

Peanut (Arachis hypogaea) is among the eight major food allergens in the world. Several attempts have been made to decrease or eliminate the allergenicity of peanut. Systemic screening of thousands of peanut cultivars may identify peanut with low allergenicity. In this study, the allergen compositions of 53 Chinese peanut cultivars were characterized, and their allergenicity to sera IgE of Chinese patients and in a mouse model was assessed. Contents of total protein and allergens were quantified by SDS-PAGE and densitometry analysis on gel. Although the contents of allergens broadly varied among cultivars, they were related to one another. The IgE binding capacity of cultivars was tested by ELISA, and their allergenicity was further evaluated in a mouse model by oral sensitization. Results showed that the allergenicity of peanut was affected by allergen composition rather than a single allergen. Peanut cultivars with low allergenicity may contain more Ara h 3/4 (24 kDa), Ara h 2 and less Ara h 3/4 (43, 38, and 36 kDa), Ara h 6. Screening based on allergen composition would facilitate the identification of low-allergenic peanut.