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The purpose of this paper was to report the effects of window views and indoor plants on human psychophysiological response in workplace environments. The effects of window views and indoor plants were recorded by measuring participant's electromyography (EMG), electroencephalography (EEG), blood volume pulse (BVP), and stateanxiety. Photo Impact 5.0 was used to simulate the environment in an office, where six conditions were examined: 1) window with a view of a city, 2) window with a view of a city and indoor plants, 3) window with a view of nature, 4) window with a view of nature and indoor plants, 5) office without a window view, and 6) office without a window view and indoor plants. Participants were less nervous or anxious when watching a view of nature and/or when indoor plants were present. When neither the window view nor the indoor plants were shown, participants suffered the highest degree of tension and anxiety.
The effect of copper hydroxide [Cu(OH)2] applied to interior container surfaces on shoot and root responses was evaluated on palimara alstonia (Alstonia scholaris). The seedlings grown in Cu(OH)2-treated containers had greater plant height than those in untreated containers, and had no observable copper toxicity symptoms. Cu(OH)2-treated containers effectively reduced root circling on the surface of rootballs compared with untreated containers. The Cu(OH)2 treatment significantly increased the dry weight of fine roots (those with a diameter 0-2 mm) and small roots (>2-5 mm) but did not influence the dry weight of medium roots (>5-10 mm), large roots (>10 mm), or total roots. The Cu(OH)2 treatment also significantly increased total root length and surface, which was due principally to the increasing length and surface of the fine roots. The results indicated that the Cu(OH)2 treatment, which can improve the root quality of palimara alstonia seedlings and thereby increase the root-length-to-leaf-area ratio and the root-surface-to-leaf-area ratio, has the potential to produce high-quality plants.
Child obesity is a major global public health issue. This study sought to identify means to improve children’s dietary behaviors through horticultural activities and effectively enhance their health and quality of life. The 129 participants were children in third grade through sixth grade in Hsinchu City, Taiwan. A quasi-experimental design was adopted as an intervention for school horticultural activities. The 68 students in the intervention group engaged in 40-minute horticultural sessions for 6 weeks. The pretest and post-test scores of both groups were measured using the Physical Questionnaire for older Children, the Connection to Nature Index, the Willingness to Taste Fruits and Vegetable Scale, and the Children’s Quality of Life Scale, as well as questionnaire items. The qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed through a parallel mixed-method approach. The findings showed that the intervention group’s physical activity levels, nature connectedness, and overall health were higher than those of the control groups. There were no significant differences in willingness to taste fruits and vegetables. This study demonstrates that engaging in natural school spaces and participating in horticultural activities improved the physical and mental health of children. Natural elements should be incorporated into the campus design, and children should be encouraged to participate in school horticultural activities.
Two key trends of sustainable agriculture are reducing the amount of inputs such as pesticides, fungicides, or fertilizer and finding ways to reduce or reuse agricultural waste. Leafy plant waste can be burned to produced smoke-water extracts that have effective antimicrobial and germination properties. Damping-off disease caused by Pythium spp. leads to significant losses at the papaya seedling stage and is usually managed with fungicides. Five smoke-water extracts derived from burning different plant residues—namely, rice straw smoke-water (R-SW), wheat straw smoke-water (W-SW), pangola grass smoke-water (P-SW), cornstalk smoke-water (C-SW), and bamboo leave smoke-water (B-SW)—were prepared. These were mixed into the V8 media used for culture of Pythium aphanidermatum. In vitro treatment with 5% P-SW, C-SW, or B-SW reduced mycelial growth rate significantly, whereas 5% B-SW inhibited mycelial growth completely. All 1% smoke-water preparations reduced zoospore production significantly, but the inhibition rate of 3% R-SW, 3% W-SW, 1% P-SW, 1% C-SW, and 1% B-SW reached 100%. For in vivo experiments, P. aphanidermatum was inoculated in 1 kg of potting soil and mixed with B-SW in concentrations of 1% to 5%. The papaya seedlings treated with 2% to 5% B-SW maintained the growth parameter without damping-off symptoms.
Passion fruit is a commercial crop of economic importance worldwide, with recent increases in demand for high-quality plants for commercial production. Plant tissue culture is widely used for the mass propagation of many commercial crops, however its application on passion fruit is challenged by the problem of low reproducibility, leaf chlorosis, and growth retardation resulted from in vitro culture. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of cytokinins and light quality on in vitro culture of nodal segments of passion fruit ‘Tainung No. 1’. Three aromatic cytokinins were tested in a modified MS basal medium. The bud proliferation rates of segments initiated on a media containing 1 mg·L−1 meta-topolin riboside (mTR) or benzyladenine (BA) were not significantly different at the same concentration. Buds cultured on medium supplemented with mTR grew and elongated for 4 weeks, while buds on a medium containing BA formed rosettes. After transfer to a medium without plant growth regulators (PGRs), shoots rooted spontaneously within 8 weeks. Furthermore, the effects of continuous propagation under a high proportion of red light affected the subsequent plant growth. Red LED induced an increase in the chlorophyll content (2.71 mg·g−1) compared with other light qualities (1.05–2.63 mg·g−1) and improved plantlet quality. Acclimated plants were grown in the field, and the flower morphology and fruit set were of commercial quality. Findings showed that replacing BA with mTR as the main cytokinin and using a high proportion of red light during the tissue culture induction period produced high-quality plantlets in 3 months. This system is economical and will be further developed for the commercial propagation of passion fruit vines in the future.
Experiments were conducted on 6-month-old chinese ixora (Ixora chinensis Lam.) from February 1999 to April 2000. Floral development was studied with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to determine the flowering sequences. Morphological characters were used to clarify the stages of flowering processes. The time of organogenesis and flowering arrangement was established through field observations. Floral evocation occurred in early September, floral initiation occurred in the middle of September and floral differentiation began in late September. A distinctly convex apex with bracts around the shoulder indicated the beginning of reproductive development. Subsequently, primary inflorescence axes were observed and differentiated into secondary, tertiary, and quaternary inflorescence axes consecutively in about one and a half months. Once the terminal apex reached the inflorescence bud stage, it would flower without abortion, and this may be assessed as no return. The sepals, petals, stamens, and pistil were well developed thereafter and anthesis was achieved in January through March in the following year. The observation of floral differentiation sequences and investigation of floret arrangement made it certain that chinese ixora had cymose inflorescence (cyme), but not corymb. A quadratic equation was established to predict floret number from the differentiation level (a quantitative description of differentiation stage) of a developed inflorescence.
Salt stress reduces the fresh weight, dry weight, and relative growth rate of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) seedlings and results in serious quality loss in cucumber production. Our previous study indicated that the netting-associated peroxidase (CsaNAPOD) protein in cucumber seedling roots was induced by salt stress. Here, we amplified the coding sequence of CsaNAPOD from a cDNA isolated from the roots of cucumber seedlings. Sequence analysis indicated that the coding sequence of CsaNAPOD is 1035 bp, encoding a deduced protein of 344 amino acids, with a predicated molecular weight of 37.2 kD and theoretical isoelectric point of 5.64. The deduced amino acid sequence of CsaNAPOD showed high sequence similarity to peroxidases (PODs) from other plant species. Moreover, CsaNAPOD possesses the typical sequence structures of class III PODs and indicated that CsaNAPOD belongs to this subfamily. CsaNAPOD was highly expressed in the roots and was weakly expressed in the stems and leaves of cucumber seedlings. Salt stress significantly increased the expression of CsaNAPOD in the leaves during the entire experimental period compared with the control, and the expression of CsaNAPOD in roots was reduced at 6 hours and induced at 48 and 72 hours by salt treatment. In stems, the expression of CsaNAPOD declined at 48 and 72 hours as a result of the salt treatment compared with the control. These results indicate that the expression of CsaNAPOD responded to salt stress in cucumber seedlings, and the expression patterns under salt stress in different tissues were not identical. Our research suggests that CsaNAPOD may have potential function during the plant response to salt stress.
Growth and photosynthetic parameters were measured in Eustoma grandiflorum (Raf.) Shinn. ‘Umihonoka’ grown hydroponically under nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), or magnesium (Mg) deficiency in 1/2 strength of modified Johnson’s solution. Plant height, node number, and leaf area were all reduced under N, P, K, and Ca deficiencies but not under Mg deficiency as compared with plants grown in the complete nutrient solution. Shoot and root dry weight were reduced in the N-, P-, K-, and Ca-deficient treatments, whereas root but not shoot dry weight was lowered by Mg-deficient treatment. Shoot-to-root dry weight ratio decreased under N and P deficiencies, increased under K and Mg deficiency, but was not altered under Ca deficiency. Decreased net photosynthetic rate (Pn) of N-, P-, and K-deficient leaves was all related to lower stomatal conductance (g S), whereas N-deficient leaves also accompanied by a higher intercellular carbon dioxide concentration (Ci). The Mg-deficient treatment did not alter chlorophyll fluorescence Fv/Fm, maximal fluorescence (Fm), or minimal fluorescence (Fo). Decreased Fv/Fm of N-, P-, K-, and Ca-deficient leaves was all related to lower Fm, whereas N- and P-deficient leaves also accompanied by lower Fo. A key was developed for the identification of N, P, K, Ca, and Mg deficiency symptoms.
Soluble acid invertase [SAI (Enzyme Commission 3.2.1.26)] plays an important role in catalyzing the hydrolysis of sucrose into hexoses and regulates floral development. Full-length cDNAs encoding RhSAI1 and RhSAI2 isoforms were cloned from Rhododendron hybrid ‘Yuqilin’ and they exhibited high amino acid sequence identity (89%) to each other. The protein sequences contain highly conserved motifs present in all SAIs, including the β-fructosidase motif N-D-P-(D/N), a putative active site W-E-C-(I/V)-D, and R-D-P. The expression of RhSAI1 and RhSAI2 genes was under spatial and temporal control. Expression of both RhSAI1 and RhSAI2 genes was most abundant in stems, and expression was lowest in roots and leaves, respectively. The expression of RhSAI2 was significantly lower than that of RhSAI1 in all organs. During floral development, RhSAI1 was highly expressed at the earliest stage (Stage I), decreased until Stage III, and increased again at the terminal stage. The pattern of RhSAI2 expression was distinctly different, showing a continuous increase during floral development. Consistent with the levels of RhSAI1 expression, SAI activity decreased during floral development and was inversely correlated with the soluble sugar content. Abundant expression of RhSAI1 at the transcriptional level in addition to high SAI activity during the initial stages of floral development may play a vital role in supplying the energy needed for rapid cell division and growth of flowers.
Grafting is widely used in the commercial production of cucurbits (Cucurbitaceae) and solanaceous (Solanaceae) vegetables, but seldom in the production of cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage (Brassica oleracea Capitata group). In our study, we developed a tube grafting method for cabbage using the ‘K-Y cross’ cabbage as the scion and ‘Tsuei Jin’ chinese kale (B. oleracea Alboglabra group) as the rootstock (K-Y/TJ), and then used the K-Y/TJ grafted seedlings to identify the best healing conditions. The examined healing conditions included temperature (15, 20, or 25 °C), relative humidity (RH; 75%, 85%, or 95%), and light intensity (high light intensity, 79 to 107 μmol·m–2·s–1; low light intensity, 38.6 to 58.8 μmol·m–2·s–1; or full darkness, 0 μmol·m–2·s–1). Considering all the healing conditions, the K-Y/TJ grafted seedlings healing at 20 °C, 95% RH, and high light intensity exhibited survival rates of up to 96.7% and overall superior seedling quality. ‘K-Y cross’ cabbages were then grafted onto chinese kale rootstocks, and the head traits of all grafted plants were comparable to those of nongrafted and/or self-grafted ‘K-Y cross’ plants. ‘K-Y cross’ plants grafted on ‘Jie Lan’ chinese kale rootstocks had greater ascorbic acid and total soluble solid (TSS) contents than nongrafted and self-grafted ‘K-Y cross’ plants. Overall, this research describes a successful tube grafting method and the optimal healing conditions for grafted cabbage seedlings, which can be used as a tool to improve head quality.