Modeling of the overwintering distribution of Puccinia striiformis f.sp.tritici based on meteorological data from 2001 to 2012 in China

Wheat stripe rust caused by Puccinia striiformis f.sp.tritici occurs widely in China and seriously affects wheat production.Global warming could profoundly impact the incidence and prevalence of lowtemperature diseases such as stripe rust.Studies on the effects of temperature on the distribution of overwintering stripe rust could help us understand the incidence and prevalence of the disease and could also provide support for monitoring,forecasting and developing control strategies.An exponential model and a spherical model of the ordinary Kriging method in the ArcGIS platform were used to predict the overwintering regions of stripe rust based on the probability that the average temperature of the coldest month from December to February was higher than–6 or–7°C from 2001 to 2012.The results showed that the areas with a probability between 70%and 90%were transition regions for the overwintering of stripe rust.Based on annual mean temperature of the coldest month from December to February for 2001 to 2012,overwintering distribution of stripe rust was likewise evaluated.The boundary for overwintering of stripe rust was consistent with the areas where the probability was predicted to be 70%to 90%for the overwintering distribution of stripe rust,but the boundary was shifted northward toward Beijing in North China.Some areas in Xinjiang,including Akto,Pishan,Hotan and Yutian,were also predicted to be suitable for the overwintering of stripe rust.

A novel approach to estimate and control denitrification performance in activated sludge systems with respirogram technology

Respirogram technology has been widely applied for aerobic process, however, the response of respirogram to anoxic denitrification is still unclear. To reveal such response may help to design a new method for the evaluation of the performance of denitrification. The size distribution of flocs measured at different denitrification moments demonstrated a clear expansion of flocs triggered by denitrification, during which higher specific endogenous and quasi-endogenous respiration rates(SOUReand SOURq) were also observed. Furthermore,SOURqincreases exponentially with the specific denitrification rate(SDNR), suggesting that there should be a maximum SDNR in conventional activated sludge systems. Based on these findings, an index Rq/t, defined as the ratio of quasi-endogenous(OURq) to maximum respiration rate(OURt), is proposed to estimate the denitrification capacity that higher Rq/tindicates higher denitrification potential, which can be readily obtained without complex measurement or analysis, and it offers a novel and promising respirogram-based approach for denitrification estimation and control by taking measures to extend anoxic time to maintain its value at a high level within a certain range.