Assessment of the Rice Panicle Initiation by Using NDVI-Based Vegetation Indexes

The assessment of rice panicle initiation is crucial for the management of nitrogen fertilizer application that affects yield and quality of grain. The occurrence of panicle initiation could be determined via either green ring, internode-elongation, or a 1–2 mm panicle, and was observed through manual dissection. The quadratic polynomial regression model was used to construct the model of the trend of normalized difference vegetation index-based vegetation indexes (NDVI-based VIs) between pre-tillering and panicle differentiation stages. The slope of the quadratic polynomial regression model tended to be alleviated in the period in which the panicle initiation stage should occur. The results indicated that the trend of the NDVI-based VIs was correlated with panicle initiation. NDVI-based VIs could be a useful indicator to remotely assess panicle initiation.

The Effect of Photoperiod on Necrosis Development, Photosynthetic Efficiency and ‘Green Islands’ Formation in Brassica juncea Infected with Alternaria brassicicola

The main goal of growing plants under various photoperiods is to optimize photosynthesis for using the effect of day length that often acts on plants in combination with biotic and/or abiotic stresses. In this study, Brassica juncea plants were grown under four different day-length regimes, namely., 8 h day/16 h night, 12 h day/12 h night, 16 h day/8 h night, and continuous light, and were infected with a necrotrophic fungus Alternaria brassicicola. The development of necroses on B. juncea leaves was strongly influenced by leaf position and day length. The largest necroses were formed on plants grown under a 16 h day/8 h night photoperiod at 72 h post-inoculation (hpi). The implemented day-length regimes had a great impact on leaf morphology in response to A. brassicicola infection. They also influenced the chlorophyll and carotenoid contents and photosynthesis efficiency. Both the 1st (the oldest) and 3rd infected leaves showed significantly higher minimal fluorescence (F0) compared to the control leaves. Significantly lower values of other investigated chlorophyll a fluorescence parameters, e.g., maximum quantum yield of photosystem II (Fv/Fm) and non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), were observed in both infected leaves compared to the control, especially at 72 hpi. The oldest infected leaf, of approximately 30% of the B. juncea plants, grown under long-day and continuous light conditions showed a ‘green island’ phenotype in the form of a green ring surrounding an area of necrosis at 48 hpi. This phenomenon was also reflected in changes in the chloroplast’s ultrastructure and accelerated senescence (yellowing) in the form of expanding chlorosis. Further research should investigate the mechanism and physiological aspects of ‘green islands’ formation in this pathosystem.

The Automorphism Group of Green Algebra of 9-Dimensional Taft Hopf Algebra

Let H3 be the 9-dimensional Taft Hopf algebra, let [Formula: see text] be the corresponding Green ring of H3, and let [Formula: see text] be the automorphism group of Green algebra [Formula: see text] over the real number field ℝ. We prove that the quotient group [Formula: see text] is isomorphic to the direct product of the dihedral group of order 12 and the cyclic group of order 2, where T1 is the isomorphism class which contains the identity map and is isomorphic to a group [Formula: see text] with multiplication given by [Formula: see text].

Investigation of Virus Diseases and Molecular Detection of Little Cherry Virus 1 on Cherry Plants at Niğde Province

To investigate the virus infections of sour and sweet cherries, various locations of Niğde province were examined during 2017. Ninety sweet and sour cherry leaf samples showing suspicious virus symptoms were collected and screened with virus-specific primers: Little cherry virus 1 (LChV1), Cherry necrotic rusty mottle virus (CNRMV), Prune dwarf virus (PDV), Prune necrotic ring spot virus (PNRSV), Apple mosaic virus (ApMV), Cherry green ring mottle virus (CGRMV), Cherry leaf roll virus (CLRV), Cherry mottle leaf virus (CMLV), Plum bark necrotic stem pitting associated virus (PBNSPaV), Cherry twisted leaf virus (CTLV), Apple stem grooving virus (ASGV), Little cherry virus 2 (LChV2), Cherry rusty leaf virus (CRLV), Apple stem pitting virus (ASPV), Apple chlorotic leaf spot virus (ACLSV). Based on RT-PCR analysis, no amplification was observed except LChV1 amplifications, dsRNA analysis resulted in one suspicious profile. To validate those results, more sensitive TaqMan Real-Time PCR analysis and sequence analysis were conducted and LChV1 was detected on 7 samples. It can be concluded that only a low quantity of LChV1 infections was observed on some of the screened cherry samples.