Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: J. Pavlovkin Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Botany, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia Author-Name: I. Mistríková Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Pharmacognosy and Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia Author-Name: K. Jašková Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Botany, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia Author-Name: L. Tamás Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Botany, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia Title: Impact of beauvericin on membrane properties of young initial leaves of maize with different susceptibility to Fusarium Abstract: In the present study the impact of beauvericin (BEA) on the cell membrane properties and respiration of young initial leaves of maize were studied using two maize cultivars differing in their susceptibility to Fusarium sp. BEA significantly depolarized EM of leaf parenchymal cells and this depolarization showed time and dose dependency regardless on the sensitivity of maize cultivars to Fusarium. However, the extent of BEA-induced depolarization was 2-5 times higher in sensitive cv. Pavla than in tolerant cv. Lucia. Membrane permeability and K+ leakage from leaves cells treated with BEA was higher in sensitive cv. Pavla but the differences were not so considerable than the depolarization of EM. Treatment of maize young initial leaves with 40 μmol BEA significantly inhibited respiration. In accord with electrophysiological measurements inhibition of respiration was higher in sensitive cv. Pavla showing 70% inhibition already after 90 min of BEA treatment while in tolerant cv. Lucia inhibition represented only 27%. The biological activity of BEA seems to be mediated by the ability of BEA to affect membrane permeability and ion transport. This is probably the initial effect of BEA on plant cell leading to subsequent effect on other cell organelles (mitochondria) and cell metabolism. Keywords: beauvericin, membrane potential, membrane permeability, respiration, phytotoxicity, young maize leaves, Zea mays L Journal: Plant, Soil and Environment Pages: 205-210 Volume: 58 Issue: 5 Year: 2012 DOI: 10.17221/432/2011-PSE File-URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/432/2011-PSE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/pse-201205-0001.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:58:y:2012:i:5:id:432-2011-PSE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: P. Lü Author-Workplace-Name: State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology and College of Agronomy, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong, P.R. China Author-Name: J.W. Zhang Author-Workplace-Name: State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology and College of Agronomy, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong, P.R. China Author-Name: L.B. Jin Author-Workplace-Name: State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology and College of Agronomy, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong, P.R. China Author-Name: W. Liu Author-Workplace-Name: State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology and College of Agronomy, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong, P.R. China Author-Name: S.T. Dong Author-Workplace-Name: State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology and College of Agronomy, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong, P.R. China Author-Name: P. Liu Author-Workplace-Name: State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology and College of Agronomy, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong, P.R. China Title: Effects of nitrogen application stage on grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency of high-yield summer maize Abstract: This study aims to explore the optimum nitrogen (N) application method by analyzing effects of variable N application stages and ratios on the N absorption and translocation of high-yield summer maize (DH661). The study included field experiments and 15N isotopic dilutions for pot experiments. Results showed that the yield was not increased in a one-off N application at the jointing stage. The uptake of fertilizer-derived N in the grain increased with the increasing of N applied times. Compared to a single or double application, total N uptake (Nup) and biomass increased significantly by supplying N at the six-leaf stage (V6), ten-leaf stage (V10) and 10 days after anthesis in ratios of 3:5:2 and 2:4:4. The fertilizer-derived recovery rates were 67.5% and 78.1%, respectively. The uptake and utilization of fertilizer-derived N was enhanced by increasing the recovery rate of N supplied after anthesis, and reducing the absorption of soil-derived N. Therefore, the 2:4:4 application ratios was the optimal N application method. Keywords: N application method, 15N isotope tracer, N uptake and translocation, soil N, N fertilizer Journal: Plant, Soil and Environment Pages: 211-216 Volume: 58 Issue: 5 Year: 2012 DOI: 10.17221/531/2011-PSE File-URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/531/2011-PSE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/pse-201205-0002.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:58:y:2012:i:5:id:531-2011-PSE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: M. Wei Author-Workplace-Name: Biotechnology Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Shanghai, P.R. China Author-Workplace-Name: Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center of Environmental Safety on GM Crops Author-Name: F. Tan Author-Workplace-Name: Biotechnology Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Shanghai, P.R. China Author-Workplace-Name: Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center of Environmental Safety on GM Crops Author-Name: H. Zhu Author-Workplace-Name: Biotechnology Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Shanghai, P.R. China Author-Workplace-Name: Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center of Environmental Safety on GM Crops Author-Name: K. Cheng Author-Workplace-Name: Biotechnology Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Shanghai, P.R. China Author-Workplace-Name: Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center of Environmental Safety on GM Crops Author-Name: X. Wu Author-Workplace-Name: Biotechnology Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Shanghai, P.R. China Author-Workplace-Name: Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center of Environmental Safety on GM Crops Author-Name: J. Wang Author-Workplace-Name: Biotechnology Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Shanghai, P.R. China Author-Workplace-Name: Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center of Environmental Safety on GM Crops Author-Name: K. Zhao Author-Workplace-Name: Biotechnology Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Shanghai, P.R. China Author-Workplace-Name: Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center of Environmental Safety on GM Crops Author-Name: X. Tang Author-Workplace-Name: Biotechnology Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Shanghai, P.R. China Author-Workplace-Name: Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center of Environmental Safety on GM Crops Title: Impact of Bt-transgenic rice (SHK601) on soil ecosystems in the rhizosphere during crop development Abstract: In contrast to other transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crops (e.g. Bt maize and cotton), risk assessments of Bt rice on soil ecosystem are few. To assess the influence of Bt rice on rhizosphere soil ecosystems, soil samples from Bt, non-Bt and controls were taken at seedling, tillering, booting, heading and maturing stages. The activities of dehydrogenases, invertase, phenol oxidases, acid phosphatases, ureases and proteases showed no significant differences between Bt and non-Bt rice. A Biolog system was used to evaluate the effect of Bt rice on functional diversity of microbial communities. Although there were differences in carbon substrate utilization between Bt and non-Bt rice at seedling, tillering and heading stages, these differences were transient and not persistent. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) fingerprint patterns showed that Bt rice had little effect on the dominant rhizosphere bacterial, fungal and actinobacterial communities. The richness and consistency of microbial communities according to carbon substrate utilizations and DGGE band patterns did not differ significantly between Bt and non-Bt rice, and were close to that of control soil. There was no evidence to indicate apparent effects of Bt rice on soil enzyme activities, microbial community composition and functional diversity in this study. Keywords: risk assessment, enzyme activities, microbial community, Biolog EcoPlate, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis Journal: Plant, Soil and Environment Pages: 217-223 Volume: 58 Issue: 5 Year: 2012 DOI: 10.17221/627/2011-PSE File-URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/627/2011-PSE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/pse-201205-0003.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:58:y:2012:i:5:id:627-2011-PSE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: M.J. Baig Author-Workplace-Name: Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, India Author-Name: R.K. Bhatt Author-Workplace-Name: Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, India Author-Name: H.S. Tiwari Author-Workplace-Name: Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, India Author-Name: P. Swami Author-Workplace-Name: Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, India Title: Assimilatory function and biochemical changes in Stylosanthes hamata grown under elevated CO2 Abstract: We studied the impact of 360 ± 50 µL/l (ambient) and 600 ± 50 µL/L (elevated) CO2 on growth performance, biomass production, photosynthetic efficiency, carbon isotope discrimination, protein profile and some antioxidant enzymes on Stylosanthes hamata. This crop responded significantly to photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and transpiration rate under elevated CO2. The biomass production in terms of fresh and dry was increased in elevated CO2 by 126.81% (fresh) and 114.55% (dry) over ambient CO2. Long term exposure to elevated CO2 enhanced photosynthetic water use efficiency by 127.77%. The photosynthetic pigment, total chlorophyll and chlorophyll a/b ratio also increased by 220.56 and 132.86%, respectively in elevated over ambient CO2. Around 149% increase in the soluble protein accumulation (mg/g FW) was recorded under elevated over ambient CO2, which was also reflected in the polyacrylamide gel profile. The isoforms of superoxide dismutase and esterase isozymes showed remarkable difference under elevated as compared to ambient. Measurement of 13δ in different plant parts indicated a significant increase in discrimination against 13C when plants were grown at elevated relative to ambient CO2. Maximum increase was recorded in roots (439.72%) followed by leaf and the stem recorded least increase in 13δ (119.94%) in elevated over ambient CO2. Keywords: photosynthesis, antioxidant enzymes, biomass production, 13δ discrimination Journal: Plant, Soil and Environment Pages: 224-229 Volume: 58 Issue: 5 Year: 2012 DOI: 10.17221/695/2011-PSE File-URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/695/2011-PSE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/pse-201205-0004.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:58:y:2012:i:5:id:695-2011-PSE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Manoj-Kumar Author-Workplace-Name: Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India Author-Name: A. Swarup Author-Workplace-Name: Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India Author-Name: A.K. Patra Author-Workplace-Name: Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India Author-Name: J.U. Chandrakala Author-Workplace-Name: Division of Plant Physiology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India Author-Name: K.M. Manjaiah Author-Workplace-Name: Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India Title: Effect of elevated CO2 and temperature on phosphorus efficiency of wheat grown in an Inceptisol of subtropical India Abstract: In a phytotron experiment, wheat was grown under two levels of atmospheric CO2 [ambient (385 ppm) vs. elevated (650 ppm)], two levels of temperature (ambient vs. ambient +3°C) superimposed with three levels of phosphorus (P) fertilization: 0, 100, and 200% of recommended dose. Various measures of P acquisition and utilization efficiency were estimated at crop maturity. In general, dry matter yields of all plant parts increased under elevated CO2 (EC) and decreased under elevated temperature (ET); however, under concurrently elevated CO2 and temperature (ECT), root (+36%) and leaf (+14.7%) dry weight increased while stem (-12.3%) and grain yield (-17.3%) decreased, leading to a non-significant effect on total biomass yield. Similarly, total P uptake increased under EC and decreased under ET, with an overall increase of 17.4% under ECT, signifying higher P requirements by plants grown thereunder. Although recovery efficiency of applied P fertilizer increased by 27%, any possible benefit of this increase was negated by the reduced physiological P efficiency (PPE) and P utilization efficiency (PUtE) under ECT. Overall, there was ~17% decline in P use efficiency (PUE) (i.e. grain yield/applied P) of wheat under ECT. Keywords: climate change, wheat yield, 32P tracer, Indo-Gangetic plains, P nutrition Journal: Plant, Soil and Environment Pages: 230-235 Volume: 58 Issue: 5 Year: 2012 DOI: 10.17221/749/2011-PSE File-URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/749/2011-PSE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/pse-201205-0005.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:58:y:2012:i:5:id:749-2011-PSE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: S. Mihaljević Author-Workplace-Name: Ruđer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia Author-Name: B. Salopek-Sondi Author-Workplace-Name: Ruđer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia Title: Alanine conjugate of indole-3-butyric acid improves rooting of highbush blueberries Abstract: Auxins and their synthetic analogues are commonly used for rooting of cuttings, but their efficiency depends on experimental set-up and, even more importantly, on species or cultivar, and type of explants investigated. In attempt to improve rooting procedure for highbush blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum L.), we investigated alanine conjugate of indole-3-butyric acid (IBA-Ala) as potential root-promoting compound and compared with commonly used auxins indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). The effect of different concentrations of auxins on the rooting of highbush blueberry stem cuttings (var. Bluecrop, Bluetta, Burlington and Jersey) and in vitro-derived microcuttings (var. Jersey) was investigated. Auxin treatments significantly promoted rooting of all four varieties in comparison to control. The most efficient rooting promoter in all varieties appeared IBA-Ala (provided up to 83%, and 93% of the rooted cuttings and microcuttings, respectively). Furthermore, IBA-Ala caused a vigorous, well-branched root system that resulted in better acclimatization and survival of plants. Results suggest the application of IBA-Ala may be beneficial for rooting of difficult-to-root varieties of blueberry and related species and their practical application in the nursery industry. Keywords: adventitious root, auxin, microcutting, stem cutting, Vaccinium corymbosum L Journal: Plant, Soil and Environment Pages: 236-241 Volume: 58 Issue: 5 Year: 2012 DOI: 10.17221/34/2012-PSE File-URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/34/2012-PSE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/pse-201205-0006.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:58:y:2012:i:5:id:34-2012-PSE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: H.W. Scherer Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation, Department of Plant Nutrition, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn, Germany Author-Name: G. Welp Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation, Department of Soil Science, Author-Name: S. Förster Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation, Department of Plant Nutrition, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn, Germany Title: Sulfur fractions in particle-size separates as influenced by long-term application of mineral and organic fertilizers Abstract: A field experiment established in 1962 was chosen to investigate the effect of long-term application of farmyard manure (FYM), compost (COM) and sewage sludge (SS), respectively, in two increments as compared to mineral fertilizer on inorganic and organic S fractions in particle-size separates (< 0.002 mm, 0.002-0.02 mm, 0.02-2 mm). Independent of the particle-size the application of the high amounts of COM and SS resulted in the highest total S contents. It is evident that the particle-size fractions < 0.002 mm contained the majority of total soil sulfur (S). The content of plant available S (water-soluble and adsorbed SO42-) decreased with increasing particle-size, while the influence of the kind and amount of organic fertilizers was negligible. As compared to C-bonded S sulfate esters were the dominant organic S fraction in size separates. The content of both organic S fractions was highest in the particle-size fraction < 0.002 mm and lowest in the particle-size fraction 0.02-2 mm. The influence of the application of organic fertilizers was less pronounced. Only high application rates of COM and SS, respectively, resulted in the highest contents of both organic S fractions in the particle-size fractions 0.002-0.02 mm and 0.02-2 mm. Keywords: inorganics, organics, farmyard manure, compost, sewage sludge Journal: Plant, Soil and Environment Pages: 242-248 Volume: 58 Issue: 5 Year: 2012 DOI: 10.17221/78/2012-PSE File-URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/78/2012-PSE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/pse-201205-0007.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:58:y:2012:i:5:id:78-2012-PSE