Effects of Illumination Intensity, 5-aminolevulinic Acid Concentration and Their Interaction on Chlorophyll Fluorescence Parameters and Yield of Summer Maize

[Objective] This study aimed to investigate the influence of illumination intensity, 5-aminolevulinic acid （ALA） concentration and their interaction on chlorophyll fluorescence parameters and yield of summer maize. [Method] Two illumination intensity levels and five ALA concentrations were applied in the experiment using 2x5 completely balanced program. The two illumination intensity levels were natural light （So） and 60% shade （SO, and five ALA concentrations were 0, 1, 10, 25 and 50 mg/L. [Result] The relative chlorophyll content of leaf （SPAD）, the optimal/maximal quantum yield of PS II （Fv/Fm）, the photochemical quenching coefficient （qP）, electron transport rate （ETR）, grain number per cob and grain weight per cob in $1 treatment were significantly reduced compared with that in So. However, the non- photochemical quenching coefficient （qN） was significantly increased. The responses of these parameters to ALA were different under So and $1 treatments. The SPAD, Fv/Fm, qP, ETR, grain number and grain weight per cob were firstly increased, but then decreased following the raise of ALA concentration, ranging from 0 to 50 mg/L, whereas qN showed opposite trend. The effect of the interaction of illumination in- tensity and ALA concentration on these parameters was significant （P〈0.05）. Under natural light, summer maize could obtain higher SPAD, Fv/Fm, qP and ETR and lower qN combined with low concentration of ALA. However, high concentration of ALA was needed under shading to get the same results. [Conclusion] Soaking seed in suitable concentration of ALA can reduce the yield loss of summer maize caused by short-term shading in seedling stage.

Determining soil conservation strategies:Ecological risk thresholds of arsenic and the influence of soil properties

The establishment of ecological risk thresholds for arsenic(As)plays a pivotal role in developing soil conservation strategies.However,despite many studies regarding the toxicological profile of As,such thresholds varying by diverse soil properties have rarely been established.This study aims to address this gap by compiling and critically examining an extensive dataset of As toxicity data sourced from existing literature.Furthermore,to augment the existing information,experimental studies on As toxicity focusing on barley-root elongation were carried out across various soil types.The As concentrations varied from 12.01 to 437.25 mg/kg for the effective concentrations that inhibited 10%of barley-root growth(EC10).The present study applied a machine-learning approach to investigate the complex associations between the toxicity thresholds of As and diverse soil properties.The results revealed that Mn-/Fe-ox and clay content emerged as the most influential factors in predicting the EC10 contribution.Additionally,by using a species sensitivity distribution model and toxicity data from 21 different species,the hazardous concentration for x%of species(HCx)was calculated for four representative soil scenarios.The HC5 values for acidic,neutral,alkaline,and alkaline calcareous soils were 80,47,40,and 28 mg/kg,respectively.This study establishes an evidence-based methodology for deriving soil-specific guidance concerning As toxicity thresholds.