Wheat stripe rust can cause considerable yield losses, and genetic resistance is the most effective approach for controlling the disease. To identify the genomic regions responsible for Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst) resistance in a set of winter wheat strains mainly from southwestern China, and to identify DNA markers in these regions, we carried out a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 120 China winter wheat accessions using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers from 90K wheat SNP arrays. In total, 16 SNP loci were significantly associated with wheat stripe rust in field and greenhouse trials. Of these, three distinctive SNPs on chromosomes 1B, 4A, and 6A were identified at a site in Mianyang in 2014, where the most prevalent wheat stripe rust races since 2009 have been V26 (G22-9, G22-14). This suggests that the three SNP loci were linked to the new quantitative trait loci (QTL)/genes resistant to the V26 races. Germplasm with immunity to Pst is a good source of stripe rust resistance for breeding, and after further validation, SNPs closely linked to resistance QTLs/genes could be converted into userfriendly markers and facilitate marker-assisted selection to improve wheat stripe rust resistance.

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The biomass production (BP), the leaf age (LA), and the plant height (PH) as well as the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with these traits were determined for F 2:3 population derived from the cross of two contrasting maize (Zea mays L.) genotypes: 082 and Ye107. By using composite interval mapping, a total of 12 and 12 distinct QTLs were identified at Kaixian and Southwest University under deficient phosphorus. Another 9 and 8 distinct QTLs were identified at two sites under normal phosphorus, respectively. Seven coincident QTLs for two traits (BP and LA) were detected in the interval bnlg1832-P2M8/j (bin 1.05) on Chromosome 1, and four consistent QTLs for one trait (PH) were coincident in the interval umc1102-P1M7/d (bin 3.05) on Chromosome 3. These coincident QTLs in two important genomic regions were identified under different phosphorus levels and two different environments. Therefore, the above two segments one (bnlg1832-P2M8/j) identified in Chromosome 1 and the other (umc1102-P1M7/d) identified in Chromosome 3 may be used in future for marker-assisted selection and high-resolution mapping leading to map-based cloning of QTLs for agronomically important traits under phosphorus deficiency.

Understanding genetic variability in existing wheat accessions is critical for collection, conservation and use of wheat germplasms. In this study, 138 Chinese southwest wheat accessions were investigated by genotyping using two resistance gene makers (Pm21 and Yr26) and DArT-seq technique. Finally, about 50% cultivars (lines) amplified the specific allele for the Yr26 gene (Gwm11) and 40.6% for the Pm21 gene (SCAR1265). By DArT-seq analysis, 30,485 markers (6486 SNPs and 23999 DArTs) were obtained with mean polymorphic information content (PIC) value 0.33 and 0.28 for DArT and SNP marker, respectively. The mean Dice genetic similarity coefficient (GS) was 0.72. Two consistent groups of wheat varieties were identified using principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) at the level of both the chromosome 6AS and the whole-genome, respectively. Group I was composed of non-6VS/6AL translocation lines of different origins, while Group II was composed of 6VS/6AL translocation (T6VS/6AL) lines, most of which carried the Yr26 and Pm21 genes and originated from Guizhou. Besides, a model-based population structure analysis revealed extensive admixture and further divided these wheat accessions into six subgroups (SG1, SG2, SG3, SG4, SG5 and SG6), based on their origin, pedigree or disease resistance. This information is useful for wheat breeding in southwestern China and association mapping for disease resistance using these wheat germplasms in future.

Soil structure represents a basis for soil water retention and fertiliser availability. Here, we performed a micromorphological analysis of thin soil sections to evaluate the effects of 10 years of organic planting (OPP), pollution-free planting (PFP), and conventional planting (CPP) on greenhouse soil structure in the North China Plain. We also analysed soil bulk density, soil organic matter (SOM), and wet aggregate stability. The CPP soil microstructure included weakly separated angular block or plate forms and weak development of soil pores (fissured or simply accumulated pores) with the highest bulk density (1.33 g cm−3) and lowest SOM (26.76 g kg−1). Unlike CPP, the OPP soil microstructure was characterised by highly separated granular and aggregated structures and an abundance of plant and animal remains. OPP was associated with the highest total porosity (55.4%), lowest bulk density (1.17 g cm−3), and highest SOM (54.81 g kg−1) in the soil surface layer. OPP also improved the ventilation pore content (proportion of pores >0.1 mm, 44.09%). OPP aggregates showed different hierarchies of crumb microstructure and higher mean weight diameter and geometric mean diameter values than did CPP. These results confirm the benefits of long-term OPP for soil structure and quality in the greenhouse.

Because of the water deficiency increase in deserts and inland areas, fog harvesting technologies are considered a charming sustainable approach to alleviate the shortage of freshwater resources. Nevertheless, the weak ability for fog capture, water transport, UV, and mechanical damage resistance are long-standing obstacles to realizing the whole fog harvest and water collection procedure via fog harvest materials. Here, inspired by the composition of mussels and the surface structure of porcupinefish, a Janus fog harvest copper foam (CF) comprising economical polydopamine (PDA)like composition coating (tannic acid−aminopropyltriethoxysilane, TA-APTES) and porcupinefish-like structured hydrophobic materials [polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with tetrapod-shaped ZnO] are synthesized. The benefits of Janus CF composites lie in that they have asymmetric and cooperative alternating wettability, thus speeding up the fog harvest. More importantly, the Janus CF composite exhibited excellent mechanical durability and UV resistance. The application experiments show that the fog harvesting rate of Janus CFs is 1.70 g cm −2 h −1 owing to the asymmetric wettability and cooperative alternating wettability. Overall, this work elucidates the role of the Janus asymmetric-wettability CF with cooperative alternating wettability in efficient fog water harvesting and gives new insight into the application of constructing a highly efficient fog water collector.

Maintaining a stable spectrum in white organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) with multi-emissive layers (EMLs) remains a challenge. Herein, four-chromatic (blue–green–red–orange) WOLED with stable spectrum based on ultrathin EMLs and mixed bipolar interlayers was fabricated. We discovered that the locations of various color EMLs in the bipolar interlayers are essential for achieving the stable spectrum. The direct carrier trapping effects which destabilize the spectrum can be suppressed by placing red and green EMLs with both hole and electron traps in the middle of the bipolar interlayer and placing blue and orange EMLs with single-carrier traps on the two sides of the bipolar interlayer respectively. The resulting device exhibited the negligible color coordinate shifts of (0.008, 0.010) during the wide brightness range from 1000 cd m−2 to 10 000 cd m−2. Moreover, a high color rendering index of approximately 90 was obtained simultaneously. Our work demonstrated a significant method to achieve stable spectra in multi-EML WOLEDs based on bipolar interlayer.

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