Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca
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Marine actinomycetes for biocontrol of Fusarium solani in tomato plants: In vitro and in vivo studies
Get PDFUsing microorganisms as biocontrol agents of phytopathogens has been an alternative to synthetic fungicides. Actinomycetes isolated from soil and plants have reduced diseases caused by phytopathogens; however, microorganisms from marine environments may be an option as biocontrol agents. The tomato crop possesses an important economic impact worldwide, being Mexico the main exporter. Several species of Fusarium cause damage to tomato crops and are controlled with synthetic fungicides. The objective of this work was to determine the effect of marine actinomycetes as biocontrol on Fusarium solani in tomato plants. Four strains of marine actinomycetes (A20, A19, A18, and A15) and one terrestrial actinomycete (ED48) were used. The actinomycetes strains used, produced siderophores. The greatest inhibition of mycelial growth of F. solani due to iron competition was obtained by strain A19 with 74.28%. Only two actinomycetes showed antifungal activity by VOCs (A19 and A18), strain A19 showed the highest antagonistic activity with PICR of 76.75%. Actinomycetes treatments showed significant differences with synthetic fungicide application in growth, disease severity (SE), and disease incidence (DI) variables. The application of marine actinomycete (A19) on plants infested with F. solani increased the levels of enzyme activity (SOD, POD, CAT, and PAL) versus plants in that only F. solani and distilled water (control) were applied. Actinomycetes of marine origin are an option as biocontrol agents for F. solani
High-quality off-season mulberry fruit (Morus laevigata Wall.) induced by summer pruning
Get PDFThe growing recognition of mulberries as a potent source of bioactive and nutritional compounds, coupled with their increasing global consumption, underscores the need for efficient off-season cultivation. This study explores the influence of both in-season and off-season cultivation on the yield, bioactive components, and antioxidant activity of ‘Taiwan Changguosang’ (Morus laevigata Wall.) in a greenhouse setting. Despite the lower fruit yield during the off-season, the off-season fruit exhibits higher levels of bioactive compounds, including total anthocyanins, polyphenols, and flavonoids compared to its in-season counterpart. Additionally, the off-season fruit demonstrates enhanced DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging and FRAP (ferric-reducing antioxidant power), attributed to climatic conditions during fruit development, particularly air temperature and solar radiation. Moreover, the off-season fruit proves to be more palatable, showcasing a favorable balance between sugar and acid. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and correlation analysis revealed a close association between antioxidant activity and the chemical contents of total polyphenols and flavonoids. This study underscores the feasibility and benefits of off-season cultivation for enhancing the nutritional profile and antioxidant potential of mulberries, providing valuable insights for optimizing cultivation practices
How does jasmonic acid improve drought tolerance? Mechanisms and future prospects
Get PDFDrought stress poses a significant challenge to agriculture sustainability across the globe. Drought stress negatively affects the plant growth and productivity and the intensity of this serious abiotic stress is continuously increasing which is a serious threat across the globe. Different measures are being used to mitigate the adverse impacts of drought stress. Among these measures, the application of exogenous osmolytes and growth hormones is considered an important way to mitigate the adverse impacts of drought. Recently, jasmonic acid (JA) has emerged as an excellent growth hormone to improve drought tolerance owing to its involvement in different plant physiological and biochemical processes. Jasmonic acid improves membrane stability plant water relations, nutrient uptake, osmolyte accumulation, and antioxidant activities that can counter the toxic effects of drought. It also contributes to signaling pathways, i.e., genes network, stress-responsive proteins, signaling intermediates, and enzymes that protect the plants from the toxic effects of drought. Further, JA also protects and maintains the integrity of plant cells by up-regulating the antioxidant defense system and increasing osmolyte accumulation. In this review, we have documented the protective role of JA under drought stress. The various mechanisms of JA in inducing drought tolerance are discussed and different research gaps are also identified. This review will help the readers to learn more about the role of JA to mitigate the toxic effects of drought and it will provide new knowledge to develop the drought tolerance in plants
Effects of plant-soil feedbacks on the invasion and competitiveness of Aegilops tauschii
Get PDFThe interaction between plants and soil is an important aspect that affects the invasive ability of foreign plants and the invasiveness of ecosystems. The study on plant soil feedback of A. tauschii can provide reference for its invasion mechanism. Firstly, the effects of A. tauschii on the nutrients and enzyme activities of invaded soil were investigated; Secondly, in conjunction with soil sterilization, pot experiments were conducted using the De Wit substitution method to investigate the impact of different degree invasive soils on the development of A. tauschii and its interaction with wheat. The results showed that the invasion of A. tauschii significantly increased soil organic matter, soluble phosphorus and soluble potassium, while also causing a significant decrease in the concentration of nitrate nitrogen. And according to the changes of morphological and biomass indicators of A. tauschii, the results of two-way ANOVAs showed that the invaded soil and its microbiota have a positive feedback effect on the growth of A. tauschii. Finally, it can be seen from the value of the competition balance index, the competition ability of A. tauschii in different invasion degree soil is greater than that of wheat whether the soil invaded by A. tauschii had undergone sterilization treatment or not. In conclusion, the invasion potential of A. tauschii is not only derived from its strong competitiveness, but also may be related to the soil conditions
Metal bioaccumulation and translocation potential of three herbal plant species at mine tailings
Get PDFPhytoremediation as a technique for cleaning soil contaminated with potentially toxic metals uses plants that can absorb them, and then translocate and accumulate them in above-ground parts. Its effectiveness depends on the selection of adequate plants. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the potential of three wild herbaceous plant species (Holcus lanatus L., Agrostis alba L., and Eupatorium cannabinum L.) growing on mine tailings for phytoremediation applications. The content of selected metals in soil and plant samples was determined by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The research results indicate that the content of Pb and Cu in the soil of the rhizosphere of the studied species was higher than their remediation values, after the exploitation of polymetallic ore (lead-zinc-copper), which made the tailings an ecological hazard. The species H. lanatus proved to be a good candidate for the phytoaccumulation of Cr, and the species A. alba of Ca, while the species E. cannabinum proved to be phytoaccumulator of all tested metals in the researched mine tailings. Potential for phytoextraction applications were shown by the species H. lanatus for Cd, Cu, Mg and Ni, and A. alba for Cd and Zn.
Effects of chemical regulation on the growth, yield and fiber quality of cotton varieties with different plant architectures
Get PDFChemical regulation has beneficial effects on the growth, yield, and fiber quality of cotton with different plant architectures. This study aimed to investigate the combined effects of chemical regulators such as mepiquat chloride (1,1-dimethyl-piperidiniuchloride, DPC), chlormequat chloride (CCC), thidiazuron (TDZ), and ethephon (ETH) during the growth period of cotton. Different combinations of chemical regulators were applied to examine the growth, development, yield, and quality of cotton. The results showed that the application of different chemical regulators had varying effects on the yields of the two cotton varieties with distinct plant architecture. Specifically, K1C1 (before and after topping with 1:1 25% DPC, 50% TDZ, and 40% ETH) and K2C2 (before topping with 25% DPC and after topping with 50% CCC, 50% TDZ, and 40% ETH) were sprayed on ‘Wankemian-1’ and ‘Wanmian-191’, thereby increasing the cotton yield. The K2C2 treatment increased the upper half mean length and fiber strength of the two varieties but decreased the fiber length uniformity index. The fiber strength, fiber length uniformity index, and spinning consistency index of ‘Wankemian-1’ were higher than those of ‘Wanmian-191’. Based on comprehensive yield, quality, and economic benefits, K1C1 and K2C2 were determined to be the most effective chemical regulators of ‘Wankemian-1’ and ‘Wanmian-191’, respectively
Separation and identification of individual anthocyanins from the petals of some rose cultivars
Get PDFRose cultivars represent a source with potential for therapeutical applications due to the high content in bioactive phytochemicals, including phenolic derivatives and lipophilic compounds, such as carotenoids. Anthocyanins, a phenolic subclass, represent the major compounds responsible for the colors of roses. In this study, we have aimed to extract, separate, and identify the anthocyanin compounds found in the petals of 25 different rose cultivars. High performance liquid chromatography followed by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS) was used to separate, identify and quantify the individual anthocyanins. The results showed the presence of 9 anthocyanin compounds, whereas the total anthocyanin content of rose cultivars ranged from 20.267-1206.841 mg/100 g FW, from which cyanidin-caffeoyl-glucoside was the most quantitatively represented anthocianin, followed by cyanidin-glucoside and pelargonidin-glucoside. In addition to this, the antioxidant activity was applied using the established DPPH in vitro method (1403 ± 301-304 ± 37 µmol TE/g FW), as well as the total phenolic content (2600±452-208±23 mg GAE/100 g FW) and the total flavonoid content (160±23-705±49 mg QE/100 g FW). Among the evaluated cultivars, the highest content in anthocyanin was determined for the ‘Amalia’ cultivar. Between the 25 rose cultivars analyzed, the varieties ‘Amalia’, ‘Foc de tabără’, ‘Fruhrot’, and ‘First Red’ followed as being the richest in anthocyanins content and the lowest values were recorded for the varieties ‘Jimini Cricket’, ‘Cri-Cri’, ‘Fortuna’, and ‘Zburlici’. The same trend was observed for the total phenolic and total flavonoid content but also the antioxidant activity. The importance of analyzing anthocyanin content in different rose varieties came from the use of anthocyanins as natural dyes, having potential pharmaceutical ingredients that give various beneficial health effects
Divergence analysis of Cucurbita pepo L. population for seed oil production
Get PDFThe work aim was to analyze the divergence of the genotypes of common pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) and to select suitable parents for the breeding program to increase the production of cold-pressed oil. For the analysis of the yield components of the genotypes, the fruits of the common pumpkin were collected in autumn and winter 2021-2022 in central and Western Serbia. There were 19 genotypes (G1-G19) collected randomly in a larger geographical area. The following analyses were carried out: fruit weight, seed weight per fruit, seed number per fruit, thousand seeds weight, percentage of seeds in the total weight of the fruit, percentage of kernel in the total weight of the seed and seed oil content. The results revealed highly significant differences between the common pumpkin genotypes for analyzed traits at a significance of P≤0.05, indicating the presence of sufficient, considerable genetic variability between the different genotypes. The most significant seed yield components in the pumpkin fruit itself were in significant positive correlations with the oil content in the seeds. The genotypes were divided into 5 clusters. The highest seed weight per fruit and seed oil content were represented in G16, G9 and G12. The results indicate that crossing parents G13, G7, G14, G6, G8, G4, G3, G11 on one side and G16, G9, G12 on the other side is expected to result in high heterosis and a high probability of new combinations to obtain higher yielding cultivars of common pumpkin with higher oil content
Selenium and potassium supplementation improve nitrogen metabolism, antioxidant activity, and osmolyte production, reducing the growth and photosynthetic inhibition caused by polyethylene glycol (PEG) in wheat
Get PDFDrought stress has a significant impact on all crops, affecting both their growth and development. In this study, wheat plants were subjected to drought stress induced by 15% of PEG along with or without supplementation of selenium and potassium supplements. Plants subjected to PEG alone showed a decrease in a number of plants morphophysiological and biochemical parameters such as a decline in plant height, dry mass, carotenoids, total chlorophyll, stomatal conductance, net photosynthesis, and intercellular CO2 levels. Nevertheless, adding selenium and potassium supplements effectively mitigated these decreases. PEG's drought also led to the overproduction of harmful ROS-inducing substances, H2O2 and O2. Certain factors led to a significant instance of lipid peroxidation, which the addition of selenium and potassium effectively reduced and leaded to protection of plants from oxidative stress damage. The combination of selenium and potassium also significantly reduced the protease and lipoxygenase activities. This effect was even more noticeable when dealing with synergic Se+K applications. The levels of enzymatic (CAT, SOD, APX, and GR) and non-enzymatic (AsA, GSH, and tocopherol) antioxidants went up a lot after treatment with PEG. Moreover, the inclusion of selenium and potassium supplements further amplified the increase. Adding selenium and potassium supplements improved the activity of nitrate reductase (NR), an enzyme that breaks down nitrogen. The combination treatment has shown remarkable efficacy in reducing the adverse effects caused by PEG. Furthermore, the research revealed that the inclusion of selenium and potassium supplements led to heightened quantities of phenols and flavonoids. As a result of the drought, there was a limited absorption of mineral ions, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and calcium. However, the addition of selenium and potassium supplements significantly mitigated this decline
Utilizing UAV technology and GIS analysis for ecological restoration: A case study on Robinia pseudoacacia L. in a mine waste dump landscape rehabilitation
Get PDFThe rehabilitation of mine waste dumps is a critical environmental challenge, particularly in areas like Uricani, Romania, where such sites are often characterized by hazardous conditions and poor ecological recovery. This study addresses the need for efficient, low-cost solutions for land reclamation by employing UAV photogrammetry and GIS spatial analysis to assess the potential for afforestation with Robinia pseudoacacia L., a species known for its soil stabilization and ecological benefits. Using UAV technology, high-resolution digital terrain models and orthophotos were generated, with an RMSE of 0.086 m, demonstrating the accuracy and efficiency of this method for large-scale landscape initiatives. GIS spatial analysis was performed to create six key terrain maps and four pedoclimatic factor maps, essential for evaluating the site’s suitability for ecological restoration. The pilot afforestation project, which involved planting R. pseudoacacia, achieved a 75% survival rate after four years, suggesting that the species can thrive under the site’s conditions. The landscape design proposal incorporates recreational spaces aimed at benefiting the local community and attracting tourism, thereby contributing to the area’s economic and cultural revitalization. The interdisciplinary integration of UAV surveying, GIS, and landscape design highlights the cost-effectiveness and interdisciplinary nature of this approach, offering a sustainable model for mine waste dump reclamation and future ecological restoration projects