Identification of wheat cultivars for low nitrogen tolerance using multivariable screening approaches

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). A set of thirty-six wheat cultivars were grown for two consecutive years under low and high nitrogen conditions. The interactions of cultivars with different environmental factors were shown to be highly significant for most of the studied traits, suggesting the presence of wider genetic variability which may be utilized for the genetic improvement of desired trait(s). Three cultivars, i.e., RAJ 4037, DBW 39 and GW 322, were selected based on three selection indices, i.e., tolerance index (TOL), stress susceptibility index (SSI), and yield stability index (YSI), while two cultivars, HD 2967 and MACS 6478, were selected based on all four selection indices which were common in both of the study years. According to Kendall’s concordance coefficient, the consistency of geometric mean productivity (GMP) was found to be highest (0.778), followed by YSI (0.556), SSI (0.472), and TOL (0.200). Due to the high consistency of GMP followed by YSI and SSI, the three selection indices could be utilized as a selection tool in the identification of high-yielding genotypes under low nitrogen conditions. The GMP and YSI selection indices had a positive and significant correlation with grain yield, whereas TOL and SSI exhibited a significant but negative correlation with grain yield under both high and low nitrogen conditions in both years. The common tolerant genotypes identified through different selection indices could be utilized as potential donors in active breeding programs to incorporate the low nitrogen tolerant genes to develop high-yielding wheat varieties for low nitrogen conditions. The study also helps in understanding the physiological basis of tolerance in high-yielding wheat genotypes under low nitrogen conditions

Combustion of coal gas fuels in a staged combustor

Gaseous fuels produced from coal resources generally have heating values much lower than natural gas; the low heating value could result in unstable or inefficient combustion. Coal gas fuels may contain ammonia which if oxidized in an uncontrolled manner could result in unacceptable nitrogen oxide exhaust emission levels. Previous investigations indicate that staged, rich-lean combustion represents a desirable approach to achieve stable, efficient, low nitrogen oxide emission operation for coal-derived liquid fuels contaning up to 0.8-wt pct nitrogen. An experimental program was conducted to determine whether this fuel tolerance can be extended to include coal-derived gaseous fuels. The results of tests with three nitrogen-free fuels having heating values of 100, 250, and 350 Btu/scf and a 250 Btu/scf heating value doped to contain 0.7 pct ammonia are presented

Advances in barley breeding for improving nitrogen use efficiency

Crop breeding for high nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) or tolerance to low nitrogen fertilization is thought to be an ideal solution to reduce the cost, carbon footprint, and other environmental problems caused by the excess use of nitrogen fertilizers. As a model plant for cereal crops, barley has many advantages, including good adaptability, a short growth period, and high natural stress resistance or tolerance. Therefore, research on improving NUE in barley is not only beneficial for nitrogen-efficient barley breeding but will also inform NUE improvement in other cereal crops. In this review, recent progress in understanding barley’s response to nitrogen nutrition, evaluation of NUE or low-nitrogen tolerance, quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping and gene cloning associated with improving NUE, and breeding of nitrogen-efficient barley is summarized. Furthermore, several biotechnological tools that could be used for revealing the molecular mechanisms of NUE or breeding for improving NUE in barley are introduced, including GWAS, omics, and gene editing. The latest research ideas in unraveling the molecular mechanisms of improving NUE in other crops are also discussed. Thus, this review provides a better understanding of improving the NUE of barley and some directions for future research in this area

Nitrogen deficiency impacts on leaf cell and tissue structure with consequences for senescence associated processes in Brassica napus

International audienceImprovement of nutrient use efficiency is a major goal for several crop plants, especially Brassica napus. Indeed, the low nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in this crop results in negative economic and ecological consequences. The low NUE of oilseed rape is mainly due to low remobilization of nitrogen from vegetative parts to growing organs. Remobilization of leaf nitrogen takes place during senescence, a process known to strongly modify cell and tissue structure. This study focused on the impact of moderate N depletion, expected to induce 30% reduction of seed yield, on these structural modifications. Two genotypes (Aviso and Express) were studied, with different tolerance of nitrogen depletion, evaluated through seed yield and dry mass production. Structural modifications of leaf cells and tissues were investigated through NMR relaxometry and light microscopy. Lower tolerance of N depletion was associated with higher impact on senescence associated structural modification pattern. The link between leaf structure modifications and nutrient remobilization is discussed. It is proposed that leaf structure monitoring during senescence through NMR device could be developed to select genotypes with high NUE

Biostimulant activity of azotobacter chroococcum and trichoderma harzianum in durum wheat under water and nitrogen deficiency

Biostimulants hold great potential for developing integrated sustainable agriculture systems. The rhizobacteria Azotobacter chroococcum strain 76A and the fungus Trichoderma harzianum strain T22, with demonstrated biostimulant activity in previous systems, were evaluated in Triticum durum cv Creso for their ability to enhance growth and tolerance to drought stress. Growth and drought tolerance were evaluated in conditions of low and high soil nitrogen, with two levels of water stress. T. harzianum increased plant growth (+16%) under control conditions and tolerance to moderate drought stress (+52%) under optimal fertilization, while A. chroococcum conferred a growth penalty (−28%) in well-watered conditions under suboptimal fertilization and increased tolerance only under extreme drought stress (+15%). This growth penalty was ameliorated by nitrogen fertilization. T. harzianum abundance was found to be positively correlated to extreme soil drying, whereas A. chroococcum-induced tolerance was dependent on soil nitrogen availability. These results indicate that while biostimulants may enhance growth and stress tolerance, nutrient availability soil and environmental conditions heavily influence these responses. These interactions should be considered when designing biostimulant products targeted to specific cultural conditions

Species ecology determines the role of nitrogen nutrition on the frost tolerance of pine seedlings

Frost determines the evolution and distribution of plants in temperate and cold regions. Several environmental factors can influencefrost acclimation of woody plants but the magnitude and direction of the effect of nitrogen (N) availability is controversial.We studied the effect of N availability on root and shoot frost tolerance in mid-fall and in winter in seedlings of four pines of contrastingecology: Pinus nigra J.F. Arnold, P. pinaster Ait., P. pinea L. and P. halepensis Mill.. Organ N and soluble sugar concentration,and timing of cessation of shoot elongation were measured to assess the physiological mechanisms underlying frostacclimation. Nitrogen was supplied at high and low rates only during the pre-hardening period and at a moderate N rate duringhardening in the fall. Shoot frost tolerance increased over winter while root frost tolerance did not change in any species. PrehardeningN availability affected the frost tolerance of both roots and shoots, although the effect was species-specific: high Nreduced the overall root and shoot frost tolerance in P. pinea and P. halepensis, and increased the frost tolerance in P. nigra, buthad no effect in P. pinaster. Nitrogen supply in the fall consistently increased frost tolerance in all speciesComunidad de Madri

Review on Genetic and Breeding for Low -N tolerance in Maize

Low soil nitrogen (Low N) is one of the major abiotic stresses causing maize yield reduction in tropics of Africa. However, genetic variation observed under low N and crossing among adaptive/NUE elite lines should be targeted for different secondary traits, economic disease and inheritance studies breeding for Low N in maize. In addition, breeding for Low N and drought have common traits indicating that common adaptive mechanism and thus, appear to develop maize genotypes that tolerance to stress and such maize genotypes exhibited high yield performance under low and high N condition across environments, is likely good for subsistence farmers in Africa for maize production. Multiple QTLs detected under Low N and high-nitrogen conditions for grain yield per plant, secondary and physiological traits. However, a direct use of these detected QTLs has been less achieved breeding for Low N tolerance in maize program, because of eQTLs. Thus, stable QTLs should be validated and fine mapping or GWAS method should detect the candidate genes for controlling NUE for low soil nitrogen in maize. Keyword: Low N, secondary traits, genotypes, NUE, QTLs DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/12-1-04 Publication date: January 31st 2021

Seleksi Jagung Inbrida Dengan Marka Molekuler Dan Toleransinya Terhadap Kekeringan Dan Nitrogen Rendah

Information on genetic diversity, homozygosity, drought stress and low N tolerance of maize inbred line are useful for parental selection in developing maize varieties tolerant to drought and low N. The objectives of this study were (a) selection for homozygoes lines and analysis of genetic diversity among 51 maize inbred lines applying simple sequence repeats (SSRs) using thirty six markers (b) selection for inbred lines (homozygosity over 80%) for drought and low nitrogen (N) tolerance. Experiment was conducted using split-split plots design with three replications. Water treatments were as the main plots (well-watered and drought stress conditions), subplots were nitrogen fertilization at rate of 75 and 150 kg N/ha and the sub-sub plots were 51 inbred lines. The results showed that there were broad ranges of genetic variability among inbred lines with genetic similarity coefficient values ranging from 0.22 to 0.87 and polymorphism information content average was 0.57. Thirty inbreds having homozygosity over 80% were spread into six heterotic groups. Drought tolerance inbreds were in heterotic groups C and F, namely DTPYC9-F46-3-9-1-1-B and 1044-30, the drought medium tolerance in heterotic group A and B, namely CML 161/NEI 9008 and MR 14. Inbred for low-N fertility tolerance was in the heterotic group D namely G20133077, while medium tolerance to low-N fertility inbreds were in heterotic group A, B, C, D, and F, and they were CML 161/NEI 9008, CY 11, CY 15, CY 6, CLRCY039, Nei9008, DTPYC9-F46-1-2-1-2-B, G2013627, G2013649, 1044-30. Inbreds tolerance to both medium drought and to low-N fertility were in heterotic group C and F they were DTPYC9-F46-1-2-1-2-B and 1044-30. Inbred lines of maize tolerant to drought and to low-N fertility can be used as parent to develop hybrid or synthetic varieties, posessing stress tolerances, by cross recombination between heterotic groups

Novel low-nitrogen stress-responsive long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) in barley landrace B968 (Liuzhutouzidamai) at seedling stage

Background: Reducing the dependence of crop production on chemical fertilizer with its associated costs, carbon footprint and other environmental problems is a challenge for agriculture. New solutions are required to solve this problem, and crop breeding for high nitrogen use efficiency or tolerance of low nitrogen availability has been widely considered to be a promising approach. However, the molecular mechanisms of high nitrogen use efficiency or low-nitrogen tolerance in crop plants are still to be elucidated, including the role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs. Results: In this study, we identified 498 lncRNAs in barley (Hordeum vulgare) landrace B968 (Liuzhutouzidamai), of which 487 were novel, and characterised 56 that were responsive to low-nitrogen stress. For functional analysis of differentially-expressed lncRNAs, the gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment of co-expressed and co-located protein-coding genes were analyzed, and interactions with annotated co-expressed protein coding genes or micro RNAs (miRNAs) were further predicted. Target mimicry prediction between differentially-expressed lncRNAs and miRNAs identified 40 putative target mimics of lncRNAs and 58 target miRNAs. Six differentially-expressed lncRNAs were further validated by qPCR, and one in particular showed consistent differential expression using both techniques. Expression levels of most of the lncRNAs were found to be very low, and this may be the reason for the apparent inconsistency between RNA-seq and qPCR data. Conclusions: The analysis of lncRNAs that are differentially-expressed under low-nitrogen stress, as well as their coexpressed or co-located protein coding genes and target mimics, could elucidate complex and hitherto uncharacterised mechanisms involved in the adaptation to low-nitrogen stress in barley and other crop plants