Breeding durable resistance to pathogens and pests is a major task for modern plant breeders and pyramiding different resistance genes into a genotype is one way of achieving this. Three powdery mildew resistance gene combinations, Pm2+Pm4a, Pm2+Pm21, Pm4a+Pm21 were successfully integrated into an elite wheat cultivar ‘Yang047′. Double homozygotes were selected from a small F2 population with the help of molecular markers. As the parents were near‐isogenic lines (NILs) of ‘Yang158′, the progenies showed good uniformity in morphological and other non‐resistance agronomic traits. The present work illustrates the bright prospects for the utilization of molecular markers in breeding for host resistance.

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The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of oral Gln supplementation on growth performance, intestinal morphology, and expression of heat shock protein (Hsp) 70 in weaning piglets. A total of 65 piglets after weaning at 21 d of age (d 0) were used in this experiment. Five piglets were randomly selected and euthanized initially at d 0 to determine baseline values for the expression of Hsp70 in the small intestine. The remaining piglets were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 treatments and received 0 or 1 g of oral Gln/kg of BW every 12 h. After piglets were humanely killed at d 3, 7, and 14 postweaning, the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum of piglets were sampled to evaluate intestinal morphology and the expression and localization of Hsp70. The results indicated that oral Gln supplementation increased plasma concentrations of Gln compared with those in control piglets (P < 0.05). Average daily gain and ADFI were greater in piglets orally supplemented with Gln than in control piglets during the whole period (P < 0.05). The incidence of diarrhea in piglets orally supplemented with Gln was 24% less than (P = 0.064) that in control piglets at 8 to 14 d after weaning. The weights of the jejunum and ileum were greater in piglets orally supplemented with Gln compared with those of control piglets relative to BW on d 14 postweaning (P < 0.05). The villus height and the villus height:crypt depth ratio in the jejunum and the ileum were greater in piglets receiving oral Gln on d 14 postweaning (P < 0.05) than in control piglets. These results indicate that Gln supplementation can influence the intestinal morphology of weaned piglets. The expression of hsp70 mRNA and Hsp70 proteins in the duodenum and jejunum was greater in piglets supplemented with Gln than in control piglets (P < 0.05). However, Gln supplementation had no effect on the expression of hsp70 mRNA and Hsp70 proteins in the ileum. Moreover, the localization of Hsp70 in the cytoplasm indicated that Hsp70 has a cytoprotective role in epithelial cell function and structure. These results indicate that Gln supplementation may be beneficial for intestinal health and development and may thus mitigate diarrhea and improve growth performance. The protective mechanisms of Gln in the intestine may be associated with the increase in Hsp70 expression.

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Dual component microencapsulated hydrophobic amine and microencapsulated isocyanate were designed and fabricated for self-healing anti-corrosion coating. In this system, novel hydrophobic polyaspartic acid ester (PAE) and isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) were microencapsulated respectively with melamine-formaldehyde (MF) as shell via in situ polymerization. To reduce the reaction activity between shell-forming MF prepolymer and PAE, another self-healing agent tung oil (TO) was dissolved in PAE and subsequently employed as core material. With field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and optical microscopy (OM), the resultant microencapsulated IPDI with diameter of 2-5 µm showed a spherical shape and smooth surface. More importantly, both the morphology and microstructure of microencapsulated PAE enhanced significantly after addition of TO. Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) analysis confirmed the molecular structure of chemical structure of the microcapsules. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) indicated that both kinds of microcapsules exhibit excellent thermal resistance with the protection of MF shell. Furthermore, the self-healing epoxy coating system containing microencapsulated IPDI and microencapsulated PAE/TO was prepared and investigated. From the micrographs of true color confocal microscope (TCCM), the self-healing coating containing dual-component microcapsules showed excellent self-repairing performance compared to single microencapsulated IPDI system, and the optimal content of dual-component microcapsules in epoxy coating was 20 wt % approximately.

Microencapsulated phase change materials (MicroPCMs) containing two-phase core materials, in which polypyrrole (PPy) particles were homodispersed in n-octadecane (n-Oct), were synthesized by two-step polymerization technique using poly(methyl methacrylate-co-allyl methacrylate) as shell. The surface morphologies, phase change properties, and thermal stabilities of the microcapsules were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), respectively. The results show the two-phase core materials are well encapsulated in the presence of the emulsifier sodium salt of styrene−maleic anhydride copolymer. The average diameter of the microcapsules is about 35 μm. The crystallization temperature of MicroPCMs is higher than that of MicroPCMs without PPy. At the same time, the enthalpy of the heterogeneous nucleation significantly increased with increasing of the PPy concentration. Microcapsules with 4−14 wt % PPy in the core material were free from obvious supercooling, and PPy had no influence on the morphology, the particle distribution, or the thermal resistant temperature of microcapsules.