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This study aimed to investigate the flowering biological characteristics, floral organ characteristics, and pollen morphology of Camellia weiningensis Y.K. Li. These features of adult C. weiningensis plants were observed via light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Pollen viability and stigma receptivity were detected using 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazole chloride (TTC) staining and the benzidine–hydrogen peroxide reaction method. C. weiningensis is monoecious, with alternate leaves and glabrous branchlets. Its flowering period lasts 2 to 4 months, and the flowering time of individual plants lasts ≈50 days, with the peak flowering period from the end of February to the middle of March. It is a “centralized flowering” plant that attracts a large number of pollinators. Individual flowers are open for 12 to 13 days, mostly between 1230 and 1630 hr, and include four to six sepals, six to eight petals, ≈106 stamens, an outer ring of ≈24.6-mm-long stamens, an inner ring of ≈13.4-mm-long stamens, one pistil, and nine to 12 ovules. The flowers are light pink. The style is two- to three-lobed and 16.6 mm long, showing a curly “Y” shape. The contact surface of the style is covered with papillary cells and displays abundant secretory fluid and a full shape, facilitating pollen adhesion. The pollen is rhombohedral cone-shaped, and there are germ pores (tremoids). The groove of the germ pore is slender and extends to the two poles (nearly reaching the two poles). The pollen is spherical in equatorial view and trilobate in polar view. The pollen vitality was highest at the full flowering stage, and the stigma receptivity was greatest on days 2 to 3 of flowering. The best concentration of sucrose medium for pollen germination was 100 g/L. The number of pollen grains per anther was ≈2173, and the pollen-to-ovule ratio was 23,034:1. C. weiningensis is cross-pollinated. Seventy-two hours after cross-pollination, the pollen tube reached the base, and a small part entered the ovary. The time when the pollen tube reached the base after pollination was later than that in commonly grown Camellia oleifera. The results of this study might lay an important foundation for the flowering management, pollination time selection, and cross-breeding of C. weiningensis.

Petalized anther abortion is an important characteristic of male sterility in plants. The male sterile plants (HB-21) evincing petalized anther abortion previously discovered in a clone population of the Camellia oleifera cultivar Huashuo by our research group were selected as the experimental material in this study. Using plant microscopy and anatomic methods and given the correspondence between external morphology and internal structure, we studied the anatomic characteristics of petalized anther abortion (with a fertile plant as the control group) in various stages, from flower bud differentiation to anther maturity, in hopes of providing a theoretical basis for research on and applications of male sterile C. oleifera plants, a new method for the selection of male sterile C. oleifera cultivars, and improvements in the yield and quality of C. oleifera. In this study, the development of anthers in C. oleifera was divided into 14 stages. Petalized anther abortion in male sterile plants was mainly initiated in the second stage (the stage of sporogenous cells). Either the petalized upper anther parts did not form pollen sacs, or the entire anthers did not form pollen sacs. The lower parts of some anthers could form deformed pollen sacs and develop, and these anthers could be roughly divided into two types: fully and partially petalized anthers. Abnormal callose and the premature degradation of the tapetum occurred in the pollen sacs formed by partially petalized anthers during the development process, resulting in the absence of inclusions in the pollen grains formed. Small quantities of mature pollen grains withered inward from the germinal furrows, exhibiting obvious abortion characteristics. The relative in vitro germination rate of the pollen produced by the partially petalized anthers of sterile plants was 11.20%, and the relative activity of triphenyltetrazolium chloride was 3.24%, while the fully petalized anthers did not generate pollen grains. Either the petalized anthers in male sterile plants did not produce pollen, or the vitality of the small amounts of pollen produced by sterile plants was very low compared with that of fertile plants. Such male sterile plants could be used to select correct clones and have good prospects for application in production.

It has been proved that irrigation with high saline water and leaching fraction (LF) affect crop yield, but the effects of irrigation water salinity (EC_iw) and LF on fruit quality remain largely elusive. We therefore investigated the effects of EC_iw and LF on the yield, fruit quality, and ion content of hot peppers. An experiment using irrigation water with five levels of salinity (EC_iw of 0.9, 1.6, 2.7, 4.7, and 7.0 dS·m⁻¹) and two LFs (0.17 and 0.29) was conducted in a rain shelter. The experiment took the form of a completely randomized block design, and each treatment was replicated four times. We increased the salinity of the irrigation water by adding 1:1 milliequivalent concentrations of NaCl and CaCl₂ to a half-strength Hoagland solution. The plants were irrigated for 120% and 140% evapotranspiration, corresponding to an LF of 0.17 and 0.29. Results showed that the total fruit yield decreased significantly with an increase in the EC_iw as a result of reduction both in the fresh weight of fruit and the number of fruit per plant. An increase in the EC_iw also led to a decrease in the total dry biomass of fruit and plant, as well as decreasing water use efficiency (WUE_F). Salinity reduced the appearance of the fruit by both decreasing the length (F_L) and maximum width (F_MW) of the fruit. However, increased EC_iw also improved the taste of the hot peppers by increasing the total soluble solid (TSS) content, as well as adding to their nutritional quality with a higher content of Vitamin C (VC). Their storage quality was also improved because of an improvement in the firmness of the fruit (F_n) as well as a reduction in the fruit water content (F_WC). An increase in the LF led to an increase in the total fruit yield, total dry biomass of fruit and plant, and WUE_F; it also increased the F_WC and VC content, and decreased the F_MW and fruit shape index (F_SI). The threshold-slope linear response and sigmoidal-sharp models were both a good fit for the measured total fruit yield, and the LF had no significant effect on the model parameters. The relative TSS and F_n increased linearly as the electrical conductivity (EC) of soil-saturated paste extract (EC_e) increased, whereas they decreased linearly as the relative seasonal evapotranspiration (ET_r) increased regardless of the LFs. The relative F_W, F_L, and F_MW decreased linearly with the increased EC_e, and increased linearly with the increased ET_r regardless of the LFs. The relative fruit Na⁺ concentration increased linearly as the EC_e increased. The regression correlations between the total fruit yield, fruit quality parameters, ion contents, and EC_e or ET_r could provide important information for salinity and irrigation water management with a compromise between the hot pepper yield and fruit quality.

To investigate the relationship between mineral elements and plum gummosis disease, Prunus salicina Lindl. trees with four grades of gummosis were used as the experimental materials. The contents of N, P, K, Ca, Mg, B, Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu in the branches and leaves were measured, and the correlation between mineral elements and gummosis was systemically analyzed through multiple comparisons, binary logistic regression analysis, and ordinal logistic regression analysis. In addition, the effects of prevention and control of the necessary mineral elements on the gummosis disease of P. salicina were verified after a fertilization experiment. The results indicate that the contents of nitrogen and manganese positively correlate with the occurrence of gummosis. In contrast, the contents of calcium and boron significantly negatively correlate with the occurrence of gummosis. A fertilization experiment facilitated the discovery that the control of nitrogen, as well as the increased application of boron and calcium fertilizers, contributed to the prevention and control on gummosis disease in P. salicina

In this experiment, the responses of plant growth, gas exchange parameters, and ion concentration to different levels of irrigation water salinity (EC_iw of 0.9, 1.6, 2.7, 4.7 and 7.0 dS·m⁻¹) and leaching fractions (LFs of 0.17, 0.29) were investigated in hot pepper plants. The pot experiment was conducted using a completely randomized block design with four replications in a rain shelter. Results showed that the height of the hot pepper plants decreased as the EC_iw was increased from 25 d after transplanting (DAT) and increased when the LF was increased from 55 DAT. Neither the EC_iw nor the LF influenced the root length. An increase in the EC_iw caused the suppression of the stem diameter (SD); leaf length; leaf area; leaf chlorophyll content (CCI); dry biomass of roots, stems, and leaves; net photosynthesis (P _n); stomatal conductance (g _S); transpiration rate (T _r); and intercellular CO₂ concentration (C _i). An increase in the LF caused the SD, leaf length, leaf area, and dry biomass of stems and leaves to increase. However, the dry biomass of roots and the P _n, g _S, T _r, and C _i were not significantly affected by the LF, except for the C _i measured on 23 DAT and the T _r on 76 DAT. The Na⁺ concentrations in the roots and stems increased, whereas the K⁺/Na⁺ ratios decreased as the EC_iw increased. An increase in the LF led to a decrease in the Na⁺ concentration of the roots and stems, whereas there was an increase in the K⁺ concentration in the stems and the K⁺/Na⁺ ratios in the roots and stems. Collectively, an increase in the EC_iw had an adverse effect on plant growth and gas exchange and led to the accumulation of the Na⁺ concentration in the roots and stems, whereas an increase in the LF enhanced plant growth, leaf transpiration, and K⁺ concentration and reduced the accumulation of the Na⁺ concentration in the roots and stems. We suggest that higher quantity of water should be applied in higher saline irrigation for satisfactory performance for hot pepper growth.

The autotoxicity of root exudates and the change of rhizosphere soil microbes are two important factors that affect the quality and yield of Lanzhou lily (Lilium davidii var. unicolor). Phthalic acid (PA) is a major autotoxin of the root exudates in Lanzhou lily. In this study, we treated plants with different concentrations of PA from the Lanzhou lily root exudates and then analyzed the effects of autotoxins on fresh weight, shoot height, root length, and Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity in root. The diversity of soil fungi in Lanzhou lily soil was analyzed using MiSeq. The results showed that PA induced oxidative stress and oxidative damage of Lanzhou lily roots, improved the level of the membrane lipid peroxidation, reduced the content of antioxidant defense enzyme activity and the nonenzymatic antioxidant, and eventually inhibited the growth of the Lanzhou lily. We found that continuous cropping of Lanzhou lily resulted in an increase in fungal pathogens, such as Fusarium oxysporum in the soil, and reduced the size of plant-beneficial bacteria populations. The results in this study indicate that continuous cropping would damage the regular growth of Lanzhou lily.

Albino tea plants are mutants that grow albino young leaves owing to lack of chlorophylls under certain environmental conditions. There are two types of albino tea plants grown in production, i.e., light- and temperature-sensitive albino tea cultivars. The former grows albino leaves in yellow color under intensive sunlight conditions and the later grows albino leaves with white mesophyll and greenish vein as the environmental temperature is below 20 °C. Both albino teas attract great attention because of their high levels of amino acids and the “umami” taste. There have been many studies focusing on the temperature-sensitive albino tea plants, whereas little attention has been given to the light-sensitive albino tea cultivars. The characteristics of the albino tea cultivars and the mechanism underlying them were reviewed in the present article based on the published literatures, including chemical compositions, morphological characteristics, and molecular genetic mechanism.