Gridded drought response assessment of winter wheat in Oklahoma using big data and AquaCrop-OS.

Winter wheat is the most dominant crop in Oklahoma and critically important to the economy of agricultural industry in this state and the region. However, weather anomalies such as droughts, which are frequent in Oklahoma, pose serious threats to winter wheat yield. This study was conducted to assess the effects of droughts on the simulated yield of dryland winter wheat (Y) in Oklahoma employing a gridded approach with the AquaCrop Open Source (AquaCrop-OS).

An unprecedented fall drought drives Dust Bowl-like losses associated with La Niña events in US wheat production.

Unprecedented precipitation deficits in the 2022-2023 growing season across the primary wheat-producing region in the United States caused delays in winter wheat emergence and poor crop growth. Using an integrated approach, we quantitatively unraveled a 37% reduction in wheat production as being attributable to both per-harvested acre yield loss and severe crop abandonment, reminiscent of the Dust Bowl years in the 1930s. We used random forest machine learning and game theory analytics to show that the main driver of yield loss was spring drought, whereas fall drought dominated abandonment rates.

Genetic variation for terminal heat stress tolerance in winter wheat.

In many regions worldwide wheat ( L.) plants experience terminal high temperature stress during the grain filling stage, which is a leading cause for single seed weight decrease and consequently for grain yield reduction. An approach to mitigate high temperature damage is to develop tolerant cultivars using the conventional breeding approach which involves identifying tolerant lines and then incorporating the tolerant traits in commercial varieties.

Agronomic and economic implications of cover crop and phosphorus fertilizer management practices for water quality improvement.

Phosphorus (P) fertilization practices and winter cover crops are promoted to protect water quality yet can potentially influence crop yield and profitability. This study examined the impacts of three P fertilizer management practices (no P, fall broadcast P, and spring injected P) and winter annual cover crop use on yields, net returns, and water quality in a no-till corn-soybean rotation. Treatments were replicated in a 4-yr field study where sediment, total P, and dissolved reactive P (DRP) losses in edge-of-field surface runoff were continuously monitored.

Genetic control of source-sink relationships in grain sorghum.

QTL hotspots identified for selected source-sink-related traits provide the opportunity for pyramiding favorable alleles for improving sorghum productivity under diverse environments. A sorghum bi-parental mapping population was evaluated under six different environments at Hays and Manhattan, Kansas, USA, in 2016 and 2017, to identify genomic regions controlling source-sink relationships. The population consisted of 210 recombinant inbred lines developed from US elite post-flowering drought susceptible (RTx430) and a known post-flowering drought tolerant cultivar (SC35).

Cover crop and phosphorus fertilizer management impacts on surface water quality from a no-till corn-soybean rotation.

Best management practices that reduce potential phosphorus (P) loss and provide flexibility in P fertilizer management are needed to help producers protect water quality while maintaining crop yield. This study examined the impacts of P fertilizer management (no P, fall broadcast P, and spring injected P) and cover crop use on annual concentrations and loads of sediment, total P, and dissolved reactive P (DRP) in edge-of-field runoff from a no-till corn (Zea mays)-soybean (Glycine max) rotation in the Central Great Plains, USA, from September 2015 through September 2019. The spring injected P fertilizer treatment generally had 19% less total P and 33% less DRP loss compared to the fall broadcast treatment, confirming the importance of P fertilizer management as a practice for reducing P loss.

Genome-wide association study and gene network analyses reveal potential candidate genes for high night temperature tolerance in rice.

High night temperatures (HNT) are shown to significantly reduce rice (Oryza sativa L.) yield and quality. A better understanding of the genetic architecture of HNT tolerance will help rice breeders to develop varieties adapted to future warmer climates.

A universal method for high-quality RNA extraction from plant tissues rich in starch, proteins and fiber.

Using existing protocols, RNA extracted from seeds rich in starch often results in poor quality RNA, making it inappropriate for downstream applications. Though some methods are proposed for extracting RNA from plant tissue rich in starch and other polysaccharides, they invariably yield less and poor quality RNA. In order to obtain high yield and quality RNA from seeds and other plant tissues including roots a modified SDS-LiCl method was compared with existing methods, including TRIZOL kit (Invitrogen), Plant RNeasy mini kit (Qiagen), Furtado (2014) method, and CTAB-LiCl method.

Species and termination method effects on phosphorus loss from plant tissue.

Cover crops are often recommended as a best management practice to reduce erosion, weed pressure, and nutrient loss. However, cover crops may be sources of phosphorus (P) to runoff water after termination. Two greenhouse trials were conducted to determine the effects of cover crop species, termination method, and time after termination on water-extractable P (WEP) release from crop biomass.

Narrowing Diurnal Temperature Amplitude Alters Carbon Tradeoff and Reduces Growth in C Crop Sorghum.

Effect of diurnal temperature amplitude on carbon tradeoff (photosynthesis vs. respiration) and growth are not well documented in C crops, especially under changing temperatures of light (daytime) and dark (nighttime) phases in 24 h of a day. Fluctuations in daytime and nighttime temperatures due to climate change narrows diurnal temperature amplitude which can alter circadian rhythms in plant, thus influence the ability of plants to cope with temperature changes and cause contradictory responses in carbon tradeoff, particularly in night respiration during dark phase, and growth.

Rapid metabolism increases the level of 2,4-D resistance at high temperature in common waterhemp (Amaranthus tuberculatus).

Common waterhemp emerges throughout the crop growing season in the Midwestern United States, and as a result, the seedlings are exposed to a wide range of temperature regimes. Typically, 2,4-D is used in the Midwest to control winter annual broad-leaf weeds before planting soybean and in an early post-emergence application in corn and sorghum; however, the evolution of 2,4-D-resistant common waterhemp in several Midwestern states may limit the use of 2.4-D for controlling this problem weed.

Integrating field-based heat tents and cyber-physical system technology to phenotype high night-time temperature impact on winter wheat.

Background: Many agronomic traits have been bred into modern wheat varieties, but wheat ( L.) continues to be vulnerable to heat stress, with high night-time temperature (HNT) stress shown to have large negative impact on yield and quality. Global mean temperature during the day is consistently warming with the minimum night temperature increasing at a much quicker pace.

Field-based high-throughput phenotyping of plant height in sorghum using different sensing technologies.

Background: Plant height is an important morphological and developmental phenotype that directly indicates overall plant growth and is widely predictive of final grain yield and biomass. Currently, manually measuring plant height is laborious and has become a bottleneck for genetics and breeding programs. The goal of this research was to evaluate the performance of five different sensing technologies for field-based high throughput plant phenotyping (HTPP) of sorghum [ (L.

Expression of a rice soluble starch synthase gene in transgenic wheat improves the grain yield under heat stress conditions.

Wheat ( L.) is a temperate cereal with an optimum temperature range of 15-22°C during the grain filling stage. Heat stress is one of the major environmental constraints for wheat production worldwide.

Decreased photosynthetic rate under high temperature in wheat is due to lipid desaturation, oxidation, acylation, and damage of organelles.

Background: High temperature is a major abiotic stress that limits wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) productivity. Variation in levels of a wide range of lipids, including stress-related molecular species, oxidative damage, cellular organization and ultrastructural changes were analyzed to provide an integrated view of the factors that underlie decreased photosynthetic rate under high temperature stress.

Reduced Translocation of Glyphosate and Dicamba in Combination Contributes to Poor Control of Kochia scoparia: Evidence of Herbicide Antagonism.

Kochia scoparia is a troublesome weed across the Great Plains of North America. Glyphosate and dicamba have been used for decades to control K. scoparia.

Alterations in wheat pollen lipidome during high day and night temperature stress.

Understanding the adaptive changes in wheat pollen lipidome under high temperature (HT) stress is critical to improving seed set and developing HT tolerant wheat varieties. We measured 89 pollen lipid species under optimum and high day and/or night temperatures using electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry in wheat plants. The pollen lipidome had a distinct composition compared with that of leaves.

Rapid detoxification via glutathione S-transferase (GST) conjugation confers a high level of atrazine resistance in Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri).

Background: Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri) is an economically troublesome, aggressive and damaging weed that has evolved resistance to six herbicide modes of action including photosystem II (PS II) inhibitors such as atrazine. The objective of this study was to investigate the mechanism and inheritance of atrazine resistance in Palmer amaranth.

Results: A population of Palmer amaranth from Kansas (KSR) had a high level (160 - 198-fold more; SE ±21 - 26) of resistance to atrazine compared to the two known susceptible populations MSS and KSS, from Mississippi and Kansas, respectively.

Reduced absorption of glyphosate and decreased translocation of dicamba contribute to poor control of kochia (Kochia scoparia) at high temperature.

Background: Plant growth temperature is one of the important factors that can influence postemergent herbicide efficacy and impact weed control. Control of kochia (Kochia scoparia), a major broadleaf weed throughout the North American Great Plains, often is unsatisfactory when either glyphosate or dicamba are applied on hot summer days. We tested effects of plant growth temperature on glyphosate and dicamba phytotoxicity on two Kansas kochia populations (P1 and P2) grown under the following three day/night (d/n) temperature regimes: T1, 17.

Wheat leaf lipids during heat stress: II. Lipids experiencing coordinated metabolism are detected by analysis of lipid co-occurrence.

Identifying lipids that experience coordinated metabolism during heat stress would provide information regarding lipid dynamics under stress conditions and assist in developing heat-tolerant wheat varieties. We hypothesized that co-occurring lipids, which are up-regulated or down-regulated together through time during heat stress, represent groups that can be explained by coordinated metabolism. Wheat plants (Triticum aestivum L.

Remediation of heavy metal(loid)s contaminated soils--to mobilize or to immobilize?

Unlike organic contaminants, metal(loid)s do not undergo microbial or chemical degradation and persist for a long time after their introduction. Bioavailability of metal(loid)s plays a vital role in the remediation of contaminated soils. In this review, the remediation of heavy metal(loid) contaminated soils through manipulating their bioavailability using a range of soil amendments will be presented.

Effects of drought and high temperature stress on synthetic hexaploid wheat.

Drought and high temperature often occurs simultaneously, causing significant yield losses in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The objectives of this study were to: (i) quantify independent and combined effects of drought and high temperature stress on synthetic hexaploid wheat genotypes at anthesis and at 21 days after anthesis; and (ii) determine whether responses to stress varied among genotypes.

Response of Aegilops species to drought stress during reproductive stages of development.

Drought stress is an important abiotic factor limiting wheat yield. Thirty-one accessions of Aegilops species belonging to five species were screened to identify species/accessions tolerant to drought stress and to measure traits associated with the tolerance. Plants were grown at full irrigation, 25/19°C day/night temperature and an 18h photoperiod.

Heavy metal displacement in salt-water-irrigated soil during phytoremediation.

In regions where phytoremediation is carried out, brackish water must often be used. However, no information exists concerning the consequences of saline-water irrigation on the mobility of heavy metals in sludge applied to soil during phytoremediation. The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of NaCl irrigation on displacement of seven heavy metals in sludge (Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn) applied to the surface of soil columns containing barley plants.