Investigations on the Source Material of Oat Seeds, Avena sativa through the Multidimensional Ranking Method in Natural Conditions of Yakutia, Siberia, Russia

Eighty-three collection samples of oat seeds (Avena sativa L.) of various ecological, geographical, and breeding origins were studied in the conditions of Central Yakutia during 2017-2019 by the method of multidimensional ranking according to six economically valuable characteristics, namely, the duration of the growing season, grain yield, grain weight from the plant and panicles, the weight of 1.000 grains, and yielding tillering capacity. According to the results of the multidimensional ranking, the varieties were divided into three groups: the best, average, and worst. At that, from the data entered for 83 samples, the program determined priorities based on a combination of the duration of the growing season and yield. The group of best samples, based on a combination of economically valuable features, included 63% of samples from Europe, 30% from Russia, and 7% from Asia. The main share in the average group was made up of samples from Europe (63%), Russia (33%), and Asia (4%). The local zoned variety – Pokrovsky standard is included in the average group with a rank limit of 118.8. The worst group included the most samples from Europe (41%), Russia (26%), America (26%), Africa (3.7%), and Asia (3.7%). According to the precocity, 11 samples were identified that ripened earlier than the standard by 7-11 days. These are K-15062 (Omsk Region), K-15108 (USA), K-15111 (Colombia), K-15184 (Kemerovo Region), K-15191 (Slovakia), K-15357 (Norway), K-15375, K-15416, K-15418 (Germany), K-15392 (Sweden), and K-15408 (Belarus). Samples with high grain yield were included in the group of the best varieties. Among the selected varieties, cultivars K-15293 from Poland and K-15415 from Germany had the most stable yield over the years

Effects of Oat Varieties and Growing Locations on Seed-Borne Fungal Communities

Many species of seed-borne fungi are closely allied with seed varieties and growing regions, including many seed-borne pathogens, but their species richness and distribution remain largely unknown. This study was conducted to explore the seed-borne fungal composition, abundance and diversity in Avena sativa (B7) and A. nuda (B2) seed samples collected from Baicheng (BB), Dingxi (DB) and Haibei (HB) city, using Illumina sequencing techniques. Our results show that a total of 543,707 sequences were obtained and these were assigned to 244 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) with 97% similarity. Oat varieties and growing locations had a significant difference on seed-borne fungal diversity. HB had a higher fungal diversity than BB and DB, Shannon diversity and ACE richness index of fungal in HB seeds was significantly higher than in BB and DB (P < 0.05). In different varieties, both taxon richness and evenness of B7 seeds was significantly higher than B2 (P < 0.05). A total of 4 fungal phyla and 26 fungal genera were detected. Ascomycota was the dominant phylum and Alternaria sp. was the most abundant genus in B2 and B7 oat seeds from different regions. Mycosphaerella sp. had a higher abundance in HB7 and DB7, respectively, Epicoccum sp. had a higher abundance in HB7 and BB7. The results of alpha and beta diversity analysis revealed the presence of different effects in fungal communities of different varieties and regions of oat, especially in seed pathogenic fungi distribution. Structural equation modeling also explained oat varieties and growing regions have significant influences on seed-borne fungal abundance, composition and diversity. This study demonstrated that the differences of varieties and regions are the main factors resulting in the changes of seed-borne fungal community of oat.

Mechanical scarification technique breaks seed coat-mediated dormancy in wild oat (Avena fatua)

Wild oat is a herbicide resistance-prone global weed species that causes significant economic losses in dryland and horticultural agriculture. As a result, there has been a significant research effort in controlling this species. A major impediment to this research is the seed coat-mediated dormancy of wild oat, requiring a labor-intensive incision or puncturing of the seed coat to initiate seed germination. This study defines the most efficient settings of a mechanical thresher to overcome wild oat seed dormancy and then validates these settings using multiple populations collected from the Western Australian grain belt. We also compare the effects of rapid mechanical scarification and known germination stimulus tactics such as scarification with sulfuric acid (H2SO4), partial endosperm removal, sandpaper scarification of the seed coat, and immersion in sodium nitroprusside (NO donor SNP) solution on wild oat seedling growth rate. Threshing treatment of 1,500 rpm for 5 s provides equivalent germination compared with manually puncturing individual wild oat seeds, with no difference in seedling relative growth rate. The mechanical scarification of seeds using the thresher resulted in greater germination (66%) than H2SO4 scarification (0%), partial endosperm removal (10%), sandpaper seed coat scarification (25%), and exposure to NO donor SNP (34%). This study demonstrates that the physical dormancy of wild oat can be rapidly overcome using a commercially available mechanical thresher.

First Report of Summer Patch of Creeping Bentgrass Caused by Magnaporthiopsis poae in Southeastern China

Creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.) is an important cool-season perennial turfgrass that has been widely used on golf courses across China. In July 2017, an unknown disease outbreak caused damages on seven of the 18 putting greens of creeping bentgrass at Jiuqiao golf club in Hangzhou city of Zhejiang province, day-time high temperatures were consistently above 35°C during the disease development. Symptoms appeared in tan irregular patches of 5 to 20-cm diameter, exhibiting chlorosis and foliar dieback in most part. Necrotic roots were frequently observed in diseased areas and colonized with ectotrophic hyphae under a microscope. Similar symptoms and signs were reported on creeping bentgrass caused by Magnaporthiopsis poae (Landschoot & Jackson) J. Luo & N. Zhang on golf courses in Beijing (Hu et al. 2017). Fifteen disease samples were collected from seven putting greens. Dark root tips were cut, surface sterilized in 0.6% sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) for 5 min, washed twice with sterilized water, air dried for 1 min and placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) containing each of 50 mg L-1 ampicillin, streptomycin sulfate, and tetracycline. Plates were incubated in the dark at room temperature for 4 days, and 10 fungal isolates with similar morphology as described by Clarke and Gould (1993) were consistently recovered from the diseased root tips. DNA of two representative isolates was extracted and amplified with primers ITS 5/ITS 4 (White et al. 1990). PCR products were sequenced (deposited in GenBank as MZ895215 and MZ895216), and BLAST analysis showed 99.17% similarity to M. poae (accession number: DQ528765). Six plastic pots (15 cm height × 15 cm top diameter × 10 cm bottom diameter, three replicates for each isolate) were seeded with creeping bentgrass and placed in the greenhouse for two months of plant growth before inoculation. The pathogenic inoculum was prepared by inoculating autoclaved oat seeds with M. poae isolates, followed by two weeks of incubation at 25°C. About 25 mg M. poae-infested oat seeds were placed 10 cm below the soil surface in the root zone of creeping bentgrass. Non-infested oat seeds were inoculated on healthy creeping bentgrass as controls. Pots were placed in a growth chamber with a 12-h day/night cycle at 35/28°C and watered daily to keep high soil moisture. Disease symptoms (foliar dieback and necrotic roots) were noted 3 weeks after inoculation. M. poae was consistently recovered from the roots of inoculated turf and identified molecularly as described above, fulfilling Koch’s postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of summer patch on creeping bentgrass caused by M. poae in southeastern China. This research demonstrates a wider distribution of M. poae and will be an important step towards the development of management strategies for summer patch control in China.

Stereospecific Epoxidation of Limonene Catalyzed by Peroxygenase from Oat Seeds

Limonene is one of the most abundant naturally occurring cyclic monoterpenes and has recently emerged as a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based solvents as well as a chemical platform for the production of value-added compounds. The biocatalytic epoxidation of both enantiomers of limonene was carried out in the presence of a peroxygenase-containing preparation from oat (Avena sativa) flour. Different reaction profiles were observed depending on the starting enantiomer of limonene, but in both cases the 1,2-monoepoxide was obtained as the main product with excellent diastereoselectivity. Trans-1,2-monoepoxide and cis-1,2-monoepoxide were isolated from the reaction of (R)-limonene and (S)-limonene, respectively, and the reactions were scaled-up to 0.17 M substrate concentration. The process is valuable for operational simplicity, lack of toxic metal catalysts, and cost-effectiveness of the enzymatic source. Pure stereoisomers of 1,2-monoepoxides of limonene constitute a useful starting material for biorenewable polymers, but can be also converted into other chiral derivatives by epoxide ring opening with nucleophiles. As a proof of concept, a tandem protocol for the preparation of enantiopure (1S,2S,4R)-1,2-diol from (R)-limonene and (1R,2R,4S)-1,2-diol from (S)-limonene was developed.

Biochemical changes in black oat plants in response to water deficit under different temperatures

The black oat (Avena strigosa Schreb.) stands out as a forage of great importance in Brazilian agriculture. However, the productivity and quality of this forage can be affected by abiotic factors, such as temperature and water availability, which affect the physiological processes and facilitate the accumulation of free radicals (reactive oxygen species - ROS). Thus, the objective of this study was to understand the biochemical changes in black oat plants subjected to water deficit at different temperatures. Experiments were conducted in a greenhouse in two experimental periods, which presented an average temperature of 20 °C and 24 °C, respectively. Black oat seeds, of the variety IAPAR 61, were sown in pots and the plants were irrigated for 60 days. After which, the pots were covered with plastic bags and the irrigation was suspended. The analyses were carried out in five periods of evaluation - M1: plants before the suspension of irrigation, M2: plants at the first wilting point, M3: three days after plastic removal and irrigation return, M4: four days after M3 and before the second suspension of irrigation, and M5: the second wilting point. The levels of total protein and malondialdehyde (MDA), and the activity of the enzymes catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX), were analyzed. The experimental design was completely randomized, with six replications, in a factorial scheme of average temperature × water management × periods of evaluation, and the means were compared by Tukey’s test at 5%. In response to water deficiency and temperature increase, black oat plants increased their levels of total soluble proteins, and there was greater lipid peroxidation due to the increase in malondialdehyde content. There was no change in the activity of the enzymes catalase and ascorbate peroxidase under water deficit, and these activities decreased with increasing temperature.

First report of Ophiosphaerella narmari causing spring dead spot of hybrid bermudagrass in China

Hybrid bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon×C. transvaalensis) is widely used as turf in transition zone of China. Spring dead spot (SDS) is one of the most damaging diseases of hybrid bermudagrass. Symptoms of SDS appear when hybrid bermudagrass starts to break dormancy with warm temperature in early spring. The symptoms show sunken, circular or irregularly shaped, straw-colored patches, with 20 to 100 cm in diameter. The patches maintain dormant as the surrounding uninfected turfgrass resumes growth and turns green. SDS pathogens are soilborne fungi that colonize roots, stolons and rhizomes, infected roots or rhizomes become black and eventually collapse. Three species of fungi are reported to cause SDS: Ophiosphaerella herpotricha (Fr) J. Walker; O. korrae (J. Walker & A.M. Smith) Shoemaker & C.E. Babcock; or O. narmari (J. Walker & A.M. Smith) Wetzel, Hubert & Tisserat (Walker and Smith 1972; Walker 1980; Shoemaker and Babcock 1989; Wetzel et al. 1999). However, distribution of the three species may vary by geographical region (Cottrill et al. 2016). In October 2020, symptoms of SDS were observed on hybrid bermudagrass fairways of Taihu golf course in Wuxi, Jiangsu province. Root samples of SDS were collected, symptomatic roots with 3-4 cm length were cut, washed 2-3 times, surface sterilized in 0.6% NaOCl for 5 min, rinsed and blotted dry for 2 min and placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) amended with 50 mg L-1 each of ampicillin, streptomycin sulfate and tetracycline. Plates were incubated in the dark at 25℃ for 5-7 days, Hyphae growing from the roots were transferred to new PDA plates. A total of 7 fungal isolates with morphology similar to SDS pathogens were obtained (Tredway et al. 2009). The genomic DNA was extracted from 2 of them (7-41, 8-6) and amplified with universal primers ITS5 and ITS4 (White et al. 1990). PCR products were sequenced (deposited as MW536995 and MW536994 in GenBank, not available yet) and showed 99.79% similarity to O. narmari (KP690979). Pathogenicity tests were performed on ‘Tifdwarf’ hybrid bermudagrass (9-week-old in 5 × 20 cm Cone-Tainers containing a sand and nutrition substrate mixture). Eight oat seeds infested with O. narmari were inserted 5 cm below the soil surface in the root zone of hybrid bermudagrass. The inoculated turfgrass grew for five weeks in the growth chamber with a 12-h day/night cycle of 25/20°C and 90% relative humidity. A control treatment was inoculated with 8 noninfested sterile oat seeds, and each treatment was replicated 3 times. The root tissues of hybrid burmudagrass inoculated with O. narmari became black and necrotic, no symptoms were observed on the roots of noninfested plants. O. narmari was consistently reisolated from symptomatic roots, and confirmed by PCR as mentioned above. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of O. narmari caused spring dead spot in the transition zone of China. The identification of SDS caused by O. narmari will have important implications for the management of this root-rot species on hybrid bermudagrass.

INFLUENCE OF EXOMETABOLITES OF DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF CULTURAL PLANTS ON THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF PATHOGENIC MICROMYCETES BIPOLARIS SOROKINIANA AND ALTERNARIA ALTERNATA

Objective. To establish the influence of exometabolites of winter wheat plants of Podolianka, Natalka, Skagen, Mulan varieties and oats of Skarb Ukrainy, Svitanok, Tembr varieties on the growth and development of Bipolaris sorokiniana micromycete, as well as the influence of onion of Tkachenkivska, Mavka, Veselka, Liubchyk, Variah, Harmonia varieties on the growth and development of the micromycete Alternaria alternata. Methods. Mycological, phytopathological, phytoimmunological. Results. Two hundred isolates of pathogenic micromycetes were isolated from the seeds of the studied crops of different varieties. The most common microbiota were: Bipolaris sorokiniana, Alternaria alternata, Alternaria tenuissima, Alternaria infectoria, Stemphylium vesicarium, Curvularia inaequalis. The highest incidence on wheat and oat seeds (over 80 %) was reported for B. sorokiniana, on onion seeds — for A. alternata. It was found that exometabolites of plants of different varieties can both inhibit and stimulate the rate of radial growth of mycelium of B. sorokiniana and A. alternata. It was proved that exometabolites of plants of wheat, oats, onion can significantly affect the reproductive capacity of the studied micromycetes, which reduced the number of spores per 1 cm2 of colony area almost 1.2–2.5 times compared to the control. This indicates that exometabolites of plants are characterized by fungicidal properties, which are due to a complex of biologically active substances that can inhibit the intensity of sporulation of B. sorokiniana and A. alternate. Conclusion. The antifungal property of root exometabolites of plants of the studied varieties significantly depends on the genotype of the variety. Therefore, an important timely task is to identify environmentally stable and flexible varieties that are characterized by group resistance to pathogens of fungal origin, as well as the search for mechanisms of action of fungicidal natural origin.

Physiological quality of white oat seeds at different temperatures

White oats are cereals that are grown in different regions of the globe because they have good adaptability and final destination. Thus, their cultivation has shown significant increases in order to meet demand, especially for forage production, grains, and animal and human consumption. High-quality seeds are necessary for crop cultivation and white oats are sown in winter when thermal fluctuations may occur. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the physiological changes in oat seeds exposed to different temperatures during the germination phase. The experiment was a completely randomized design with four replications in a 6 × 4 factorial design. Six cultivars were evaluated: Aphrodite, Altiva, Artemis, Brava, Corona, and Guará at temperatures of 15, 20, 25, and 30 °C, and the following measurements were taken: first germination count, germination, germination speed index (IVG), and seedling length and mass. The results were analyzed using analysis of variance (F test) and the means were compared using Tukey’s test. The cultivars were physiologically affected at the minimum and maximum temperatures. At 15 °C, normal seedlings did not form, whereas the highest germination values were recorded at 20 and 25 ºC, which showed that these temperatures were the most favorable temperatures for the germination process. Vigor declined at 30 °C and there was a greater number of abnormal seedlings and dead seeds.