Effects of two sources of tannins (Quercus L. and Vaccinium vitis idaea L.) on rumen microbial fermentation: an in vitro study

The aim of the experiment was to determine the effect of different sources of tannins on the in vitro rumen fermentation with focus on methane production. In the experiment, a rumen simulation system (RUSITEC) equipped with 4 fermenters (1 L) was used in three replicated runs (6 d of adaptation and 4 d of sampling) to study the effects of Quercus cortex extract (QC), Vaccinium vitis idaea (VVI) dried leaf extract and a mixture of VVI/QC on rumen microbial fermentation. Fermenters were fed 10.9 g/d of dry matter (DM) of a 600:400 forage:concentrate diet. Treatments were control, QC (2.725 mL), VVI leaves 0.080 g) and mixture of QC/VVI (1.362 mL+0.040 g) and were randomly assigned to fermenters within periods. The equivalent of 2.5 g of tannins/kg dietary DM from three sources of tannins was evaluated. All tannin sources decreased CH4 and ammonia concentrations, as well as protozoa and methanogen counts (P<0.001). Vaccinium vitis idaea and QC/VVI tended (P=0.005) to reduce the acetate to propionate ratio. There were no changes in nutrient digestion. Results suggest that these sources of tannins, especially VVI have the potential to reduce rumen CH4 production and ammonia concentration without negative effects on in vitro DM digestibility, total volatile fatty acids and pH

Study of the Pollen Grain Metabolome under Deposition of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in Taxus baccata L. and Juniperus communis L.

Nitrogen plays an important role in both quantitative and qualitative aspects of plant reproduction, including pollen grain compounds and seed production. Recent studies have pointed out that pollen grains produced by male plants of T. baccata and J. communis subjected to a long period of fertilizer supplementation have lower in vitro germination ability and higher nitrogen content. To gain molecular insights into these observations, we conducted GC&ndash;MS analysis of both species to characterize the metabolomes of dry, mature pollen grains, which allowed for the identification and quantification of more than 200 metabolites. The results demonstrated that fertilizer supplementation impacts the relative content of 14 metabolites in J. communis (9 downregulated and 5 upregulated) and 21 in T. baccata (6 downregulated and 15 upregulated). Although plants showed little similarity in patterns, in metabolite profiles, both up and down fold-changes were observed. This is the first report on the gymnosperm pollen grain metabolomic profile and changes induced by long-term nitrogen and phosphorus supplementation. Pollen grains produced by fertilizer-supplemented male individuals had significantly lower relative content of linolenic acid, 5,6-dihydrouracil, maltotriose, galactonic acid, D-xylulose, and glycerol-&alpha;-phosphate but higher content of sorbitol, glucosamine, and 1,5-anhydro-D-glucitol as well as n-acetyl-d-hexosamine, dimethyl phthalate, glycine, galactose-6-phosphate, D-fructose-6-phosphate, pyroglutamic acid, and 3-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-3-hydroxypropionic acid. Thus, in pollen grain samples earlier shown to have different germination abilities, the presence of different metabolites indicates a significant environmental impact on the quality of gymnosperm pollen grains

Seed Quantity or Quality?—Reproductive Responses of Females of Two Dioecious Woody Species to Long-Term Fertilisation

Although seed quality and quantity, as well as reproductive performance are important life history stages of plants, little is known about the reproductive responses of trees to environmental changes such as increased anthropogenic deposition of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). Dioecious plants are good models with which to test the environmental impact on female or male reproductive responses individually. We analysed effects of different long-term nutritional availability on the reproductive performance of two dioecious species (Taxus baccata L. and Juniperus communis L.) characterised by different life histories. By using pot experiments with vegetatively propagated plants grown in different fertilisation conditions, we observed an increase in plant growth and strobili production but a decrease in seed efficiency. Seeds produced by fertilised plants had greater seed mass. Fertiliser addition did not change C or N content nor the C/N ratio of T. baccata seeds, but increased N content and the N/P ratio; however, it did lower the C/N ratio in J. communis. Fertilisation did not change the metabolite profile in T. baccata but 18 metabolites were changed in J. communis. The study revealed new links between species life history, environmental changes, and reproduction. The findings imply that future environmental conditions may alter both seed productivity, and quality, as well as plant reproductive behaviour

Soil Environment and Fauna Communities in Europe after Afforestation of Post-Agricultural Lands&mdash;A Review

Afforestation can make an important contribution mitigating the effects of changing climate and provide structural and functional benefits. Afforestation also provides challenges for forest managers connected with past land-use history; therefore, there is an urgent need to summarize knowledge about such habitats and point out the gaps in knowledge for planning future studies. Although post-agricultural forests cover a large forest area in Europe, our understanding of the mechanisms governing the below-ground environment is still poor, especially when soil fauna is considered. In this study, we revised knowledge about the soil environment and the response of soil fauna to afforestation on former agricultural lands located in Europe based on research articles from the ISI Web of Science database. Data came from various but distinct locations, compared forests with different types of agricultural lands, and presented previous knowledge about soil chemistry and accompanying soil fauna communities. Finally, we selected 15 studies, investigating soil fauna communities on post-agricultural lands. The meta-analysis was based on response ratio (R) for available data, although in many cases the data were incomplete. Results indicated that post-agricultural forests differ from arable lands in reference to soil pH, but not for soil organic matter and carbon content. Different soil animal groups were represented by a similar number of studies: microfauna (seven studies) and mesofauna (nine), whereas macrofauna were represented by five studies. Meta-analysis revealed that the response of soil fauna to afforestation differed between soil fauna size classes. Additionally, in total, 18 tree species, 12 soil types, and 20 soil parameters were provided in the literature but only a few of them were presented in a single study. Future studies should include the impact of microclimate, detailed stand characteristics and soil conditions, which could help to clearly describe the impact of certain tree species growing on certain soil types. In future soil fauna ecological studies, the data should include mean values, standard deviation (SD) and/or standard effort of means (SE) for abundance, species richness, diversity indices and number of collected samples. Providing the above mentioned information will give the broad audience the opportunity to include data in future comparative analyses

An alternative, portable method for extracting microarthropods from forest soil

Large forest complexes with few human inhabitants provide a valuable resource for understanding natural processes in an environment not directly impacted by humans. However, studies of such systems are difficult to conduct due to the frequent need for collected samples to be subjected to lengthy laboratory processing protocols that require them to be transported to often distant laboratories. The objective of this study was to devise an easy-to-transport field device for sampling soil invertebrates with a simple single-day protocol of extraction. Studies were conducted in order to compare the quantitative and qualitative extraction efficiency of soil invertebrates using this new method (8 h for extraction) and a well-established one, using the Tullgren funnel (168 h for extraction). We also tested the influence of cooling collected microarthropod samples for 7 days on extraction efficiency. Data indicated that the field extraction device was comparable in efficiency to the standard Tullgren extraction funnels and did not affect the results obtained on abundance, species richness and diversity. In addition, the methods did not differ in reference to unique species and the proportional abundance of extracted developmental stages. Results suggest that the field extraction device is time-efficient compared to currently used extraction protocols. Most importantly, the new device allows researchers to study and analyze soil mesofauna directly in the field without needing to transport samples back to the laboratory, thus decreasing the risk of losing sample integrity and spreading soil pathogens. We suggest it will be useful as a complement to other older techniques in the future

Sexual Dimorphism in the Chemical Composition of Male and Female in the Dioecious Tree, Juniperus communis L., Growing under Different Nutritional Conditions

We hypothesized that female and male individuals of the dioecious tree species, Juniperus communis, exhibit different strategies of resource allocation when growing under stress conditions. To test this hypothesis, we performed a two-year pot experiment on plants exposed to different levels of nutrient availability. Analysis of the plants revealed a higher concentration of carbohydrates, carbon, and phenolic compounds in needles of female plants, indicating that females allocate more resources to storage and defense than males. This difference was independent of nutrient availability. Differences in carbohydrates levels between the sexes were most often significant in June, during the most intensive phase of vegetative growth in both sexes, but could also be attributed to female resources investment in cone development. A higher level of nitrogen and other macroelements was observed in males than in females, which may have been connected to the accumulation of resources (nitrogen) for pollen grain production in males or greater allocation of these elements to seeds and cones in females. The interaction between sex and soil fertilization for the C:N ratio may also indicate sex-specific patterns of resource allocation and utilization, which is impacted by their availability during specific periods of J. communis annual life cycle

The

quality of porcine oocytes is affected by sexual maturity of the donor gil

Consequences of the Reproductive Effort of Dioecious Taxus baccata L. Females in a Generative Bud Removal Experiment&mdash;Important Role of Nitrogen in Female Reproduction

Dioecious species differ in the pattern and intensity of male and female reproductive investments. We aimed to determine whether female shoots deprived of generative buds show biochemical features, indicating their less-pronounced reproductive effort. For this purpose, the same branches of mature Taxus baccata females were deprived of generative organs. In the second and third years of the experiment, measurements were made in every season from the control and bud-removed shoots of females and control males. Bud removal caused an increase in nitrogen concentration almost to the level detected in the needles of male specimens, but only in current-year needles. Moreover, differences between male and control female shoots were present in the C:N ratio and increment biomass, but they disappeared when bud removal was applied to females. Additionally, between-sex differences were observed for content of phenolic compounds, carbon and starch, and SLA, independent of the female shoot reproductive effort. The study revealed that nitrogen uptake in seeds and arils may explain the lower nitrogen level and consequently the lower growth rate of females compared to males. At the same time, reproduction did not disturb carbon level in adjacent tissues, and two hypotheses explaining this phenomenon have been put forward

Photochemistry and Antioxidative Capacity of Female and Male Taxus baccata L. Acclimated to Different Nutritional Environments

In dioecious woody plants, females often make a greater reproductive effort than male individuals at the cost of lower growth rate. We hypothesized that a greater reproductive effort of female compared with male Taxus baccata individuals would be associated with lower female photochemical capacity and higher activity of antioxidant enzymes. Differences between the genders would change seasonally and would be more remarkable under nutrient deficiency. Electron transport rate (ETRmax), saturation photosynthetic photon flux corresponding to maximum electron transport rate (PPFsat), quantum yield of PSII photochemistry at PPFsat (ΦPPFsat), and chlorophyll a fluorescence and activity of antioxidant enzymes were determined in needles of T. baccata female and male individuals growing in the experiment with or without fertilization. The effects of seasonal changes and fertilization treatment on photochemical parameters, photosynthetic pigments concentration, and antioxidant enzymes were more pronounced than the effects of between-sexes differences in reproductive efforts. Results showed that photosynthetic capacity expressed as ETRmax and ΦPPFsat and photosynthetic pigments concentrations decreased and non-photochemical quenching of fluorescence (NPQ) increased under nutrient deficiency. Fertilized individuals were less sensitive to photoinhibition than non-fertilized ones. T. baccata female and male individuals did not differ in photochemical capacity, but females showed higher maximum quantum yield of PSII photochemistry (Fv/Fm) than males. The activity of guaiacol peroxidase (POX) was also higher in female than in male needles. We concluded that larger T. baccata female reproductive effort compared with males was not at the cost of photochemical capacity, but to some extent it could be due to between-sexes differences in ability to protect the photosynthetic apparatus against photoinhibition with antioxidants

Effects of two sources of tannins (Quercus L. and Vaccinium vitis idaea L.) on rumen microbial fermentation: an in vitro study

The aim of the experiment was to determine the effect of different sources of tannins on the in vitro rumen fermentation with focus on methane production. In the experiment, a rumen simulation system (RUSITEC) equipped with 4 fermenters (1 L) was used in three replicated runs (6 d of adaptation and 4 d of sampling) to study the effects of Quercus cortex extract (QC), Vaccinium vitis idaea (VVI) dried leaf extract and a mixture of VVI/QC on rumen microbial fermentation. Fermenters were fed 10.9 g/d of dry matter (DM) of a 600:400 forage:concentrate diet. Treatments were control, QC (2.725 mL), VVI leaves 0.080 g) and mixture of QC/VVI (1.362 mL+0.040 g) and were randomly assigned to fermenters within periods. The equivalent of 2.5 g of tannins/kg dietary DM from three sources of tannins was evaluated. All tannin sources decreased CH4 and ammonia concentrations, as well as protozoa and methanogen counts (P<0.001). Vaccinium vitis idaea and QC/VVI tended (P=0.005) to reduce the acetate to propionate ratio. There were no changes in nutrient digestion. Results suggest that these sources of tannins, especially VVI have the potential to reduce rumen CH4 production and ammonia concentration without negative effects on in vitro DM digestibility, total volatile fatty acids and pH