Assessment on Phosphorus Efficiency Characteristics of Soybean Genotypes in Phosphorus-Deficient Soils

A glasshouse study compared the growth and phosphorus （P） efficiency of 96 genotypes of soybean [Glycine max （L.） Merrill] in a P-deficient soil. The soybean genotypes differed greatly in growth, nodulation and P uptake after growing in the soil for 45 days, with shoot biomass ranging from 0.91 to 1.75 g per plant. The application of P improved biomass production, nodulation and P uptake and decreased root to shoot ratio, root length and surface area and P utilization efficiency. The 96 soybean genotypes were divided into 3 categories in P efficiency using the principal component analysis and cluster analysis, and 4 categories according to F values in combination with growth potentials. The Pefficient genotypes were associated with high biomass production, root to shoot ratio, root length and surface area and P uptake but low shoot to root P concentration ratio under P deficiency. The results indicate that there is a substantial genotypic variation in P efficiency in existing germplasm, and that P efficiency was correlated positively with dry weights of shoots and roots, ratio of root to shoot dry weight, root length and surface area, root P content and total P uptake. The shoot dry weight under P deficiency and relative shoot dry weight （deficient P/adequate P supply） are effective and simple indicators for screening P-efficient genotypes at the seedling stage.

Characteristics analysis of a novel centralized-driving flip-flow screen

During screening operation, blinding or clogging of screen perforations generally occurs to reduce the sieving capacity and efficiency. Recently, the flip-flow screening has been widely recognized as a feasible method to deal with the problem. In this paper, a novel centralized-driving flip-flow screen(CFS) was developed for the separation of fine and moist coal, and the key structures, namely, a centralized-driving mechanism and a quasi-circle beam mounted with the mat were designed for high reliability and stability. By means of a test on an experimental prototype, the effect of some factors, i.e., initial stretch and hardness of the polyurethane panel, respectively, and the rotation speed of the driving motor on the kinematic characteristic of the screen surface was investigated. Results show that without an initial stretch, the sieve mat generates the largest vibratory amplitude while the slacker the sieve mat initially is, the smaller amplitude it will accomplish. And an increase in the rotation speed could cause a rise in the vibratory amplitude. Unlike the two factors, the hardness does not have a definite effect on the kinematic performance, on which a further study is required. Finally, screening processing on a laboratory prototype was conducted to draw the conclusion that the developed CFS also has a high sieving efficiency for the fine and moist coal.

Morphological and physiological traits of large-panicle rice varieties with high filled-grain percentage

financed by the Special Program of Super Rice of Ministry of Agriculture, China （02318802013231）;the National Public Services Sectors （Agricultural） Research Projects, Ministry of Agriculture, China （201303102）;the Great Technology Project of Ningbo, China （2013C11001）

Shoot and root traits in drought tolerant maize(Zea mays L.) hybrids

This study aimed to investigate the differences in shoot and root traits, and water use and water use efficiency（WUE） in drought tolerant（DT） maize（Zea mays L.） hybrids under full and deficit irrigated conditions. A two-year greenhouse study was conducted with four hybrids（one conventional hybrid, 33D53AM, two commercial DT hybrids, P1151 AM, N75H, and an experimental hybrid, Exp HB） grown under two water regimes（I（100） and I（50）, referring to 100 and 50% of evapotranspiration requirements）. Under water stress, the hybids P1151 AM, N75, and Exp HB showed more drought tolerance and had either greater shoot dry weight or less dry weight reduction than the conventional hybrid（33 D53 AM）. However, these three hybrids responded to water stress using different mechanisms. Compared with the conventional hybrid, the two commercial DT hybrids（P1151 AM and N75H） had a smaller leaf area, shoot dry weight, and root system per plant. As a result, these hybrids used less water but had a higher WUE compared with the conventional hybrid. In contrast, the experimental hybrid（ExpHB） produced more shoot biomass by silking stage at both irrigation levels than all other hybrids, but it had relatively lower WUE. The hybrids demonstrated different drought response mechanisms that may require different irrigation management strategies. More investigation and validation are needed under field conditions and in different soil types.

Experimental Study on Load Characteristics in a Floating Type Pendulum Wave Energy Converter

A floating type pendulum wave energy converter(FPWEC) with a rotary vane pump as the power take-off system was proposed by Watabe et al.in 1998.They showed that this device had high energy conversion efficiency.In the previous research,the authors conducted 2D wave tank tests in regular waves to evaluate the generating efficiency of FPWEC with a power take-off system composed of pulleys,belts and a generator.As a result,the influence of the electrical load on the generating efficiency was shown.Continuously,the load characteristics of FPWEC are pursued experimentally by using the servo motors to change the damping coefficient in this paper.In a later part of this paper,the motions of the model with the servo motors are compared with that of the case with the same power take-off system as the previous research.From the above experiment,it may be concluded that the maximum primary conversion efficiency is achieved as high as 98%at the optimal load.