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Camellia is one of the four main oil-bearing trees along with olive, palm, and coconut in the world. Known as “Eastern Olive Oil,” camellia oil shares similar chemical composition with olive oil, with high amounts of oleic acid and linoleic acid and low saturated fats. Camellia was first exploited for edible oil in China more than 1000 years ago. Today, its oil serves as the main cooking oil in China’s southern provinces. Introduction of camellia oil into the Western countries was delayed until the recognition of its many health benefits. Although popularity for the oil has yet to grow outside of China, interest has emerged in commercial production of camellia oil in other countries in recent years. Unlike seed-oil plants that are grown on arable land, oil camellias normally grow on mountain slopes. This allows the new crop to take full usage of the marginal lands. To facilitate promoting this valuable crop as an alternative oil source and selecting promising cultivars for targeted habitats, this paper reviews the resources of oil camellias developed in China, use of by-products from oil-refining process, as well as the progress of developing camellias for oil production in China and other nations.
Mei (Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc.) flower is one of the candidates for the national flower of the People's Republic of China. Several major anthocyanins from the flowers of P. mume Sieb. et Zucc. were isolated with MeOH-HOAc-water (10:1:9, v/v), and purified by paper chromatography and subsequent column chromatography. Specific chemical reactions, chromatographic and spectroscopic analyses indicated that the anthocyanins in `Nanjing Hongxu' (Nanjing red-bearded) were cyanidin 3-O-(6'-O-α-rhamnopyranosyl-β-glucopyranoside) and cyanidin 3-O-(6'-O-galloyl-3'-O-β-glucopyranosyl-β-glucopyranoside). Anthocyanins in `Nanjing Hong' (Nanjing red) were cyanidin 3-O-(6'-O-α-rhamnopyranosyl-β-glucopyranoside), cyanidin 3-O-(6'-O-galloyl-β-glucopyranoside) and cyanidin 3-O-(6'-O-E-feruloyl-βglucopyranoside). In addition to contributing to the blue flower color, the anthocyanins may improve the ability of the two cultivars to survive at low temperatures.
Water management is one of the most important operations in greenhouse baby leaf production. However, growers mainly irrigate the plants based on experience, which generally leads to yield loss, uneven quality, and low water-use efficiency. This study evaluated four evapotranspiration (ET) models, such as Radsum, Penman methods, FAO Penman-Monteith, and Priestley-Taylor, for irrigation strategy by predicting the ET level of greenhouse baby pakchoi [Brassica rapa L. ssp. chinensis (L.) Hanelt] under different plant densities (72-, 128-, 200-, and 288-plug tray). Among environmental factors, net radiation and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) had the highest correlation with ET, with R 2 of 0.93 and 0.94, respectively. Plant growth period was divided into different stages according to canopy development and substrate surface coverage. The corresponding crop coefficient (Kc) was introduced into ET prediction models. The result shows overestimation of ETc (crop evapotranspiration) by the Radsum and Penman methods. FAO Penman-Monteith and Priestley-Taylor methods performed the best with R 2 ≈0.7 for all planting densities. These two methods are recommended for greenhouse irrigation scheduling in baby pakchoi production.
Breeding for dwarf-type bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) with enhanced drought resistance is important for producing quality turf with reduced irrigation. A dwarf-type mutant (S-20–1) that exhibits slower vertical growth, and shorter internodes and leaf length was selected from the gamma-ray–irradiated seeds of a bermudagrass cultivar Sundevil II (S-CK). S-20–1 had slower turf coverage than S-CK. Compared with S-CK, the vertical growth of S-20–1 was more promoted by gibberellin (GA3) treatment. S-20–1 showed an enhanced drought resistance in greenhouse and field tests. Under drought stress, S-20–1 maintained higher relative water content and lower levels of ion leakage, malondialdehyde, and leaf firing than S-CK. Antioxidant enzyme activities and antioxidant content showed no difference between S-20–1 and S-CK under well-watered conditions, while higher enzyme activities were maintained in S-20–1 under drought stress. Free proline accumulated in response to drought stress and showed a positive correlation to the increased ion leakage, while S-20–1 had lower levels than S-CK. Our results indicated that the dwarfism in S-20–1 induced by gamma-ray irradiation might be the result of less GA3 or decrease of sensitivity to GA3 in the mutant. The improved drought resistance of the mutant is associated with maintenance of higher levels of antioxidant enzyme activities. More accumulation of proline in S-CK than S-20–1 reflected a physiological response to the drought-induced injury rather than an association with drought resistance of S-20–1.
Soil salinity influences plant growth and crop yield significantly. Former studies indicated that uneven salt distribution in the root zone could relieve salt stress. But, how uneven salt distribution influences Na+ and Ca2+ concentration in the stem, leaf, and fruit and whether this influence would bring effects on fruit blossom-end rot (BER) still needs to be further studied. Under consideration of this, pot experiment with four treatments, T1:1, T1:5, T2:4, and T3:3, was conducted by setting the upper soil layer salinity at 1‰, 1‰, 2‰, and 3‰ and the lower soil layer at salinities of 1‰, 5‰, 4‰, and 3‰, respectively. Compared with the uniform salt concentration in the root zone (T3:3 treatment), the incidence of BER in the T1:5 and T2:4 treatments decreased by 60% and 35%, respectively. The fruit Na+ concentration and Na+/Ca2+ ratio were positively correlated with the incidence of BER. The value of the upper-root selective absorption Ca2+ over Na+ (SCa/Na(upper root)) for T1:5 was 0.8 times more than that of T1:1. The results showed that the incidence of BER was positively correlated with root dry matter and SCa/Na(root) weighted mean salinity. The overall results suggested that uneven salt distribution in the root zone could promote the Ca2+ absorption, Ca2+/Na+ ratio, and selective absorption Ca2+ over Na+ and consequently decrease the incidence of BER in tomato fruit.
The spicas of Prunella vulgaris are widely used in the medical, beverage, and ornamental fields. Temperature and photoperiod are the two main ecological factors that determine the transformation of many plants from vegetative growth to reproductive growth. To explore the response of P. vulgaris flowering to temperature and photoperiod induction, we adopted vernalization long-day, vernalization short-day, nonvernalization long-day, and nonvernalization short-day treatments. The results showed that the morphology (total number of leaves, number of branches, number of leaves per branch, and branch length) of the vernalization treatment groups was significantly different from that of other nonvernalization groups, and the photosynthetic pigments, net photosynthetic rate, water use efficiency, stomatal conductance, intercellular CO2 concentration, and transpiration rate increased in the vernalization treatment group. However, the gibberellin 3 (GA3), indole-3-acetic acid and zeatin riboside (ZR) contents were significantly increased under the short-day treatments groups, and the results were the same for the expression of endogenous hormone synthesis genes, except for abscisic acid (ABA). The flowering-related genes soc1, elf3, svp, ga20ox, and cry1 were highly expressed under the vernalization short-day. Therefore, the induction of vernalization is more conducive to the increase in the photosynthetic rate. Temperature and photoperiod synergistically induced the synthesis and accumulation of starch, sugar, amino acids, and protein and affected the content of endogenous hormones and the expression of genes involved in their synthesis. GA3 and ZR had thresholds for their regulation of the flowering process in P. vulgaris, and high concentrations of ABA promoted flowering. Temperature and photoperiod coordinate the expression of the flowering-related genes soc1, elf3, svp, ga20ox, and cry1, thereby affecting the flowering process in P. vulgaris.
Although tolerance to high temperature is crucial to the summer survival of Iris germanica cultivars in subtropical areas, few physiological studies have been conducted on this topic previously. To remedy this, this study explored the physiological response and expression of heat shock factor in four I. germanica cultivars with varying levels of thermotolerance. The plants’ respective degrees of high-temperature tolerance were evaluated by measuring the ratio and area of withered leaves under stress. Several physiological responses to high temperatures were investigated, including effects on chlorophyll, antioxidant enzymes, proline, and soluble protein content in the leaves of four cultivars. CaCl2 was sprayed on ‘Gold Boy’ and ‘Royal Crusades’ considered being sensitive to high temperatures to study if Ca2+ could improve the tolerance, and LaCl3 was sprayed on ‘Music Box’ and ‘Galamadrid’ with better high-temperature tolerance to test if calcium ion blocker could decrease their tolerance. Heat shock factor genes were partially cloned according to the conserved region sequence, and expression changes to high-temperature stress with CaCl2 or LaCl3 treatments were thoroughly analyzed. Results showed that high temperature is the primary reason for large areas of leaf withering. The ratio and area of withered leaves on ‘Music Box’ and ‘Galamadrid’ were smaller than ‘Gold Boy’ and ‘Royal Crusades’. CaCl2 slowed the degradation of chlorophyll content and increased proline and soluble protein in ‘Gold Boy’ and ‘Royal Crusades’ but had no significant effect on activating peroxidase or superoxide to improve high-temperature tolerance. Genetic expression of heat shock factor in ‘Gold Boy’ and ‘Royal Crusades’ was upregulated by Ca2+ at later stages of leaf damage under high-temperature stress. LaCl3 down-regulated the physiological parameters and expression level of heat shock factor in ‘Music Box’ and ‘Galamadrid’. These results suggest that different I. germanica cultivars have varying high-temperature tolerance and furthermore that Ca2+ regulates their physiological indicators and expression level of heat shock factor under stress.
Sexual reproduction in the plant parasite Phytophthora capsici Leonian requires the interaction of two distinct mating types, A1 and A2. Co-occurrence of these mating types can enhance the genetic diversity of P. capsici and alter its virulence or resistance characteristics. Using an intersimple sequence repeat (ISSR) screen of microsatellite diversity, we identified, cloned, and sequenced a novel 1121-base pair (bp) fragment specific to the A1 mating type of P. capsici. Primers Pcap-1 and Pcap-2 were designed from this DNA fragment to specifically detect the A1 mating type. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using these primers amplified an expected 997-bp fragment from known A1 mating types, but yielded a 508-bp fragment from known A2 mating types. This PCR-based assay could be adapted to accurately and rapidly detect the co-occurrence of A1 and A2 P. capsici mating types from field material.
Waterlogging (WL) negatively affects plant growth and development, but the physiological responses of turfgrass species to WL are not well understood. The objective of this study was to examine growth and physiological mechanisms of WL tolerance in warm-season turfgrass species. Knotgrass (Paspalum paspaloides), spiny mudgrass (Pseudoraphis spinescens), seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum), and centipedegrass (Eremochloa ophiuroides) were subjected to 30 days of WL. At the end of the treatment, knotgrass and spiny mudgrass maintained the shoot and root biomass while seashore paspalum and centipedegrass showed reductions in biomass under WL. Root oxidase activity (ROA) was unaffected until after 12 or 18 days of WL but decreased by 14.3%, 17.8%, 32.0%, and 68.7% at 30 days of WL for knotgrass, spiny mudgrass, seashore paspalum, and centipedegrass, respectively. Waterlogging increased root activities of lactate dehydrogenase and alcohol dehydrogenase, but generally to a lesser extent in knotgrass and spiny mudgrass. The leaf and root activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) were induced after 6 or 12 days of WL, but to a greater extent for knotgrass and spiny mudgrass. At 30 days of WL, the increased leaf and root activities of SOD and POD were higher in knotgrass and spiny mudgrass than that of seashore paspalum and centipedegrass; while centipedegrass showed 37.8% reduction in root SOD activity. The total soluble protein (TSP) concentration remained unchanged in both leaves and roots during the entire WL treatment for knotgrass, while a decreased leaf TSP was found in the other three species after 12 or 24 days of WL as well as in the roots of seashore paspalum and centipedegrass. More reductions in leaf or root TSP were observed in seashore paspalum and centipedegrass than in knotgrass and spiny mudgrass at 30 days of WL. The results indicated that higher ROA, activities of antioxidant enzymes and TSP contributed to WL tolerance of warm-season turfgrass species.
Chinese cymbidiums are important flowering ornamental plants. Traditional propagation via seed or division cannot satisfy growers’ demand for commercialization of new cultivars, and in vitro propagation has a low micropropagation efficiency due to the browning of rhizomes. In this study, rhizomes of Cymbidium ‘14-16-13’ and ‘14-16-5’ were cultured on half-strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 6-benzyl aminopurine (BAP), NAA (α-napthaleneacetic acid), or BAP with NAA under either the dark or light. The degree of browning was read, and rhizome proliferation or sprouting (sprout numbers) was evaluated. Results showed that there was significant difference in browning grade of rhizomes between ‘14-16-13’ and ‘14-16-5’ regardless of dark and light culture. Dark culture induced rhizome proliferation but failed to induce sprouts. Light culture slightly elevated the degree of browning but induced sprouting. Among the growth regulators evaluated, BAP was more effective for sprout induction. As rhizome browning appeared to be inevitable in micropropagation of the cymbidiums, a compromise between browning and sprout production could be a realistic approach. Our study showed that rhizomes cultured on half-strength MS medium supplemented with 1.5 mg·L−1 BAP were able to produce more than 16 sprouts per vessel even though browning occurred in the rhizomes. Thus, culturing rhizomes in this medium could be a practical solution for in vitro propagation of Chinese cymbidiums.