Influence of agroecological factors on biologically active compounds in globe artichoke heads

Received: June 6th, 2022 ; Accepted: October 4th, 2022 ; Published: October 21st, 2022 ; Correspondence: [email protected] composition of biologically active compounds in plants depends on the climate and growing conditions, cultivar properties, plant development stage, harvesting time and other factors. The research aimed to evaluate the effect of agroecological factors on the composition of biologically active compounds in globe artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus (L.) Fiori) heads. The experiment was carried out under open field conditions in the Institute of Horticulture, in Pūre Research centre during the vegetation period of 2015 and 2016. The experiment was arranged in two different soils: brown soil with residual carbonates and the soil strongly altered by cultivation and used two types of seed treatment (without vernalisation, with vernalisation). The quality was evaluated at each harvest time during the all vegetation period. Significant influence of the tested factors on the biochemical content of heads was stated on the content of phenols (73–213 mg GAE 100 g-1 fresh weight) and vitamin C in artichoke heads (5–20 mg 100 g-1 fresh weight). Pigments, flavonoids and antiradical activity was not significantly influenced by the tested factors. A slight tendency on producing a higher content of biologically active compounds in more harsh conditions was observed, particularly for phenols and flavonoids

Germination and growth of primary roots of inoculated bean (Vicia faba) seeds under different temperatures

ArticleTemperature stress strongly affects legumes, rhizobia, and the efficiency of legume - rhizobia interaction. An experiment in 2016 was developed to test the seed germination in Petri dishes using different microorganism inoculation under several temperature treatments (4, 8, 12 and 20 °C) . The goal of t his study was to test the effect of rhizobium inoculation under low root zone temperature, and to examine whether the addition of mycorrhiza fungi could enhance rhizobia resistance to abiotic stress and improve faba bean ( Vicia faba ) germination. Four faba bean cultivars were selected for the experiment (‘Lielplatone’, ‘Fuego’, ‘Bartek’ and ‘Karmazyn’). Four different seed inoculation variants were included in this experiment – 1) with rhizobium inoculation; 2) with a commercial preparation containing mycor rhiza fungi; 3) inoculation with both rhizobium and the mycorrhiza fungi preparation; 4) control variant. The number of germinated seeds, the length of the primary root and the primary root weight ratio were determined. The effect of inoculation was found out to be dependent not only on the temperature treatment, but it also significantly varied between the bean cultivars. Variants where seeds were inoculated with both mycorrhiza and rhizobia resulted in the highest results (length and weight ratio of prima ry roots), comparing with other inoculation variants, regardless of temperature. Variants where seeds were treated only with rhizobia mostly showed the lowest results – both length and weight ratio of primary roots, especially under treatment of 4 °C . Faba bean inoculation with only rhizobia might not be efficient, when sowing seeds under a low temperature stress. Inoculation with both rhizobia and mycorrhiza fungi could be a potential solution, when the root zone temperature is still below the optimal temp erature

Development of symbiotic interactions in the faba bean (Vicia faba L.) roots

ArticleDouble-inoculation of faba bean (Vicia faba L.) seeds before sowing with rhizobium bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi is a known agronomic practice. It improves symbiotic nitrogen fixation and enhances legume supply with mineral elements and water. Effective symbiosis makes it possible to replace some of the required mineral fertilizer needed for plant growth with symbiotically fixed. This will ensure more environmentally friendly agricultural production. The formation of an effective symbiosis depends on a number of biotic and abiotic factors affecting the biochemical signals released by the partners. The biochemical mediator for symbiosis formation is flavonoids. The aim of this experiment was to test the effects of rhizobial and mycorrhizal inocula on symbiosis formation under different temperatures. Beans are an important source of protein for animal feed and human consumption. Four cultivars of faba beans were used - two V. faba var. minor Beck. -‘Fuego’ and ‘Lielplatone’, and two V. faba var. major Harz. - ‘Bartek’ and ‘Karmazyn’. The combination of microorganisms for seed inoculation influenced the frequency of root mycorrhization and abundance of arbuscules. The content of flavonoids in seed exudates correlated (r = 0.93) with germination temperatures. The use of mycorrhizal fungi alone or in combination with rhizobia reduced the amount of flavonoids in the bean seed exudate. In the pot experiment the amount and size of nodules significantly differed between cultivars. Use of mycorrhizal preparation mitigated the effect of inadequate germination temperature. Higher degree of mycorrhization and more intense formation of arbusculs formation was observed in the bean roots grown in vegetation pots in comparison with field ones. Local bred ‘Lielplatone’ had significantly better compatibility with microsymbionts in local agroclimatic conditions

Pioneer neurog1 expressing cells ingress into the otic epithelium and instruct neuronal specification

Neural patterning involves regionalised cell specification. Recent studies indicate that cell dynamics play instrumental roles in neural pattern refinement and progression, but the impact of cell behaviour and morphogenesis on neural specification is not understood. Here we combine 4D analysis of cell behaviours with dynamic quantification of proneural expression to uncover the construction of the zebrafish otic neurogenic domain. We identify pioneer cells expressing neurog1 outside the otic epithelium that migrate and ingress into the epithelialising placode to become the first otic neuronal progenitors. Subsequently, neighbouring cells express neurog1 inside the placode, and apical symmetric divisions amplify the specified pool. Interestingly, pioneer cells delaminate shortly after ingression. Ablation experiments reveal that pioneer cells promote neurog1 expression in other otic cells. Finally, ingression relies on the epithelialisation timing controlled by FGF activity. We propose a novel view for otic neurogenesis integrating cell dynamics whereby ingression of pioneer cells instructs neuronal specification

Experimental analysis of IoT based camera SI-NDVI values for tomato plant health monitoring application

This paper reveals an IoT based camera design to capture SI-NDVI parameters and describes first obtained data analysis regarding luminary spectrum impact on readings in real greenhouse application. For experimental comparison, measurements of Encore, Strabena, Audiance, Bolzano, Forticia and Chocomate tomato plants, both for the ‘best’ and the ‘weakest’ plant sample, using IoT based camera solution and portable leaf spectrometer. First experimental results show that this approach can be applied for tomato plant monitoring, and reveals some ideas about possible precision improvements

Evolutionary dynamics of the elevational diversity gradient in passerine birds

These authors contributed equally: Paul van Els, Leonel Herrera-Alsina. Acknowledgements The research of P.v.E. was facilitated by the Adaptive Life Program of the Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering at the University of Groningen. L.H.-A. thanks the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología of Mexico for funding (CVU 385304 L). R.S.E. thanks the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) for financial support through a VICI grant. A.L.P. is funded by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. We thank the Center for Information Technology of the University of Groningen for their support and for providing access to the Peregrine high-performance computing cluster.Peer reviewedPostprin

Thermal decontamination of sewage sludge

Every year a huge amount of sewage sludge is formed at municipal wastewater treatment plants. Sewage sludge contains a sufficient amount of biogenic elements and organic components, which characterizes them as possible raw materials for the production of organic fertilizers. However, direct incorporation of these sediments into the soil is impossible due to the fact that, in addition to useful organic and mineral components, they contain pathogens, viruses and helminth eggs. The aim of the study was to optimise thermal disinfection conditions for preparing of safety sewage sludge fertilizer. Laboratory studies were carried out using sediments from wastewater treatment plants of some cities. During laboratory experiments, the conditions for thermal disinfection of sediments – the thickness of the sediment layer, the air temperature in the disinfection furnace, and the treatment time of the sediment – were determined. When conducting industrial tests of a conveyor-type sediment decontamination furnace, the operating conditions of the furnace were determined, i.e., the temperature regimes of the sludge heating zone, the decontamination zone and the cooling zone, and the optimum parameters of the sludge layer thickness on the conveyor and the conveyor speed were determined

Leaf spectral clusters as potential optical leaf functional types within California ecosystems

Our ability to measure and map plant function at multiple ecological scales is critical for understanding current and future changes in Earth's ecosystems and the global carbon budget. Conventional plant functional types (cPFTs) based on a few productivity-related traits have been previously used to simplify and represent major differences in global plant functions, but more recent research has directly focused on the use of functional trait information. Still, sampling limitations have constrained efforts to truly understand the variance and covariance of functional traits globally. Reflectance spectra offer a fast, repeatable, simultaneous measurement of a wide variety of leaf functional traits and could be used to optically define leaf functional types. To evaluate this concept, we measured leaf reflectance from a wide range of species in a diverse set of ecosystems across central and northern California, including observations from multiple individuals, sites, and seasons. Using principal components analysis, we analyzed spectral variation in relation to categorical attributes such as species and cPFTs, as well as to a set of functional trait metrics calculated from the spectra. We found the first three principal components (PCs) to be weakly related to categorical attributes and more strongly related to spectrally-derived functional metrics. Each PC was more strongly associated with different portions of the spectrum and contained different functional information. We applied a hybrid clustering algorithm to the PC coordinates of the observations to define potential optical leaf functional types. Twelve spectral clusters were identified, and these did not correspond directly to either single cPFTs or species. However, each cluster had a unique functional metric profile. Clusters represented both inter- and intra-species and cPFT functional differences driven by taxonomy, trait evolution and environmental responses, demonstrating their value as optical leaf functional types and the value of the clustering approach used here for defining optical types from leaf spectra. Our findings support the notion that cPFTs do not adequately capture differences in leaf function. They demonstrate that spectral measurements can be used to improve both the definition of PFTs as well as our knowledge regarding the covariance of functional traits within these classes