Melatonin reprograms soil microbial community, creates friendly soil environments, and promotes peanut growth.

Melatonin helps to regulate various physiological processes in plants, including growth, seed germination, and stress responses. However, the mechanism of how melatonin treatments affect soil microbe diversity and ecology, and plant growth needs to be better understood. Here, we report that melatonin coordinates interactions between soil microorganisms and root exudates to create a friendly soil environment for peanut growth under a controlled environment.

Diversity, Variance, and Stability of Root Phenes of Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.).

Root phenes are associated with the absorptive efficiency of water and fertilizers. However, there are few reports on the genetic variation and stability of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) root architecture under different environments.

Differential Responses of Wheat ( L.) and Cotton ( L.) to Nitrogen Deficiency in the Root Morpho-Physiological Characteristics and Potential MicroRNA-Mediated Mechanisms.

Understanding the mechanism of crop response to nitrogen (N) deficiency is very important for developing sustainable agriculture. In addition, it is unclear if the microRNA-mediated mechanism related to root growth complies with a common mechanism in monocots and dicots under N deficiency. Therefore, the root morpho-physiological characteristics and microRNA-mediated mechanisms were studied under N deficiency in wheat ( L.

Metabolite Profile of Xylem Sap in Cotton Seedlings Is Changed by K Deficiency.

Xylem sap, belonging to the plant apoplast, not only provides plant tissues with inorganic and organic substances but also facilitates communication between the roots and the leaves and coordinates their development. This study investigated the effects of potassium (K) deficiency on the morphology and the physiology of cotton seedlings as well as pH, mineral nutrient contents, and metabolites of xylem sap. In particular, we compared changes in root-shoot communication under low K (LK) and normal K (NK, control) levels.

Potassium Deficiency Significantly Affected Plant Growth and Development as Well as microRNA-Mediated Mechanism in Wheat ( L.).

It is well studied that potassium (K) deficiency induced aberrant growth and development of plant and altered the expression of protein-coding genes. However, there are not too many systematic investigations on root development affected by K deficiency, and there is no report on miRNA expression during K deficiency in wheat. In this study, we found that K deficiency significantly affected wheat seedling growth and development, evidenced by reduced plant biomass and small plant size.

Impact of potassium deficiency on cotton growth, development and potential microRNA-mediated mechanism.

The goal of this study was to investigate the impact of potassium deficiency on cotton seedling growth and development at the individual, physiological, biochemical, and molecular levels. Potassium is an important plant nutrient; our results show that potassium deficiency significantly affected cotton seedling growth and development, evidenced by reduced plant height, and total areas of the leaves and roots as well as further reduced both fresh and dry biomass of the entire plants. Potassium deficiency also significantly inhibited root and leaf respiration and leaf photosynthesis.