Introduction pages

The papers published in Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca, Issue 4, Volume 49, 2021 represent new exciting researches in different topics of life science, respectively in plant science, horticulture, agronomy and crop science. Among the interesting articles we invite you to find news about: Cotton versus climate change: the case of Greek cotton production; Agronomic and genetic approaches for enhancing tolerance to heat stress in rice; Insights on solanaceous resistance against tomato leafminer (Tuta absoluta), with emphasis on chemical compounds useful in integrated pest management; Role of conventional and molecular techniques in soybean yield and quality improvement - A critical review; Assessment of cold stress tolerance in maize through quantitative trait locus, genome-wide association study and transcriptome analysis; Beneficial microorganisms enhance the growth of basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) under greenhouse conditions; Genome-wide identification and expression profiling of duplicated flavonoid 3'-hydroxylase gene family in Carthamus tinctorius L.; Comparative analysis of genetic diversity in Norway spruce (Picea abies) clonal seed orchards and seed stands, etc.

Role of conventional and molecular techniques in soybean yield and quality improvement: A critical review

The soybean is one of the most significant legume crops around the globe and serves as a source of dietary components for humans and animals. It has a higher percentage of protein compared to any other crop. Soybean yield and quality have been affected by many environmental factors. The genetic mechanism of yield and quality is still not clearly understood. Hence there is still a need to investigate the major potent factors to shed light on the mechanism behind yield and quality traits in soybean. Recently, a lot of significant work, including novel QTL, genes, and CRISPR-based genome editing in soybeans, has been done, which opened new doors of hope. The current review has presented detailed work done previously. We have also discussed the role of different breeding techniques in the conventional way of soybean improvement. The genetic factors regulating yield, quality, and disease resistance could be further cloned and transferred into elite cultivars to attain higher output in the current situation of changing environment. The integrated use of several techniques, like CRISPR/Cas9, next-generation sequencing, omics approaches, would be a fruitful way to improve soybean yield and quality. Besides this, hybridization, mass selection, pure line selection, backcross breeding, and pedigree selection should be adopted to develop novel soybean cultivars. This review concluded that soybean yield and quality improvement could be enhanced by exploring its genetic mechanism using several molecular and conventional methods.

The occurrence of Fusarium species in white spears of Asparagus officinalis

The aim of the study was to determine the species composition of fungi of the Fusarium genus found on white Asparagus officinalis spears, depending on the presence or absence of disease symptoms, age of the plantation, date of harvest and the place from which samples were collected for mycological analysis. Additionally, the pathogenicity of selected Fusarium spp. isolates was determined. A. officinalis L. was cultivated for white spears. The research was conducted on the German dioecious cultivar ‘Eposs’. Samples of A. officinalis spears for tests were collected from two plantations. Six species of fungi of the Fusarium genus were identified in the asparagus spears: F. culmorum, F. equiseti, F. oxysporum, F. proliferatum, F. solani, and F. fujikuroi. Among the Fusarium species colonizing Asparagus officinalis the greatest threat is F. oxysporum. Always there are more isolates in the spears with the symptoms, in epidermis. The late harvest date favors the development of fusariosis. This means that the spears harvested at the latest date (late June) are the most heavily colonised by fungi. The isolates of fungi of the Fusarium genus collected from the spears exhibit pathogenicity against A. officinalis plants.

Comparative analysis of genetic diversity in Norway spruce (Picea abies) clonal seed orchards and seed stands

Norway spruce, Picea abies (L.) Karst. is the most important conifer species in Romania and the most planted tree species in the Carpathian Mountains. Here we compare the genetic diversity of four Norway spruce clonal seed orchards and two seed stands located in the Eastern Carpathians. A set of highly polymorphic nuclear microsatellite markers was used. The analysis of genotypic identity of ramets for each Norway spruce clone in all seed orchards indicated that nearly all sampled ramets (97%) were genetically identical. The genetic diversity in seed orchards (He=0.700) was slightly smaller compared to the seed stands (He=0.718). Allelic richness was higher in seed stands (10.874), compared to clonal seed orchards (8.941). The Bayesian analysis indicated a genetic structure with two clusters, one corresponding to the clonal seed orchards and a second one consisting of the two seed stands. Our results provide valuable information for the management of Norway spruce seed orchards in Romania.

The fundamental role of DELLA protein and regulatory mechanism during plant growth and development

Gibberellins (GAs) play a major role in a variety of key plant development processes, especially in promoting seed germination, stem and root growth, and fruit development. DELLA proteins are the core elements in GA signal transduction pathway, which exist in the plant nucleus and belong to the GRAS protein family. DELLA proteins negatively regulate the GA signaling pathway and biosynthesis, inhibiting plant growth. DELLA proteins can also interact with F-box, PIFS, ROS, SCLl3 and other proteins to enhance plant response to various adverse environmental influences such as drought, low and high temperature, heavy metal stresses. In addition, DELLA proteins can also partially regulate plant growth and development through interacting plant hormones such as ABA (abscisic acid), CK (cytokinin), ET (ethylene), BR (brassinosteroid) and JA (jasmine). This review summarized the basic characteristics of DELLA proteins, the transduction of hormone and environmental signals, as well as the regulation of plant growth and developments. DELLA proteins have broad application prospects in modern agricultural production in the future, but the molecular mechanism of DELLA proteins regulating plant growth and development are still unclear, and needs further study.

Climate changes in recent decades, the evolution of the drought phenomenon and their influence on vineyards in north-eastern Romania

Unfavourable trends have been identified in the evolution of climate factors (temperatures, precipitation, etc.) over the past years, with a direct impact on the vegetative and productive potential of the vine. This calls for a reassessment of climate resources and the adaptation of cultivation technologies to the new conditions. Our paper analyses the climate data recorded between 1991 and 2020 for the Iaşi vineyard ecosystem, which allowed for the calculation of a series of bioclimatic indices and coefficients, deviations from the multiannual average values, soil moisture dynamics, and their influence on development of vegetation phenophases and grape production. The increasing tendency of the average annual temperature and the decreasing amounts of precipitation registered point to a marked warming of the vineyard climate, especially after 2000. The high values of temperatures, corroborated with the soil water deficit, determined an intensification of the atmospheric and pedological drought, a shift in vegetation phenophases, shortened development periods and a forced ripening of grapes, with a negative impact on yields, which fluctuated from one year to another. The analysis of the ecoclimate conditions over the past 30 years has highlighted an alternation of periods, a colder and wetter one between 1991 and 2006, and a warmer and dried one between 2007 and 2020.

In vitro antimicrobial, anticancer, and apoptosis-inducing effects of the methanolic extract of Launaea mucronata

Traditional medicine is widely used in the treatment and management of various ailments due to its low toxicity, low number of side effects and low cost. Many components of common fruits and vegetables play crucial roles as chemopreventive or chemotherapeutic agents. This study aimed to evaluate in vitro the antioxidant, cytotoxic and antimicrobial activities of Launaea mucronata’s methanolic stems and leaves extract. In this screening study, Launaea mucronata’s methanolic extracts showed remarkably antifungal activity against Candida albicans. The maximum zone of inhibition of the methanolic extract of Launaea mucronata leaves was detected against Proteus vulgaris with inhibition zones of 17.8 mm and 14.6 mm, respectively. 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay results showed high antioxidant activity for the extract almost comparable to that of ascorbic acid at 30 µg/ml, which indicates that it might potentially be developed into a successful antioxidant agent. Meanwhile, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was performed by screening the extract against HepG2 (Hepatocellular), A549 (Lung), HCT116 (Colon) and MCF7 (Breast) cancer cells and it was found that the extract exerted its highest activity against A549 cells with an IC50 value of 14.9 µg/ml. The extracts also shown lower cytotoxic activity against normal, healthy MRC-5 cells, with IC50 values of 204.83 g/ml for the stem extract and 412.4 g/ml for the leaves extract, respectively. This suggests that the extract is safe for normal, healthy cells, which is an important characteristic of any possible anticancer treatment. The antiproliferative and apoptosis activities of our selected plant showed that the extracts induced S-phase arrest and apoptosis in A549 cells. This high cytotoxic activity of the extract indicates that highly bioactive pure compounds could potentially be isolated from the extract in future studies and further developed into an anticancer agent specifically against lung cancer. Therefore, the current study has proven the potential of Launaea mucronata’s methanolic extract as a source of potent antioxidant and anticancer agent.

Assessment of cold stress tolerance in maize through quantitative trait locus, genome-wide association study and transcriptome analysis

Genome-wide association study (GWAS) has become a widely accepted strategy for decoding genotype phenotype associations in many species thanks to advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies. Maize is an ideal crop for GWAS and significant progress has been made in the last decade. This review summarizes current GWAS efforts in maize functional genomics research and discusses future prospects in the omics era. The general goal of GWAS is to link genotypic variations to corresponding differences in phenotype using the most appropriate statistical model in a given population. The current review also presents perspectives for optimizing GWAS design and analysis. GWAS analysis of data from RNA, protein, and metabolite-based omics studies is discussed, along with new models and new population designs that will identify causes of phenotypic variation that have been hidden to date. The detailed that low temperature in maize seedlings altogether restricts germination and seedlings' development and destabilizes the cancer prevention agent safeguard component. Cold pressure adversely influences root morphology, photosystem II (PS II) effectiveness, chlorophyll substance, and leaf region. A short scene of low temperature stress (for example, under 10 °C for 7 days) during the V6–V9 maize development stages can fundamentally defer the anthesis commencement. Among the morphological reactions by focused on maize plants, low temperature stress causes strange tuft development in maize, along these lines influencing the fertilization and grain filling measures. Hence, problematic temperatures can cause a genuine yield decrease if happening at basic conceptive stages, as plants allocate over half of their photosynthesis to foster grains during this stage until physiological development. Low temperature stress fundamentally diminishes the plant stature and absolute yield biomass of maize. Leaf improvement turns out to be delayed in chilly focused on plants because of a drawn-out cell cycle and diminished pace of mitosis. The joint and continuous efforts of the whole community will enhance our understanding of maize quantitative traits and boost crop molecular breeding designs.

Insights on solanaceous resistance against tomato leafminer (Tuta absoluta), with emphasis on chemical compounds useful in integrated pest management

For integrated pest management (IPM) and organic farming, breeding resistant varieties is one of the most eco-friendly approaches, that goes along botanicals and other different cultural practices, as the use of companion plants. Among the many pest species that invaded the whole world in the last decades, one of the most frightening is the tomato leafminer, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), a devastating pest of cultivated tomato worldwide. Tomato is one of the most important agricultural commodities, including the main mean of subsistence in many countries from Africa and middle East. As chemical pesticides failed to control de pest spread and led to many reports of resistant populations, alternative methods for tomato leafminer management must be quickly developed. Many of such alternatives count on a wide range of chemical compounds. The chemical compounds most often responsible for “constitutive resistance”, synthetized by tomato are methyl-ketones (2-tridecanone), sesquiterpenes (zingiberene), and acyl sugars (acylglucose and acylsucrose) while the chemical compounds produced by other plants, used as isolated substances or mixtures, which have antifeedant, growth inhibiting, repellent, and insecticide effects, are azadirachtin, carvacrol, cinnamaldehyde, citronellal, eugenol, linalool, nicotine, pyrethrin, rotenone, thujone, thymol, α-terpineol, 1.8-cineol, etc. Many of them are already commercially available but their efficacy and use differ widely. Therefore, a deeper understanding of the resistance mechanism of solanaceous species related to chemical compounds and substances important for IPM plans developed against T. absoluta is required by the breeding programs.

The different responses of rice genotypes to heat stress associated with morphological, chlorophyll and yield characteristics

Sixteen rice genotypes were planted under normal and high temperature during 2018 and 2019 seasons to understand the mechanisms that make plants tolerant or susceptible to heat stress and methods which may lead to generate new varieties with sustainable yield production. The combined analysis showed significant differences at the level of probability 0.05 and 0.01 among years for all characters except, chlorophyll content and leaf rolling which would indicate wide differences among the weather of both years. Environment’s variance was significant at the level of probability 0.01 over all characteristics. The significant differences at the level of probability 0.01 were recorded among genotypes and G x E interaction variances for all characteristics. The highest values of panicles number plant-1 were obtained from ‘Giza 178’ and ‘Hybrid 2’, however, the highest values of 100-grain weight were recorded with ‘Giza 179’ and ‘Egyptian Yasmine’. The minimum values of sterility% were recorded with ‘Sakha 107’ and ‘IET1444’. Concerning the cultivars performance across two environments, the cultivars ‘Giza 178’, ‘Giza 179’, ‘Sakha 107’ and ‘IET 1444’ gave the best desirable values over natural and heat stress so, those cultivars are considered to play a vital role in breeding program to enhance heat stresses tolerance accompanied with high yield potential.