In vitro response and pedigree analysis for somatic embryogenesis of long-day photoperiod adapted soybean

Northern-adapted soybean cultivars were screened for their ability to form somatic embryos in vitro in response to exposure to 180 M 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid in a modified Murashige & Skoog (1962) medium containing B5 (Gamborg et al. 1968) organics and 43.5 mM sucrose. The 20 cultivars formed between 1 and 7 embryos per cotyledon with between 18% and 98% of the cotyledons responding. The response was genotype dependant. Three ancestral lines, 840-7-3, A.K. Harrow and Mandarin were prominent in the genetic background of long-photoperiod adapted lines and showed a high degree of somatic embryogenesis.Abbreviations 2,4-d 2,4 dichlorophenoxyacetic acid - NAA naphthaleneacetic acid     

Survival and Expansion of Mechanically Transplanted Seagrass Sods

Although planting seagrass is not technically complex, the ability to plant large areas is limited by the time-consuming nature of manual methods. Additionally, manual methods use small, spatially isolated planting units (PUs; shoot bundles or plugs/cores) that are often highly susceptible to disturbance. The likelihood for harvesting intact apical meristems may be higher with large sods compared to smaller units, thus increasing survival and expansion rates. Here, we examined the survival and expansion of large units (1.5 × 1.2 m) of seagrass transplanted using a mechanized planting boat (Giga Unit Transplant System; GUTS). Twenty-seven units of seagrass (18 Halodule wrightii and 9 Thalassia testudinum ) were transplanted and monitored for survival, shoot density, and expansion. After 3 years, 74.1% of the units had survived (66.7% H. wrightii and 88.9% T. testudinum ) with 12 H. wrightii units having expanded substantially beyond the bounds of the original PU, merging with adjacent units to form spatially continuous patches of seagrass. High survival rates for T. testudinum should be interpreted in light of concomitant declines in density and lack of significant expansion after 3 years. In its tested configuration, the GUTS was a viable method for transplanting H. wrightii where donor and receiver sites were in close proximity (<2 km; a current limitation of the GUTS design used here). However, based on the reduced density and lack of significant expansion of T. testudinum that has persisted 3 years post-transplant, the GUTS cannot yet be fully recommended for transplanting this species.     

川西高山森林不同时期土壤转化酶和脲酶活性对模拟气候变暖的响应

为了解气候变化对不同时期川西高山森林土壤生态过程的影响,于2010年5月—2011年4月期间,通过原状土柱移位实验,模拟理论增温1.78℃和3.52℃对岷江冷杉原始林(3582 m)土壤转化酶和脲酶活性的影响。结果表明,海拔下降284 m和559 m分别使全年平均气温实际增高1.39℃和2.64℃,但由于季节性雪被的影响,海拔降低559 m后土柱的土壤有机层和矿质土壤层的全年平均温度分别增加了0.84℃和0.82℃,而海拔降低284 m后土柱的土壤有机层和矿质土壤层的全年平均温度分别降低了0.55℃和0.56℃。随着海拔降低,土壤有机层和矿质土壤层的转化酶和脲酶活性均表现出明显的变化,且土壤有机层的变化幅度大于矿质土壤层。海拔降低284 m显著提高了两个土层生长季初期和冻结阶段(冻结初期和深冻期)的转化酶活性,而海拔降低559 m则显著提高了两个土层冻结阶段的脲酶活性。采样时期均温也在一定程度上影响了土壤转化酶和脲酶的活性,土壤有机层和矿质土壤层转化酶活性表现为从生长季初期到生长季末期显著下降,随后在冻结阶段和融化期显著升高并分别在深冻期和融化期达到全年最高;土壤脲酶活性表现为从生长季初期到深冻期显著增加,随后在融化期显著下降的过程。可见,受季节性雪被影响,不同关键时期的高山森林土壤转化酶和脲酶活性对模拟增温的响应不同。     

Effect of Plant Age and Transplanting Damage on Sugar Beets infected by Heterodera schachtii

Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L. cv. Monogerm C.S.F. 1971) seeds sown into Vineland fine sandy loam, infested with 15,500 H. schachtii juveniles/pot, showed little growth during an 11-week test in the greenhouse. Seedlings transplanted at 2, 4, and 6 weeks of age had 32, 30, and 31% less top weight and 71, 68, and 59% less root weight, respectively, compared to controls grown in nematode-free soil. Nematode reproduction in both direct-seeded and transplanted sugar beets was limited and related to root weight. Shoot/root ratios were increased by the nematodes in all nematode-infected beets compared to those grown in soil without nematodes. In contrast to seeding or transplanting sugar beets into nematode-infested Vineland fine sandy loam, an inoculation of Beverly fine sandy loam supporting 0 (seeds), 2-, 4-, and 6-week-old sugar beet seedlings with 7,400 juveniles/pot, followed by 11 weeks of growth in the growth-room, resulted in top weight losses of only 13, 3, 18, and 15% and losses in root weight of 44, 38, 36, and 38%, respectively. Nematode reproduction was high and all shoot/root ratios were increased by the nematode compared to the noninoculated controls. These experiments have shown that sugar beets sown into nematode-infested soil are damaged much more heavily by H. schachtii juveniles than seeds inoculated with the nematode immediately following sowing. Results indicate that an increase in tolerance of sugar beets to attack by H. schachtii does not occur beyond the first 2 weeks of growth and that transplanting damage lowers the tolerance of seedlings to nematode attack.     

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Summary

Work fulfilling actions and research specified in the Biodiversity Action Plan for SaxÍfraga hirculus is described. Two recovery sites have been set up in suitable mires situated within 3 km of lost sites.

Seeds from two of the three remaining N. Scottish sites germinated readily, and plants were successfully propagated in a garden. Transplanting to the first recovery site began in 1996 and to the second in 2000. Transplants survived well and increased in size, with some flowering. Direct sowing of seeds to the recovery sites was less successful, with poor survival and very slow growth of seedlings. Competition from resident mire plants is thought to control the performance of the transplants, growth being most checked in hummocks of Sphagnum warnstorfii. Ideally transplants should have c. 100 cm² basal area.     

Performance of seedlings of the invasive alien tree Schinus molle L. under indigenous and alien host trees in semi-arid savanna

We assessed the importance of host trees in influencing invasion patterns of the alien tree Schinus molle L. ( Anacardiaceae ) in semi-arid savanna in South Africa. Recruitment of S. molle is dependent on trees in its invaded habitat, particularly Acacia tortilis Hayne. Another leguminous tree, the invasive alien mesquite ( Prosopis sp.), has become common in the area recently, but S. molle rarely recruits under canopies of this species. Understanding of the association between these species is needed to predict invasion dynamics in the region. We conducted experiments to test whether: (i) seedling survival of S. molle is better beneath A. tortilis than beneath mesquite canopies; (ii) growth rates of S. molle seedlings are higher beneath A. tortilis than beneath mesquite. Results showed that growth and survival of S. molle did not differ significantly beneath the native A. tortilis and the alien Prosopis species. This suggests that microsites provided by canopies of mesquite are as good for S. molle establishment as those provided by the native acacia. Other factors, such as the failure of propagules to arrive beneath mesquite trees, must be sought to explain the lack of recruitment beneath mesquite.     

Workability and productivity of robotic plug transplanting workcell

Summary Transplanting is a necessary operation in transplant production systems. Transplanting operation is labor-intensive and automation can reduce labor costs. Plugs are actively growing young transplants with two well-defined morphologic parts: the stem-leaf portion and the root-growth medium portion. They may be grown in regularly situated cells on traylike containers. This regularity makes plugs suitable for automated transplanting operations. It is, therefore, beneficial for in vitro plant propagation systems to include plugs as intermediate products before they are delivered to the greenhouses. Flexible automation and robotics technologies have been applied to develop a robotic workcell for transplanting plugs from plug trays to growing flats. Main components of the workcell include a robot, an end-effector, and two conveyer belts for transporting trays and flats. The end-effector for extracting, holding, and planting plugs is a “sliding-needles-with-sensor” gripper. The sensor signals the robot to complete a transplanting cycle only when a plug is properly held by the gripper. Systems analysis and computer simulation were conducted to study factors affecting workability and productivity of various workcell designs. These factors included: dimensions and kinematics of the robot and its peripheral equipment, layout and materials flow, fullness of plug trays, and successful extraction rate of plugs. The analysis also indicated that machine vision systems could add valuable capabilities to the workcell, such as robot guidance and plug quality evaluation. Engineering economic analysis was performed to investigate the interaction of workcell technical feasibility and economic viability. Presented in the Session-in-Depth Robotics in Tissue Culture at the 1991 World Congress on Cell and Tissue Culture, Anaheim, California, June 16–20, 1991.