基于DSSAT模型对豫北地区夏玉米灌溉制度的优化模拟

合理的灌溉制度是提高农业水资源利用效率、保证夏玉米高产稳产的前提。采用农业技术转化决策系统(DSSAT,Decision Support System for Agrotechno1ogy Transfer)探究了河南省北部地区夏玉米不同降水年型下的最优灌溉制度。经过参数的校正和验证,归一化均方根误差(nRMSE)、均方根误差(RMSE)和一致性指数(d)均表现出模拟值与实测值的吻合度很好,DSSAT-maize模型可以准确模拟夏玉米物候期、地上部分生物量、产量和土壤水分状况。然后基于模型模拟了不同灌溉处理下的夏玉米生产潜力,从而评估夏玉米缺水量,并对比分析不同生育时期灌水对产量的影响确定最优灌溉时期,综合考虑产量和水分利用效率确定最优灌溉制度。结果表明:夏玉米生长季的缺水量年际间差异显著,多年平均值为38.91 mm,波动范围为0—193.03 mm。在丰水年,不需要灌溉;在平水年,开花期灌水30 mm;在枯水年,开花期和灌浆期灌水50 mm;在特别干旱年,苗期、拔节期和开花期至少灌水180 mm。优化的灌溉制度下丰水年、平水年和枯水年的WUE达到最高且产量分别占其最高产量的100%、99.72%和97.89%,实现了作物高产节水协同提高的目标。     

干旱条件下夏玉米地-气温差的影响因素及其模拟

地-气温差指标表征作物水分亏缺状况已经被广泛研究,但地-气温差随作物生育进程的变化特征及其影响因子的观测研究仍较少,制约着地-气温差的准确模拟.基于夏玉米2014年三叶期和2015年拔节期的5个灌溉水分控制试验资料的研究表明: 随着夏玉米生育进程的推进,土壤水分的变化显著影响了夏玉米农田的地-气温差,土壤水分亏缺越严重,地-气温差越高.在整个水分处理期间,归一化植被指数是地-气温差的主要影响因子且两者呈显著的线性关系,但不同生育期地-气温差还受其他因子的影响:三叶期后受冠层吸收光合有效辐射比影响且呈显著的线性关系,三叶期至拔节期则受土壤相对湿度和空气相对湿度的影响且呈显著的线性关系.在此基础上,基于2014年试验资料建立了夏玉米全生育期地-气温差模拟模型、营养生长期地-气温差模拟模型和生殖生长期地-气温差模拟模型,并利用2015年夏玉米拔节期5个灌溉水分控制试验资料进行了模型验证,结果表明,夏玉米全生育期地-气温差模型可以解释2015年地-气温差变异的63%,但地-气温差分生育期模拟模型,即营养生长期地-气温差模拟模型和生殖生长期地-气温差模拟模型综合的模拟结果则可解释2015年地-气温差变异的79%.研究结果为基于地-气温差的作物干旱指标定量评估作物干旱提供了依据.     

深松和秸秆还田对甘肃引黄灌区土壤物理性状和玉米生产的影响

通过在甘肃引黄灌区灰钙土2015—2017年的田间试验,研究深松35 cm秸秆还田、深松35 cm秸秆不还田与传统旋耕秸秆不还田对土壤紧实度、容重、入渗率和0～100 cm土层土壤水分、玉米产量、养分吸收量的影响.结果表明: 与深松35 cm秸秆不还田及旋耕秸秆不还田相比,深松35 cm秸秆还田使0～40 cm土层土壤紧实度和容重降低最明显,2017年收获后紧实度与容重较2015年试验前分别下降42.6%、7.0%,且2016和2017年播种前与收获后0～40 cm土层紧实度和容重的变幅最小,紧实度变异系数平均为6.1%,容重为3.2%,土壤入渗率较旋耕秸秆不还田提高33.6%;深松35 cm秸秆还田可显著提高春秋两季0～100 cm土层剖面含水量,降低剖面水分变异,0～100 cm土层土壤贮水量较旋耕秸秆不还田春季增加15.5%,秋季增加5.6%,水分利用效率提高32.4%;此外,深松35 cm秸秆还田能促进玉米生产,较旋耕秸秆不还田的经济产量两年平均分别增产25.6%,生物产量提升33.3%,玉米氮、磷、钾养分吸收量分别提高49.6%、51.5%和37.6%.综上,深松35 cm秸秆还田能改善物理土壤特性,稳定耕层物理性状,提高0～100 cm土层剖面水分含量及春秋两季土壤平均贮水量,降低水分变异,是促进玉米水肥高效利用,实现高产的最优措施,为甘肃引黄灌区耕层构建技术的深入研究提供理论依据.     

Leveraging GWAS data to identify metabolic pathways and networks involved in maize lipid biosynthesis

Maize (Zea mays mays) oil is a rich source of polyunsaturated fatty acids (FAs) and energy, making it a valuable resource for human food, animal feed, and bio‐energy. Although this trait has been studied via conventional genome‐wide association study (GWAS), the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)‐trait associations generated by GWAS may miss the underlying associations when traits are based on many genes, each with small effects that can be overshadowed by genetic background and environmental variation. Detecting these SNPs statistically is also limited by the levels set for false discovery rate. A complementary pathways analysis that emphasizes the cumulative aspects of SNP‐trait associations, rather than just the significance of single SNPs, was performed to understand the balance of lipid metabolism, conversion, and catabolism in this study. This pathway analysis indicated that acyl‐lipid pathways, including biosynthesis of wax esters, sphingolipids, phospholipids and flavonoids, along with FA and triacylglycerol (TAG) biosynthesis, were important for increasing oil and FA content. The allelic variation found among the genes involved in many degradation pathways, and many biosynthesis pathways leading from FAs and carbon partitioning pathways, was critical for determining final FA content, changing FA ratios and, ultimately, to final oil content. The pathways and pathway networks identified in this study, and especially the acyl‐lipid associated pathways identified beyond what had been found with GWAS alone, provide a real opportunity to precisely and efficiently manipulate high‐oil maize genetic improvement.     

转mCry1Ac基因玉米BT799对斑马鱼的生态毒理学效应

转基因作物的饲用安全性问题一直是人们关注的焦点之一.为评估转mCry1Ac基因玉米BT799对鱼类的生态毒理效应,本研究以斑马鱼为受试动物,设置5个处理:含20%转基因玉米膨化饲料组(GMF)、含20%亲本玉米膨化饲料组(PF)、转基因玉米粉(GMM)、亲本玉米粉(PMM)以及商业饲料对照组(CF),通过98 d的喂养试验,调查斑马鱼的生长表现、组织病理、繁殖、肝脏中抗氧化酶活性及敏感蛋白mRNA的表达水平.结果表明:转mCry1Ac基因玉米对斑马鱼的各项生长指标、肝脏、脑和肠道的组织病理、产卵量、受精卵孵化率、肝脏中超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)和过氧化氢酶(CAT)活性,以及SOD、CAT、热激蛋白70(HSP70)和卵黄蛋白原(VTG)mRNA表达量均无显著影响.但在试验后期,饲料组(GMF和PF)和玉米粉组(GMM和PMM)斑马鱼的体重、体长和特定生长率显著低于商业饲料组;饲料组斑马鱼的孵化率显著低于玉米粉组和商业饲料组;饲料组(3.85±0.76)雄鱼肝脏中的VTG mRNA表达量显著高于玉米粉组(1.60±0.56).研究表明,转mCry1Ac基因玉米对斑马鱼没有明显生态毒理效应,但由于配制的膨化饲料与商业饲料在营养成分和适口性上的差异,可能导致个别指标与商业饲料组相比有显著差异.     

Uncovering hidden genetic variation in photosynthesis of field‐grown maize under ozone pollution

Ozone is the most damaging air pollutant to crops, currently reducing Midwest US maize production by up to 10%, yet there has been very little effort to adapt germplasm for ozone tolerance. Ozone enters plants through stomata, reacts to form reactive oxygen species in the apoplast and ultimately decreases photosynthetic C gain. In this study, 10 diverse inbred parents were crossed in a half‐diallel design to create 45 F₁ hybrids, which were tested for ozone response in the field using free air concentration enrichment (FACE). Ozone stress increased the heritability of photosynthetic traits and altered genetic correlations among traits. Hybrids from parents Hp301 and NC338 showed greater sensitivity to ozone stress, and disrupted relationships among photosynthetic traits. The physiological responses underlying sensitivity to ozone differed in hybrids from the two parents, suggesting multiple mechanisms of response to oxidative stress. FACE technology was essential to this evaluation because genetic variation in photosynthesis under elevated ozone was not predictable based on performance at ambient ozone. These findings suggest that selection under elevated ozone is needed to identify deleterious alleles in the world's largest commodity crop.     

Excessive rainfall leads to maize yield loss of a comparable magnitude to extreme drought in the United States

Increasing drought and extreme rainfall are major threats to maize production in the United States. However, compared to drought impact, the impact of excessive rainfall on crop yield remains unresolved. Here, we present observational evidence from crop yield and insurance data that excessive rainfall can reduce maize yield up to ?34% (?17 ± 3% on average) in the United States relative to the expected yield from the long‐term trend, comparable to the up to ?37% loss by extreme drought (?32 ± 2% on average) from 1981 to 2016. Drought consistently decreases maize yield due to water deficiency and concurrent heat, with greater yield loss for rainfed maize in wetter areas. Excessive rainfall can have either negative or positive impact on crop yield, and its sign varies regionally. Excessive rainfall decreases maize yield significantly in cooler areas in conjunction with poorly drained soils, and such yield loss gets exacerbated under the condition of high preseason soil water storage. Current process‐based crop models cannot capture the yield loss from excessive rainfall and overestimate yield under wet conditions. Our results highlight the need for improved understanding and modeling of the excessive rainfall impact on crop yield.     

A barley stripe mosaic virus-based guide RNA delivery system for targeted mutagenesis in wheat and maize

Plant RNA virus-based guide RNA (gRNA) delivery has substantial advantages compared to that of the conventional constitutive promoter-driven expression due to the rapid and robust amplification of gRNAs during virus replication and movement. To date, virus-induced genome editing tools have not been developed for wheat and maize. In this study, we engineered a barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV)-based gRNA delivery system for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/Cas9-mediated targeted mutagenesis in wheat and maize. BSMV-based delivery of single gRNAs for targeted mutagenesis was first validated in Nicotiana benthamiana. To extend this work, we transformed wheat and maize with the Cas9 nuclease gene and selected the wheat TaGASR7 and maize ZmTMS5 genes as targets to assess the feasibility and efficiency of BSMV-mediated mutagenesis. Positive targeted mutagenesis of the TaGASR7 and ZmTMS5 genes was achieved for wheat and maize with efficiencies of up to 78% and 48%. Our results provide a useful tool for fast and efficient delivery of gRNAs into economically important crops.     

High efficiency Agrobacterium‐mediated site‐specific gene integration in maize utilizing the FLP‐FRT recombination system

An efficient Agrobacterium‐mediated site‐specific integration (SSI) technology using the flipase/flipase recognition target (FLP/FRT) system in elite maize inbred lines is described. The system allows precise integration of a single copy of a donor DNA flanked by heterologous FRT sites into a predefined recombinant target line (RTL) containing the corresponding heterologous FRT sites. A promoter‐trap system consisting of a pre‐integrated promoter followed by an FRT site enables efficient selection of events. The efficiency of this system is dependent on several factors including Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain, expression of morphogenic genes Babyboom (Bbm) and Wuschel2 (Wus2) and choice of heterologous FRT pairs. Of the Agrobacterium strains tested, strain AGL1 resulted in higher transformation frequency than strain LBA4404 THY‐ (0.27% vs. 0.05%; per cent of infected embryos producing events). The addition of morphogenic genes increased transformation frequency (2.65% in AGL1; 0.65% in LBA4404 THY‐). Following further optimization, including the choice of FRT pairs, a method was developed that achieved 19%–22.5% transformation frequency. Importantly, >50% of T0 transformants contain the desired full‐length site‐specific insertion. The frequencies reported here establish a new benchmark for generating targeted quality events compatible with commercial product development.