Dry matter content and inoculant alter the metabolome and bacterial community of alfalfa ensiled at high temperature.

Alfalfa silage fermentation quality, metabolome, bacterial interactions, and successions as well as their predicted metabolic pathways were explored under different dry matter contents (DM) and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) inoculations. Silages were prepared from alfalfa with DM contents of 304 (LDM) and 433 (HDM) g/kg fresh weight and inoculated with Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (L. plantarum, LP), Pediococcus pentosaceus (P.

Expression profiles of the CD274 and PLEKHH2 gene and association of its polymorphism with hematologic parameters in sheep.

CD274 and PLEKHH2 genes have been identified as immune- and multiple diseases-related genes, and have recently garnered significant interest. However, their role in regulating immune functions in sheep remains largely unexplored. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of polymorphisms in CD274 and PLEKHH2 on hematologic parameters in 915 sheep.

Metagenomics reveals elevated temperature causes nitrogen accumulation mainly by inhibiting nitrate reduction process in polluted water.

Determining the response of functional genes and microbiota involved in the nitrogen (N) cycle to warming in the face of global climate change is a hotpot topic. However, whether and how elevated temperature affects the N-cycle genes in polluted water remains unclear. Based on metagenomics, we investigated the responses of the whole N-cycling genes and their microbial communities to the temperature gradients (23, 26, 29, 32, and 35 °C) using animal cadavers as an N-pollution model.

Reduction in the cadmium (Cd) accumulation and toxicity in pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) by regulating physio-biochemical and antioxidant defense system via soil and foliar application of melatonin.

Cadmium (Cd) is among the toxic pollutants that harms the both animals and plants. The natural antioxidant, melatonin can improve Cd-stress tolerance but its potential role in reducing Cd stress and resilience mechanisms in pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) is remain unclear.

Dramatic Carbon Loss in a Permafrost Thaw Slump in the Tibetan Plateau is Dominated by the Loss of Microbial Necromass Carbon.

Thaw slumps can lead to considerable carbon loss in permafrost regions, while the loss of components from two major origins, i.e., microbial and plant-derived carbon, during this process remains poorly understood.

Experimental warming causes mismatches in alpine plant-microbe-fauna phenology.

Long-term observations have shown that many plants and aboveground animals have changed their phenology patterns due to warmer temperatures over the past decades. However, empirical evidence for phenological shifts in alpine organisms, particularly belowground organisms, is scarce. Here, we investigate how the activities and phenology of plants, soil microbes, and soil fauna will respond to warming in an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau, and whether their potential phenological changes will be synchronized.

Effects of grazing and precipitation addition induced by functional groups on the relationship between aboveground biomass and species richness of a typical steppe.

Several studies have explored the influence of grazing or precipitation addition (PA), two important components of human activities and global climate change on the structure and function of communities. However, the response of communities to a combination of grazing and PA remains largely unexplored. We investigated the impact of grazing and PA on the relationship between aboveground biomass (AGB) and species richness (SR) of communities in three-year field experiments conducted in a typical steppe in the Loess Plateau, using a split-plot design with grazing as the main-plot factor and PA as the split-plot factor.

Functional gene-guided enrichment plus in situ microsphere cultivation enables isolation of new crucial ureolytic bacteria from the rumen of cattle.

Background: Ruminants can utilize urea as a dietary nitrogen source owing to their ability to recycle urea-N back to the rumen where numerous ureolytic bacteria hydrolyze urea into ammonia, which is used by numerous bacteria as their nitrogen source. Rumen ureolytic bacteria are the key microbes making ruminants the only type of animals independent of pre-formed amino acids for survival, thus having attracted much research interest. Sequencing-based studies have helped gain new insights into ruminal ureolytic bacterial diversity, but only a limited number of ureolytic bacteria have been isolated into pure cultures or studied, hindering the understanding of ureolytic bacteria with respect to their metabolism, physiology, and ecology, all of which are required to effectively improve urea-N utilization efficiency.

Roles of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria in mediating soil legacy phosphorus availability.

Phosphorus (P), an essential macronutrient for all life on Earth, has been shown to be a vital limiting nutrient element for plant growth and yield. P deficiency is a common phenomenon in terrestrial ecosystems across the world. Chemical phosphate fertilizer has traditionally been employed to solve the problem of P deficiency in agricultural production, but its application has been limited by the non-renewability of raw materials and the adverse influence on the ecological health of the environment.

[Effects of Short-Term Nitrogen and Phosphorus Addition on Soil Respiration Components in a Subalpine Grassland of Qilian Mountains].

In order to investigate the effects of short-term nitrogen and phosphorus addition on soil respiration and its components in a subalpine grassland located on the Qilian Mountains, a random block design of nitrogen[10 g·(m·a), N], phosphorus[5 g·(m·a), P], nitrogen and phosphorus addition[10 g·(m·a)N and 5 g·(m·a)P, NP], the control (CK), and complete control (CK') was conducted from June to August 2019, and total soil respiration and its component respiration rates were measured. The results showed that nitrogen addition reduced soil total respiration and heterotrophic respiration rates at a lower rate than P addition[-16.71% vs.

Polymorphism and expression level of the gene and associated with the growth traits in Hu sheep.

Growth traits are the economically important traits of sheep, and screening for genes related to growth and development is helpful for the genetic improvement of ovine growth traits. The fatty acid desaturase 3 () is one of the important genes affecting the synthesis and accumulation of polyunsaturated fatty acids in animals. In this study, the expression levels of the gene and polymorphism of the gene associated with growth traits in Hu sheep were detected using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), Sanger sequencing, and KAspar assay.

Exogenous fibrolytic enzymes promoted energy and nitrogen utilization and decreased CH4 emission per unit dry matter intake of tan sheep grazed a typical steppe by enhancing nutrient digestibility on China loess plateau.

Exogenous fibrolytic enzyme (EFE) products in ruminant nutrition may be an important alternative to meet the increased demands for animal products in the future with reduced environmental impacts. This study aimed to evaluate the dose-response of EFE supplementation on the nutrient digestibility, nitrogen and energy utilization, and methane (CH4) emissions of Tan sheep grazed in summer and winter. A total of 20 Tan wether sheep with an initial body weight of 23.

Dominant plant species play an important role in regulating bacterial antagonism in terrestrial Antarctica.

In Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems, dominant plant species (grasses and mosses) and soil physicochemical properties have a significant influence on soil microbial communities. However, the effects of dominant plants on bacterial antagonistic interactions in Antarctica remain unclear. We hypothesized that dominant plant species can affect bacterial antagonistic interactions directly and indirectly by inducing alterations in soil physicochemical properties and bacterial abundance.

Rapid Detection of Potential Natural Food Preservatives and Identification of Species via High-Sensitivity Photoionization Mass Spectrometry.

Natural food preservatives are being sought extensively as a safe alternative to chemical food preservatives. This study aimed to identify potential natural preservatives from herbs using single-photon ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SPI-TOF-MS). Five species and four other herbs were analyzed, and the random forest (RF) algorithm was used to simulate olfaction and distinguish the species by identifying the characteristic peaks of volatile terpenoids (VTPs).

Whole genome sequencing of simmental cattle for SNP and CNV discovery.

Backgroud: The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and copy number variations (CNVs) are two major genomic variants, which play crucial roles in evolutionary and phenotypic diversity.

Results: In this study, we performed a comprehensive analysis to explore the genetic variations (SNPs and CNVs) of high sperm motility (HSM) and poor sperm motility (PSM) Simmental bulls using the high-coverage (25×) short-read next generation sequencing and single-molecule long reads sequencing data. A total of ~ 15 million SNPs and 2,944 CNV regions (CNVRs) were detected in Simmental bulls, and a set of positive selected genes (PSGs) and CNVRs were found to be overlapped with quantitative trait loci (QTLs) involving immunity, muscle development, reproduction, etc.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus changes alfalfa (Medicago sativa) metabolites in response to leaf spot (Phoma medicaginis) infection, with subsequent effects on pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum) behavior.

Plant disease occurs simultaneously with insect attack. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) modify plant biotic stress response. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and pathogens may modify plant volatile organic compound (VOC) production and insect behavior.

Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of the response regulator gene family in alfalfa ( L.) reveals their multifarious roles in stress response.

As important components of the two-component regulatory system, response regulatory proteins (RRPs) play a crucial role in histidine phosphorylation-mediated signal transduction in response to environmental fluctuations. Accumulating evidence has revealed that RRPs play important roles in plant growth and stress response. However, the specific functions of genes () in cultivated alfalfa remain ambiguous.

Long-term cattle manure addition enhances soil-available phosphorus fractions in subtropical open-field rotated vegetable systems.

Introduction: Evaluation of the changes in phosphorus (P) fractions (various P forms) and their availability at different soil layers is critical for enhancing P resource use efficiency, mitigating subsequent environmental pollution, and establishing a suitable manure application strategy. However, changes in P fractions at different soil layers in response to cattle manure (M), as well as a combined cattle manure and chemical fertilizer application (M+F), remain unclear in open-field vegetable systems. If the amount of annual P input remains the same, identifying which treatment would cause a higher phosphate fertilizer use efficiency (PUE) and vegetable yield while simultaneously reducing the P surplus is especially warranted.

Atmospheric dryness thresholds of grassland productivity decline in China.

Atmospheric dryness events are bound to have a broad and profound impact on the functions and structures of grassland ecosystems. Current research has confirmed that atmospheric dryness is a key moisture constraint that inhibits grassland productivity, yet the risk threshold for atmospheric dryness to initiate ecosystem productivity loss has not been explored. Based on this, we used four terrestrial ecosystem models to simulate gross primary productivity (GPP) data, analyzed the role of vapor pressure deficit (VPD) in regulating interannual variability in Chinese grasslands by focusing on the dependence structure of VPD and GPP, and then constructed a bivariate linkage function to calculate the conditional probability of ecosystem GPP loss under atmospheric dryness, and further analyzed the risk threshold of ecosystem GPP loss triggered by atmospheric dryness.

Pre-treatment of melatonin enhances the seed germination responses and physiological mechanisms of soybean ( L.) under abiotic stresses.

The germination of soybean ( L.) seeds is critically affected by abiotic stresses which resulting in decreasing crop growth and yield. However; little is known about the physiological mechanisms of germination and the potential role of melatonin on soybean seed germination under drought, salt, cold, and heat stresses.

Genomic divergence between two sister Medicago species triggered by the quaternary climatic oscillations on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau and northern China.

Speciation is a central topic in evolutionary biology. However, how genomic divergence originates and accumulates in the face of gene flow during ecological adaptation remains poorly understood. Closely related species that have adapted to distinct environments but inhabit some overlapping ranges provide an ideal system to evaluate this issue.

Molecular C evidence for contrasting turnover and temperature sensitivity of soil organic matter components.

Climate projection requires an accurate understanding for soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition and its response to warming. An emergent view considers that environmental constraints rather than chemical structure alone control SOC turnover and its temperature sensitivity (i.e.