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Purpose: Increasing crop yield to ensure global food security while decreasing carbon footprint (CF) is a challenge for sustainable agriculture. Although intercropping is suggested as a potential pathway in this regard, the balance between yield advantage and CF is unclear, especially under different nitrogen (N) application rates. Methods: A two-year field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of oat/sunflower intercropping and N application rates (0, 50, 100, and 150 kg ha−1) on yield advantages, N uptake, and CF. Results: The overall land equivalent ratio of oat/sunflower intercropping decreased from 1.33 to 1.07 with increasing N fertilization, which implies the potential N reduction to maintain crop yield. Without fertilization, the yield advantage of intercropping was 28–32% and 18–47% higher for oat and sunflower, respectively compared with corresponding monocultures. However, this yield advantage decreased with increasing fertilization, especially for oat. The border rows contributed more than one-third of the yield for intercropped oat without N fertilization, but their contribution decreased with increasing N fertilization. However, the contribution of border rows to intercropped sunflower yield was independent of N fertilization and remained around 69–75%. Overall, oat/sunflower relay strip intercropping maximizes the productivity by border row effects due to reduced N fertilization demand. Furthermore, intercropping decreased the CF relative to monoculture, especially without N fertilization. Conclusion: Intercropping can act as a win–win strategy for sustainable agriculture in Northwest China with higher productivity and lower carbon footprint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is limited knowledge about the effects of the severity and timing of drought stress on oat (Avena sativa) yield and the critical stages at which water management could be effectively implemented. A controlled study was conducted to identify a variety-specific critical stage, and to examine the physiological mechanisms of drought stress on photosynthesis (Pn) and yield formation in two contrasting genotypes. We found that compared with sufficient water supply (AW), grain yield was reduced by 36%, 69% and 44% in 'Shadow', and by 31%, 33% and 41% in 'Bia' under the severe stress imposed either at jointing, heading or post-anthesis stage. The grain/leaf area (LA) ratio increased by 18–32% and biomass distribution to stems + leaves decreased by 5.2–6.2% of Bia under moderate stress (MS) as compared to AW. This, along with the improved harvest index, led to a comparable yield. Under AW, Shadow displayed 13–16% larger LA duration (LAD) and had significantly higher Pn at the heading and post-anthesis stages, leading to 13% to 20% more spikelets panicle−1 and 13–21% greater groat yields than Bia. It can be concluded that (1) water stress at heading for Shadow and at post-anthesis for Bia was detrimental to grain yield through reduced LA and LAD with a reduced sink size, (2) under the MS, greater grain yield of the hulled Bia was attributable to a stronger sink activity, and (3) higher groat yield of the naked Shadow under AW was associated mainly with a higher source activity and more spikelets panicle−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bio-electrospraying (BES) is a technique for directly jetting living cells that has significant implications for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. However, the effect of BES on human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) remains unknown. Here, we show that an hASC suspension was successfully electrosprayed via a continuous, stable and linearly directed electrospray at 10 kV and at 3 ml/h. Morphological observations and Trypan Blue and CCK-8 assays revealed that the cells remained viable and proliferated at a rate similar to that of the controls (0 kV). However, at 20 kV, BES became unstable and cell viability was reduced. Moreover, hASCs electrosprayed at 10 kV retained their multilineage potential, successfully differentiating into chondrogenic, osteogenic and neurogenic lineages. Thus, BES does not significantly affect cell morphology, viability or multipotency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the published version of Fig. 2, images at 1 h 0 kV and 10 kV overlap with image 5 kV. The corrected version of Fig. 2 shows new images for 1 h—0 kV and 10 kV. The authors regret their oversight during figure assembly and would like to sincerely apologize for this error. This unintentional error has no bearing on the article's scientific conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]