Miscanthus is a perennial rhizomatous C4 grass native to East Asia. Endowed with great biomass yield, high ligno-cellulose composition, efficient use of radiation, nutrient and water, as well as tolerance to stress, Miscanthus has great potential as an excellent bioenergy crop. Despite of the high potential for biomass production of the allotriploid hybrid M. ×giganteus, derived from M. sacchariflorus and M. sinensis, other options need to be explored to improve the narrow genetic base of M. ×giganteus, and also to exploit other Miscanthus species, including M. sinensis (2n = 2x = 38), as bioenergy crops. In the present study, a large number of 459 M. sinensis accessions, collected from the wide geographical distribution regions in China, were genotyped using 23 SSR markers transferable from Brachypodium distachyon. Genetic diversity and population structure were assessed. High genetic diversity and differentiation of the germplasm were observed, with 115 alleles in total, a polymorphic rate of 0.77, Nei’s genetic diversity index (He) of 0.32 and polymorphism information content (PIC) of 0.26. Clustering of germplasm accessions was primarily in agreement with the natural geographic distribution. AMOVA and genetic distance analyses confirmed the genetic differentiation in the M. sinensis germplasm and it was grouped into five clusters or subpopulations. Significant genetic variation among subpopulations indicated obvious genetic differentiation in the collections, but within-subpopulation variation (83%) was substantially greater than the between-subpopulation variation (17%). Considerable phenotypic variation was observed for multiple traits among 300 M. sinensis accessions. Nine SSR markers were found to be associated with heading date and biomass yield. The diverse Chinese M. sinensis germplasm and newly identified SSR markers were proved to be valuable for breeding Miscanthus varieties with desired bioenergy traits.

Postharvest kiwifruit continues to ripen for a period until it reaches the optimal “eating ripe” stage. Without damaging the fruit, it is very difficult to identify the ripeness of postharvest kiwifruit by conventional means. In this study, an electronic nose (E-nose) with 10 metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) gas sensors was used to predict the ripeness of postharvest kiwifruit. Three different feature extraction methods (the max/min values, the difference values and the 70th s values) were employed to discriminate kiwifruit at different ripening times by linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and results showed that the 70th s values method had the best performance in discriminating kiwifruit at different ripening stages, obtaining a 100% original accuracy rate and a 99.4% cross-validation accuracy rate. Partial least squares regression (PLSR), support vector machine (SVM) and random forest (RF) were employed to build prediction models for overall ripeness, soluble solids content (SSC) and firmness. The regression results showed that the RF algorithm had the best performance in predicting the ripeness indexes of postharvest kiwifruit compared with PLSR and SVM, which illustrated that the E-nose data had high correlations with overall ripeness (training: R2 = 0.9928; testing: R2 = 0.9928), SSC (training: R2 = 0.9749; testing: R2 = 0.9143) and firmness (training: R2 = 0.9814; testing: R2 = 0.9290). This study demonstrated that E-nose could be a comprehensive approach to predict the ripeness of postharvest kiwifruit through aroma volatiles.

Ginkgo biloba L. is one of the most extensively planted and productive commercial species in temperate areas around the world, but slow-growth is the most limiting factor for its utilization. Fertilization is one of the key technologies for high quality and high forest yield. To better understand the impacts of fertilization on Ginkgo productivity, the effects of fertilization treatments (single fertilizer and combined fertilizer) on growth, nutrient content in Ginkgo leaves, and photosynthesis characteristics were studied in a 10-year-old Ginkgo plantation over two years. The single factor experiments suggested that DBH (diameter at breast height), H (height), NSL (length of new shoots), and V (trunk volume) showed significant differences between the different levels of single nitrogen (N) or phosphate (P) fertilizer application. Orthogonal test results showed that the nine treatments all promoted the growth of Ginkgo, and the formula (N: 400 g·tree −1 , P: 200 g·tree −1 , potassium (K): 90 g·tree −1 ) was the most effective. G s (stomatal conductance) and P n (net photosynthesis rate) showed significant differences between the different amounts of single N or P fertilizer application, while single K fertilizer only affected P n . Combined N, P, and K fertilizer had significant promoting effects on C i (intercellular CO 2 concentration), G s and P n . N and P contents in Ginkgo leaves showed significant differences between the different amounts of a single N fertilizer application. A single P fertilizer only improved foliar P contents in Ginkgo leaves. A single K fertilizer application improved N and K content in Ginkgo leaves. The effects of different N, P, and K fertilizer treatments on the nutrient content of Ginkgo leaves were different.

Sorghum bicolor, one of the most important grass crops around the world, harbors a high degree of genetic diversity. We constructed chromosome-level genome assemblies for two important sorghum inbred lines, Tx2783 and RTx436. The final high-quality reference assemblies consist of 19 and 18 scaffolds, respectively, with contig N50 values of 25.6 and 20.3 Mb. Genes were annotated using evidence-based and de novo gene predictors, and RAMPAGE data demonstrate that transcription start sites were effectively captured. Together with other public sorghum genomes, BTx623, RTx430, and Rio, extensive structural variations (SVs) of various sizes were characterized using Tx2783 as a reference. Genome-wide scanning for disease resistance (R) genes revealed high levels of diversity among these five sorghum accessions. To characterize sugarcane aphid (SCA) resistance in Tx2783, we mapped the resistance region on chromosome 6 using a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population and found a SV of 191 kb containing a cluster of R genes in Tx2783. Using Tx2783 as a backbone, along with the SVs, we constructed a pan-genome to support alignment of resequencing data from 62 sorghum accessions, and then identified core and dispensable genes using this population. This study provides the first overview of the extent of genomic structural variations and R genes in the sorghum population, and reveals potential targets for breeding of SCA resistance.

Rapeseed is a valuable oil crop due to its high nutritious value and ample oil content. The current study provides a comparative analysis of 24 cultivars to better understand the performance and predict the adaptative mechanisms of drought-tolerant and drought-sensitive cultivars based on germination and morphophysiological traits during the early seedling stage using PEG-6000 simulated drought conditions. JYZ 158 and FY 520 (tolerant cultivars) and YG 2009 and NZ 1838 (sensitive cultivars) were selected to further explore the role of osmolytes and enzymatic activity in improving drought tolerance. This investigation illustrated that drought stress negatively influenced all studied cultivars; however, the degree of influence was different for each cultivar, suggesting their different potential for drought tolerance. Moreover, enzymatic and osmoregulatory mechanisms were highly efficient in tolerant cultivars compared to sensitive cultivars. Additionally, tolerant cultivars showed higher chlorophyll and lower malondialdehyde (MDA) contents versus sensitive cultivars under drought stress conditions. Higher drought tolerance coincided with higher enzymatic activity and osmolyte content. This work showed that JYZ 158 and FY 520 cultivars had higher drought tolerance, and might be a significant germplasm resource for breeding programs developing drought-tolerant rapeseed.

Recent research has highlighted the importance of agricultural cooperatives on farm production. Although the consensus from the literature suggests that participating in these organizations significantly affects farm production, there is inconclusive evidence on whether this effect is positive or negative. Moreover, previous studies solely focus on the magnitude of this effect and fail to explain the mechanism behind it. This study contributes to this knowledge gap by estimating the impact of agricultural cooperatives on farm profits. To do this, we apply the causal mediation analysis to explain the potential mechanism behind this relationship. Using a nationally representative survey of farm households from Taiwan in 2013, we find that participating in cooperatives increases farm profits. Furthermore, this effect is more pronounced for producers with higher profits. Concerning the mechanism, we find that the use of food labels accounts for approximately 15 to 28% of the total effect of cooperative participation on farm profits.

This study investigated the modulatory role of emotion in the effect of time delay on recognition memory for pictures. Participants viewed neutral, positive and negative pictures, and took a recognition memory test 5 minutes, 24 hours, or 1 week after learning. The findings are: 1) For neutral, positive and negative pictures, overall recognition accuracy in the 5-min delay did not significantly differ from that in the 24-h delay. For neutral and positive pictures, overall recognition accuracy in the 1-week delay was lower than in the 24-h delay; for negative pictures, overall recognition in the 24-h and 1-week delay did not significantly differ. Therefore negative emotion modulates the effect of time delay on recognition memory, maintaining retention of overall recognition accuracy only within a certain frame of time. 2) For the three types of pictures, recollection and familiarity in the 5-min delay did not significantly differ from that in the 24-h and the 1-week delay. Thus emotion does not appear to modulate the effect of time delay on recollection and familiarity. However, recollection in the 24-h delay was higher than in the 1-week delay, whereas familiarity in the 24-h delay was lower than in the 1-week delay.

Ramie (Boehmeria nivea L.) is one of the most important sources of natural fiber. The yield and fiber quality of ramie are affected by mineral nutrients, particularly nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). In the present study, we aimed to quantify the influence of N, P, and K fertilizers on growth, yield, and fiber quality of ramie. To this end, ramie plants grown under different fertilizer treatments (no fertilizer, N, P, K, NP, NK, PK, and NPK) were evaluated for differences in plant height, stem diameter, stem fresh and dry weights, number of stems, fiber fresh and dry weights, fiber quality (breaking strength, elongation, and diameter), and total N and P content. Across all fertilizer treatments, NPK, followed by NK, had the greatest significant effect for increasing plant growth, yield, and fiber quality as compared with control plants, whereas P application had the least effect. Plants fertilized with NPK showed strong positive correlations among fiber yield and quality traits with morphological parameters such as plant height, biomass, stem diameter, and numbers of stem. The p correlation of fiber breaking strength with stem diameter (r 2 = 0.79), stem biomass (r 2 = 0.88), N contents (r 2 = 0.91) and P contents (r 2 = 0.83) indicated that the combined application of NPK (150, 75,150 kg·ha −1 ) significantly enhances yield and fiber quality in ramie. Thus, it is suggested that optimum fertilization is important for sustainable ramie production.