Short-term evaluation of oxygen transfer from rice (Oryza sativa) to mixed planted drought-adapted upland crops under hydroponic culture

Mixed cropping is a cultivation method widely practiced in tropical regions. The newly developed close mixed planting technique mitigates the flood stress of drought-adapted upland cereal species by co-growing rice (Oryza sativa) plants under field flood conditions. We tested the hypothesis that O2 was transferred from rice to upland crops using the model system of hydroponic culture. To confirm the hypothesis, the phenomena of O2 absorption and release by plants were evaluated in a water culture condition without soil. Experiments were conducted in a climate chamber to estimate the amount of O2 released from the roots of rice and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) under both O2-rich (20.0 ± .0% conc. in phase I) and O2-free dark (.8 ± .0% conc. in phase II) conditions. The total O2 change (between the two phases) in a single planting of rice and pearl millet was significantly higher than that of the mixed planting of rice and pearl millet, which indicated that O2 was transferred from rice to pearl millet under a water culture condition. The result indicated that approximately 7 μM O2 g fresh root weight−1 h−1 was transferred between the two plant species. O2 transfer was confirmed between the two plant species in a mix cultured in water, implying its contribution to the phenomenon that improved the physiological status of drought-adapted upland crops under field flood conditions

Stress-induced flowering

Many plant species can be induced to flower by responding to stress factors. The short-day plants Pharbitis nil and Perilla frutescens var. crispa flower under long days in response to the stress of poor nutrition or low-intensity light. Grafting experiments using two varieties of P. nil revealed that a transmissible flowering stimulus is involved in stress-induced flowering. The P. nil and P. frutescens plants that were induced to flower by stress reached anthesis, fruited and produced seeds. These seeds germinated, and the progeny of the stressed plants developed normally. Phenylalanine ammonialyase inhibitors inhibited this stress-induced flowering, and the inhibition was overcome by salicylic acid (SA), suggesting that there is an involvement of SA in stress-induced flowering. PnFT2, a P. nil ortholog of the flowering gene FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) of Arabidopsis thaliana, was expressed when the P. nil plants were induced to flower under poor-nutrition stress conditions, but expression of PnFT1, another ortholog of FT, was not induced, suggesting that PnFT2 is involved in stress-induced flowering