Seed Setting and Its Spatial Characteristics in Tartary Buckwheat(Fagopyrum tataricum)

A low seed-setting rate is the main limiting factor influencing Tartary buckwheat production under high-yield cultivation conditions.To investigate the seed setting and its spatial characteristics,two Tartary buckwheat cultivars(high seed-setting rate cultivar Qianku 3;low seed-setting rate cultivar Liuku 3)were compared by a two-year field trial in 2017 and 2018.The results showed that the Tartary buckwheat underwent simultaneous flowering and fruiting.Flowers,generated from branch,were still blooming during the mature stage of grains on stem,which resulting in a greater number of flowers and grains on the branch than those on the stem at the low part of plant.The seed-setting characteristics significantly differed between two cultivars.The high seed-setting rate of Qianku 3 was 26.6%and 33.2%higher than Liuku 3 in 2017 and 2018,respectively.Meanwhile,Qianku 3 showed a higher filled grain number(157.8%)and seed-setting rate(66.4%)on branch than Liuku 3.A network analysis showed that the whole-plant seed-setting rate was positively correlated with grain number,which was closely correlated with flower number at the same position of plant.The path-coefficient analysis revealed that grains number on branches was the most dominant component(Path coefficient(P)=2.19)of the seed-setting rate,followed by grains number on stem(P=0.60).The grains number on branches showed the greatest positive direct effect with significant correlation(r=0.76 and P<0.01)on the seed-setting rate.Overall,the present study indicated that the grain number of branches may play a vital role in improving the seed-setting rate in Tartary buckwheat.

Growth,ROS Markers,Antioxidant Enzymes,Osmotic Regulators and Metabolic Changes in Tartary Buckwheat Subjected to Short Drought

Tartary buckwheat(Fagopyrum tataricum)is an important pseudocereal feed crop with medicinal and nutritional value.Drought is one of the main causes of reduced growth and yield in these plants.We investigated the growth,physiological,and metabolic responses of the widely promoted Tartary buckwheat variety Chuan Qiao No.1 to polyethylene glycol(PEG)-mediated drought stress.Drought significantly decreased shoot length,shoot biomass and relative water content.Root length,malondialdehyde content,electrolyte leakage,activities of superoxide dismutase,peroxidase,catalase and amylase,and contents of soluble sugar,soluble protein and proline were increased by PEG-mediated drought.Untargeted metabolomics analysis identified 32 core metabolites in seedlings subjected to PEG-mediated drought,16 of which increased—including quercetin,isovitexin,cyanidin 3-O-beta-D-glucoside,L-arginine,and glycerophosphocholine,while the other 16 decreased—including 3-methoxytyramine,2,6-diaminopimelic acid,citric acid,UDP-alpha-D-glucose,adenosine,keto-D-fructose.The 32 core metabolites were enriched in 29 metabolic pathways,including lysine biosynthesis,citrate(TCA)cycle,anthocyanin biosynthesis,and aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis.Among them,taurine and hypotaurine metabolism,flavor and flavor biosynthesis,indole alkaline biosynthesis,and alanine,aspartate and glutamate metabolism were the four main metabolic pathways affected by drought.Our findings provide new insights into the physiological and metabolic response mechanisms of Tartary buckwheat to drought stress.

Polysaccharide Elicitor from the Endophyte Bionectria sp.Fat6 Improves Growth of Tartary Buckwheat under Drought Stress

Drought can limit the growth and reduce the yield of crops,but the safe and effective bio-approach to improve the drought resistance of crops is very little.We conducted an experiment in which we monitored the effects of polysaccharide from the endophyte Bionectria sp.Fat6 on the growth of Tartary buckwheat(Fagopyrum tataricum(L.)Gaertn)seedlings under control and drought-stressed conditions by determining gas exchange,photosynthesis parameters,photosynthetic pigment contents,and metabolite accumulation.Results indicated that the polysaccharide from endophyte stimulated plant growth and increased the aboveground biomass,root mass,and root/shoot ratio of Tartary buckwheat.Application of the polysaccharide to drought-stressed plants resulted in a significant increase in the net photosynthetic rate,stomatal conductance,and transpiration rate of Tartary buckwheat and decreased the intercellular CO_(2) concentration.The contents of chlorophyll a,chlorophyll b,chlorophyll a+b,and carotenoids in leaves were higher in polysaccharide-treated seedlings than that in control.Polysaccharide notably increased the soluble protein and proline content and decreased the malondialdehyde content in Tartary buckwheat leaves.The endophytic polysaccharide may protect Tartary buckwheat against drought by improving leaf gas exchange and photosynthetic capacity,and altering concentrations of protective metabolites.Together,these changes may compensate for the negative impacts of drought stress on the growth of Tartary buckwheat.Thus,the polysaccharide from the endophyte Bionectria sp.Fat6 may be an effective biotic elicitor and a promising bio-approach to improve Tartary buckwheat production worldwide.

Discussion on Construction and Mechanism of Practice Bases for Professional Degree Postgraduates Based on the Integration of Production and Education in Local Universities

Under the background of emerging agricultural education,practice bases are an important place to train profession talented person that match social needs,so it is very important to build stable and long-term practice bases.At present,the main problems in the construction of practice bases for postgraduates in local colleges and universities are mainly focusing on construction and neglecting management,imperfect cooperation mechanism and lack of teaching management effectively.It is of great significance to build a long-term management mechanism to ensure the education quality of practice bases.Therefore,constructing the mode of"double integration and double promotion of production and education"with practice bases as the carrier and realizing the organic combination of industrial needs and postgraduate projects is an important idea for local colleges and universities to train professional degree postgraduates to"know agriculture,love agriculture,strengthen agriculture and promote agriculture",and it also provides a reference for the mechanism construction of postgraduate bases.