Root Response to Soil Water Status via Interaction of Crop Genotype and Environment

Flooding and drought are major causes of reductions in crop productivity. Root distribution indicates crop adaptation to water stress. Therefore, we aimed to identify crop roots response based on root distribution under various soil conditions. The root distribution of four crops—maize, millet, sorghum, and rice—was evaluated under continuous soil waterlogging (CSW), moderate soil moisture (MSM), and gradual soil drying (GSD) conditions. Roots extended largely to the shallow soil layer in CSW and grew longer to the deeper soil layer in GSD in maize and sorghum. GSD tended to promote the root and shoot biomass across soil moisture status regardless of the crop species. The change of specific root density in rice and millet was small compared with maize and sorghum between different soil moisture statuses. Crop response in shoot and root biomass to various soil moisture status was highest in maize and lowest in rice among the tested crops as per the regression coefficient. Thus, we describe different root distributions associated with crop plasticity, which signify root spread changes, depending on soil water conditions in different crop genotypes as well as root distributions that vary depending on crop adaptation from anaerobic to aerobic conditions.

The effects of straw mulching combined with nitrogen applications on the root distributions and nitrogen utilization efficiency of summer maize

To provide an appropriate tillage fertilization model for improving N utilization efficiency and increasing production, the field experiments were conducted to study the effects on root distributions and N utilization efficiency of summer maize involving different straw mulching modes combined with N fertilization. No (N0), low (N1), medium (N2), and high (N3) levels of N fertilization were incorporated into soil combined with the surface coverage straw (Treatment B) and the deeply buried straw (Treatment S). The traditional cultivation was used as control treatment. The results shown that treatments S had significantly promoted deep root growth, and the root length density (RLD) increased with increases in N application rate. SN2 and SN3 treatments’ average RLD were significantly increased by 67.5% and 68.1% in the greater than 40 cm soil layers. While the Treatment B had significantly increased the RLD in 0 –30 cm soil layers only. With increases in N application rate, the effect on summer maize yields increase under Treatment B were not significantly, and only BN3 increased by 0.4%, while under Treatments S were found to first increase, and then decrease. The apparent recovery efficiency of applied N, N uptake and summer maize yield of SN2 had increased by 66.8%, 20.4%, and 9.3%. Therefore the rational tillage fertilization model was deeply buried straw combined with medium N fertilizer in Hetao Irrigation District.

Twin Nicomachean q-identities and conjectures for the associated discriminants, polynomials, and inequalities

We insert additional variables into Warnaar’s [Formula: see text]-analogue of Nicomachus’ identity and other related identities, and compute discriminants with respect to [Formula: see text]. Factorization of these discriminants reveals pairs of partitions that conjecturally relate in the manner of Wheatstone. The factorization also yields, conjecturally, families of polynomials with relations to various Molien series, remarkable rational generating functions, and notable root distributions. For a [Formula: see text]-analogue of Nicomachus’ identity produced by Cigler, we provide proofs of the partition properties. We also state and in part prove tight inequalities for the elements of two interlacing sequences that led us to the “twin” of Warnaar’s [Formula: see text]-analogue.