Soil moisture is a sensitive factor for crop phenological growth, climate and environment changes, and it plays an important role in the land surface water and atmospheric circulation. In this paper, the soil moisture retrieval algorithms based on active microwave remote sensing, passive microwave remote sensing and Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) technology were firstly sorted, including: 1) active microwave remote sensing-based empirical model, semiempirical model, physical scattering model for bare ground surface, and water cloud model (WCM), Michigan microwave canopy scattering (MIMICS) model for vegetation coverage; 2) passive microwave remote sensing-based Q/H, H_p, Q_p roughness models for bare ground surface and \tau-\omega model for vegetation coverage; 3) spaceborne and ground-based GNSS-R soil moisture retrieval algorithms. Secondly, the research and development of soil moisture retrieval from microwave remote sensing in recent decades were reviewed. It was proposed that the key to improve the accuracy of soil moisture retrieval was to quantify accurately the spatial and temporal variability of soil moisture retrieval factors such as vegetation and surface roughness, especially the uncertainty of vegetation growth process and the resulting electromagnetic wave radiation transmission mechanism. Finally, the application outlook of soil moisture in agricultural production and land-surface moisture circulation was prospected, and it was pointed out that the response and feedback mechanism of soil moisture on global scale to climate change would be a research hotspot in the future.

The application of ovum pick-up (OPU) and in vitro embryo production (IVP) can significantly improve the reproductive efficiency of cows, which is of great significance for the propagation of superior breeds of dairy cows and beef cattle. In recent years, OPU/IVP technology has spread rapidly around the world and gradually replaced in vivo derived (IVD) technology to be the most wildly used method of embryo transfer. However, the technical system is still in its infancy in China due to the low efficiency and high technical difficulty in operation, which is the main restriction factor for genetic improvement of dairy cows and beef cattle in China. In this paper, we reviewed the current situation of OPU/IVP, the technical progress as well as the prospect of the application of OPU/IVP in the propagation of superior breeds of dairy cows and beef cattle, aiming to provide references for the complement of China’s OPU/IVP technical system and the improvement of efficiency of bovine reproduction, thereby promoting the development of bovine breeding in China.

The vegetative insecticidal protein Vip3 produced by Bacillus thuringiensis is a tetramer composed of five domains. Its N-terminal is mainly related to the stability of the structure, while the C-terminal is a potential specific receptor binding region. The Vip3 family of vegetative insecticidal proteins contains 14 holotypes and more than 110 proteins. The proposed mode of action of Vip3 shares some similarities with that of the crystal proteins (Cry proteins), in that both undergo activation (proteolytic processing) in the insect midgut, bind to receptors on the surface of the midgut cells, make pores that lead to cell lysis, and eventually death of the insect. In consideration of different active mechanisms to insects as well as their insecticidal spectrum complementarity, the stack strategy of two kinds of genes (vip3 and cry) has been widely used in development of new insect-resistant transgenic crops worldwide; and Vip3Aa transgenic crops such as maize and cotton have been commercially planted in the United States, Brazil and other countries, in order to delay and manage the Cry protein resistance from some target pests such as Spodoptera frugiperda and others. It has been reported that a high resistance to Vip3 toxins by some insects could be rapidly evolved under the toxin selective press in the laboratory, and also field monitoring to several species has confirmed resistance occurrence of Vip3 in natural environments. Therefore, monitoring and management of target pest resistance are much necessary for industrialization of Vip3 insect-resistant transgenic crops.

In order to explore whether heat shock transcription factor (HSF) known to be involved in plant adaptation to extreme heat stress is also involved in plant thermomorphogenesis at warm temperatures, the result of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, physiological and biochemical, genetic experiments, and effector-reporter assay demonstrated that the heat shock transcription factor HSFB2b was induced by the warm temperature and played an important role in the process of plant thermomorphogenesis. Under the warm temperature (29 ℃), the Arabidopsis mutant hsfb2b exhibited a longer hypocotyl than the wild type, suggesting that HSFB2b functioned as a negative regulator in thermomorphogenesis. Subcellular localization results showed that the HSFB2b protein was localized in the nucleus. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis showed that the heat shock proteins (HSPs) gene, the heat shock transcription factor HSFA2, and the jasmonic acid degradation gene ST2A were up-regulated in the wild type under the warm temperature relative to the normal temperature (22 ℃), but these genes were more up-regulated by the warm temperature in the hsfb2b mutant than that in the wild type. Furthermore, effector-reporter assay demonstrated that HSFB2b could inhibit ST2A expression by binding to the heat shock element (HSE). In conclusion, the heat shock transcription factor HSFB2b induced by the warm temperature played a negative regulatory role in the hypocotyl elongation and negatively regulated the expression of gene ST2A by recognizing the HSE in molecular mechanism, thusnegatively regulated the plant thermomorphogenesis.

In this study, two acylated flavonol tetraglycosides {quercetin-3-O-[(E)-p-coumaroyl-(1→2)][α-L-arabinopyranosyl-(1→3)]-[β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→6)]-β-D-glucopyranoside，F₁；kaempferol-3-O-[(E)-p-coumaroyl-(1→2)]-[α-L-arabinopyranosyl-(1→3)]-[β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→6)]-β-D-glucopyranoside，F₂} were isolated and purified from Camellia sinensis, and the distribution characteristics of F₁ and F₂ in different tissues, leaf positions, and tea cultivars were systematically studied through the independent established high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. The effect of light on the contents of F₁ and F₂, and the dynamic changes in the processing stages of oolong tea were also studied. The results showed that F₁ was mainly distributed in tea leaves and stems, and F₂ was only present in leaves; neither F₁ nor F₂ was detected in the roots. With the increase of leaf maturity, the contents of F₁ and F₂ firstly increased and then decreased. Among the 42 tea cultivars, the contents of F₁ and F₂ ranged from 0-2.31 mg/g and 0-1.56 mg/g, respectively. F₁ had the highest content in ‘Huangjinju’ and was not detected in ‘Benshan’ and ‘Lüyafoshou’ tea cultivars. F₂ had the highest content in ‘Huangjinju’ and was not detected in ‘Lüyafoshou’, ‘Jinmian Qilan’, ‘Zhonghuang No. 2’ and ‘Benshan’. Shading experiments were carried out on three tea cultivars, and it was found that the content of F₁ in the shading treatment group was significantly reduced, indicating that the light plays a significant role in the formation of F₁. The fresh leaves of ‘Fujian Shuixian’ were selected for the processing of oolong tea. The contents of F₁ and F₂ showed downward trends during the whole processing stages, and the largest decline was observed in the process of fixation, while the smallest was in the process of rotation, which shows that different processing operations have different degrees of influences on the contents of two substances.

Sensor technology is the foundation of agricultural informatization, and it is one of the core elements and key support to realize agricultural modernization. First, this paper summarizes the current technical status and application of agricultural sensor technology in three areas of intelligent agricultural machinery equipment, agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based remote sensing, and agricultural internet of things, and conducts an in-depth analysis on the technical demands and market development of agricultural sensor in China. Second, the industrialization, marketization, and future development trends of agricultural sensors were summarized and pointed out through the technical industry analysis. Finally, 16 key technologies in the field of agricultural sensor industry were condensed, and on this basis, a Delphi-based expert questionnaire survey was carried out. The results showed that universality was the most important attribute of agricultural sensors; basic theory and research and development input were the two biggest constraints to the development of agricultural sensor technology. It was proposed that the agricultural sensor technology would develop towards low cost, high stability, high intelligence, portability, and operability in the future. This paper provides a reference for the technical and industrial development of agricultural sensors in China.

The Triticeae provides the important cereal crops, such as wheat, barley, and rye, which produces approximately 9×10⁸ t annually, accounting for about 30% of the total global cereal production. However, Triticeae genomes are relatively difficult to be de novo sequenced and assembled due to their large genome size, a high proportion of repeat sequences, and different ploidy levels. With the rapid development of third-generation long read sequencing technologies and assembly algorithms designed for complex genomes, and also the falling cost of genome sequencing in recent years, more and more Triticeae species have been successfully sequenced. In this study, we reviewed the advances on the whole genome sequencing of 17 Triticeae species (including subspecies), including Triticum, Hordeum, Secale, Elytrigia, and Aegilops, in aspects of sequencing technology, assembly strategy and quality, and the major research contents associated with genomes and gene functions. This review may provide the references for sequencing strategies and genomic studies of other more complex plant genomes.

The ability of the rhizosphere micro-ecosystem to resist pathogenic microorganisms declined, induced by different dose-effect relations in the “plant-soil-microbe” system, culminating in yield loss and quality deterioration. This paper reviewed the causes of continuous cropping obstacles of medicinal plants and the strategies to mitigate these obstacles from the perspective of rhizosphere microecology. Then we summarized the existing problems in the field and recommended directions for future research. Continuous cropping leads to changes in the complicated interactions between the medicinal plant’s roots and their exudates, as well as the microbial population and community structure, which in turn leads to the imbalance of the original rhizosphere micro-ecosystem and benefits soil-borne diseases. Therefore, based on the interactions between medicinal plants and the rhizosphere environment, this paper proposed various mitigation strategies, including plant breeding, soil microbial community assembly and so on. These strategies could serve to maintain the balance of the soil ecosystem, and consequently plant health, and ultimately improve the yield and quality of medicinal plants. This study recommended that researchers who worked on the continuous cropping obstacles focused on the interactions and mechanisms among plant-soil-microbe which are mediated by the plant-pathogen competition, to provide guidance for the effective management of continuous cropping control and the healthy development of medicinal plants in the future.

With climate change, global temperatures are expected to rise, posing a pervasive and growing threat to biodiversity and ecosystem stability. As ectotherms, insects are completely dependent on environmental temperature to grow, develop, and regulate various physiological functions. Therefore, global warming is likely to have direct or indirect effects on insect individuals, populations, and their associated communities and food webs. However, many studies have suggested that the species at higher trophic levels seem to be more sensitive to changes in environmental factors, meaning that predators and parasitoids may face more severe challenges than their prey or hosts. In this paper, we analyzed the effects of temperature changes on the development, reproduction, predation and parasitism of insect natural enemies based on existing studies, compared the responses of the same species (different natural enemy species) and different trophic level species (natural enemy and its host or prey) to temperature increase, and summarized the synchronicity changes between natural enemies and pests caused by global warming. Understanding the response of insect predators and parasitoids to temperature rise is of great significance for biological control and ecological governance of agricultural pests in a warming climate.

Rice planthoppers, mainly including Nilaparvata lugens, Sogatella furcifera, and Laodelphax striatellus, are one of the most important insect pests of rice in China. In this review, we summarized the latest research progress on the molecular basis of important genetic characteristics (wing-morph differentiation, fecundity, insecticide resistance) of rice planthoppers, interactions among rice, rice planthoppers, natural enemies of rice planthoppers and other organisms, mechanisms underlying rice planthopper outbreak, and management of rice planthoppers. Finally, we suggest that future studies should further dissect the molecular basis of biology and ecology related to rice planthopper outbreak, and find the coordination mechanisms between intensified agriculture and rice ecosystem resistance at the micro level, so as to maintain or improve the rice ecosystem resistance, and achieve sustainable management of rice planthoppers in the context of intensified agriculture.

Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) is a devastating invasive pest originating from South America. It has spread rapidly to Europe, Africa, and Asia, and has invaded China in recent years, and now is a highly potential threat to the solanaceous crop industry in China. Due to its characteristics of leaf mining, fruit burrowing, short life history, high reproductivity, etc., its control effect relying on chemical pesticides is limited. Many theoretical studies and application explorations have been carried out for developing the biological control strategies for Tuta absoluta in the world, and a lot of biological control agents with high potential for usage have been screened. In this review, we summarized the research progress on the global biological control of Tuta absoluta, focusing on the parasitic and predatory natural enemy insects, the bio-control microbes, and the repellent plants and their chemical extracts. In the green control of Tuta absoluta in China, in-depth studies could be carried out on the introduction of biocontrol species suitable for the agricultural niche in China, the digging of local biocontrol resources, and the industrialization of these biocontrol organisms; meanwhile, the integrative utilization of these organisms could be promoted via the combined use of them and the ecological regulation of the agricultural landscape, so as to ensure the high-quality development of Chinese solanaceous crop industry.

RNA interference (RNAi) is a highly conserved gene-silencing phenomenon, induced by 20-30 nucleotide (nt) small molecules of non-coding RNA in vivo. Three non-coding RNAs, such as small interfering RNA (siRNA), microRNA (miRNA) and PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA), play important roles in RNAi of eukaryotes including insects. The applications of RNAi in pest control are mainly on the research of gene function, transgenic insect-resistant plants and novel nucleic acid pesticides. Before the applications, the safety risks in terms of non-target effects, target pest resistance and environmental persistence of interfering RNAs need to be strictly evaluated. In this paper, the mechanism of RNAi technology, application and safety of RNAi in agro-forestry pest control are described, which provide some theoretical basis for RNAi technology in pest control.

To improve the degradation efficiency of cellulose distributed in livestock, poultry wastes and garden wastes, a high-efficiency cellulose-degrading fungus which was from bamboo shavings, dead branches, and rotted leaves, and sheep dung was screened with Congo red staining, filter paper disintegration test and the endoglucanase [carboxyl methyl cellulose (CMC)] activity was tested. The physiological and molecular identification of the strain was carried out. The results showed that a high-efficiency cellulose-degrading fungus was screened in this study, which was identified as Trichoderma longibrachiatum by morphological observation and fungus species identification, and named as T. longibrachiatum ZJ-10. Single factor test showed that the conditions for achieving the maximum enzyme production activity showed as follows: 3% inoculation, initial pH 6.5, rotation speed of 160 r/min, 40 ℃, and cultured for 5 d. According to Plackett-Burman experimental design, Box-Benhnken steepest climbing path method and response surface methodology, the optimal enzyme production medium formula was 5 g/L NaCl, 7 g/L peptone, and 12 g/L CMC-Na. Under the optimal conditions, the CMC enzyme activity of strain ZJ-10 could reach 80.32 U/mL, which was 26.45% higher than that of the former optimization. In conclusion, strain of T. longibrachiatum ZJ-10 with strong CMC enzyme activity was screened in this study, which provides a good strain resource for the utilization of livestock, poultry and garden waste resources.

Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) is widely distributed in the world. It mainly infects cucurbitaceous crops, causing serious damage and incalculable economic loss to the commercial planting and production of cucurbitaceous crops. This paper analyzed the main factors affecting the rapid spread and epidemic of CGMMV, summarized the prevention and control strategies of CGMMV in epidemic areas focusing on seed disinfection and non-epidemic areas focusing on prevention of transmission, introduced the main detection methods of CGMMV, such as serology and molecular biology, compared the advantages and disadvantages of various existing control methods, and looked forward to the application prospect of new antiviral agents and genetic engineering technologies in the control of CGMMV.

Chinese bayberry is a characteristic and native fruit of China, which is popular for its unique flavor and juicy taste. However, Chinese bayberry fruit has a short harvesting period and poor storability, thus is highly depending on the postharvest preservation and transportation technologies. There are numerous studies on the postharvest preservation and transportation of Chinese bayberry fruit. Based on these, this paper reviewed the research progress on postharvest quality change, disease and pest occurrence, storage and logistics technologies of Chinese bayberry fruit. After combing and looking forward to some researching key points, it is concluded that the reasons for the poor harvesting of Chinese bayberry fruit are diverse and complex, and the importance of forming a comprehensive technical system from many aspects is put forward. This paper provides some theoretical references for the research and application of postharvest preservation technologies of Chinese bayberry fruit.

The growth and development of plants require 14 essential mineral nutrient elements, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, iron, etc. Nevertheless, the bioavailability of these elements varies greatly in the different types of soils. In order to adapt to nutrient-deficient environment, plants must sense the changes of external and internal mineral nutrient concentrations, and generate physiological and morphological responses via a series of signal transduction events, to facilitate the nutrient uptake and utilization. Ethylene is an essential gaseous plant hormone, and plays pivotal roles in many aspects of the plant life cycle. In recent years, accumulating studies have shown that ethylene also plays an important part in regulating plant responses to various nutrient deficiency stresses. Here, we comprehensively summarized the molecular mechanisms of ethylene regulating different nutritional stress responses directly or synergistically with other plant hormones/chemical signaling molecules, and gave an outlook for the future research.

In order to screen the optimal combination of functional fertilizers for increasing yield and improving quality in the production of substrate-grown cherry tomatoes, cherry tomato ‘Fragrant Feminine 9’ was used as the material, and seven different combinations of functional fertilizers were set up, including blank control (CK), amino acid (T₁), potassium xanthate (T₂), alginate (T₃), amino acid+potassium xanthate (T₄), amino acid+alginate (T₅), and potassium xanthate+alginate (T₆). The functional fertilizers and nutrient solution were applied by drip irrigation to study the effects of different functional fertilizers on quality, yield and substrate environment of substrate-grown cherry tomatoes. The results showed that compared with CK, the addition of alginate (T₃) obviously increased the net photosynthetic rate, intercellular CO₂ concentration and yield of cherry tomatoes by 39.97%, 6.61% and 22.32%, respectively. The combination of T₄ and T₅ functional fertilizers not only significantly increased microbial quantities, and the activities of urease, sucrase, alkaline phosphatase and catalase in the substrate, but also significantly improved the quality and yield of cherry tomatoes, with a yield increase by 20.16% and 12.84%, respectively. It was found that the T₅ treatment performed the best by comprehensive evaluation. In conclusion, the substrate environment can be improved, and the fruit quality and yield can be increased by adding 50 mg/L amino acids and 5 mg/L alginate in the nutrient solution to cultivate cherry tomatoes using drip irrigation.

In vertebrates, the development of the central nervous system depends on the correct patterning of the neural tube along its anterior-posterior and dorsal-ventral axes in the early embryo as well as the underlying regulation of the cell differentiation. During the neural tube formation, the arrangement of the precursor cells depends on the regulation of different morphogen concentration gradients. The most important morphogens during the neural tube development are the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) secreted from the roof plate and the Sonic hedgehog (Shh) secreted from the floor plate, which would form an antiparallel concentration gradient in the neural tube. These morphogen concentration gradients could further provide the positional information to the precursor cells and gradually determine their differentiation fate. In this paper, we summarized the process of neural tube development in different model organisms, focusing on the important role of two morphogens of BMP and Shh in the formation of dorsal-ventral pattern of the neural tube. Besides, a better understanding of the developmental mechanism of the nervous system in vivo would also provide some insights on the construction of neural tube organoids in vitro. Therefore, we also pointed out the latest progress of neural tube organoids and discussed the future perspective of this field.

A method for simultaneous extraction, purification, and determination of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in soil, such as polychlorinated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, was developed in this study. The optimum conditions for extraction and purification were as follows: Soil samples were extracted ultrasonically three times with acetone/n-hexane (1∶?1, by volume), followed by purification with Florisil solid-phase extraction column, and eluted by 12 mL of n-hexane/dichloromethane (9∶1, by volume) mixture solution. The eluant was concentrated by gentle N₂ streams and finally quantified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with PCB209 as the internal standard. Except for 2, 2′, 3, 3′, 4, 4′, 5, 5′, 6, 6′-decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE209), the other 41 POPs were efficiently separated within 23.83 min. Excellent linearity was observed in the concentration range of 20-1 000 μg/L for all POPs with the coefficients of determination (R²) of 0.997 5-0.999 9. The detection limits of 42 POPs were 0.04-1.19 ng/g, and the spiked recoveries ranged from 71.04% to 120.89% with relative standard deviations of 0.88%-6.29%, and intra- and inter-day reproducibility variations were less than 11%. In conclusion, this method greatly reduces time and workload and is characterized by simple operation, good accuracy, and high sensitivity. It can be widely applied to the determination and analysis of POPs in soil, such as e-waste disposal site soil, which will facilitate further studies on the fate and risk assessment of POPs.

In recent years, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein (CRISPR/Cas) system-mediated gene editing technology has become an important research tool in modern plant molecular biology and agricultural breeding due to its simplicity, high efficiency, generality and accuracy. Plant virus disease seriously endangers the normal growth and development of plants, and causes devastating damages to crop production worldwide. CRISPR/Cas gene editing technology can effectively target DNA virus and RNA virus sequences, and improve the resistance of host plants to viruses. In addition, gene editing technology can edit plant endogenous genes which are conducive to viral infection or replication to create new antiviral germplasm resources. This study reviewed the CRISPR/Cas gene editing technology and elaborated the research progress and examples of using this system to achieve antiviral infection. The potential application prospects and limitations of virus-induced gene editing system were also discussed. Finally, the advantages and challenges of CRISPR/Cas gene editing technology in plant antiviral research were pointed out, which will be useful for guiding innovation of germplasms for virus resistance.