Hasil untuk "Plant culture"

Sydney Houston, Jun-Jun Liu, Mike Cruickshank et al.

Western redcedar (WRC; Thuja plicata) root- and butt-rot diseases are caused by a set of wood-decay fungal pathogens, which have posed a significant threat to forest health and resulted in substantial economic losses of WRC production. Traditional approaches for disease detection are labor-intensive and more suitable on mature trees at late infection stages. This study developed and validated internal transcribed spacer region next-generation sequencing (ITS-NGS) and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays for detecting decay-disease infections in WRC seedlings with high sensitivity and specificity. The efficiencies of ITS-PCR amplification were in silico predicted and validated through ITS-NGS using a pure fungal DNA mixture. For diagnosis of decay pathogens in WRC seedlings, fine root and root collar samples were collected from greenhouse inoculation trials. ITS-NGS identified positive infection rates of 100% for Armillaria ostoyae, Heterobasidion occidentale, and Poriella subacida in diseased seedlings, but the diagnostic efficiency for Coniferiporia weirii was affected by the types of sampled tissues. Species-specific qPCR assays were developed for C. weirii and revealed positive infection rates up to 100% in inoculated seedlings. Relative fungal abundances measured by ITS-NGS and qPCR were highly comparable, with significant correlation, demonstrating the reliability of both molecular diagnostic approaches. Moreover, qPCR provided higher quantification accuracy for a trace amount of the pathogen in total DNA extracted from host tissues. These results provided evidence for the application of ITS-NGS and qPCR assays as robust and reliable molecular tools for detecting early and latent infections of fungal pathogens in complex tissue samples for enhancing WRC disease management. [Figure: see text] Copyright © 2026 His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Natural Resources Canada. This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY 4.0 International license.

Samara Ghrer, Christophe Godin, Stefanie Wuhrer

Plants frequently contain numerous organs, organized in 3D branching systems defining the plant's architecture. Reconstructing the architecture of plants from unstructured observations is challenging because of self-occlusion and spatial proximity between organs, which are often thin structures. To achieve the challenging task, we propose an approach that allows to infer a parameterized representation of the plant's architecture from a given 3D scan of a plant. In addition to the plant's branching structure, this representation contains parametric information for each plant organ, and can therefore be used directly in a variety of tasks. In this data-driven approach, we train a recursive neural network with virtual plants generated using a procedural model. After training, the network allows to infer a parametric tree-like representation based on an input 3D point cloud. Our method is applicable to any plant that can be represented as binary axial tree. We quantitatively evaluate our approach on Chenopodium Album plants on reconstruction, segmentation and skeletonization, which are important problems in plant phenotyping. In addition to carrying out several tasks at once, our method achieves results on-par with strong baselines for each task. We apply our method, trained exclusively on synthetic data, to 3D scans and show that it generalizes well.

Jiajia Li, Keyi Zhu, Qianwen Zhang et al.

Strawberries are among the most economically significant fruits in the United States, generating over $2 billion in annual farm-gate sales and accounting for approximately 13% of the total fruit production value. Plant phenotyping plays a vital role in selecting superior cultivars by characterizing plant traits such as morphology, canopy structure, and growth dynamics. However, traditional plant phenotyping methods are time-consuming, labor-intensive, and often destructive. Recently, neural rendering techniques, notably Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF) and 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS), have emerged as powerful frameworks for high-fidelity 3D reconstruction. By capturing a sequence of multi-view images or videos around a target plant, these methods enable non-destructive reconstruction of complex plant architectures. Despite their promise, most current applications of 3DGS in agricultural domains reconstruct the entire scene, including background elements, which introduces noise, increases computational costs, and complicates downstream trait analysis. To address this limitation, we propose a novel object-centric 3D reconstruction framework incorporating a preprocessing pipeline that leverages the Segment Anything Model v2 (SAM-2) and alpha channel background masking to achieve clean strawberry plant reconstructions. This approach produces more accurate geometric representations while substantially reducing computational time. With a background-free reconstruction, our algorithm can automatically estimate important plant traits, such as plant height and canopy width, using DBSCAN clustering and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Experimental results show that our method outperforms conventional pipelines in both accuracy and efficiency, offering a scalable and non-destructive solution for strawberry plant phenotyping.

Haofeng Wang, Yilin Guo, Zehao Li et al.

The Yellow River is China's mother river and a cradle of human civilization. The ancient Yellow River culture is, moreover, an indispensable part of human art history. To conserve and inherit the ancient Yellow River culture, we designed RiverEcho, a real-time interactive system that responds to voice queries using a large language model and a cultural knowledge dataset, delivering explanations through a talking-head digital human. Specifically, we built a knowledge database focused on the ancient Yellow River culture, including the collection of historical texts and the processing pipeline. Experimental results demonstrate that leveraging Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) on the proposed dataset enhances the response quality of the Large Language Model(LLM), enabling the system to generate more professional and informative responses. Our work not only diversifies the means of promoting Yellow River culture but also provides users with deeper cultural insights.

Taisei Yamamoto, Ryoma Kumon, Danushka Bollegala et al.

As large language models (LLMs) are increasingly deployed worldwide, ensuring their fair and comprehensive cultural understanding is important. However, LLMs exhibit cultural bias and limited awareness of underrepresented cultures, while the mechanisms underlying their cultural understanding remain underexplored. To fill this gap, we conduct a neuron-level analysis to identify neurons that drive cultural behavior, introducing a gradient-based scoring method with additional filtering for precise refinement. We identify culture-general neurons contributing to cultural understanding regardless of cultures, and culture-specific neurons tied to an individual culture. Culture-general and culture-specific neurons account for less than 1% of all neurons and are concentrated in shallow to middle MLP layers. We validate their role by showing that suppressing them substantially degrades performance on cultural benchmarks (by up to 30%), while performance on general natural language understanding (NLU) benchmarks remains largely unaffected. Moreover, we show that culture-specific neurons support knowledge of not only the target culture, but also related cultures. Finally, we demonstrate that training on NLU benchmarks can diminish models' cultural understanding when we update modules containing many culture-general neurons. These findings provide insights into the internal mechanisms of LLMs and offer practical guidance for model training and engineering. Our code is available at https://github.com/ynklab/CULNIG

Alexander J. Reisinger, Andrea Albertin, Eban Bean et al.

Water quality is a broad term used to describe a range of physical, chemical, and/or biological characteristics of water. Many different factors contribute to water quality. The decision of whether the quality of a given water body is good or bad, whether it is acceptable or unacceptable, varies from place to place and depends on the intended use of that water body. In Florida, water quality criteria have been established for six different types of water bodies, and these criteria vary by the use of each water body type. This publication defines general terminology and approaches used to describe water quality. It is targeted towards individuals who have an interest in water quality issues but may not have training in the specific details of these issues. Ultimately, this publication will allow the reader to have a deeper understanding of specific water quality issues and regulations.

A Makarynska, N Vorona

The article presents the results of a systematic approach to optimizing poultry feed formulations using amaranth—a highprotein, nutritious, and promising crop. In the face of challenges brought about by military actions affecting Ukraine’s agricultural sector, the efficient use of resources and reduction of livestock production costs have become particularly relevant. One possible way to improve the feed base is to incorporate alternative protein components into compound feeds, particularly amaranth press cake, which possesses antimicrobial properties and high digestibility. The aim of the study was to develop balanced starter compound feeds for different types of poultry (broilers, ducks, and laying hens) using amaranth press cake. To achieve this goal, the physicochemical properties of the main ingredients (amaranth, soybean, sunflower, and amaranth press cakes) were determined, optimized feed formulations were developed using specialized software, and laboratory samples of the compound feeds were produced. Their physical properties (moisture content, bulk density, flowability, angle of repose) and chemical composition (protein, fat, fiber, macroelements, and amino acid content) were assessed. The results indicate that amaranth press cake has suitable physicochemical properties for use in compound feed production and contains a significant amount of lysine, arginine, threonine, and other essential amino acids. Compared to soybean and sunflower press cakes, amaranth has a lower protein content but offers advantages in terms of cost, availability, and environmental sustainability of cultivation. The developed formulations comply with feeding standards for the respective poultry groups, ensure balanced nutrition, and can serve as an effective alternative to traditional protein sources. Thus, the use of amaranth press cake as a component of poultry feed not only enhances the economic efficiency of production but also contributes to the greening of livestock farming and the improvement of product quality under conditions of reduced or complete elimination of antibiotics in feeding.

Fei Li, Qinye Zhang, Yuntong Lu et al.

IntroductionCodon usage bias (CUB) can influence host-microbe interactions and stress adaptation. In this study, we aimed to investigate how codon usage bias (CUB) similarity between Arabidopsis thaliana and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens influences their interaction and contributes to the adaptation of A. thaliana to high calcium stress.MethodsThe CUB indices of both species were computed, and genes with high correlations were identified. The transcriptome sequencing data of gene expression in A. thaliana cultured under normal and high calcium conditions, with and without B. amyloliquefaciens treatment was used to analyze the expression of A. thaliana genes with CUB similar to that of B. amyloliquefaciens in relation with the adaptation of A. thaliana to high calcium stress and the interaction between both organisms.ResultsWe identified 19210 A. thaliana genes with CUB similar to B. amyloliquefaciens and 95 B. amyloliquefaciens-responsive and calcium-responsive genes in A. thaliana, which were involved in transport, carbohydrate metabolism, and response to chemical, and cellular homeostasis. Differential expression analysis showed a total of 733 A. thaliana genes with CUB similar to B. amyloliquefaciens to be dysregulated, among which 47 changed when A. thaliana was cultivated in the presence of the B. amyloliquefaciens LZ04 strain, 643 under high calcium condition and 43 with calcium treatment and the presence of the B. amyloliquefaciens LZO4 strain. The gene ontology (GO) biological processes termed among others of response to endogenous stimulus, response to oxygen containing compound, response to organic substance, response to abiotic and biotic stimuli, response to stress, and response to light stimulus, regulation of hormone levels, response to nutrient levels, post-embryonic plant morphogenesis, metabolic process, cell growth.DiscussionThese findings highlight the importance of CUB in the interaction between A. thaliana and B. amyloliquefaciens as well as in the adaptation of A. thaliana to high calcium stress. They also show the underlying regulatory role of B. amyloliquefaciens, which could help develop new tactics for improving A. thaliana growth and yield in karst regions. A more elaborate analysis of the value of CUB in the interaction of these two organisms could assist in engineering host- sensitive micro-organism strains and enhance the microbial-based approaches for the improvement of A. thaliana growth and yield in such areas and for managing abiotic stress in crops.

D. N. Butcher, D. Ingram

Saurav Sagar, Mohammed Javed, David S Doermann

The agricultural sector plays an essential role in the economic growth of a country. Specifically, in an Indian context, it is the critical source of livelihood for millions of people living in rural areas. Plant Disease is one of the significant factors affecting the agricultural sector. Plants get infected with diseases for various reasons, including synthetic fertilizers, archaic practices, environmental conditions, etc., which impact the farm yield and subsequently hinder the economy. To address this issue, researchers have explored many applications based on AI and Machine Learning techniques to detect plant diseases. This research survey provides a comprehensive understanding of common plant leaf diseases, evaluates traditional and deep learning techniques for disease detection, and summarizes available datasets. It also explores Explainable AI (XAI) to enhance the interpretability of deep learning models' decisions for end-users. By consolidating this knowledge, the survey offers valuable insights to researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders in the agricultural sector, fostering the development of efficient and transparent solutions for combating plant diseases and promoting sustainable agricultural practices.

Michael Neumann, Klaus Schmid, Lars Baumann

Agile methods are well-known approaches in software development and used in various settings, which may vary wrt. organizational size, culture, or industrial sector. One important facet for the successful use of agile methods is the strong focus on social aspects. We know, that cultural values influence the behaviour of humans. Thus, an in-depth understanding of the influence of cultural aspects on agile methods is necessary to be able to adapt agile methods to various cultural contexts. In this paper we focus on an enabler to this problem. We want to better understand the influence of cultural factors on agile practices. The core contribution of this paper is MoCA: A model describing the impact of cultural values on agile elements.

Ahmad H. Al-Fraihat, Sati Y. Al-Dalain, Ahmad A. Zatimeh et al.

The current study was carried out during the two consecutive winter seasons of 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 at the Experimental Farm of Ash-Shoubak University College, Jordan, as a pot experiment. This experiment was planned to evaluate the impact of various soil salinity levels (1.17, 3.34, 6.51, and 9.68 ds/m) and amino acid types (control, L-tryptophan acid at 100 ppm, glutamine acid at 200 ppm, and L-tryptophan acid + glutamine acid) as well as their combinations on growth, salt resistance index, and some of the chemical constituents of rosemary plants. The obtained results indicated that plant height and the total herb dry weight of rosemary, the salt resistance index (SRI), and the total chlorophyll in leaves were discernably reduced with increasing soil salinity levels compared with the control. However, salinity enhanced leaf proline content. Each amino acid or its mixture improved plant growth, chlorophyll content, and SRI parameters. The SRI percentage of <i>R. officinalis</i> enhanced to more than 100% under a soil salinity level of 1.17 ds/m, combined with amino acids at any type, when compared with the other combination treatments. Furthermore, GC/MS showed that the identified compounds ranged from 98.39% to 99.18% and the unidentified compounds from 0.82% to 1.61% from the volatile oil of rosemary plants. The major constituents of volatile oil samples were camphor (34.95% to 40.21%), D-verbenone (13.74% to 15.23%), and α-pinene (13.21% to 16.73%).

Wanyun Yang, Huidong Yang, Lili Ling et al.

Boron (B) is an essential trace nutrient element for citrus, but excessive B levels are frequently encountered in citrus production, potentially resulting in citrus toxicity. To better understand the tolerance and physiological responses of citrus rootstocks to excess B levels, Trifoliate orange, Ziyangxiangcheng, Carrizo citrange, and Red tangerine were treated with four B concentrations (0.05, 0.2, 0.8, and 3.2 mmol/L). High B concentrations resulted in leaf yellowing and shedding and eventual plant death. Chlorophyll content and photosynthetic capacity declined in response to high B concentrations, and relative leaf cell conductivity rose significantly. Trifoliate orange was the first to exhibit symptoms of B toxicity, with the highest levels of B-associated injury. As B concentrations rose, the height increment ratio declined, as did belowground and aboveground dry fresh weight. Soluble protein content initially rose and then fell, while proline content, SOD activity, and POD activity rose with B concentrations. B levels in these rootstocks also increased significantly, with the greatest increases in the leaves. Principal component analysis and subordinate function results revealed that the relative rank order for the B tolerance of citrus rootstocks was: Red tangerine > Carrizo citrange > Ziyangxiangcheng > Trifoliate orange.

Toan Nguyen-Sy, Hanh Hong Do, Yen Anh Thi Tran et al.

The objective of the current study was to examine the impacts of rice straw and garbage enzyme generated from local vegetable and fruit waste on plant growth and carbohydrate or ammonium extraction from paddy soil after one month of growth in a pot experiment. Samples of topsoil were obtained from a depth of 0-15 cm, and the following treatments were applied: control (10 g soil), RS (adding 30 g soil + 0.6 g rice straw), GE (30 g soil + garbage enzyme), and combination (adding 30 g soil+ rice straw and garbage enzyme) maintained at room temperature. The study findings indicated that there were no observable impacts of rice straw and garbage enzyme application on biomass. However, RS addition seems to reduce root length but enhance shoot length. Soil carbohydrates that were extracted ranged from 61 to 207 mg kg−1 soil, and treatments with rice straw addition exhibited significantly higher levels compared to those without it (p < 0.05). The ammonium content was low. It could be concluded that at the initial seedling stage, rice straw has more effects on soil properties and plant growth than garbage enzyme. To fully assess the effects of rice straw and garbage enzyme on soil properties and plant growth, it is recommended that further research be conducted over longer periods

Ayesha Siddiqua, Muhammad Ashad Kabir, Tanzina Ferdous et al.

In this technologically advanced era, with the proliferation of artificial intelligence, many mobile apps are available for plant disease detection, diagnosis, and treatment, each with a variety of features. These apps need to be categorized and reviewed following a proper framework that ensures their quality. This study aims to present an approach to evaluating plant disease detection mobile apps, this includes providing ratings of distinct features of the apps and insights into the exploitation of artificial intelligence used in plant disease detection. For this purpose, plant disease detection apps were searched in three prominent app stores using a set of keywords. A total of 606 apps were found and from them 17 relevant apps were identified based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The selected apps were reviewed by three raters using our devised app rating scale. User comments from the app stores are collected and analyzed to understand their expectations and views. Following the rating procedure, most apps earned acceptable ratings in software quality characteristics such as aesthetics, usability, and performance, but gained poor ratings in AI-based advanced functionality, which is the key aspect of this study. However, most of the apps cannot be used as a complete solution to plant disease detection, diagnosis, and treatment. Only one app, Plantix - your crop doctor, could successfully identify plants from images, detect diseases, maintain a rich plant database, and suggest potential treatments for the disease presented. It also provides a community where plant lovers can communicate with each other to gain additional benefits. In general, all existing apps need to improve functionalities, user experience, and software quality. Therefore, a set of design considerations has been proposed for future app improvements.

Li-Na Shi, Li-Na Shi, Lan-Xiang Lu et al.

Soil salinity is one of the main factors limiting agricultural development worldwide and has an adverse effect on plant growth and yield. To date, plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are considered to be one of the most promising eco-friendly strategies for improving saline soils. The bacterium Bacillus megaterium ZS-3 is an excellent PGPR strain that induces growth promotion as well as biotic stress resistance and tolerance to abiotic stress in a broad range of host plants. In this study, the potential mechanisms of protection against salinity stress by B. megaterium ZS-3 in Arabidopsis thaliana were explored. Regulation by ZS-3 improved growth in A. thaliana under severe saline conditions. The results showed that ZS-3 treatment significantly increased the biomass, chlorophyll content and carotenoid content of A. thaliana. Compared to the control, the leaf area and total fresh weight of plants inoculated with ZS-3 increased by 245% and 271%, respectively; the chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and carotenoid contents increased by 335%, 146%, and 372%, respectively, under salt stress. Physiological and biochemical tests showed that ZS-3 regulated the content of osmotic substances in plants under salt stress. Compared to the control, the soluble sugar content of the ZS-3-treated group was significantly increased by 288%, while the proline content was significantly reduced by 41.43%. Quantification of Na+ and K+ contents showed that ZS-3 treatment significantly reduced Na+ accumulation and increased the K+/Na+ ratio in plants. ZS-3 also isolated Na+ in vesicles by upregulating NHX1 and AVP1 expression while limiting Na+ uptake by downregulating HKT1, which protected against Na+ toxicity. Higher levels of peroxidase and catalase activity and reduced glutathione were detected in plants inoculated with ZS-3 compared to those in uninoculated plants. In addition, it was revealed that ZS-3 activates salicylic acid (NPR1 and PR1) and jasmonic acid/ethylene (AOS, LOX2, PDF1.2, and ERF1) signaling pathways to induce systemic tolerance, thereby inducing salt tolerance in plants. In conclusion, the results of this study indicate that ZS-3 has the potential to act as an environmentally friendly salt tolerance inducer that can promote plant growth in salt-stressed environments.

Krasimira Petkova, Emil Molle, Aysel Mustafova

Two provenance tests in &amp;nbsp;North-Eastern Bulgaria have been studied, whose purpose is to test the response of beech provenances from Southern Germany to the drier and warmer climatic conditions in Bulgaria, in order to predict how they would perform in a warming and drying climate. The provenance tests were established in the spring of 2010 in the area of the Varbitza and Kipilovo Forest Services with 2-year-old seedlings in a 2 x 1 m scheme in 3 replications. Four provenances of common beech were studied - 2 German (Silberbach and Ebersdorf) and 2 Bulgarian (Petrohan and Berkovitza). On the 12th year after afforestation, an inventory and measurements of the height and root collar diameter were carried out. The results were processed statistically by applying one and two-factor analysis of variance, as well as Tukey&amp;rsquo;s test for multiple comparisons. A higher survival rate was found in the provenance test in Kipilovo. The Bulgarian provenances Petrohan and Berkovitza were characterized by better growth in height in both provenance tests, and in root collar diameter - provenance Petrohan. Provenance Ebersdorf could be recommended for use in drier and warmer places in Southern Germany.

Jingwei Li, Min He, Xiuhong Xu et al.

Shipping of in vitro micro-cuttings in tubes or jars is a frequently used method as the plants are more likely to quickly reproduce and comply with quarantine regulations in plant germplasm distribution. However, these containers are fragile during transportation. To diminish the risk associated with the long-distance shipping of in vitro plants, a safe and widely applicable packing and conservation technique based on microplate and slow growth was developed in this study. Potato cultivar ZHB and ginger cultivar G-2 were used to optimize the system with microplates (96 wells), vacuum-sealed packaging, and slow-growth techniques. Under regular culture conditions, packing in vacuum-sealed microplates reduced the survival of ZHB and G-2 micro-cuttings to 85.8% and 20.0%, respectively, and regeneration to 61.8% and 0%, respectively. Reducing the temperature to 10 °C maintained the survival of ZHB and G-2 micro-cuttings in the range of 83.3–100% after 60 days. Exposure to darkness decreased the survival of G-2 and inhibited regrowth. Thus, conservation in darkness at 10 °C is suggested. The effects of iron concentration and plant growth retardants were further assessed. The addition of 1/4 MS medium combined with 100 mg/L chlormequat chloride (CCC) resulted in full survival and growth inhibition of plantlets, without malformation identified. Finally, incubation with 1/4 MS medium supplemented with 100 mg/L CCC in vacuum-sealed microplates at 10 °C in the dark resulted in high survival and suppressed germination. Sweet potato HXS was incubated as well to test the broad-spectrum applications of the technique; 100% survival and 6.7% germination was gained. Morphological indices of released cuttings recovered to control levels after two cycles of subculture in MS medium. A 0.1–0.2% genetic variation was detected by SSR and ISSR, suggesting genetic stability of the conserved samples. Finally, micro-cuttings were safely transported to cities located thousands of kilometers away without package and sample damage. Our results enable easy distribution of in vitro plant germplasms.

Sávio da Silva Berilli, Mateus Francisco Pazinato, Carlos Humberto Desiderio Pirovani et al.

Abstract Advances in production systems always aim at finding alternatives to improve crop productivity. One of the recent practices adopted in commercial banana and plantain plantations refers to the application of liquid fertilizers in bunches in order to increase productivity. This research aimed at verifying whether the use of biofertilizers based on pure vinasse or associated with other chemical fertilizers would provide morphophysiological changes in fruits or increase the productivity of ‘Terra Maranhão’ plantain cultivars. In order to carry out this project, a randomized block design with 6 treatments and 3 replicates was set up in a commercial crop and the postharvest production and quality characteristics of ‘Terra Maranhão’ plantain fruits were evaluated. The results showed that the morphophysiological characteristics of freshly harvested fruits that impact productivity such as the fruit weight and bunch weight were affected by treatments, as the postharvest characteristics of ripe fruits were little affected by the application of fertilizers in bunches, except for the SST content. It could be concluded that the crop yield increased significantly by 17% when using mixture of vinasse, potassium chloride and urea; however, this treatment caused significant reduction of 1.3 ºBrix compared to control.

Fazlyn Petersen

Diabetes is a global health problem with a high mortality rate. The research indicates low levels of technology use amongst diabetic patients in low socioeconomic environments and minority groups. We posit that the culture of patients is a potential reason for the low adoption and use of technology. However, research on the proliferation of culture at an individual level is limited. Therefore, this paper assessed the influence of culture on mobile application adoption and use amongst diabetic patients in the Cape Flats, South Africa. This study used key constructs from the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and Hofstede's cultural dimensions. It was analysed using survey data from 439 respondents using purposive sampling. It was found that the dimensions of Hofstede and the Theory of Planned Behaviour can identify how culture influences mobile application adoption of diabetic patients in the geographical Cape Flats area. However, this research indicates a stronger relationship between culture and diabetes self-management activities than culture and the adoption of mobile applications.