Summary Plant growth is greatly influenced by the rhizosphere microbiome, which has been traditionally investigated from a bottom‐up perspective assessing how resources such as root exudates stimulate microbial growth and drive microbiome assembly. However, the importance of predation as top‐down force on the soil microbiome remains largely underestimated. Here, we planted wheat both in natural and in sterilized soils inoculated with the key microbiome predators – bacterivorous nematodes – to assess how plant performance responds to top‐down predation of the soil microbiome and specific plant growth‐promoting bacteria, namely phosphate‐solubilizing bacteria. We found that nematodes enriched certain groups (e.g. Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Firmicutes) and strengthened microbial connectance (e.g. Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria). These changes in microbiome structure were associated with phosphate‐solubilizing bacteria that facilitated phosphorus (P) cycling, leading to greater P uptake and biomass of wheat in both soils. However, the enhancement varied between nematode species, which may be attributed to the divergence of feeding behavior, as nematodes with weaker grazing intensity supported greater abundance of phosphate‐solubilizing bacteria and better plant performance compared with nematodes with greater grazing intensity. These results confirmed the ecological importance of soil nematodes for ecosystem functions via microbial co‐occurrence networks and suggested that the predation strength of nematodes determines the soil bacteria contribution to P biogeochemical cycling and plant growth.
Raw data of confocal microscope photos for analyzing the nuclear YFP signal intensity from the NPR1–SUMO3 or NPR1-SUMO3dGG interaction in the presence of SUMO1, NIb, or NIbsim2.
Efforts to sustain the global food system are suffering from the serious challenge of agricultural vulnerability to climate change.The current study is aimed at exploring the relation among yields of major food crops (wheat, rice and maize), climate change (temperature and rainfall), and technical progress (fertilizer and agricultural machinery) in Pakistan.In this regard, Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model is employed using time series data over a period to time 1989 to 2015.To determine the co-integration, bound F-test results validate equilibrium for a long-run and short-run between yields of major food crops, temperature, rainfall, fertilizer and agricultural machinery.The long-run estimates indicate that area and temperature have a significant yet found a negative impact on wheat yield.However, for wheat yield, the coefficient of fertilizer usage was positive and had a significant effect.For rice crop, the coefficient of rainfall was found negative and had a statistically significant effect.The study concludes that climatic factors have a moderately negative impact on the yields of major food crops.The technical instruments and machinery needed to be enhanced since it plays an important role in increasing the yields of the crops.To deal and mitigate the negative effects of climate change, the government needs to develop agricultural adaptation policies, improve irrigation facilities and introduce high yielding and disease-resistant varieties for these food crops to ensure food security in the country.
Water availability is a crucial environmental factor on grain number in wheat, which is one of the important yield-related traits. In this study, a diverse panel of 282 wheat accessions were phenotyped for grain number per spike (GNS), spikelet number (SN), basal sterile spikelet number (BSSN), and apical sterile spikelet number (ASSN) under different water regimes across two growing seasons. Correlation analysis showed that GNS is significantly correlated with both SN and BSSN under two water regimes. A total of 9,793 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers from the 15 K wheat array were employed for genome-wide association study (GWAS). A total of 77 significant marker-trait associations (MTAs) for investigated traits as well as 8 MTAs for drought tolerance coefficient (DTC) were identified using the mixed linear model. Favored alleles for breeding were inferred according to their estimated effects on GNS, based on the mean difference of varieties. Frequency changes in favored alleles associated with GNS in modern varieties indicate there is still considerable genetic potential for their use as markers for genome selection of GNS in wheat breeding.
Cai, C., Liu Y. & Huang, D., February 2017. A new species of Loricera Latreille from Eocene Baltic amber (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Loricerinae). Alcheringa xx, xxx-xxx. ISSN 0311-5518.Loricerinae is a small, distinctive subfamily of ground beetles, comprising only one genus Loricera Latreille. Only one fossil species is known to date. Here, we describe a new species, Loricera groehni sp. nov., belonging to Loricera based on a well-preserved adult in Eocene Baltic amber. Loricera groehni is tentatively attributed to the obsoleta group of the subgenus Loricera s.str. based on the relatively long antennomere 3 and punctate elytral interval 7. The discovery of a new species morphologically close to the extant Loricera species from western China and northern India suggests that the obsoleta group was more widespread in the Eocene than it is at present. The distribution pattern of Chinese Loricera is probably relictual. The fossil species, possessing conspicuous stiff setae on the basal antennomeres, was probably a specialized predator of springtails.Chenyang Cai [cycai@nigpas.ac.cn], Key Laboratory of Economic Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China; Ye Liu [liuye198282@126.com], Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China; Diying Huang [dyhuang@nigpas.ac.cn], State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China.
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