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At least 271 records · Page 15Linked to original sources
PubMed2000

Feasibility of substituting sodium for potassium in crop plants for advanced life support systems.

Recycling of nutrients, air, and water is an integral feature of life support systems designed for long-term space missions. Plants can play a major role in supplying the basic life support requirements, which include providing the crew's food, clean water, and air, and recycling their wastes. The nutrient flux through the plant and human systems needs to be matched in order for nutrients to recycle between humans and plants without an excessive buildup in any one section of the system. Sodium, which is essential at the macronutrient level for human metabolism, has only been shown to be a micronutrient for some plants, with only very limited uptake in most plants. Thus, when Na is added from the outside to meet the human demand in these closed life support systems it will accumulate someplace in the overall system. In simple systems such as these, without a complete biogeological cycle, the buildup of Na could occur in the nutrient solution of the plant system. Various concepts related to the substitution of sodium for potassium in crop plants are currently being investigated by NASA. Results to date suggest that Na concentrations up to 100 g kg-1 dry weight may be achievable in the edible portions of Na-tolerant crops (e.g., red beet and chard). A flow path for nutrient solution high in Na wastes has been suggested for optimizing Na and nitrogen incorporation and utilization from such solutions. Options for further improvements include selecting plant genotypes tolerant to high salinity, which are efficient in Na uptake. This should also be combined with environmental manipulations to maximize Na uptake by crop plants.

Chenopodiaceae↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Evaluation of fan-pattern spray nozzle wear using scanning electron microscopy.

Worn nozzles on spray equipment severely affect the efficiency of crop management systems while causing unnecessary pesticide contamination of non target areas. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) that has been applied for direct measurement of pesticide deposition, was used to observe worn and unused brass and stainless steel fan-pattern spray nozzles. Wear and other changes were observed in both nozzle materials. Scanning electron microscopy can provide nozzle manufacturers with greater insight and needed information on nozzle mechanics to improve performance. More reliable delivery of pesticide spray should enhance integrated pest and disease management and crop protection for growers.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2026

Holistic approaches for improvement of maize resistance against lodging stress: current status and future perspective.

Lodging is a major constraint in maize production, causing significant yield losses, reduced grain quality, and harvesting inefficiencies, thereby posing a serious challenge to global food security and climate-resilient agriculture. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the genetic, physiological, and agronomic determinants of maize lodging resistance and evaluates holistic strategies for improving tolerance to lodging stress. Recent advances in quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping, genome-wide association studies (GWAS), functional gene characterization, genome editing, high-throughput phenotyping, and precision agronomy have provided powerful tools to enhance stalk biomechanics, root anchorage, and adaptive plant architecture. Integrating genomic discovery with advanced phenomics and optimized agronomic management offers a scalable framework for accelerating the development of high-yielding, lodging-resilient maize cultivars. However, critical gaps remain in understanding the genetic coordination between stalk strength and root system architecture, integrating multi-omics approaches to unravel regulatory networks, validating genome-editing interventions across diverse agro-ecologies, and developing environment-responsive predictive breeding models and cost-effective phenotyping tools, particularly for stress-prone regions. Addressing these challenges through coordinated multi-environment trials and integrative molecular-agronomic strategies will facilitate the translation of genomic discoveries into climate-resilient, high-performing maize cultivars. By consolidating molecular insights with applied breeding and management practices, this review provides a comprehensive framework that guides researchers in designing genome-informed and field-validated approaches to improve maize resistance to lodging stress and support sustainable crop production systems.

Zea mays↗
PubMed2002

Evaluation of the natural refuge function for Helicoverpa arnigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) within Bacillus thuringiensis transgenic cotton growing areas in north China.

The density of Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) populations on Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner (Bt) transgenic cotton, corn, peanut, and soybean; differences in its development on Bt cotton and common (nontransgenic) cotton; and the potential for mating among populations from Bt cotton fields and other crop fields were investigated in the suburbs of Xinxiang City (Henan Province) and Langfang City (Hebei Province) in the southern and northern parts of north China, respectively. Although development of H. armigera on Bt cotton was much slower than on common cotton, there was a still high probability of mating between populations from Bt cotton and other sources due to the scattered emergence pattern of H. armigera adults, and overlap of the second and third generations. In a cotton and corn growing region, early and late planted corn provided suitable refugia for the third and fourth generations of H. armigera, but not for the second generation. In a cotton and soybean/ peanut mix system, noncotton crops provided a natural refugia from the second- to fourth-generation H. armigera, but function of the refuge would closely depend on the proportion of Bt cotton. Consequently, it may be necessary to compensate the original mixed cropping patterns in different areas for delaying resistance development of H. armigera to Bt cotton.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Anaerobic degradation of inedible crop residues produced in a Controlled Ecological Life Support System.

An anaerobic reactor seeded with organisms from an anaerobic lagoon was used to study the degradation of inedible crop residues from potato and wheat crops grown in a closed environment. Conversion of this biomass into other products was also evaluated. Degradation of wheat volatile solids was about 25% where that of potato was about 50%. The main product of the anaerobic fermentation of both crops was acetic acid with smaller quantities of propionate and butyrate produced. Nitrate, known to be high in concentration in inedible potato and wheat biomass grown hydroponically, was converted to ammonia in the anaerobic reactor. Both volatile fatty acid and ammonia production may have implications in a crop production system.

Ammonia↗
PubMed1998

A geographic information system on the potential distribution and abundance of Fasciola hepatica and F. gigantica in east Africa based on Food and Agriculture Organization databases.

An adaptation of a previously developed climate forecast computer model and digital agroecologic database resources available from FAO for developing countries were used to develop a geographic information system risk assessment model for fasciolosis in East Africa, a region where both F. hepatica and F. gigantica occur as a cause of major economic losses in livestock. Regional F. hepatica and F. gigantica forecast index maps were created. Results were compared to environmental data parameters, known life cycle micro-environment requirements and to available Fasciola prevalence survey data and distribution patterns reported in the literature for each species (F. hepatica above 1200 m elevation, F. gigantica below 1800 m, both at 1200-1800 m). The greatest risk, for both species, occurred in areas of extended high annual rainfall associated with high soil moisture and surplus water, with risk diminishing in areas of shorter wet season and/or lower temperatures. Arid areas were generally unsuitable (except where irrigation, water bodies or floods occur) due to soil moisture deficit and/or, in the case of F. hepatica, high average annual mean temperature >23 degrees C. Regions in the highlands of Ethiopia and Kenya were identified as unsuitable for F. gigantica due to inadequate thermal regime, below the 600 growing degree days required for completion of the life cycle in a single year. The combined forecast index (F. hepatica+F. gigantica) was significantly correlated to prevalence data available for 260 of the 1220 agroecologic crop production system zones (CPSZ) and to average monthly normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values derived from the advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) sensor on board the NOAA polar-orbiting satellites. For use in Fasciola control programs, results indicate that monthly forecast parameters, developed in a GIS with digital agroecologic zone databases and monthly climate databases, can be used to define the distribution range of the two Fasciola species, regional variations in intensity and seasonal transmission patterns at different sites. Results further indicate that many of the methods used for crop productivity models can also be used to define the potential distribution and abundance of parasites.

Africa, Eastern↗
PubMed2005

The study of transgene copy number and organization.

The development of efficient crop transformation systems has necessitated the development of efficient methods for detailed molecular characterization of putative events. This chapter details the routine use of quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction to determine transgene copy number in putative transgenic events. This approach has allowed the analysis of plantlets in tissue culture prior to transfer to soil and greenhouse. Implementation of the TaqMan transgene copy assay permits the efficient utilization of limited resources and space to develop a highly efficient transgenic event production pipeline. Other applications for this assay within the biotechnology production pipeline are also discussed.

Biotechnology↗
PubMed2006

Nitrogen- vs. phosphorus-based dairy manure applications to field crops: nitrate and phosphorus leaching and soil phosphorus accumulation.

Management of animal manures to provide nutrients for crop growth has generally been based on crop N needs. However, because manures have a lower N/P ratio than most harvested crops, N-based manure management often oversupplies the crop-soil system with P, which can be lost into the environment and contribute to eutrophication of water bodies. We examined the effects of N- vs. P-based manure applications on N and P uptake by alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), corn (Zea mays L.) for silage, and orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.), leaching below the root zone, and accumulation of P in soil. Treatments included N- and P-based manure rates, with no nutrient input controls and inorganically fertilized plots for comparison. Nitrate concentrations in leachate from inorganic fertilizer or manure treatments averaged 14 mg NO(3)-N L(-1), and did not differ by nutrient treatment. Average annual total P losses in leachate did not exceed 1 kg ha(-1). In the top 5 cm of soil in plots receiving the N-based manure treatment, soil test P increased by 47%, from 85 to 125 mg kg(-1). Nitrogen- and P-based manure applications did not differ in ability to supply nutrients for crop growth, or in losses of nitrate and total P in leachate. However, the N-based manure led to significantly greater accumulation of soil test P in the surface 5 cm of soil. Surface soil P accumulation has implications for increased risk of off-field P movement.

Animals↗
PubMed2026

Multimodal Deep Learning and Foundation Models for Early Detection and Forecasting of Plant Diseases.

Plant diseases destroy 20-40% of global food production annually, posing a critical threat to food security for a projected population of 9.7 billion by 2050. Conventional diagnostic approaches relying on expert visual assessment are slow, costly, and unsuitable for modern agricultural scales. While deep convolutional neural networks demonstrated early promise, single-modality, image-centric systems consistently fail under real-world field conditions characterized by variable lighting, co-occurring infections, and cultivar diversity. This review synthesizes a decade of progress across four interconnected frontiers: the evolution of deep learning architectures for plant disease detection; the adaptation of foundation models including CLIP, SAM, and DINOv2 to agricultural contexts; the development of multimodal fusion frameworks integrating imagery, environmental, genomic, and hyperspectral data; and the transition from static disease diagnosis to descriptive comparison of reported metrics, which suggested that multimodal approaches frequently reported improved diagnostic performance relative to corresponding single-modality baselines, although direct cross-study comparison was limited by methodological heterogeneity. A systematic review following PRISMA guidelines identifies eligible comparative studies. Descriptive comparison of reported performance metrics across these studies indicated that multimodal approaches generally achieved higher accuracy and sensitivity than single-modality models, particularly for pre-symptomatic disease detection. Eight critical research gaps are identified, including the absence of a unified agricultural foundation model and limited climate-aware forecasting under non-stationary climate projections. A structured research agenda is proposed to accelerate translation from laboratory performance to globally equitable, field-deployable crop protection systems.

convolutional neural networks↗
PubMed2025

Disruption of HaVipR1 confers Vip3Aa resistance in the moth crop pest Helicoverpa armigera.

The global reliance on Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) proteins for controlling lepidopteran pests in cotton, corn, and soybean crops underscores the critical need to understand resistance mechanisms. Vip3Aa, one of the most widely deployed and currently effective Bt proteins in genetically modified crops, plays a pivotal role in pest management. This study investigates the molecular basis of Vip3Aa resistance in Australian Helicoverpa armigera through genetic crosses, and integrated genomic and transcriptomic analyses. We identified a previously uncharacterized gene, LOC110373801 (designated HaVipR1), as potentially important in Vip3Aa resistance in two field-derived resistant lines. Functional validation using CRISPR/Cas9 knockout in susceptible lines confirmed the gene's role in conferring high-level resistance to Vip3Aa. Despite extensive laboratory selection of Vip3Aa-resistant colonies in Lepidoptera, the biochemical mechanisms underlying resistance have remained elusive. Our research identifies HaVipR1 as a potential contributor to resistance, adding to our understanding of how insects may develop resistance to this important Bt protein. The identification of HaVipR1 contributes to our understanding of potential resistance mechanisms and may inform future resistance management strategies. Future work should explore the biochemical pathways influenced by HaVipR1 and assess its interactions with other resistance mechanisms. The approach utilized here underscores the value of field-derived resistant lines for understanding resistance in agricultural pests and highlights the need for targeted approaches to manage resistance sustainably.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Discontinuous pore fluid distribution under microgravity--KC-135 flight investigations.

Designing a reliable plant growth system for crop production in space requires the understanding of pore fluid distribution in porous media under microgravity. The objective of this experimental investigation, which was conducted aboard NASA KC-135 reduced gravity flight, is to study possible particle separation and the distribution of discontinuous wetting fluid in porous media under microgravity. KC-135 aircraft provided gravity conditions of 1, 1.8, and 10(-2) g. Glass beads of a known size distribution were used as porous media; and Hexadecane, a petroleum compound immiscible with and lighter than water, was used as wetting fluid at residual saturation. Nitrogen freezer was used to solidify the discontinuous Hexadecane ganglia in glass beads to preserve the ganglia size changes during different gravity conditions, so that the blob-size distributions (BSDs) could be measured after flight. It was concluded from this study that microgravity has little effect on the size distribution of pore fluid blobs corresponding to residual saturation of wetting fluids in porous media. The blobs showed no noticeable breakup or coalescence during microgravity. However, based on the increase in bulk volume of samples due to particle separation under microgravity, groups of particles, within which pore fluid blobs were encapsulated, appeared to have rearranged themselves under microgravity.

Alkanes↗
PubMed1994

Map-based cloning in crop plants: tomato as a model system II. Isolation and characterization of a set of overlapping yeast artificial chromosomes encompassing the jointless locus.

A map-based cloning technique for crop plants is being developed using tomato as a model system. The target gene jointless is a recessive mutation that completely suppresses the formation of flower and fruit pedicel abscission zones. Previously, the jointless locus was mapped to a 3 cM interval between the two molecular markers TG523 and RPD158. Physical mapping of the jointless region by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis demonstrated that TG523 and RPD158 reside on a 600 kb SmaI fragment. In this study, TG523 was used as a probe to screen a tomato yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) library. Six tomato YAC (TY) clones were isolated, ranging from 220 to 380 kb in size. Genetic mapping of YAC ends demonstrated that this set of overlapping YACs encompasses the jointless locus. Two YAC ends, TY159L (L indicates left end) and TY143R (R indicates right end), cosegregate with the jointless locus. Only one of the six YACs (TY142) contained single-copy DNA sequences at both ends that could be mapped. The two ends of TY142 were mapped to either side of the jointless locus, indicating that TY142 contains a contiguous 285 kb tomato DNA fragment that probably includes the jointless locus. Physical mapping of the TY142 clone revealed that TY159L and TY143R reside on a 55 kb SalI fragment. Southern blot hybridization analysis of the DNAs of tomato lines nearly isogenic for the jointless mutation has allowed localization of the target locus to a region of less than 50 kb within the TY142 clone.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed2005

Enhancing beneficial antioxidants in fruits: a plant physiological perspective.

The aim of this review is to present an outline of the physiological perspectives of beneficial antioxidant production in fruit. The drive to enhance the consumption of fruit and vegetables in the human diet is linked with positive effects of beneficial antioxidants impacting on health promotion. We briefly outline our physiological understanding of environmental processes which induce the production of reactive oxygen species and how antioxidants prevent plant cellular damage. More specifically, we describe the impact that environmental stresses, such as drought and radiation, have on the production of endogenous antioxidants and how these stresses can be incorporated into novel experimental crop growing systems to achieve high antioxidant concentrations in fruits. This includes in particular the use of irrigation application techniques and enhanced light reflectance to increase the concentrations of bioactive compounds such as ellagic acid and ascorbic acid.

Antioxidants↗
PubMed2003

Plant molecular biology and biotechnology research in the post-recombinant DNA era.

After the beginning of the recombinant DNA era in the mid-1970s, researchers in India started to make use of the new technology to understand the structure of plant genes and regulation of their expression. The outcome started to appear in print in early the 1980s and genes for histones, tubulin, photosynthetic membrane proteins, phototransduction components, organelles and those regulated differentially by developmental and extrinsic signals were sequenced and characterized. Some genes of biotechnological importance like those encoding an interesting seed protein and the enzyme glyoxalase were also isolated. While work on the characterization of genome structure and organization was started quite early, it remained largely focused on the identification of DNA markers and genetic variability. In this context, the work on mustard, rice and wheat is worth mentioning. In the year 2000, India became a member of the international consortium to sequence entire rice genome. Several laboratories have also given attention to regulated expression of plastid and nuclear genes as well as to isolate target-specific promoters or design promoters with improved potential. Simultaneously, transgenic systems for crops like mustard, rice, wheat, cotton, legumes and several vegetables have been established. More recently, genes of agronomic importance like those for insect resistance, abiotic stress tolerance, nutritional improvement and male sterility, isolated in India or abroad, have been utilized for raising transgenics for crop improvement. Some of these transgenics have already shown their potential in containment facility or limited field trials conducted under the stipulated guidelines. Plant molecular biology and biotechnology are thus clearly poised to make an impact on research in basic biology and agriculture in the near future.

Agriculture↗
PubMed2006

Transfer characteristics of cadmium and lead from soil to the edible parts of six vegetable species in southeastern China.

The transfer characteristics of Cd and Pb from soils to the edible parts of six vegetable species were calculated from plant and corresponding surface soil samples collected from the fields in Fujian Province, southeastern China. The soil-to-plant transfer factors (TF) calculated from both total and DTPA-extractable Cd and Pb in the soils decreased with increasing total or DTPA-extractable Cd and Pb, indicating that the TF values of Cd and Pb depend on the soil metal content. For most plants studied, there was a significant relation between the TF values and the corresponding soil metal concentrations (total or DTPA-extractable) that was best described by an exponential equation (y=axb). We recommend that the representative TF value for a given crop-metal system should be estimated from the regression models between the transfer factors and the corresponding soil metal concentrations and at a given soil metal concentration.

Biological Transport↗
PubMed2004

Crop and irrigation management strategies for saline-sodic soils and waters aimed at environmentally sustainable agriculture.

Irrigation has long played a key role in feeding the expanding world population and is expected to play a still greater role in the future. As supplies of good-quality irrigation water are expected to decrease in several regions due to increased municipal-industrial-agricultural competition, available freshwater supplies need to be used more efficiently. In addition, reliance on the use and reuse of saline and/or sodic drainage waters, generated by irrigated agriculture, seems inevitable for irrigation. The same applies to salt-affected soils, which occupy more than 20% of the irrigated lands, and warrant attention for efficient, inexpensive and environmentally acceptable management. Technologically and from a management perspective, a couple of strategies have shown the potential to improve crop production under irrigated agriculture while minimizing the adverse environmental impacts. The first strategy, vegetative bioremediation--a plant-assisted reclamation approach--relies on growing appropriate plant species that can tolerate ambient soil salinity and sodicity levels during reclamation of salt-affected soils. A variety of plant species of agricultural significance have been found to be effective in sustainable reclamation of calcareous and moderately sodic and saline-sodic soils. The second strategy fosters dedicating soils to crop production systems where saline and/or sodic waters predominate and their disposal options are limited. Production systems based on salt-tolerant plant species using drainage waters may be sustainable with the potential of transforming such waters from an environmental burden into an economic asset. Such a strategy would encourage the disposal of drainage waters within the irrigated regions where they are generated rather than exporting these waters to other regions via discharge into main irrigation canals, local streams, or rivers. Being economically and environmentally sustainable, these strategies could be the key to future agricultural and economic growth and social wealth in regions where salt-affected soils exist and/or where saline-sodic drainage waters are generated.

Agriculture↗