Foliar application of triacontanol ameliorates heat stress through regulation of the antioxidant defense system and improves yield of eggplant

Transplanting time and genotype contribute to improving crop yield and quality of eggplant (Solanum melongena L.). A field experiment was conducted to investigate the impact of foliar applied of triacontanol (TRIA) and eggplant genotypes 25919, Nirala, 28389 and Pak-10927,transplanted on 1 March,15 March, and 1 April on exposure to high air temperature conditions. The experiment was performed according to Randomized Complete Block Design and the data was analyzed by using Tuckey,s test . The TRIA was applied at 10µM at flowering stage; distilled water was used as the control. Rate of photosynthesis and transpiration, stomatal conductance, water use efficiency, and effects on antioxidative enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase and peroxidase) were evaluated. The 10µM TRIA increased photosynthesis rate and water use efficiency and yield was improved in all genotypes transplanted at the different dates. Foliar application of 10µM TRIA increased antioxidative enzyme activities (SOD, POD & CAT) and improved physiological as well as biochemical attributes of eggplant genotypes exposed to high heat conditions. Highest activity of dismutase enzyme 5.41mg/1g FW was recorded in Nirala genotype in second transplantation. Whereas, lowest was noted in PAK-10927 (2.30mg/g FW). Maximum fruit yield was found in accession 25919 (1.725kg per plant) at 1st transplantation with Triacontanol, whereas accession PAK-10927 gave the lowest yield (0.285 kg per plant) at control treatment on 3rd transplantation. Genotype, transplanting date and application of TRIA improved growth, yield and quality attributes under of heat stress in eggplant.

Efficacy of Citrullus colocynthis seed extract on Earias vittella, Fabricius, (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae): environment sustainable approach

Earias vittellaFabricius, 1794 (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera) is deliberated to be one of the most destructive pests of cotton and okra vegetation in the world including Asia. The pest has established resistance to various synthetic insecticides. The use of bio-pesticide is one of the unconventional approaches to develop a vigorous ecosystem without harming non- target pests and beneficial natural insect fauna. In the present study, the toxicity levels of Citrullus colocynthis seed extract have been evaluated against the populations of E. vittellaunder standardized laboratory conditions. The toxic effects of C. colocynthis on development periods, protein contents and esterase activity of the life stages of E. vittella were also evaluated. The toxicity levels of methanol, ethanol, hexane, water and profenofos were evaluated on the 1st instar larvae of E. vittella. LC30 and LC80 concentrations exhibited the effectiveness of methanol-based C. colocynthis seed extract against 1st instar larvae of E. vitella. The enhanced larval and pupal periods were revealed in treated samples during the comparison with untreated samples. The intrinsic rate of increase, net reproductive rate in the LC30 and LC80 concentrations exposed larvae remained less than the control treatment. Fecundity, the esterase activity and protein contents were declined in LC30 and LC80 treated samples as compared to the control. The present findings suggest that C. colosynthis extracts based botanical insecticides are beneficial, ecosystem sustainable and can be integrated with insect management programs from environment safety perspective.

Nest refuse of Acromyrmex balzani (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) increases the plant vigor in Turnera subulata (Turneraceae)

Some studies report the positive effect of organic residues from ant nests on soil properties and on the structure of the adjacent plant community in field experiments, but there is a gap about the effect on individual species. The purpose of the present study was to compare the soil nutrient content and the development of Turnera subulata Smith, an ornamental species, in the presence of the nest refuse (basically composed of fragments of grass leaves and the symbiotic fungus) produced by the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex balzani (Emery, 1890) or in control soil through a greenhouse pot experiment. The experiment was carried out with two treatments: control soil and soil with 25% of nest refuse. The plants were kept in 1L pots for 90 days. We evaluated the parameters: plant height, stem diameter, root length, number of leaves, dry weight of the root, dry and fresh aboveground biomass. Additionally, the relative chlorophyll content and leaf nutrients were used as nutritional parameters. As a result, plants that grew in the soil with nest refuse showed significant higher values of all parameters evaluated when compared to the control treatment (p < 0.001). We conclude that this biofertilizer contributed to the production of more vigorous plants, being able to act on the local dynamics of nutrients in the ecosystems where A. balzani occurs. As it is relatively abundant and easy to collect, the refuse of A. balzani has the potential to be used as an alternative substrate in the production of shortlife cycle plants.

ACCase inhibitor fractionation and glyphosate addition improve perennial sourgrass control

Glyphosate-resistant sourgrass is difficult to control, particularly when perennial, and strategies that improve the control efficiency against this grass and preserve the useful life of graminicides are warranted. Therefore, the present study aimed to answer the following questions: (i) Does fractionating the doses of ACCase inhibitors improve the control of perennial sourgrass? (ii) Does alternating the chemical groups cyclohexanediones (DIMs) and aryloxyphenoxypropanoates (FOPs) improve the control of perennial sourgrass, and does the order of their application affect sourgrass control efficiency? (iii) Does the addition of glyphosate to ACCase inhibitors improve to the control of perennial sourgrass resistant to 5-enol-pyruvyl-shiquime-3-phosphate synthase inhibitors? Two field experiments (I and II) were performed in 2018 and repeated in 2019. In experiment I, the treatments included a single or fractional application clethodim + quizalofop-P-ethyl (216 + 108 g a.i. ha-1), clethodim (216 g a.i. ha-1), and quizalofop-P-tefuryl (108 g a.i. ha-1), applied in the order of clethodim followed by quizalofop-P-tefuryl and vice versa, as well as a control treatment. In experiment II, the treatments included a single or fractional application of clethodim + quizalofop-P-ethyl (216 + 108 g a.i. ha-1) and clethodim (108 g a.i. ha-1), isolated or associated with glyphosate, as well as a control treatment. In both experiments, the interval between the fractional applications was 7 days. Percentage of control, number of tillers per plant, and height of sourgrass plants were determined. Compared with the unfractionated application, the fractionation of clethodim + quizalofop-P-ethyl and clethodim increased control by respectively 20-24 and 25-30%. Fractionated clethodim has greater

Normalized difference vegetation index for desiccation evaluation with glyphosate + 2,4-D in magnetized spray solution

Water magnetization and geoprocessing are increasingly utilized tools in weed management. Our objective was to study the influence of water magnetization on herbicide efficiency and to verify whether there is a relationship between control scores and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). In the laboratory experiment, water was subjected to magnetization and evaluated with respect to four characteristics. In the field experiment, plots of Brachiaria grass were subjected to treatments in a factorial scheme (6 × 2 + 1). Six herbicidal factors (doses of glyphosate and glyphosate + 2,4-D) and the magnetization or absence of magnetization of the spray solution were evaluated and compared against the control treatment (without spraying). Weed control assessments were carried out six times. Images were obtained using an embedded multispectral camera to determine the NDVI values. Data related to water characteristics were analyzed using the t test. Weed control and NDVI data were subjected to analysis of variance and are presented in regression graphs. Dispersion analysis of NDVI data was performed according to the control scores. The magnetization process decreased the pH of the water and increased the surface tension, but it did not influence the control scores or the NDVI. As the glyphosate dose was increased, the control scores were higher and the NDVI values were lower. Magnetized water did not affect the biological efficiency of the herbicides, and there was a strong correlation between the control scores and the NDVI values.

Effects of Trichoderma asperellum BV10 and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens BV03 in Meloidogyne incognita Control Considering Three Different Management Systems

Crop yield decrease is the main concern when a pathogen or plague is identified in an agriculture field. Thus, part of this issue can be attributed to plant-parasitic nematodes (PPNs), such as Meloidogyne species, due to, most of the time, the hard diagnosis, and non-specific symptoms. Its management is mainly based on chemical pesticides, followed by a few potential biological control agents, and the management system. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of biological agents in Meloidogyne incognita control in different soil systems. For that, two biological products were chosen, Trichoderma asperellum BV10 and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens BV03, and soils were sampled from three different managements systems: (i) soybean no-tilled system at Goi&aacute;s state, Brazil; (ii) forest soil at Goi&aacute;s state, Brazil, and (iii) soybean conventional managed system at Mato Grosso do Sul state, Brazil. Biocontrol and growth promotion effects, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and soil respiration were determined in vegetation house and laboratory, respectively. As a result, both BV10 and BV03 had significant nematode control activity, comparing to control treatment, in all the three soils systems. Plus, the number of immobile nematodes by potential VOCs had significant increase when BV03 was applied, while the application of BV10 agent raised the soil respiration rate. In conclusion, both biocontrol agents presented great efficiency in control M. incognita, with better performance of BV03. Lastly, more studies must be done to elucidate how the resident soil microbiome can influence on biocontrol agent establishment and performance, as well as the consequence of the application of biological products on soil microbiome network.

Physiological and Qualitative Response of Cucurbita pepo L. to Salicylic Acid under Controlled Water Stress Conditions

Limited water stress is one of the most important environmental stresses that affect the growth, quantity and quality of agronomic crops. This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of foliar applied salicylic acid (SA) on physiological responses, antioxidant enzymes and qualitative traits of Cucurbita pepo L. Plants exposed to water-stressed conditions in two years of field studies. Irrigation regimes at three soil matric potential levels (−0.3, −1.2 and −1.8 MPa) and SA at four levels (0.0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 mg/L) were considered as main plot and sub-plots, respectively. The soil matric potential values (MPa) was measured just before irrigation. Results showed that under water stressed conditions alone, the amounts of malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and ion leakage were higher compared with control treatment. However, spraying of SA under both water stress and non-stress conditions reduced the values of the above parameters. Water stress increased CAT, APX and GR enzymes activity. However foliar application of SA led to the decrease of CAT, APX and GR under all soil matric potential levels. The amount of carbohydrates and fatty acids increased with the intensity of water stress and SA modulated this response. By increasing SA concentration both in optimum and stress conditions, saturated fatty acids content decreased. According to our data, the SA application is an effective approach to improve pumpkin growth under water stress conditions.

Green Synthesis of Different Nanoparticles and its Effect on Irrigation Water and Soil Properties and Origanum Majorana Productivity

The term of nanotechnology has emerged recently in several fields of interest that refers to the researches and innovations that are concerned with making materials on a very small size close to the scale of atoms and molecules. In the present work, the effects of green synthesis of different nanoparticles on the quality of irrigation water, the availability of some heavy metals content in soil and the plant, and the productivity of Marjoram were studied in detail. The obtained results showed that the addition of nanoparticles (NPs) materials has resulted in noticeable variations in the removal percentages of Cu and Fe from aqueous solution. The maximum values obtained for adsorption of Cu (II) on ZnO, MgO, and SiO2 NPs, within pH (3–5) were 89.9%, 83.3%, and 68.36%, respectively. Whereas, the maximum adsorption values of Fe (III) at pH 3.3 were 82%, 80%, and 65% for ZnO, MgO, and SiO2 NPs, respectively. It was clearly seen that the effective of NPs application on reduction of the available Cu in the studied soil samples. The order of sequence for the effects of NPs application was found to take the following order Zn2 > Zn1 > Mg2 > Si2 > Mg 1 > Si1 > C (control). The highest values of the available Cu were observed in the control treatment, whereas the lowest values were obtained when Zn2 was added, and the same tendency was observed with the substantial concentrations of Fe. The addition of NPs to the soil samples had positively affected the Cu uptake via plant. The effects of NPs and the additions of Cu and Fe on the availability of NPK in the soil system were very completed and osculated from one treatment to another. The same tendency was observed with the total concentration of NPK in the plant.

TcTI, a Kunitz-type trypsin inhibitor from cocoa associated with defense against pathogens

Protease inhibitors (PIs) are important biotechnological tools of interest in agriculture. Usually they are the first proteins to be activated in plant-induced resistance against pathogens. Therefore, the aim of this study was to characterize a Theobroma cacao trypsin inhibitor called TcTI. The ORF has 740 bp encoding a protein with 219 amino acids, molecular weight of approximately 23 kDa. rTcTI was expressed in the soluble fraction of Escherichia coli strain Rosetta [DE3]. The purified His-Tag rTcTI showed inhibitory activity against commercial porcine trypsin. The kinetic model demonstrated that rTcTI is a competitive inhibitor, with a Ki value of 4.08 × 10–7 mol L−1. The thermostability analysis of rTcTI showed that 100% inhibitory activity was retained up to 60 °C and that at 70–80 °C, inhibitory activity remained above 50%. Circular dichroism analysis indicated that the protein is rich in loop structures and β-conformations. Furthermore, in vivo assays against Helicoverpa armigera larvae were also performed with rTcTI in 0.1 mg mL−1 spray solutions on leaf surfaces, which reduced larval growth by 70% compared to the control treatment. Trials with cocoa plants infected with Mp showed a greater accumulation of TcTI in resistant varieties of T. cacao, so this regulation may be associated with different isoforms of TcTI. This inhibitor has biochemical characteristics suitable for biotechnological applications as well as in resistance studies of T. cacao and other crops.

Response of litter decomposition and the soil environment to one-year nitrogen addition in a Schrenk spruce forest in the Tianshan Mountains, China

Human activities have increased the input of nitrogen (N) to forest ecosystems and have greatly affected litter decomposition and the soil environment. But differences in forests with different nitrogen deposition backgrounds. To better understand the response of litter decomposition and soil environment of N-limited forest to nitrogen deposition. We established an in situ experiment to simulate the effects of N deposition on soil and litter ecosystem processes in a Picea schrenkiana forest in the Tianshan Mountains, China. This study included four N treatments: control (no N addition), low N addition (LN: 5 kg N ha−1 a−1), medium N addition (MN: 10 kg N ha−1 a−1) and high N addition (HN: 20 kg N ha−1 a−1). Our results showed that N addition had a significant effect on litter decomposition and the soil environment. Litter mass loss in the LN treatment and in the MN treatment was significantly higher than that in the control treatment. In contrast, the amount of litter lost in the HN treatment was significantly lower than the other treatments. N application inhibited the degradation of lignin but promoted the breakdown of cellulose. The carbon (C), N, and phosphorus (P) contents of litter did not differ significantly among the treatments, but LN promoted the release of C and P. Our results also showed that soil pH decreased with increasing nitrogen application rates, while soil enzyme activity showed the opposite trend. In addition, the results of redundancy analysis (RDA) and correlation analyses showed that the soil environment was closely related to litter decomposition. Soil enzymes had a positive effect on litter decomposition rates, and N addition amplified these correlations. Our study confirmed that N application had effects on litter decomposition and the soil environment in a N-limited P. schrenkiana forest. LN had a strong positive effect on litter decomposition and the soil environment, while HN was significantly negative. Therefore, increased N deposition may have a negative effect on material cycling of similar forest ecosystems in the near future.