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Hybrid pennisetum (Pennisetum americanum × P. purpureum) is a popular energy grass with great potential for biofuel production. The objective of this research was to understand the effects of various cultivation strategies on the yield of hybrid pennisetum when growing in saline soil. The effects of plastic mulching, planting density, organic amendment, and additional fertilizer application on the yield and other characteristics of hybrid pennisetum were investigated in a 2-yr field study conducted on the saline land of the Yellow River Delta, China. The results showed that mulching markedly increased the growth by reducing soil salinity and increasing soil moisture and soil temperature. Yield increased with plant density, and the highest yield (151.4 tons ha-1) was obtained with 27,778 plants ha-1. Plant growth also increased as organic amendment level increased from 0 to 1500 kg ha-1 and with addition of urea (applied when plant height was 80 cm and 150 cm). The abundance of culturable soil microorganisms was increased by the above cultivation measures. It can be concluded that suitable cultivation measures such as mulching, plant density, and application of organic and inorganic fertilizers, which were examined independently, greatly increased the biomass of hybrid pennisetum growing in a saline soil on the Yellow River Delta. The highest yield of hybrid pennisetum obtained was 175.3 tons ha-1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presymptomatic and accurate diagnosis of Mycosphaerella graminicola leaf blotch is desirable for the disease prediction and the timely application of fungicides. To develop a sensitive PCR assay, four specific primer pairs were designed. They were more specific than three known specific primer pairs. Three of them could detect as little as 0.5 pg M. graminicola DNA in a conventional PCR. A real-time PCR assay was applied for monitoring the disease progression in both inoculated and naturally infected wheat plants using the primer pair ST-rRNA F/R. In inoculated plants, M. graminicola DNA could be detected immediately after inoculation and a steady increase was detected before visible symptoms appeared at 8 days. The rapid growth period took place between 6 and 16 days postinoculation. In the field, the disease progression in the top three leaf layers was followed during the epidemic period. The results were significantly correlated to the disease indices ( R=0.8986) and also to the number of pycnidia per leaf ( R=0.9227). These suggest that the real-time PCR assay is a reliable approach for the presymptomatic and accurate detection of M. graminicola development in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of medium, isolate, temperature, light and pH on the formation and germination of Septoria tritici secondary conidia were tested. Of the six media tested, the malt–yeast extract agar was the best and generated 1.82 × 109 conidia/plate. The ten isolates tested showed different ability of conidia production. Darkness significantly reduced conidial formation and enhanced the transition of intermediates. The conidial germination and germ tube growth was strongly inhibited at 30°C. The suitable pH for conidial budding in malt–yeast broth (MYB) was between 5 and 9. At pH 2, 10 and 11, almost no new conidia were formed. The number of conidia reached 1.27 × 108 conidia/ml after 7 days in MYB, significantly more than that in potato dextrose broth, wheat leaf extract and H2O. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goals of this investigation were to identify and evaluate the use of polymorphic microsatellite marker (PMM) analysis for molecular typing of seventeen plant pathogenic fungi. Primers for di-, tri-, and tetranucleotide loci were designed directly from the recently published genomic sequence of Mycospherlla graminicola and Fusarium graminearum. A total of 20 new microsatellite primers as easy-to-score markers were developed. Microsatellite primer PCR (MP-PCR) yielded highly reproducible and complex genomic fingerprints, with several bands ranging in size from 200 to 3000 bp. Of the 20 primers tested, only (TAGG)4, (TCC)5 and (CA)7T produced a high number of polymorphic bands from either F. graminearum or F. culmorum. (ATG)5 led to successful amplifications in M. graminicola isolates collected from Germany. Percentage of polymorphic bands among Fusarium species ranged from 9 to 100%. Cluster analysis of banding patterns of the isolates corresponded well to the established species delineations based on morphology and other methods of phylogenetic analysis. The current research demonstrates that the newly designed microsatellite primers are reliable, sensitive and technically simple tools for assaying genetic variability in plant pathogenic fungi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Erythrocyte membrane is crucial to maintain the stability of erythrocyte structure. The membrane protein on the surface of erythrocyte membrane enables erythrocyte to have plasticity and pass through the microcirculation without being blocked or destroyed. Decreased deformability of erythrocyte membrane protein will lead to a series of pathological and physiological changes such as tissue and organ ischemia and hypoxia. Therefore, this research collected 30 cases of healthy blood donors, and explored erythrocyte stored at different times relating indicators including effective oxygen uptake (Q), P50, 2,3-DPG, Na+-k+-ATP. Erythrocyte morphology was observed by electron microscopy. Western blot and immunofluorescence assay were used to detect membrane protein EPB41, S1P, GLTP, SPPL2A expression changes of erythrocyte. To explore the effective carry oxygen capacity of erythrocyte at different storage time resulting in the expression change of erythrocyte surface membrane protein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]