Enhanced CO Coordinates the Spatial Recruitment of Diazotrophs in Rice Via Root Development.

Understanding the reciprocal interaction between root development and coadapted beneficial microbes in response to elevated CO (eCO) will facilitate the identification of nutrient-efficient cultivars for sustainable agriculture. Here, systematic morphological, anatomical, chemical and gene expression assays performed under low-nitrogen conditions revealed that eCO drove the development of the endodermal barrier with respect to L-/S-shaped lateral roots (LRs) in rice. Next, we applied metabolome and endodermal-cell-specific RNA sequencing and showed that rice adapts to eCO by spatially recruiting diazotrophs via flavonoid secretion in L-shaped LRs.

Alteration of carbon and nitrogen allocation in winter wheat under elevated ozone.

Tropospheric ozone accelerates senescence and shortens grain filling, consequently affecting the remobilization and allocation efficiency of aboveground biomass and nutrients into grains in cereal crops. This study investigated carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) concentrations repeatedly in shoot biomass during the growth period and in grain after the harvest in eighteen wheat genotypes under control and ozone treatments in open-top chambers. Season-long ozone fumigation was conducted at an average ozone concentration of 70 ppb with three additional acute ozone episodes of around 150 ppb.

Adapting crop production to climate change and air pollution at different scales.

Air pollution and climate change are tightly interconnected and jointly affect field crop production and agroecosystem health. Although our understanding of the individual and combined impacts of air pollution and climate change factors is improving, the adaptation of crop production to concurrent air pollution and climate change remains challenging to resolve. Here we evaluate recent advances in the adaptation of crop production to climate change and air pollution at the plant, field and ecosystem scales.

Identifying and modelling key physiological traits that confer tolerance or sensitivity to ozone in winter wheat.

Tropospheric ozone threatens crop production in many parts of the world, especially in highly populated countries in economic transition. Crop models suggest substantial global yield losses for wheat, but typically such models fail to address differences in ozone responses between tolerant and sensitive genotypes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify physiological traits contributing to yield losses or yield stability under ozone stress in 18 contrasting wheat cultivars that had been pre-selected from a larger wheat population with known ozone tolerance.

Interactive effects of tropospheric ozone and blast disease (Magnaporthe oryzae) on different rice genotypes.

Rising tropospheric ozone concentrations can cause rice yield losses and necessitate the breeding of ozone-tolerant rice varieties. However, ozone tolerance should not compromise the resistance to important biotic stresses such as the rice blast disease. Therefore, we investigated the interactive effects of ozone and rice blast disease on nine different rice varieties in an experiment testing an ozone treatment, blast inoculation, and their interaction.

High Throughput Analyses of Ascorbate-turnover Enzyme Activities in Rice ( L.) Seedlings.

Ascorbate (Vitamin C) fulfills various functions in plant photosynthesis and abiotic stress tolerance. The four key enzymes involved in the ascorbate-turnover pathway are ascorbate peroxidase, ascorbate oxidase, monodehydroascorbate reductase, and dehydroascorbate reductase. Several reports have shown the pivotal roles of these enzymes in plant development and stress tolerance.

Genetic dissection of bread wheat diversity and identification of adaptive loci in response to elevated tropospheric ozone.

Rising tropospheric ozone affects the performance of important cereal crops thus threatening global food security. In this study, genetic variation of wheat regarding its physiological and yield responses to ozone was explored by exposing a diversity panel of 150 wheat genotypes to elevated ozone and control conditions throughout the growing season. Differential responses to ozone were observed for foliar symptom formation quantified as leaf bronzing score (LBS), vegetation indices and yield components.