A new model of two-sown regime for oat forage production in an alpine region of northern China.

Demand for high forage production and quality has been increased markedly by development of animal husbandry in China. The lack of efficient planting regimes and key technologies greatly limits production of high-quality forage. Oat has become an important forage in animal husbandry in China due to its high nutritional value and forage yield as well as its great adaptation to harsh environment.

Agronomic and economical characterizations of a two-harvest regime for oat forage in cold regions of Northern China.

The natural grasslands in northern China have been seriously degraded due mainly to overgrazing and climate change in recent decades, leading to shortage of forage supply to animal husbandry. To maximize forage production, we developed a two-harvest regime of oat forage by sowing in spring in an alpine region of Hulun Buir, northern China, using two oat early maturation species. The agronomic characteristics and forage quality of the two-harvest regime were evaluated across three constructive years from 2017 to 2019.

Transgenerational effect alters the interspecific competition between two dominant species in a temperate steppe.

One of the key aims of global change studies is to predict more accurately how plant community composition responds to future environmental changes. Although interspecific relationship is one of the most important forces structuring plant communities, it remains a challenge to integrate long-term consequences at the plant community level. As an increasing number of studies have shown that maternal environment affects offspring phenotypic plasticity as a response to global environment change through transgenerational effects, we speculated that the transgenerational effect would influence offspring competitive relationships.

Phosphorus alleviation of nitrogen-suppressed methane sink in global grasslands.

Grassland ecosystems account for more than 10% of the global CH sink in soils. A 4-year field experiment found that addition of P alone did not affect CH uptake and experimental addition of N alone significantly suppressed CH uptake, whereas concurrent N and P additions suppressed CH uptake to a lesser degree. A meta-analysis including 382 data points in global grasslands corroborated these findings.

Effects of water and nitrogen addition on ecosystem respiration across three types of steppe: The role of plant and microbial biomass.

Evaluating the regional variation of ecosystem respiration (R) in its response to the changes of soil water and nitrogen (N) availability is crucial for fully understanding ecosystem carbon (C) exchange and its feedbacks to global changes. Here, we examined the responses of R, plant community aboveground biomass (AB), microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and soil moisture (SM) to water and N addition, using intact soil monoliths from three different temperate steppes along a precipitation gradient, including meadow steppe, typical steppe, and desert steppe in northern China. We found that the meadow steppe held the highest value of R.

Response of soil methane uptake to simulated nitrogen deposition and grazing management across three types of steppe in Inner Mongolia, China.

The response of soil methane (CH) uptake to increased nitrogen (N) deposition and grazing management was studied in three types of steppe (i.e., meadow steppe, typical steppe, and desert steppe) in Inner Mongolia, China.

Effects of Increased Nitrogen and Phosphorus Deposition on Offspring Performance of Two Dominant Species in a Temperate Steppe Ecosystem.

Plants adapt to environment by plastic growth which will be transferred to offspring through transgenerational effect. Performance and response of maternal and offspring plant will affect population dynamics and community composition. However, it is scarcely understood how maternal nutrient environment affect the performance and response of offspring through transgenerational effect.

Interactive impacts of nitrogen input and water amendment on growing season fluxes of CO, CH, and NO in a semiarid grassland, Northern China.

Nitrogen and water are two important factors influencing GHG (primarily CO - carbon dioxide; CH - methane, and NO - nitrous oxide) fluxes in semiarid grasslands. However, the interactive effects of nitrogen and water on GHG fluxes remain elusive. A 3-year (2010-2012) manipulative experiment was conducted to investigate the individual and interactive effects of nitrogen and water additions on GHG fluxes during growing seasons (May to September) in a semiarid grassland in Northern China.

Proteomic Identification of Differentially Expressed Proteins during Alfalfa ( L.) Flower Development.

Flower development, pollination, and fertilization are important stages in the sexual reproduction process of plants; they are also critical steps in the control of seed formation and development. During alfalfa ( L.) seed production, some distinct phenomena such as a low seed setting ratio, serious flower falling, and seed abortion commonly occur.

Grazing effects on ecosystem CO2 fluxes differ among temperate steppe types in Eurasia.

Grassland ecosystems play a critical role in regulating CO2 fluxes into and out of the Earth's surface. Whereas previous studies have often addressed single fluxes of CO2 separately, few have addressed the relation among and controls of multiple CO2 sub-fluxes simultaneously. In this study, we examined the relation among and controls of individual CO2 fluxes (i.

Contribution of the pod wall to seed grain filling in alfalfa.

Three genotypes of alfalfa viz. Medicago sativa (Zhongmu No. 1, Zhongmu No.

Effects of Ge-132 and GeO on seed germination and seedling growth of Oenothera biennis L. under NaCl stress.

To investigate the effects of β-carboxyethyl germanium sequioxide (Ge-132) and germanium dioxide (GeO) on improving salt tolerance of evening primrose (Oenothera biennis L.), seed germination, seedling growth, antioxidase and malondialdehyde (MDA) were observed under treatments of various concentrations (0, 5, 10, 20, 30 μM) of Ge in normal condition and in 50 mM NaCl solution. The results showed that both Ge-132 and GeO treatments significantly increased seed germination percentage and shoot length in dose-dependent concentrations but inhibited early root elongation growth.

Seasonal and Spatial Variations of Bulk Nitrogen Deposition and the Impacts on the Carbon Cycle in the Arid/Semiarid Grassland of Inner Mongolia, China.

Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition is an important component that affects the structure and function of different terrestrial ecosystem worldwide. However, much uncertainty still remains concerning the magnitude of N deposition on grassland ecosystem in China. To study the spatial and temporal patterns of bulk N deposition, the levels of N (NH4+-N and NO3--N) concentration in rainfall were measured at 12 sites across a 1200 km grassland transect in Inner Mongolia, China, and the respective N deposition rates were estimated.

The effects of exogenous antioxidant germanium (Ge) on seed germination and growth of Lycium ruthenicum Murr subjected to NaCl stress.

In this paper, we present the results of a study on the effects of exogenous antioxidant germanium (Ge) on seed germination and seedling growth, and its role as a radical scavenger that regulates related enzymes, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT), under salt stress. Seeds were incubated in 0, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 and 300 mM NaCl to determine the salt tolerance of the Lycium ruthenicum Murr seedlings and from the results, the critical and ultimate salt concentrations were chosen for the next experiment. Subsequently, two treatments (seeds soaked in Ge and Ge added to salt) with four concentrations of GeO2 (0, 5, 10 and 20 μM) were used with the critical (150 mM) and ultimate salt concentrations (250 mM).

Influence of pericarp, cotyledon and inhibitory substances on sharp tooth oak (Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata) germination.

In order to explore the mechanism of delayed and uneven germination in sharp tooth oak (Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata) (STO), mechanical scarification techniques were used to study STO root and shoot germination and growth. The techniques used were: removing cup scar (RS), removing the pericarp (RP), and cutting off 1/2 (HC) and 2/3 (TC) cotyledons.

Aerobic and anaerobic nonmicrobial methane emissions from plant material.

Methane (CH(4)) may be generated via microbial and nonmicrobial mechanisms. Nonmicrobial CH(4) is also ubiquitous in nature, such as in biomass burning, the Earth's crust, plants, and animals. Relative to microbial CH(4), nonmicrobial CH(4) is less understood.