Search

Cell culture is a cornerstone of in vitro biological research. Whilst glassware was once commonplace in tissue culture facilities, in recent decades laboratories have moved towards a heavy reliance on single use plastics for routine procedures. Single use plastics allow for accessible, sterile, and often affordable equipment that comes at a high environmental cost. We developed a glassware preparation and cleaning process that allowed the comparison of "traditional" plastic-heavy, and adapted "sustainable," cell culture practices, to empirically compare the sterility, viability, and proliferative capacity of cells cultured with differing techniques, by observing IL-6 production, morphology, and proliferation rate of cultured human pulmonary fibroblast cells. During which, we calculated the carbon footprint of traditional versus sustainable methods. We additionally endeavored to provide a realistic overview of the steps required to transition to more sustainable cell culture practices and make suggestions to ease the cost, labor, and time required to uptake similar practices in other laboratories. Cells cultured using reusable glassware did not show signs of contamination or stress compared to cells grown solely with plasticware, and glassware baked at 180°C for 120 min was sufficiently decontaminated and depyrogenated for culturing these cells. An individual researcher adopting the same methodology could reduce their carbon footprint by 105.92 kg of Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) whilst also saving money (£408.78) over a 10-year period. We predict that these benefits would be greater if more researchers were to uptake these adapted practices. We intend for this paper to reassure researchers that viable, sterile, and sustainable routine cell culture can be achieved with little upfront cost to the researcher, with the prospective benefit of greatly reducing the cost to the environment. We additionally hope that increased uptake, and thus demand of more sustainable practices, encourages suppliers, policy makers, and funding bodies to make sustainable practices more accessible to individual researchers and institutions worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological stoichiometry plays an important role in revealing the mechanisms underlying biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem functions. Abiotic factors have strong effects on N-P stoichiometry, yet the impact of plant community structure, especially in forests, has not been fully elucidated. We investigated 68 plots in larch forests in northern China to explore how plant community structure and environmental factors affect the N-P stoichiometry of soil and leaves. The results showed significant differences in soil and leaf N-P stoichiometry among the three larch forests, P concentration and N:P ratio of leaves were significantly related to those of soil. Except for larch forest type, N-P stoichiometry was also regulated by elevation, climatic factors, and community structure. With increasing age (from 25 to 236 years), soil N and N:P ratio significantly increased, especially in the topsoil. With increasing mean DBH, leaf N concentration and N:P ratio also increased, indicating a shift in nutrient limitations with stand growth. These findings provide evidence that plant community structure and environmental factors regulate soil and leaf N-P stoichiometry, which is critically important for understanding biogeochemical cycles and forest management undergoing natural succession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient acidic natural deep eutectic solvent (choline chloride-acetic acid, Chcl-AA) was screened out and subsequently combined with ultrasound treatment to recover seabuckthorn leaf phenolics (SLP), and the Plackett–Burman and Box-Behnken designs were used to optimize the process parameters. The optimal parameters were water content of NADES 30%, solvent to solid ratio 32 mL/g, extraction time 14 min, extraction temperature 40°C, ultrasonic power 400 W, and ultrasonic duty cycle 75%. The values of total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) under these conditions were 99.65 ± 2.49 milligram gallic acid equivalent per gram of dry weight (mg GAE/g DW) and 52.02 ± 1.21 milligram rutin equivalent per gram of dry weight (mg RE/g DW), respectively. Twenty-five phenolics were initially identified from SLP by ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS), among which hydrolyzable tannins, isorhamnetin derivatives, and quercetin derivatives are the main constituents. The SLP extract was further evaluated as to its ability to inhibit metabolic enzymes, i.e., α-glucosidase, α-amylase, pancreatic lipase, cholesterol esterase, xanthine oxidase, and angiotensin-converting enzyme. SLP exhibited significant inhibition of α-glucosidase (IC50 = 3.31 μg/mL), pancreatic lipase (IC50 = 57.62 μg/mL), and angiotensin-converting enzyme (IC50 = 63.13 μg/mL). Additionally, the compounds extracted using Chcl-AA exhibited superior bioactivity when compared to those using conventional green solvents, i.e., ethanol and water. These results provide a valuable technical buttress for the efficient extraction of SLP and their further application and research in functional foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, the nutritive composition and mineral content of the leaves of eight species of Acacia trees were evaluated to assess their potential for different purposes, such as food resources for ruminants and mineral sources in soils. Caco-2 cells were employed to assess cytotoxicity, revealing that the extracts exhibited no cytotoxic effects after cellular incubation, suggesting their suitability as an alternative animal feed. The leaves proved to be a promising source of protein and fiber, offering an alternative to meet the needs of ruminants. The protein content differed among species, ranging from 18.96% in A. cyclops to 14.04% in A. melanoxylon. Similarly, fiber content varied from 35.52% in A. melanoxylon to 16.43% in A. cyclops. The species displayed moderate to high levels of minerals, particularly concentrations of Ca, P, and K. These values varied among species, ranging from 8452.90 to 28,465.31 mg/kg DM for Ca, 309.61 to 1293.82 mg/kg DM for P, and 5557.24 to 11,475.85 mg/kg DM for K, respectively. Each species displayed a distinct profile regarding the analyzed parameters, suggesting varied potential for their respective use. Additionally, vibrational spectroscopy analysis proved to be a highly valuable and dependable method for distinguishing between species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We monitored leaf production in seedlings, trunkless juvenile, immature, and mature male and female plants of the dioecious palm, Lodoicea maldivica, and studied how internode length changed with trunk height. The fieldwork was conducted in closed forest on Praslin Island and degraded forest on Curieuse Island. Data on numbers of leaves produced and rates of leaf production were used to estimate plant age.On Praslin, the interval between successive leaves increased from 0.47/0.52 years in male/female plants to 4.2 years in seedlings, and on Curieuse from 0.41/0.49 to 2.3 years. Estimated leaf lifespan was 6.4–6.8 years in mature palms and much longer in seedlings and juveniles. On Praslin, internode length increased from the base of the trunk to a mean of 14 cm at leaf 21, before declining to 2.75 cm above leaf 100. Mean internode length of the smaller palms on Curieuse was 1.9 cm and varied little with height.Plants at the same development stage varied widely in age. On Praslin, median time to maturity was 77 (range: 32–209) and on Curieuse 83 (31–191) years. The tallest palms on Praslin (28.4 m trunk height) and Curieuse (8 m) were estimated at 442 and 232 years old, respectively.The ageing method was used to interpret height data of different populations. All showed a marked decline in regeneration in the 19th or early 20th centuries, probably caused by fires. We conclude that slow growth makes this species very vulnerable to disturbance, especially from fire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Plant litter decomposition is a crucial pathway of the global carbon (C) cycle, and controls the net primary productivity in terrestrial ecosystems. Our understanding of litter decomposition is primarily based on decay patterns observed for leaf litter tissues. The distal shoot systems (leaves and the first few orders of twigs) vary vastly in function and tissue chemistry and both decomposition patterns and controlling factors of these multi-type litter complexes are poorly understood. Methods: We followed decomposition of leaf litter and the first three orders of twigs across 10 temperate tree species over 2 years in Northeast China. Results: Eight species showed slower decomposition rates in twigs than leaf litter, and almost all species showed that decomposition rates decrease from first- to third-order twigs. The decomposition of twigs and leaf litter in 10 tree species were not coordinated. Most importantly, in contrast to leaf litter, the variation in twigs decomposition cannot be predicted by the commonly used parameters like N contents, but is predicted by initial concentrations of Mg and cellulose plus lignin/P ratio in twig tissues. Conclusions: We conclude that there were significant differences in decomposition rates among the tree distal shoot systems. Leaf litter decomposition does not mirror twigs decomposition, and variation in their decomposition rates was driven by two different subset of litter traits, at least in the ten species we studied. Additionally, the heterogeneity within the tree distal shoot systems could lead to differences in their contribution to soil in term of carbon dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaf respiratory carbon loss decreases independent of temperature as the night progresses. Detailed nighttime measurements needed to quantify cumulative respiratory carbon loss at night are challenging under both lab and field conditions. We provide a simple yet accurate approach to represent variation in nighttime temperature‐independent leaf respiratory CO2 efflux in environments with both stable and fluctuating temperatures, which requires no detailed measurements throughout the night. We demonstrate that the inter‐ and intraspecific variation in the cumulative leaf respiratory CO2 efflux at constant temperature, at any length of night, scales linearly with the inter‐ and intraspecific variation in initial measurement of leaf respiratory CO2 efflux at the same temperature at the beginning of the night. This approach informs large‐scale predictions of cumulative leaf respiratory CO2 efflux, which is needed to understand plant carbon economy in global change studies as well as in global modeling and eddy covariance monitoring of the land–atmosphere exchange of CO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gamba grass (Andropogon gayanus Kunth) is a tussock-forming forage species adapted to acid soils of Brazilian savannas and cultivated for grazing pastures. Four decades since its release, Planaltina prevails as the most commercialized cultivar of the species, even though the new cultivar BRS Sarandi could be a better alternative for Gamba-grass-based farms by presenting a greater leaf:stem ratio. The objective of this study was to evaluate the average daily live weight gain (ADG) of Nellore bulls (Bos indicus) for two Gamba grass cultivars—Planaltina and Sarandi. The experiment was conducted in Planaltina, Federal District, Brazil, for 3 years, namely 2018, 2018–2019, and 2020. The experimental design was a completely randomized block design with two treatments and three replicates, each one continuously stocked at three stocking rates (SR)—1.3, 2.6, and 4 young bulls/ha. Canopy height (CH), forage mass (FM), plant-part proportion (green leaf, stem, and dead material), and nutritive value were evaluated. In 2018, mean ADG for Sarandi pastures was greater (0.690 kg/bull/d) than that of Planaltina (0.490 kg/bull/d) (p < 0.10). In the subsequent year (2018–2019), there was no effect of cultivar (p > 0.10), while in 2020 the ADG was again affected by cultivar (p < 0.10), confirming the advantage of Sarandi (0.790 kg/bull/d) over Planaltina (0.650 kg/bull/d). In 2018 and 2020, the percentage of stems for Sarandi was about 3–6 pp less than for Planaltina (p < 0.10). As well as for stems, Sarandi pastures presented a shorter CH in 2028 and 2020 (6–7%) (p < 0.10). The positive high correlation of leaf:stem ratio with ADG (r = 0.70) probably predisposed the superiority of Sarandi over Planaltina. The distinguishing plant-part composition of Sarandi canopy promotes increasing weight gain of beef cattle when compared to cv. Planaltina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In plants, leaves are the primary source of sunlight, and the production of photosynthetic materials. Estimating the rate of yield reduction due to leaf loss plays an important role in farm management. This research aimed to achieve the highest possible crop yield and quality while also utilizing pruned leaves for animal feed. To investigate the optimal timing for leaf pruning at different weeks of vegetative growth on the morphological, and physiological characteristics of sugar beet over the years 2022, and 2023 growing seasons in Eskişehir, Türkiye. This study included treatment of ten pruning times (PT): July 20, and 27; August 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31; September 7, and 14; and October 25 (control treatment and no pruning). The results showed the pruning treatments had a significant effect on morphological, and physiological characteristics in both years. The highest root yields were observed at the later pruning times, particularly at PT10 in both the years, with yields of 104.31 tons ha−1 in 2022 and 136.74 tons ha−1 in 2023. Other notable pruning times included PT6 and PT5, which also showed substantial root yields. Sugar content was higher during the earlier pruning times. The peak sugar contents were found at PT1 in both years, with 17.17% in 2022 and 13.79% in 2023. For leaves, the dry matter content was highest at late pruning times (PT8–PT10). PT10 showed the highest dry matter contents. Crude protein and crude ash contents remained relatively constant at different pruning times, but considerable values were observed from PT1 to PT8, contributing to the overall nutritional value of the leaves. The highest NDF and DMD contents were noted at late pruning times (PT7–PT10) in both years. Combining these findings, it was concluded that PT6 to PT8 were the most favorable pruning times, balancing high root yield, medium to high sugar content, and high nutritional values of leaves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data on food and feeding activities are crucial for a deep understanding of monkey's behavioral responses and adjustment to a particular habitat. The study aimed to find the food plant species, preferred parts, and food composition from May 2022 to April 2023 in three altitudinal varied habitats- Ramdhuni, Dharan, and Dhankuta of eastern Nepal. One troop of Rhesus monkeys was selected in each habitat, and a total of 2754 hours was spent observing the feeding behavior. Data were collected using the focal animal sampling method. There was a decrease in the occupancy of tree food species with an increase in the height of the habitat by 60.63%>51.02%>42.62%. There was a variation in the availability of food items with the changes of season in Ramdhuni, and there was no significant difference between Dharan and Dhankuta. A significant relation of food composition according to season change was found. The monkey preferred mostly fruits in all habitats. The most selected plants by monkeys were also analyzed. The number of parts of the plant eaten and time spent were well correlated except for the herbs in Dhankuta. In most cases, the availability of food items and their occupancy in food composition were positively correlated. Our results suggest planting plants in forests and bare areas to reduce human-monkey conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Henan Agricultural Sciences is the property of Editorial Board of Journal of Henan Agricultural Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The leaf is not only the main site of photosynthesis, but also an important organ reflecting plant salt tolerance. Discovery of salt-stress-responding genes in the leaf is of great significance for the molecular improvement of salt tolerance in wheat varieties. In this study, transcriptome sequencing was conducted on the leaves of salt-tolerant wheat germplasm CH7034 seedlings at 0, 1, 6, 24, and 48 h after NaCl treatment. Based on weighted gene correlation network analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) under salt stress, 12 co-expression modules were obtained, of which, 9 modules containing 4029 DEGs were related to the salt stress time-course. These DEGs were submitted to the Wheat Union database, and a total of 904,588 SNPs were retrieved from 114 wheat germplasms, distributed on 21 wheat chromosomes. Using the R language package and GAPIT program, association analysis was performed between 904,588 SNPs and leaf salt injury index of 114 wheat germplasms. The results showed that 30 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 15 DEGs were associated with salt tolerance. Then, nine candidate genes, including four genes (TaBAM, TaPGDH, TaGluTR, and TaAAP) encoding enzymes as well as five genes (TaB12D, TaS40, TaPPR, TaJAZ, and TaWRKY) encoding functional proteins, were identified by converting salt tolerance-related SNPs into Kompetitive Allele-Specifc PCR (KASP) markers for validation. Finally, interaction network prediction was performed on TaBAM and TaAAP, both belonging to the Turquoise module. Our results will contribute to a further understanding of the salt stress response mechanism in plant leaves and provide candidate genes and molecular markers for improving salt-tolerant wheat varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nitrogen content of apple leaves and jujube leaves is an important index to judge the growth and development of apple trees and jujube trees to a certain extent. The prediction performance of the two samples was compared between different models for leaf nitrogen content, respectively. The near-infrared absorption spectra of 287 apple leaf samples and 192 jujube leaf samples were collected. After eliminating the outliers by Mahalanobis distance method, the remaining spectral data were processed by six different preprocessing methods. BP neural network (BP), random forest regression (RF), least partial squares (PLS), K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN), and support vector regression (SVR) were compared to establish prediction models of nitrogen content in apple leaves and jujube leaves. The results showed that the determination coefficient (R2), root mean square error (RMSE) and residual prediction deviation (RPD) of the models established by different combined pretreatment methods were compared among the five methods. Compared with the performance of the other four models, the modeling method of SG + SD + CARS + RF was suitable for the prediction of nitrogen content in apple leaves, and its modeling set R2 was 0.85408, RMSE was 0.082188, and RPD was 2.5864. The validation set R2 is 0.75527, RMSE is 0.099028, RPD is 2.1956. The modeling method of FD + CARS + PLS was suitable for the prediction of nitrogen content in jujube leaves. The modeling set R2 was 0.7954, RMSE was 0.14558, and RPD was 2.4264; the validation set R2 is 0.81348, RMSE is 0.089217, and RPD is 2.4552.In the prediction modeling of apple leaf nitrogen content in the characteristic band, the model quality of RF was better than the other four prediction models. The model quality of PLS in predictive modeling of nitrogen content of jujube leaves in characteristic bands is superior to the other four predictive models, These results provide a reference for the use of near-infrared spectroscopy to determine whether apple trees and jujube trees are deficient in nutrients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Sago palm (Metroxylon sagu Rottb.) is one of the most important economic crops abundantly found in Mukah, Sarawak, Malaysia. The robustness of the palm triggered the Sarawak government's selection as one of the state's commodity crops, with the opening of several sago palm plantations. However, stunted (non-trunking) palms were reported in several sago palm plantations despite attaining a maturity period of more than ten years after cultivation. Research targeting this problem has been conducted in various fields, yet information on molecular mechanisms is still scarce. This study aimed to determine the genes responsible for sago palm's normal phenotype (trunking) by attaining leaf transcriptomes from samples of all trunking sago palms from different sago palm plantations. Data description: The conventional CTAB method was employed in the present investigation to extract total RNA from leaf tissues. Transcriptome sequencing was conducted on the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 platform. Differential expression analysis was performed using the DESeq2 package. A total of 6,119 differentially expressed genes, comprising 4,384 downregulated and 1,735 upregulated genes, were expressed in all three sago palm datasets. The datasets provide insights into the commonly expressed genes among trunking sago palms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaves are the largest and more sensitive vegetative organs exposed to external environmental conditions. In order to investigate the effects of habitat aridification on the leaf anatomical structure of wetland plants, Carex moorcroftii leaf plots were set up along the gradient of habitat aridification, and the response of leaf anatomical structure to habitat aridification was analyzed in this study. The results were as follows: (1) The epidermal cells, bulliform cells and air cavity area on the abaxial surface of leaf tip and leaf base, leaf thickness and mechanical tissue thickness at leaf base were significantly positively correlated with soil volumetric moisture content (R²=0.06-0.34, P<0.01); the paraxial cuticle thickness, cell area, number of vascular bundles in parts of leaf tip, leaf middle and leaf base, and diameter of vascular bundle in leaf middle were significantly negatively correlated with soil volumetric moisture content (R²=0.08-0.53, P<0.01) . (2) The anatomical structure of C. moorcroftii leaf had great plasticity (0.53-0.94) and variability (18%-63%), and bulliform cells, air cavities, and paraxial epidermal cells had the greatest plasticity and variability, and the plasticity index and the coefficient of variation of leaf base anatomical structure were significantly higher than that of leaf tip and leaf middle (P<0.05) . When the habitat was aridified, C. moorcroftii leaf adapt to the arid habitat by thickening the cuticle on the paraxial surface, increasing the epidermal cell area, decreasing the air cavity area, and differentiating middle cells, and mainly adopted protective and frugal strategies to adapt to the arid habitat. The results of this study are helpful to reveal the response strategies of C. moorcroftii leaf anatomical structure to arid habitat, and provide theoretical reference for protection and vegetation restoration of alpine meadow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing the yield potential of wheat, as the most important grain product in the world, is undoubtedly important in solving the consequences of world hunger. The aim of this study was to identify the genomic regions controlling traits related to grains (grain length, grain width, and grain weight per spike) and leaves (flag leaf length, flag leaf width, leaf number, second leaf length, and second leaf width). This study involved a mapping population consisting of 120 recombinant inbred lines of the F8 generation of bread wheat resulting from a cross of Kohdasht (KHD) and Gonbad (GND) cultivars during and phenotyped for 2 years (2019 and 2020). The experiment was performed as an alpha lattice design. Genetic linkage map was provided using 521 polymorphic alleles of SSR (423 alleles), CBDP (21 bands), ISJ (58 bands), and SCoT (19 bands) markers. The length of the map was 3167.9 cM with an average distance of 1.6 cM between adjacent markers. In total, for 2 years, 10 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were identified on chromosomes 1A, 1B, 3B, 3D, 4D, and 7D for 3 traits related to grain. Four QTLs explained 15% phenotypic variance and were reported as large-effect QTLs for grain length traits. Detected three and four large-effect QTLs were for leaf-related traits in 2019 and 2020, respectively. In 2019, two QTLs, qFLW-1B (flag leaf width) and qLEL-1B (second leaf length), and, in 2020, three QTLs, qFLL-1B (flag leaf length), qFLW-1B (flag leaf width), and qLEL-1B (second leaf length), were located at 166.34 cM on chromosome 1B and linked to Xgpw7577-1B. For flag leaf length, two stable QTLs (qFLL-2B and qFLL-3A) were located at 78.30 and 22.22 cM on chromosomes 2B and 3A, respectively. For flag leaf width, a stable QTL (qFLW-1B) was identified at 166.34 cM on chromosome 1B and linked to Xgpw7577-1B. For the second leaf length, QTLs qLEL-1B and qLEL-6A were stable on chromosomes 1B and 6A. The work will help to understand the genetic mechanisms of grain and leaf of wheat and lay a foundation for further marker-assisted breeding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaves play a crucial role as ornamental organs in Spathiphyllum, exhibiting distinct differences across various Spathiphyllum varieties. Leaf development is intricately linked to processes of cell proliferation and expansion, with cell morphology often regulated by plant cell walls, primarily composed of cellulose. Alterations in cellulose content can impact cell morphology, subsequently influencing the overall shape of plant organs. Although cellulases have been shown to affect cellulose levels in plant cells, genetic evidence linking them to the regulation of leaf shape remains limited. This study took the leaves of Spathiphyllum 'Mojo' and its somatic variants as the research objects. We screened four cellulase gene family members from the transcriptome and then measured the leaf cellulose content, cellulase activity, and expression levels of cellulase-related genes. Correlation analysis pinpointed the gene SpGH9A3 as closely associated with leaf shape variations in the mutant. Green fluorescent fusion protein assays revealed that the SpGH9A3 protein was localized to the cell membrane. Notably, the expression of the SpGH9A3 gene in mutant leaves peaked during the early spread stage, resulting in smaller overall leaf size and reduced cellulose content upon overexpression in Arabidopsis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calcium stress can negatively impact plant growth, prompting plants to respond by mitigating this effect. However, the specific mechanisms underlying this response remain unclear. In this study, we used non-targeted metabolomics and transcriptomics to investigate the response mechanisms of Zelkova schneideriana leaves under varying degrees of calcium stress. Results revealed that calcium stress led to wilt in young leaves. When calcium stress exceeds the tolerance threshold of the leaf, it results in wilting of mature leaves, rupture of chloroplasts in palisade tissue, and extensive wrinkling and breakage of leaf cells. Transcriptomic analysis indicated that calcium stress inhibited photosynthesis by suppressing the expression of genes related to photosynthetic system II and electron transport. Leaf cells activate phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, flavonoid biosynthesis, and Vitamin B6 metabolism to resist calcium stress. When calcium accumulation gradually surpassed the tolerance threshold of the cells, this results in failure of conventional anti-calcium stress mechanisms, leading to cell death. Furthermore, excessive calcium stress inhibits the expression of CNGC and anti-pathogen genes. The results of the metabolomics study showed that five key metabolites increased in response to calcium stress, which may play an important role in countering calcium stress. This study provides insights into the response of Z. schneideriana leaves to different levels of calcium stress, which could provide a theoretical basis for cultivating Z. schneideriana in karst areas and enhance our understanding of plant responses to calcium stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air-delivered spraying can enhance the effective transport and uniform coverage of fog droplets into the interior of the tree crown. However, it is still unclear on the effect of the intensity of air-delivered flow on the response of a single leaf to the motion state and the microcosmic settlement of fog drop. In this study, a single leaf of a pear tree was placed under the stable air flow in the test section of the wind tunnel equipment. The wind vibration response test was carried out on the leaves of a single pear tree. Four feature points were then marked on the leaves, in order to represent the leaf morphology. Binocular high-speed cameras were used to track the feature points on the leaves. The three-dimensional spatial motion model of simulated leaves was constructed to decompose into several sub-stages for subsequent analysis. A systematic analysis was made on the spatial motion trajectory of feature points, in order to explore the effect of droplet deposition on the leaf surface. The research results were as follows. The leaves showed static stability, swing, and a large number of twisting and turning complex motions under the action of wind-driven air flow. The critical response speed of wind vibration was defined as the generation of a large number of twisting motions. Once the wind speed was lower than the critical airflow speed of wind vibration, the leaves were basically lifted at the angle position in a static and stable state. When the air velocity was greater than or equal to the critical, the dynamic stable state of the leaves was destroyed into a compound motion response state of large spatial swing, turnover, and torsion, indicating the periodic motion state of the leaves under the action of strong air. Specifically, the total travel distances of leaf tips in a space movement period were 180.61, 1140.77, and 766.33 mm, respectively, at the speed of 5, 7, and 9 m/s, and the torsion angles were 290.7°, 896.8°, and 716.2°, respectively. In the test of leaf droplet deposition, the spray droplets were deposited mainly on the side of the leaf facing the airflow direction, when the airflow velocity was lower than 5 m/s. There was also an increase in the airflow velocity. The coverage rate of droplet deposition on the front of the leaf gradually decreased from 43.2% to 10.3%. When the airflow velocity was greater than the critical wind response velocity of 5 m/s, the fog droplets were deposited on both sides of the leaves. However, the droplets were deposited mainly on the opposite side of the leaves with better hydrophilicity. The spatial pose and motion of leaves were also simulated, according to the actual coordinates in the instantaneous position of leaves under the space motion. The finding can further reveal the interaction and deposition between the air flow carrying fog droplets and the leaves in the air-driven sprayer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanistic predictions of ecological niches are fundamentally based on energy and mass exchange processes that, to be realistic, must be linked to microclimate and incorporate behaviour and physiology. Estimates of leaf temperature and associated transpiration and net photosynthesis rates are fundamental in ecology, agriculture and global change biology. Equations for calculating leaf energy budgets have been available for over 60 years and complex models of stomatal behaviour have been developed. However, user‐friendly ways of estimating leaf temperature under realistic microclimatic regimes, including soil moisture effects, remain limited.Here we show that the integrated microclimate and ectotherm functions of the NicheMapR package for the R programming environment can be used to make fast and effective estimates of leaf temperature and associated rates of water loss and photosynthesis for a wide range of leaf functional types, root depths and microhabitats. Stomatal conductance may be constant or simulated to change dynamically (a) as a function of vapour pressure deficit and CO2 concentration, (b) as a function of soil water potential and (c) as a thermoregulatory mechanism to avoid heat stress.We tested the approach against hourly leaf temperature observations in summer from an arid shrubland in Australia, a temperate woodland in Montana USA, along an elevational gradient in Colorado USA, and at a botanical garden in Florida, USA.National or global gridded data sets can provide the required forcing data but local observational data or some combination of local and gridded data can be used. The global ERA5 and NCEP datasets allow historical leaf energy budget calculations to be made anywhere in the world and a Shiny app has been developed to facilitate use of the model with these datasets.Situated leaf energy budget calculations can be used to design informative field programs to collect much needed detailed temporal data on leaf temperature under natural settings, enabling better predictions and interpretations of how plants respond to environmental change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) is one of the essential vegetables worldwide, and cultivated genotypes of eggplant suffer from numerous abiotic and biotic stresses. A reproducible and efficient plant regeneration system is crucial for applying molecular breeding methods to overcome the difficulties of conventional breeding programs to improve eggplant germplasm, such as genetic transformation and genome editing techniques. The three explant types, cotyledon, hypocotyl, and leaf, were obtained from two different cultivars, Pusa purple long (PL) and Pusa green round (GR) of eggplant. Three explants were cultivated on media augmented with a variety of cytokinins, including BAP, mT, and ZEA, in different concentrations. The media supplemented with mT at 8.28 µM generated the highest number of shoots, which showed the optimum regeneration efficiency for all three explants in two eggplant genotypes. The cotyledon explants generated the optimum number of shoot buds on the medium amended with low concentrations of BAP (2.22 µM), KIN (2.32 µM), and ZEA (4.56 µM), and mT at 8.28 µM. The mT (8.28 µM) and BAP at 2.22 µM combinations produced 25.8 and 18.3 shoots in PL and GR genotypes, respectively. The addition of various concentrations of IAA (1.43 to 5.71 µM), IBA (1.23 to 4.92 µM), and NAA (1.34 to 5.37 µM) in combination with mT (8.28 µM) were evaluated to find out their role on the induction and proliferation of numerous shoot buds from cotyledon explants of two cultivars of eggplant. The medium augmented with mT (8.28 µM) and IAA (2.85 µM) produced 26.4 shoots and 17.8 shoots in cotyledon explants of PL and GR cultivars, respectively. The optimum rooting efficiency of shoots was recorded on the medium containing the IAA (5.71 µM) and produced complete plantlets. The plantlets showed 100% similarity with their mother plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citrus depressa Hayata is a citrus cultivar grown in Japan and Taiwan. To assess the differences in genetic characteristics and volatile organic components (VOCs) in the leaves and edible parts of the fruits of 23 C. depressa accessions from different geographic origins, the tissues were analyzed using cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence markers and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. A phylogenetic cluster analysis demonstrated that Kagoshima accessions had a close genetic relationship with one another, with Okinawan "Izumi kugani-like" being the most distinct accession. The predominant volatiles in the leaves were γ-terpinene, p-cymene, limonene, and linalool. Multivariate analysis and volcano plots revealed distinct volatiles in the leaves of each cultivation region: piperitone and citronellal (Kagoshima); 5,9,9-trimethyl-spiro[3.5]non-5-en-1-one (Okinawa); and hexanal (Taiwan). Furthermore, the edible parts of Taiwanese fruits contained abundant amounts of monoterpenes, including linalool and 1,8-cineole. In contrast, Kagoshima and Okinawa accessions were rich in aldehydes and esters, respectively. In conclusion, the genetic and volatile profiles of 23 C. depressa accessions of different origins could be distinguished, and multivariate analysis suggested that C. depressa contains diverse VOCs depending on where it is cultivated. These findings demonstrate the exclusivity of C. depressa resources in each region, which could assist farmers and agro-industries in promoting food products derived from C. depressa fruits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In agriculture, plant density refers to the number of plants in a given area and is one of the most critical factors determining crop quality. This factor affects many plant development parameters, from nutrient intake to light penetration, from air circulation to water usage, and pest and disease infestation. The impact of plant density on these parameters is of great importance to farmers and agronomists seeking to optimize crop yield and quality. This article aims to deeply explore the impact of plant density on crop quality based on literature sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Atlas pistachio tree is a typically Mediterranean species, which represents an important forest heritage in the arid and semi-arid regions of Algeria. It is deeply rooted in the local population's culture, making it essential to better understand this species for its conservation and valorization. Through our work on 7 provenances of Pistacia atlantica distributed across different bioclimates in Algeria and based on 28 quantitative and qualitative leaf, trichome, and stomatal traits, it was revealed that the Atlas pistachio tree exhibits significant ecotypic variability linked to its habitat and a high adaptability to extreme conditions in its environments (aridity and altitude). Indeed, statistical analyses indicate a substantial heterogeneity in the studied characteristics among different ecotypes of P. atlantica. Genetic factors undoubtedly play a primary role in this variability, but environmental factors also exert a remarkable impact on this heterogeneity. Gender also plays a crucial role in this variability. Microphotographs of leaf samples taken under scanning electron microscopy (SEM), such as the density and type of trichomes, and form and position of stomates in the epidermis, can provide an important taxonomic tool for identifying Pistacia species and valuable insights into their adaptation to xeric conditions, thus enabling their use in desertification control projects and the rehabilitation of highly degraded forest environments such as those found in the "Green Dam" initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Mechanistic predictions of ecological niches are fundamentally based on energy and mass exchange processes that, to be realistic, must be linked to microclimate and incorporate behaviour and physiology. Estimates of leaf temperature and associated transpiration and net photosynthesis rates are fundamental in ecology, agriculture and global change biology. Equations for calculating leaf energy budgets have been available for over 60 years and complex models of stomatal behaviour have been developed. However, user‐friendly ways of estimating leaf temperature under realistic microclimatic regimes, including soil moisture effects, remain limited. Here we show that the integrated microclimate and ectotherm functions of the NicheMapR package for the R programming environment can be used to make fast and effective estimates of leaf temperature and associated rates of water loss and photosynthesis for a wide range of leaf functional types, root depths and microhabitats. Stomatal conductance may be constant or simulated to change dynamically (a) as a function of vapour pressure deficit and CO2 concentration, (b) as a function of soil water potential and (c) as a thermoregulatory mechanism to avoid heat stress. We tested the approach against hourly leaf temperature observations in summer from an arid shrubland in Australia, a temperate woodland in Montana USA, along an elevational gradient in Colorado USA, and at a botanical garden in Florida, USA. National or global gridded data sets can provide the required forcing data but local observational data or some combination of local and gridded data can be used. The global ERA5 and NCEP datasets allow historical leaf energy budget calculations to be made anywhere in the world and a Shiny app has been developed to facilitate use of the model with these datasets. Situated leaf energy budget calculations can be used to design informative field programs to collect much needed detailed temporal data on leaf temperature under natural settings, enabling better predictions and interpretations of how plants respond to environmental change.

Abstract Objective Sago palm (Metroxylon sagu Rottb.) is one of the most important economic crops abundantly found in Mukah, Sarawak, Malaysia. The robustness of the palm triggered the Sarawak government’s selection as one of the state’s commodity crops, with the opening of several sago palm plantations. However, stunted (non-trunking) palms were reported in several sago palm plantations despite attaining a maturity period of more than ten years after cultivation. Research targeting this problem has been conducted in various fields, yet information on molecular mechanisms is still scarce. This study aimed to determine the genes responsible for sago palm’s normal phenotype (trunking) by attaining leaf transcriptomes from samples of all trunking sago palms from different sago palm plantations. Data description The conventional CTAB method was employed in the present investigation to extract total RNA from leaf tissues. Transcriptome sequencing was conducted on the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 platform. Differential expression analysis was performed using the DESeq2 package. A total of 6,119 differentially expressed genes, comprising 4,384 downregulated and 1,735 upregulated genes, were expressed in all three sago palm datasets. The datasets provide insights into the commonly expressed genes among trunking sago palms.

Abstract The nitrogen content of apple leaves and jujube leaves is an important index to judge the growth and development of apple trees and jujube trees to a certain extent. The prediction performance of the two samples was compared between different models for leaf nitrogen content, respectively. The near-infrared absorption spectra of 287 apple leaf samples and 192 jujube leaf samples were collected. After eliminating the outliers by Mahalanobis distance method, the remaining spectral data were processed by six different preprocessing methods. BP neural network (BP), random forest regression (RF), least partial squares (PLS), K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN), and support vector regression (SVR) were compared to establish prediction models of nitrogen content in apple leaves and jujube leaves. The results showed that the determination coefficient (R2), root mean square error (RMSE) and residual prediction deviation (RPD) of the models established by different combined pretreatment methods were compared among the five methods. Compared with the performance of the other four models, the modeling method of SG + SD + CARS + RF was suitable for the prediction of nitrogen content in apple leaves, and its modeling set R2 was 0.85408, RMSE was 0.082188, and RPD was 2.5864. The validation set R2 is 0.75527, RMSE is 0.099028, RPD is 2.1956. The modeling method of FD + CARS + PLS was suitable for the prediction of nitrogen content in jujube leaves. The modeling set R2 was 0.7954, RMSE was 0.14558, and RPD was 2.4264; the validation set R2 is 0.81348, RMSE is 0.089217, and RPD is 2.4552.In the prediction modeling of apple leaf nitrogen content in the characteristic band, the model quality of RF was better than the other four prediction models. The model quality of PLS in predictive modeling of nitrogen content of jujube leaves in characteristic bands is superior to the other four predictive models, These results provide a reference for the use of near-infrared spectroscopy to determine whether apple trees and jujube trees are deficient in nutrients.

Key message: The deciduous species of the Aronia and Pourthiaea genera are differentiated by the finger-shaped colleters present on the midrib of the adaxial side and the pronounced cuticular folding. This work presents data on taxonomically significant features of leaf micromorphology in six deciduous species from the closely related genera Aronia and Pourthiaea of the subtribe Malinae (formerly Pyrinae, Maloideae) in the family Rosaceae. All species were found to have hypostomate leaves with numerous anomocytic stomata on the abaxial side. However, Aronia arbutifolia, Pourthiaea arguta, and P. villosa showed single stomata on leaf teeth on the adaxial leaf side. All species exhibited stomatal dimorphism, with a large single 'primary' stomata at the center of a cluster of smaller 'secondary' (ordinary) stomata. Aronia species were characterized by well-defined cuticular striations on the surface of the adaxial epidermis, as well as cuticular radial folds and peristomatic folds in both types of stomata. Cuticular folding in Pourthiaea species is restricted to radial folds in primary stomata and is less pronounced or absent in secondary stomata. All species of Aronia and Pourthiaea have colleters of deltoid or elongated shape in leaf teeth. In A. mitschurinii and A. arbutifolia, rounded colleters were found in the sinuses between the leaf teeth. Aronia species have the unique feature of forming a special type of colleters on the adaxial side of the leaf midribs. In contrast, Pourthiaea species lacked similar structures. The secretion of the colleters showed an intense peak at 670-674 nm with a small shoulder in the range of 695-740 nm in its fluorescence spectrum. The micromorphological features of the studied leaf structures can serve as taxonomic characters in the genera Aronia and Pourthiaea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant stoichiometry and nutrient allocation may reflect adaptation strategies to environmental nutrient changes. Fire, as a major disturbance in forests, mediates soil nutrient availability that may influence plant nutrient dynamics. However, plant–soil stoichiometric allocation strategies during different post-fire periods and the effects of soil, enzymes, and microbial biomass on plant stoichiometry are largely unknown. The pioneer tree species Betula platyphylla in burnt forests of northern China was the object of this study, and severely burned areas selected with different fire years. Nearby unburned areas acted as a control. Carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) contents in leaves, branches, and fine roots and rhizosphere soil, C-, N- and P-acquiring enzyme activities were examined. Microbial biomass C, N, and P were measured, and factors influencing C:N:P stoichiometry of plants during the burned area restoration were explored. Our results show that C and N contents in leaves increased with time since fire, while C and P in branches and C, N and P in fine roots decreased. Activities of C-, N-, and P-acquiring enzymes and microbial biomass N increased with time since fire. Redundancy analysis showed that changes in soil N-acquiring enzyme activity, microbial biomass C, and N had significant effects on plant ecological stoichiometry. These results show a significant flexibility in plant nutrient element allocation strategies and C:N:P stoichiometric characteristics. Soil extracellular enzyme activity drives the changes in stoichiometry during the process of post-fire restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Epiphytic microbes are those that live for some or all of their life cycle on the surface of plant leaves. Leaf surfaces are a topologically complex, physicochemically heterogeneous habitat that is home to extensive, mixed communities of resident and transient inhabitants from all three domains of life. In this review, we discuss the origins of leaf surface microbes and how different biotic and abiotic factors shape their communities. We discuss the leaf surface as a habitat and microbial adaptations which allow some species to thrive there, with particular emphasis on microbes that occupy the continuum between epiphytic specialists and phytopathogens, groups which have considerable overlap in terms of adapting to the leaf surface and between which a single virulence determinant can move a microbial strain. Finally, we discuss the recent findings that the wheat pathogenic fungus Zymoseptoria tritici spends a considerable amount of time on the leaf surface, and ask what insights other epiphytic organisms might provide into this pathogen, as well as how Z. tritici might serve as a model system for investigating plant–microbe-microbe interactions on the leaf surface.

Leaf blight spot disease, caused by bacteria and fungi, poses a threat to plant health, leading to leaf discoloration and diminished agricultural yield. In response, we present a MobileNetV3 based classifier designed for the Jasmine plant, leveraging lightweight Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to accurately identify disease stages. The model integrates depth wise convolution layers and max pool layers for enhanced feature extraction, focusing on crucial low level features indicative of the disease. Through preprocessing techniques, including data augmentation with Conditional GAN and Particle Swarm Optimization for feature selection, the classifier achieves robust performance. Evaluation on curated datasets demonstrates an outstanding 97% training accuracy, highlighting its efficacy. Real world testing with diverse conditions, such as extreme camera angles and varied lighting, attests to the model's resilience, yielding test accuracies between 94% and 96%. The dataset's tailored design for CNN based classification ensures result reliability. Importantly, the model's lightweight classification, marked by fast computation time and reduced size, positions it as an efficient solution for real time applications. This comprehensive approach underscores the proposed classifier's significance in addressing leaf blight spot disease challenges in commercial crops.

Epiphytic microbes are those that live for some or all of their life cycle on the surface of plant leaves. Leaf surfaces are a topologically complex, physicochemically heterogeneous habitat that is home to extensive, mixed communities of resident and transient inhabitants from all three domains of life. In this review, we discuss the origins of leaf surface microbes and how different biotic and abiotic factors shape their communities. We discuss the leaf surface as a habitat and microbial adaptations which allow some species to thrive there, with particular emphasis on microbes that occupy the continuum between epiphytic specialists and phytopathogens, groups which have considerable overlap in terms of adapting to the leaf surface and between which a single virulence determinant can move a microbial strain. Finally, we discuss the recent findings that the wheat pathogenic fungus Zymoseptoria tritici spends a considerable amount of time on the leaf surface, and ask what insights other epiphytic organisms might provide into this pathogen, as well as how Z. tritici might serve as a model system for investigating plant–microbe-microbe interactions on the leaf surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses comparative investigations on the feeding behaviour of rhesus monkey in two natural habitats of different altitude in Nepal. The study evaluates the parts of plants eaten by monkeys and assesses variation in feeding time of preference in low and high altitude habitats. It examines diurnal time investment on feeding in Ramdhuni forest and in Dhankuta forest, species of trees consumed in the two habitats, and the allocation of food depending on their seasonal availability.

Plant-mediated preparation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) is thought to be a more economical and environmentally benign process in comparison to physical and chemical synthesis methods. In the present study, the aqueous leaf extract of Dalbergia sissoo was prepared and utilized to reduce silver ion (Ag+) during the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (DL-AgNPs). The formation of DL-AgNPs was verified using UV–Vis spectra, exhibiting the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band at around 450 nm. FT-IR analysis revealed the kinds of phytochemicals that serve as reducing and capping agents while DL-AgNPs are being synthesized. Analysis of scanning electron microscope (SEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) images verified the development of spherical and oval-shaped DL-AgNPs, with sizes ranging from 10 to 25 nm. The stability and particle size distribution of synthesized DL-AgNPs were ensured by zeta potential and DLS (dynamic light scattering) investigations. Additionally, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the crystalline nature of DL-AgNPs. In antioxidant experiments, DL-AgNPs demonstrated significant scavenging capacities of DPPH and ABTS radicals with EC50 values of 51.32 and 33.32 μg/mL, respectively. The antibacterial activity of DL-AgNPs was shown to be significant against harmful bacteria, with a maximum zone of inhibition (21.5 ± 0.86 mm) against Staphylococcus aureus. Furthermore, DL-AgNPs exhibited effective catalytic activity to degrade environment-polluting dyes (methylene blue, methyl orange, and Congo red) and toxic chemicals (p-nitrophenol). The results of all these studies suggested that DL-AgNPs made from the leaf extract of Dalbergia sissoo have merit for application in the environmental and biomedical fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional leaf chlorophyll estimation using Soil Plant Analysis Development (SPAD) devices and spectrophotometers is a high-cost mechanism in agriculture. Recently, research on chlorophyll estimation using leaf camera images and machine learning has been seen. However, these techniques use self-defined image color combinations where the system performance varies, and the potential utility has not been well explored. This paper proposes a new method that combines an improved contact imaging technique, the images' original color parameters, and a 1-D Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) specifically for tea leaves' chlorophyll estimation. This method utilizes a smartphone and flashlight to capture tea leaf contact images at multiple locations on the front and backside of the leaves. It extracts 12 different original color features, such as the mean of RGB, the standard deviation of RGB and HSV, kurtosis, skewness, and variance from images for 1-D CNN input. We captured 15,000 contact images of tea leaves, collected from different tea gardens across Assam, India to create a dataset. SPAD chlorophyll measurements of the leaves are included as true values. Other models based on Linear Regression (LR), Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Support Vector Regression (SVR), and K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) were also trained, evaluated, and tested. The 1-D CNN outperformed them with a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 2.96, Mean Square Error (MSE) of 15.4, Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 3.92, and Coefficient of Regression ( R 2 ) of 0.82. These results show that the method is a digital replication of the traditional method, while also being non-destructive, affordable, less prone to performance variations, and simple to utilize for sustainable agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractOur study described in this paper sought to show that the fibers of the midrib of the leaves of cavendish variety banana plants from Cameroon can be extracted by boiling water and to compare their properties (chemical, physical, thermal, and mechanical) with those obtained by cold water extraction. The standard tests for the various characterizations were respected. This study showed that the fibers extracted with boiling water contained 64.3% cellulose, 18.1% hemicellulose, 4.5% lignin, and 12.9% pectin, while the fibers extracted by the cold water technique contained 65% cellulose, 19% hemicellulose, 5% lignin, and 11% pectin. The extraction of fibers by the boiling water technique gave a 9.35% extraction yield, 0.94 g.cm−3 density, 15.23 tex linear mass, 11.10% water content, 169.78% water absorption degree, and 36.02% humidity at a relative humidity of 75%, while the fibers extracted by the cold water technique had a 12.35% extraction yield, 0.91 g.cm−3 density, 14.23 tex linear mass, 10.73% water content, 102.4% water absorption degree, and 34.45% humidity at a relative humidity of 75%. The boiling water extracted fibers had a thermal stability temperature of 268.5 °C. The student’s t-test showed that the fibers obtained by the boiling water extraction technique and the cold water extraction technique had identical mechanical properties. Thus, we suggest that the fibers of the midrib of the leaves of banana plants can be extracted with boiling water and used in textiles and composite materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaves of flowering plants are characterized by diverse venation patterns. Patterning begins with the selection of vein-forming procambial initial cells from within the ground meristem of a developing leaf, a process which is considered to be auxin-dependent, and continues until veins are anatomically differentiated with functional xylem and phloem. At present, the mechanisms responsible for leaf venation patterning are primarily characterized in the model eudicot Arabidopsis thaliana which displays a reticulate venation network. However, evidence suggests that vein development may proceed via a different mechanism in monocot leaves where venation patterning is parallel. Here, we employed Molecular Cartography, a multiplexed in situ hybridization technique, to analyze the spatiotemporal localization of a subset of auxin-related genes and candidate regulators of vein patterning in maize leaves. We show how different combinations of auxin influx and efflux transporters are recruited during leaf and vein specification and how major and minor vein ranks develop with distinct identities. The localization of the procambial marker PIN1a and the spatial arrangement of procambial initial cells that give rise to major and minor vein ranks further suggests that vein spacing is prepatterned across the medio-lateral leaf axis prior to accumulation of the PIN1a auxin transporter. In contrast, patterning in the adaxial-abaxial axis occurs progressively, with markers of xylem and phloem gradually becoming polarized as differentiation proceeds. Collectively, our data suggest that both lineage-and position-based mechanisms may underpin vein patterning in maize leaves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The main cause of dental and oral disease is plaque. Plaque control can be done mechanically, namely by brushing your teeth regularly and chemically by gargling. Plaque control by gargling can use traditional plant materials. It can be made decoctions such as green betel leaves and guava leaves because they contain compounds that are antibacterial. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of gargling using a decoction of green betel leaves (Piper betle Linn) and decoction of guava leaves (Psidium Guajava) against plaque index. Method: This is the true experiment method with a two-group pre and post test design. This research was carried out in the last week of March to the second week of April 2023 at the Department of Dental Health, Poltekkes, Ministry of Health, Manado. The number of subjects of this study was 32 people divided into 2 groups, namely 16 people who received gargling treatment of green betel leaf decoction and 16 people who received gargling treatment of guava leaf decoction. The data obtained were then tabulated and analyzed using paired sample t-test. This research instrument uses diagnostic tools and PHP plaque index examination format. Results: The results showed that the average value of plaque index in the group that received gargling treatment using green betel leaf decoction was 3.38 before gargling and 1.33 after gargling. This value has a decreasing difference of 2.05. Furthermore, the average value of plaque index in the group that received gargling treatment using guava leaf decoction was 3.39 before gargling and 2.41 after gargling. This value has a decreasing difference of 0.98. The paired test results of the t-test sample obtained a value of p-value = 0.000. This value indicates that the treatment given provides effective in reducing plaque index. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the gargling a decoction of green betel leaves and guava leaves can reduce the plaque index where the decoction of green betel leaves is more effective in reducing the plaque index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaf form can vary at different levels, such as inter/intraspecies, and diverse leaf shapes reflect their remarkable ability to adapt to various environmental conditions. Over the past two decades, considerable progress has been made in unraveling the molecular mechanisms underlying leaf form diversity, particularly the regulatory mechanisms of leaf complexity. However, the mechanisms identified thus far are only part of the entire process, and numerous questions remain unanswered. This review aims to provide an overview of the current understanding of the molecular mechanisms driving leaf form diversity while highlighting the existing gaps in our knowledge. By focusing on the unanswered questions, this review aims to shed light on areas that require further research, ultimately fostering a more comprehensive understanding of leaf form diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how plant nutrient acquisition strategies respond to grazing at the community level is critical understanding ecosystem structure and functioning in grasslands. However, few studies have simultaneously compared the difference in above‐ground (leaf) and below‐ground (root) nutrient‐acquisition strategies in response to long‐term grazing, especially at the regional scale.Here, we measured a set of leaf and fine‐root traits that correspond to the fast‐slow economic spectrum at the community level in 10 experimental sites from paired grazed and ungrazed grasslands across a soil nutrient gradient covering three major types of grasslands in northern China.We found that patterns of variations of leaf and fine‐root traits were consistent with both a leaf and root economic spectrum at the community level for both grazed and non‐grazed plots. Grazing had minor effect on community‐level leaf nutrient‐acquisition strategies but strongly influenced community‐level root nutrient‐acquisition strategies. Specifically, root nutrient‐acquisition strategies were shifted to more exploitative resource use in grazed communities. Moreover, soil nutrient contributed to the changes in both leaf and root nutrient‐acquisition strategies, which tended towards a more resource acquisition strategy with increasing soil nutrient levels. Grazing significantly interacted with soil nutrient to affect root nutrient‐acquisition strategies, and grazing contributed more to root nutrient‐acquisition strategies than soil nutrient.Synthesis. Our results demonstrated completely inconsistent responses of community‐level above‐ and below‐ground resource acquisition strategies to long‐term grazing, and below‐ground acquisition strategies were more sensitive to long‐term grazing. Our findings also suggest that high intensity anthropogenic activities such as grazing may strongly modify below‐ground resource acquisition strategies. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The yield of sweet potato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam] can be easily threatened by drought stress. Typically, early stages like the seedling stage and tuber-root expansion stage are more vulnerable to drought stress. In this study, a highly drought-tolerant sweet potato cultivar "WanSu 63" was subjected to drought stress at both the seedling stage (15 days after transplanting, 15 DAT) and the tuber-root expansion stage (45 DAT). Twenty-four cDNA libraries were constructed from leaf segments and root tissues at 15 and 45 DAT for Next-Generation Sequencing. A total of 663, 063, and 218 clean reads were obtained and then aligned to the reference genome with a total mapped ratio greater than 82.73%. A sum of 7119, 8811, 5463, and 930 differentially expressed genes were identified from leaves in 15 days (L15), roots in 15 days (R15), leaves in 45 days (L45), and roots in 45 days (R45), respectively, in drought stress versus control. It was found that genes encoding heat shock proteins, sporamin, LEA protein dehydrin, ABA signaling pathway protein gene NCED1, as well as a group of receptor-like protein kinases genes were enriched in differentially expressed genes. ABA content was significantly higher in drought-treated tissues than in the control. The sweet potato biomass declined sharply to nearly one-quarter after drought stress. In conclusion, this study is the first to identify the differentially expressed drought-responsive genes and signaling pathways in the leaves and roots of sweet potato at the seedling and root expansion stages. The results provide potential resources for drought resistance breeding of sweet potato. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Objective] Leaf characteristics, photosynthetic index and key enzyme activities of carbon metabolism were studied to investigate the relationship between photosynthetic characteristics and carbon metabolism in different light environments and growth stages. [Method] Two varieties, shade tolerance Nanxiadou38 (ND38) and shade sensitive Huaxias (HX5) were used in field experiment under green shading net to investigate the specific leaf weight, leaf area per plant, photosynthetic pigment concentration, photosynthetic performance, biomass distribution, sugar levels and key enzymatic activities related to carbon metabolism. [Result] With the shade treatment during shading period, the specific leaf weight, leaf area per plant, photosynthetic pigment concentration and photosynthetic rate all decreased significantly with shading area treatment, and the decline of HX5 was more obvious than that of ND38, Biomass allocation increased in stem but decreased in leaf, and the leaf proportion of ND38 was significantly higher than that of HX5. Both soluble sugar and sucrose levels in leaves decreased significantly, but sucrose content under heavy shading was significantly lower than that under light shading, and the decline of HX5 was more obvious than that of ND38. Starch content increased significantly and the range of HX5 was higher than that of ND38. Starch content of HX5 all was higher than that of ND38. Sucrose synthetase (SS), sucrose phosphate synthetase (SPS) and sucrose invertase (Inv) decreased significantly. SS and Inv in heavy shading were significantly lower than of light shading, and there was no significant difference between varieties under the same shading treatment. During light recovery period, the difference of leaf traits among treatments decreased and the preference of leaf mass allocation ratio declined. Starch content with shading treatment was significantly higher than that of normal light. The recovery ability of ND38 was better than that of HXS. SPS and Iny of ND38 also were significantly higher than those of HXS, but SS of ND38 was higher than that of HX5 in heavy shading treatment. The recovery ability of ND38 was better than that of HXS. [Conclusion] Specific leaf weight, photosynthetic pigment concentration, photosynthetic rate and key enzyme activities of carbon metabolism decrease significantly during shading period. However, starch content and stem biomass allocation increase. During light recovery period, photosynthetic performance and enzyme activity recovered rapidly and leaf biomass allocation increase. HX5 is sensitive to shading treatment, and its photosynthetic performance and enzyme activity decrease significantly. ND38 can keep quite photosynthetic performance and equitable mass allocation during shading period. The recovery ability of photosynthetic performance and key enzymatic activities of ND38 is better than that of HX5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cabbage (Brassica oleracea), a crop of major economic importance worldwide, is affected by numerous diseases, which are caused by a wide range of microorganisms, including fungi, oomycetes, bacteria, and viruses, which lead to important losses in yield and quality. The increasing availability of reference genomes of plant-associated microbes together with recent advances in metagenomic approaches provide new opportunities to identify microbes linked to distinct symptomatology in Brassica leaves. In this study, shotgun metagenomics was used to investigate the microbial community in leaves of B. oleracea plants from agricultural farmlands. Compared with conventional techniques based on culture-based methods, whole-genome shotgun sequencing allows the reliable identification of the microbial population inhabiting a plant tissue at the species level. Asymptomatic and symptomatic leaves showing different disease symptoms were examined. In the asymptomatic leaves, Xanthomonas species were the most abundant taxa. The relative abundance of bacterial and fungal communities varied depending on disease symptoms on the leaf. The microbiome of the leaves showing mild to severe levels of disease was enriched in bacterial populations (Sphingomonas, Methylobacterium, Paracoccus) and to a lesser degree in some fungal taxa, such as Alternaria and Colletotrichum (e.g., in leaves with high levels of necrotic lesions). Sclerotinia species were highly abundant in severely damaged leaves (S. sclerotium, S. trifolium, S. bolearis), followed by Botrytis species. The common and specific bacterial and fungal species associated to disease symptoms were identified. Finally, the analysis of the gene functions in the metagenomic data revealed enrichment in carbohydrate-active enzymes potentially involved in pathogenicity, whose distribution also varied among disease severity groups. Understanding the B. oleracea leaf microbiome in agricultural ecosystems will pave the way for the efficient management of diseases in this crop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genus Bolboschoenus has been intensively studied from the morphological, ecological and physiological aspects, however, anatomical features of stems, leaves and epidermal structures of leaves have not been investigated sufficiently yet. The main objective of this study was to compare the four Bolboschoenus species growing in Serbia at the anatomical level and to define the most important anatomical characteristics for distinguishing these species. Descriptive, nonmetric multidimensional scaling and canonical discriminant analysis of the anatomical characters of leaves, stems and epidermal structures have been conducted for these purposes. The number and position of sclerenchyma strands in the leaves, the presence of bulliform cells in the epidermis, the number of translucent cell layers under the adaxial epidermis in the midrib area of the lamina, the number of aerial cavities in leaves and stems were the most significant anatomical characters for differentiation of species. The most differentiated species was B. glaucus, while B. laticarpus occupied an intermediate position between B. maritimus and B. planiculmis, on the one hand, and B. glaucus on the other. The combination of the anatomical features of leaves and stems and the epidermal structures had a more excellent taxonomic value than these three individual groups of features individually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pistachio nuts provide many health benefits in human diet. Nutrient levels in plant leaves and fertilizer schedules are determined based on traditional soil and leaf chemical analyses. However, these methods require additional labor, time, and cost, which is why most farmers do not prefer them and cannot detect nutrient deficiencies in time. Fast, easy‐to‐use and low‐cost nutrient level assessment techniques are needed. Aim: This study aims to explore the viability of near‐infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) as a fast, user friendly, and cost effective technique for evluating the major macro‐ and micronutrient contents of dried and ground pistachio leaf sample. Methods: The feasibility of NIRS for estimating nutrient contents was investigated by analyzing samples from 200 pistachio trees. Dried and ground pistachio leaves were subjected to NIRS analysis. PLSR (Partial least square regression) analyses were performed to develop nutrient content prediction models using spectral information of samples. Results: It was found that the NIRS system had a very good potential to estimate the K, Ca, Cu, and Mg contents of the leaf samples (R2 > 0.80). It was also found that Fe and Mn concentrations could also be estimated with good accuracy (R2 = 0.70–0.80). However, the NIRS system did not give good results for the prediction of N, P, and Zn (R2 < 0.40). Conclusion: In conclusion, the NIRS system can be used to quickly, easily, and economically assess the K, Ca, Cu, Mg, Fe, and Mn contents of dried and ground pistachio leaves. This technique has the potential to improve nutrient management practices in pistachio farming within a sustainable and environmentally conscious framework. Fourier transform NIRS (FT‐NIRS) can provide valuable insights by complementing rather than replacing traditional chemical analysis. Laboratory analysis is still required for definitive nutrient content information, but FT‐NIRS can significantly reduce the reliance on such analysis, thereby mitigating the environmental impact caused by the excessive use of chemical fertilizers and minimizing the health risks to laboratory staff. In addition, the rapid information‐gathering capabilities of the FT‐NIRS can be emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effects of aqueous leaf extract of Telfairia Occidentalis on acyclovirinduced renal damage in the kidneys of adult Wistar rats. A total of thirty adult Wistar rats weighing an average of 200g were used for this study. They were randomly grouped into six (A, B, C, D, E and F), with each group consisting of five rats each. Group A was given distilled water, group B was administered with 400mg/kg body weight of aqueous leaf extract of T. Occidentalis, group C was administered 1000mg/kg body weight of aqueous leaf extract of T. Occidentalis, group D was administered 28mg/kg body weight of acyclovir, Group E was administered 400mg/kg body weight of aqueous leaf extract of T. Occidentalis and 28mg/kg body weight of acyclovir and Group F was administered 1000mg/kg body weight of aqueous leaf extract of T. Occidentalis and 28mg/kg body weight of acyclovir. Aqueous leaf extract of T. Occidentalis and acyclovir were given via orogastric method. Biochemically, group D showed elevation of urea, creatinine, SOD and CAT levels statistically, while other groups revealed reduction in the urea, creatinine, SOD and CAT values statistically. Histological results showed that there was inflammation, vascular distortion and tubular necrosis in the kidney of Group administered with only acyclovir while there was protection in the kidney of rat administered with aqueous leaf extract of T. Occidentalis and acyclovir. In conclusion, aqueous leaf extract of T. Occidentalis has the potential to protect the kidney from acyclovir induced renal damage in adult Wistar rat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is leading to an increase in the intensity, duration, and frequency of severe droughts, especially in southern and southeastern Europe, thus aggravating water scarcity problems. Water deficit stress harms the growth, physiology, and yield of crops like durum wheat. Hence, studying ancient wheat varieties' stress responses could help identify genetic traits to enhance crop tolerance to environmental stresses. In this background, this study aimed to investigate the effects of PEG 6000-stimulated drought stress in the ancient wheat variety Saragolla and the modern one Svevo by analyzing various biochemical and molecular parameters that can especially condition the stomatal movement. Our data revealed that drought stress caused a significant increase in the levels of total soluble sugars, ABA, and IAA in both selected cultivars to a greater extent in the Saragolla than in the Svevo. We demonstrated that, under water deficit stress, calcium dynamics as well as the expression of ERF109, MAPK3/6, MYB60, and TaTPC1, involved in the activation of drought-related calcium-sensitive pathways, display significant differences between the two varieties. Therefore, our study provided further evidence regarding the ability of the ancient wheat variety Saragolla to better cope with drought stress compared to the modern variety Svevo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]