Evaluating Bacterial Nanocellulose Interfaces for Recording Surface Biopotentials from Plants.

The study of plant electrophysiology offers promising techniques to track plant health and stress in vivo for both agricultural and environmental monitoring applications. Use of superficial electrodes on the plant body to record surface potentials may provide new phenotyping insights. Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) is a flexible, optically translucent, and water-vapor-permeable material with low manufacturing costs, making it an ideal substrate for non-invasive and non-destructive plant electrodes.

Comment on "Soybean photosynthesis and crop yield are improved by accelerating recovery from photoprotection".

De Souza (Research Articles, 19 Aug 2022, adc9831) recently claimed major soybean yield increases resulting from transformation of the nonphotochemical quenching mechanism of photosynthesis. However, there is little basis for the premise that such a transformation would result in yield increase. The field experiment was flawed and does not provide evidence for increases in crop yield.

Predominant Microbial Colonizers in the Root Endosphere and Rhizosphere of Turfgrass Systems: , , and spp.

Microbes can colonize plant roots to modulate plant health and environmental fitness. Thus, using microbes to improve plant adaptation to biotic and abiotic stresses will be promising to abate the heavy reliance of management systems on synthetic chemicals and limited resource. This is particularly important for turfgrass systems because intensive management for plant available nutrients (e.

Increasing Photosynthesis: Unlikely Solution For World Food Problem.

Increasing the photosynthesis rate of plants has been recently revitalized as an approach for increasing grain crop yields and solving world food crises. The idea that photosynthesis is the key to increasing grain crop yields is not new. Considerable research in the 1970s and 1980s showed that carbon input was not limiting for crop growth and yield.

Leaf Traits That Contribute to Differential Ozone Response in Ozone-Tolerant and Sensitive Soybean Genotypes.

Ozone (O) is a phytotoxic air pollutant that limits crop productivity. Breeding efforts to improve yield under elevated O conditions will benefit from understanding the mechanisms that contribute to O tolerance. In this study, leaf gas exchange and antioxidant metabolites were compared in soybean genotypes (Glycine max (L.

Limited-transpiration response to high vapor pressure deficit in crop species.

Water deficit under nearly all field conditions is the major constraint on plant yields. Other than empirical observations, very little progress has been made in developing crop plants in which specific physiological traits for drought are expressed. As a consequence, there was little known about under what conditions and to what extent drought impacts crop yield.

Leaf emergence (phyllochron index) and leaf expansion response to soil drying in cowpea genotypes.

Drought can result in severely decreased leaf area development, which impacts plant growth and yield. However, rarely is leaf emergence or leaf expansion separated to resolve the relative sensitivity to water-deficit of these two processes. Experiments were undertaken to impose drought over approximately 2 weeks for eight cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) genotypes grown in pots under controlled environmental conditions.

Pot binding as a variable confounding plant phenotype: theoretical derivation and experimental observations.

Theoretical derivation predicted growth retardation due to pot water limitations, i.e., pot binding.

Limited transpiration under high vapor pressure deficits of creeping bentgrass by application of Daconil-Action.

First observation that chemical spray can induce limited-transpiration rate under high vapor pressure deficit. It appears that acibenzolar may be key in inducing this water conservation trait. Irrigation and water use have become major issues in management of turfgrasses.

Reactive nitrogen in turfgrass systems: relations to soil physical, chemical, and biological properties.

Turfgrass systems contribute to the loading of reactive N to water and air via runoff, leaching, and gas emission. Yet, a comprehensive approach has never been developed to assess N loss potential from turfgrass systems. We used pools and production of reactive N (inorganic N, extractable organic N, and NO) to estimate N loss potential and hypothesized that this potential could be predicated by basic soil properties.

Temperature influences the ability of tall fescue to control transpiration in response to atmospheric vapour pressure deficit.

Water availability for turfgrass systems is often limited and is likely to become more so in the future. Here, we conducted experiments that examined the ability of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) to control transpiration with increasing vapour pressure deficit (VPD) and determined whether control was influenced by temperature.

Temperature interactions with transpiration response to vapor pressure deficit among cultivated and wild soybean genotypes.

A key strategy in soybean drought research is increased stomatal sensitivity to high vapor pressure deficit (VPD), which contributes to the 'slow wilting' trait observed in the field. These experiments examined whether temperature of the growth environment affected the ability of plants to respond to VPD, and thus control transpiration rate (TR). Two soybean [Glycine max (L.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi increase organic carbon decomposition under elevated CO2.

The extent to which terrestrial ecosystems can sequester carbon to mitigate climate change is a matter of debate. The stimulation of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) by elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO(2)) has been assumed to be a major mechanism facilitating soil carbon sequestration by increasing carbon inputs to soil and by protecting organic carbon from decomposition via aggregation. We present evidence from four independent microcosm and field experiments demonstrating that CO(2) enhancement of AMF results in considerable soil carbon losses.

Soil microbial responses to elevated CO₂ and O₃ in a nitrogen-aggrading agroecosystem.

Climate change factors such as elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) and ozone (O₃) can exert significant impacts on soil microbes and the ecosystem level processes they mediate. However, the underlying mechanisms by which soil microbes respond to these environmental changes remain poorly understood. The prevailing hypothesis, which states that CO₂- or O₃-induced changes in carbon (C) availability dominate microbial responses, is primarily based on results from nitrogen (N)-limiting forests and grasslands.

The community composition of soil-denitrifying bacteria from a turfgrass environment.

Soil-denitrifying bacteria in highly-managed turfgrass systems were examined to assess their response to land-use change and time under management. Denitrifier community composition and diversity in a turfgrass chronosequence of 1 to 95-years-old were compared with those in an adjacent pine-dominant forest via molecular investigations of nirK and nosZ gene fragments. Both denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and sequenced clone libraries revealed that the denitrifier community became more diverse after turf establishment, and the diversity was then preserved.

Intensive management affects composition of betaproteobacterial ammonia oxidizers in turfgrass systems.

Turfgrass is a highly managed ecosystem subject to frequent fertilization, mowing, irrigation, and application of pesticides. Turf management practices may create a perturbed environment for ammonia oxidizers, a key microbial group responsible for nitrification. To elucidate the long-term effects of turf management on these bacteria, we assessed the composition of betaproteobacterial ammonia oxidizers in a chronosequence of turfgrass systems (i.

Atmospheric vapor pressure deficit is critical in predicting growth response of "cool-season" grass Festuca arundinacea to temperature change.

There is a lack of information on plant response to multifactor environmental variability including the interactive response to temperature and atmospheric humidity. These two factors are almost always confounded because saturated vapor pressure increases exponentially with temperature, and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) could have a large impact on plant growth. In this study using climate controlled mini-greenhouses, we examined the interacting influence of temperature and VPD on long-term growth of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb), a cool season grass.

Gas exchange and carbon metabolism in two Prosopis species (Fabaceae) from semiarid habitats: effects of elevated CO2, N supply, and N source.

Predicting future plant and ecosystem responses to elevated CO(2) also requires an understanding of the role of other factors, especially soil nitrogen. This is particularly challenging for global aridlands where total N and the relative amounts of nitrate and ammonia vary both spatially and seasonally. We measured gas exchange and primary and secondary C metabolites in seedlings of two dominant aridland shrub species (Prosopis flexuosa [S America] and P.

Growth, productivity, and competitiveness of introgressed weedy Brassica rapa hybrids selected for the presence of Bt cry1Ac and gfp transgenes.

Concerns exist that transgenic crop x weed hybrid populations will be more vigorous and competitive with crops compared with the parental weed species. Hydroponic, glasshouse, and field experiments were performed to evaluate the effects of introgression of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cry1Ac and green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenes on hybrid productivity and competitiveness in four experimental Brassica rapa x transgenic Brassica napus hybrid generations (F1, BC1F1, BC2F1 and BC2F2). The average vegetative growth and nitrogen (N) use efficiency of transgenic hybrid generations grown under high N hydroponic conditions were lower than that of the weed parent (Brassica rapa, AA, 2n = 20), but similar to the transgenic crop parent, oilseed rape (Brassica napus, AACC, 2n = 38).

Growth, nitrogen uptake, and metabolism in two semiarid shrubs grown at ambient and elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations: effects of nitrogen supply and source.

The effect of differences in nitrogen (N) availability and source on growth and nitrogen metabolism at different atmospheric CO(2) concentrations in Prosopis glandulosa and Prosopis flexuosa (native to semiarid regions of North and South America, respectively) was examined. Total biomass, allocation, N uptake, and metabolites (e.g.

Leaf initiation and development in soybean under phosphorus stress.

Experiments investigated changes in leaf development in young soybean plants progressing into P stress. The apical meristem and leaf structure were examined anatomically to evaluate the involvement of cell division and cell expansion in the restriction of leaf number and individual leaf size. Seedlings were deprived of P for 32 d following germination.

Differential aluminum tolerance in soybean: An evaluation of the role of organic acids.

The role of organic acids in aluminum (Al) tolerance has been the object of intensive research. In the present work, we evaluated the roles of organic acid exudation and concentrations at the root tip on Al tolerance of soybean. Exposing soybean seedlings to Al3+ activities up to 4.