The importance of the period immediately preceding anthesis for grain weight determination in wheat

Although individual grain weight is an important source of variation for grain yield, there is still poor understanding of the causes determining final grain weight. Almost all studies conducted for understanding the determinants of grain weight have been focused on the post-anthesis period. However, there is important evidence that pre-anthesis conditions could also modify final grain weight. Three experiments including different sowing dates, genotypes and temperature regimes between booting and anthesis, were carried out in Argentina and Mexico to analyse the effect of temperature and associated traits during the pre- and post-anthesis periods on grain weight under field conditions. In these experiments final grain weight could not be explained by average or maximum temperature during the post-anthesis period. However, average temperature between booting and anthesis was closely related to the observed grain weight differences, probably as a consequence of the effects of this factor on carpel growth. Differences in grain weight between genotypes and grain position were successfully explained by differences in carpel weight at anthesis. These results suggest that our knowledge to determine grain weight could improve if the immediately pre-anthesis period conditions were taken into account.Fil: Calderini, Daniel Fernando. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Producción Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Savin, Roxana. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Producción Vegetal; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario; ArgentinaFil: Abeledo, Leonor Gabriela. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Producción Vegetal; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario; ArgentinaFil: Reynolds, M. P.. Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo; MéxicoFil: Slafer, Gustavo Ariel. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Producción Vegetal; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario; Argentin

Resolving phytoplankton pigments from spectral images using convolutional neural networks

Motivated by the need for rapid and robust monitoring of phytoplankton in inland waters, this article introduces a protocol based on a mobile spectral imager for assessing phytoplankton pigments from water samples. The protocol includes (1) sample concentrating; (2) spectral imaging; and (3) convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to resolve concentrations of chlorophyll a (Chl a), carotenoids, and phycocyanin. The protocol was demonstrated with samples from 20 lakes across Scotland, with special emphasis on Loch Leven where blooms of cyanobacteria are frequent. In parallel, samples were prepared for reference observations of Chl a and carotenoids by high-performance liquid chromatography and of phycocyanin by spectrophotometry. Robustness of the CNNs were investigated by excluding each lake from model trainings one at a time and using the excluded data as independent test data. For Loch Leven, median absolute percentage difference (MAPD) was 15% for Chl a and 36% for carotenoids. MAPD in estimated phycocyanin concentration was high (102%); however, the system was able to indicate the possibility of a cyanobacteria bloom. In the leave-one-out tests with the other lakes, MAPD was 26% for Chl a, 27% for carotenoids, and 75% for phycocyanin. The higher error for phycocyanin was likely due to variation in the data distribution and reference observations. It was concluded that this protocol could support phytoplankton monitoring by using Chl a and carotenoids as proxies for biomass. Greater focus on the distribution and volume of the training data would improve the phycocyanin estimates

Evidence for increasing global wheat yield potential

Wheat is the most widely grown food crop, with 761 Mt produced globally in 2020. To meet the expected grain demand by mid-century, wheat breeding strategies must continue to improve upon yield-advancing physiological traits, regardless of climate change impacts. Here, the best performing doubled haploid (DH) crosses with an increased canopy photosynthesis from wheat field experiments in the literature were extrapolated to the global scale with a multi-model ensemble of process-based wheat crop models to estimate global wheat production. The DH field experiments were also used to determine a quantitative relationship between wheat production and solar radiation to estimate genetic yield potential. The multi-model ensemble projected a global annual wheat production of 1050 ± 145 Mt due to the improved canopy photosynthesis, a 37% increase, without expanding cropping area. Achieving this genetic yield potential would meet the lower estimate of the projected grain demand in 2050, albeit with considerable challenges.Fil: Guarin, Jose Rafael. National Aeronautics and Space Administration; Estados Unidos. Columbia University; Estados Unidos. Florida State University; Estados UnidosFil: Martre, Pierre. Institut Agro Montpellier SupAgro; FranciaFil: Ewert, Frank. Universitat Bonn; Alemania. Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research; AlemaniaFil: Webber, Heidi. Universitat Bonn; Alemania. Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research; AlemaniaFil: Dueri, Sibylle. Institut Agro Montpellier SupAgro; FranciaFil: Calderini, Daniel Fernando. Universidad Austral de Chile; ChileFil: Reynolds, Matthew. International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center ; MéxicoFil: Molero, Gemma. KWS; FranciaFil: Miralles, Daniel Julio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; ArgentinaFil: Garcia, Guillermo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; ArgentinaFil: Slafer, Gustavo Ariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentina. Universitat de Lleida; España. Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avancats; EspañaFil: Giunta, Francesco. Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche. Istituto Di Scienze Dell Atmosfera E del Clima.; ItaliaFil: Pequeno, Diego N.L.. International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center; MéxicoFil: Stella, Tommaso. Universitat Bonn; Alemania. Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research; AlemaniaFil: Ahmed, Mukhtar. University Of Pakistan; PakistánFil: Alderman, Phillip D.. Oklahoma State University; Estados UnidosFil: Basso, Bruno. Michigan State University; Estados UnidosFil: Berger, Andres G.. Instituto Nacional de Investigacion Agropecuaria;Fil: Bindi, Marco. Università degli Studi di Firenze; ItaliaFil: Bracho-Mujica, Gennady. Universität Göttingen; AlemaniaFil: Cammarano, Davide. Purdue University; Estados UnidosFil: Chen, Yi. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Dumont, Benjamin. Université de Liège; BélgicaFil: Rezaei, Ehsan Eyshi. Leibniz Institute Of Plant Genetics And Crop Plant Research.; AlemaniaFil: Fereres, Elias. Universidad de Córdoba; EspañaFil: Ferrise, Roberto. Michigan State University; Estados UnidosFil: Gaiser, Thomas. Universitat Bonn; AlemaniaFil: Gao, Yujing. Florida State University; Estados UnidosFil: Garcia Vila, Margarita. Universidad de Córdoba; EspañaFil: Gayler, Sebastian. Universidad de Hohenheim; Alemani

Evidence for increasing global wheat yield potential

Wheat is the most widely grown food crop, with 761 Mt produced globally in 2020. To meet the expected grain demand by mid-century, wheat breeding strategies must continue to improve upon yield-advancing physiological traits, regardless of climate change impacts. Here, the best performing doubled haploid (DH) crosses with an increased canopy photosynthesis from wheat field experiments in the literature were extrapolated to the global scale with a multi-model ensemble of process-based wheat crop models to estimate global wheat production. The DH field experiments were also used to determine a quantitative relationship between wheat production and solar radiation to estimate genetic yield potential. The multi-model ensemble projected a global annual wheat production of 1050 +/- 145 Mt due to the improved canopy photosynthesis, a 37% increase, without expanding cropping area. Achieving this genetic yield potential would meet the lower estimate of the projected grain demand in 2050, albeit with considerable challenges

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Peri-operative red blood cell transfusion in neonates and infants: NEonate and Children audiT of Anaesthesia pRactice IN Europe: A prospective European multicentre observational study

BACKGROUND: Little is known about current clinical practice concerning peri-operative red blood cell transfusion in neonates and small infants. Guidelines suggest transfusions based on haemoglobin thresholds ranging from 8.5 to 12 g dl-1, distinguishing between children from birth to day 7 (week 1), from day 8 to day 14 (week 2) or from day 15 (≥week 3) onwards. OBJECTIVE: To observe peri-operative red blood cell transfusion practice according to guidelines in relation to patient outcome. DESIGN: A multicentre observational study. SETTING: The NEonate-Children sTudy of Anaesthesia pRactice IN Europe (NECTARINE) trial recruited patients up to 60 weeks' postmenstrual age undergoing anaesthesia for surgical or diagnostic procedures from 165 centres in 31 European countries between March 2016 and January 2017. PATIENTS: The data included 5609 patients undergoing 6542 procedures. Inclusion criteria was a peri-operative red blood cell transfusion. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary endpoint was the haemoglobin level triggering a transfusion for neonates in week 1, week 2 and week 3. Secondary endpoints were transfusion volumes, 'delta haemoglobin' (preprocedure - transfusion-triggering) and 30-day and 90-day morbidity and mortality. RESULTS: Peri-operative red blood cell transfusions were recorded during 447 procedures (6.9%). The median haemoglobin levels triggering a transfusion were 9.6 [IQR 8.7 to 10.9] g dl-1 for neonates in week 1, 9.6 [7.7 to 10.4] g dl-1 in week 2 and 8.0 [7.3 to 9.0] g dl-1 in week 3. The median transfusion volume was 17.1 [11.1 to 26.4] ml kg-1 with a median delta haemoglobin of 1.8 [0.0 to 3.6] g dl-1. Thirty-day morbidity was 47.8% with an overall mortality of 11.3%. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate lower transfusion-triggering haemoglobin thresholds in clinical practice than suggested by current guidelines. The high morbidity and mortality of this NECTARINE sub-cohort calls for investigative action and evidence-based guidelines addressing peri-operative red blood cell transfusions strategies. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT02350348