Effects of Antimony Stress on Root Growth,Antimony Accumulation and Physiological Characteristics of Ramie(Boehmeria nivea(L.) Gaudich.)

[Objectives]This study was conducted to investigate the toxicity of heavy metal antimony(Sb) to ramie(Boehmeria nivea(L.) Gaudich.) and the tolerance response in ramie. [Methods] A pot experiment was conducted to study the effects of Sb stress on root growth and Sb accumulation and transport of the root system of cultivated ramie Zhongzhu No.1, as well as on the physiological characteristics of ramie leaves. [Results] The plant height and root dry weight and volume of Zhongzhu No.1 showed an effect of "promoting at low concentrations and inhibiting at high concentrations" with the increase of Sb concentration, and decreased significantly at the concentration of 4 000 mg/kg, but no obvious toxic growth symptoms were observed. The content of Sb in roots(289.7-508.6 mg/kg) and the root-shoot transfer factor(0.09-0.57) of Zhongzhu No.1 increased with the increase of soil Sb concentration, but the change of Sb bioconcentration factor in roots was opposite, indicating that high concentrations of Sb in soil could promote the absorption of Sb in roots and the transport of Sb to the aboveground part, but the Sb enrichment capacity of roots was relatively reduced with the increase of soil Sb. Sb stress had a certain impact on the physiological characteristics of ramie leaves. With the increase of Sb treatment concentration, MDA, POD and SOD showed a change trend of "first increasing and then decreasing", while CAT gradually increased, indicating that Sb stress caused changes in the physiological characteristics of ramie leaves, thereby affecting plant growth and development. [Conclusions] This study provides a theoretical basis for ecological restoration of ramie in mining areas.

Photosynthetic and water-related physiological characteristics of Periploca sepium in response to changing soil water conditions in a shell sand habitat

This study was performed to observe the effects of water on photosynthesis and water-related physiology in dominant shrubs in shell sand habitats.Four-year-old Periploca sepium seedlings were used as model species.A gradient of 12 water levels was established by artificially supplying the shell sand with water up to saturation and then allowing natural evapotranspiration to occur.The photo synthetic,chlorophyll fluorescence and stem sap flow parameters of P.sepium were measured under a range of water conditions.The different soil water conditions were classified according to the responses of these parameters.(1)With the increase in the relative water content(RWC)of the shell sand,the parameters of leaf photosynthesis,chlorophyll fluorescence and water-related physiology in P.sepium showed significant critical responses.The net photo synthetic rate(Pn),transpiration rate(Tr),instantaneous water use efficiency(WUE),potential water use efficiency(WUEi),maximum photochemical efficiency(Fv/Fm),actual photochemical efficiency(ΦPSII)and daily accumulation of stem sap flow all increased first and then decreased with increasing RWC,but the corresponding water conditions associated with their maximum values were not the same.An RWC of 69.40%was determined to be the optimal water condition for photosynthesis and water-related physiological activity in P.sepium.At an RWC of 36.61%,the mechanism of photosynthetic inhibition in P.sepium changed from stomatal limitation to nonstomatal limitation;this was also the minimum water requirement for maintaining normal photo synthetic processes.An RWC of 50.27%resulted in the highest WUE in P.sepium,indicating that moderate drought stress increased WUE.(2)Based on the quantitative relationship between the photo synthetic parameters of P.sepium and the shell sand water gradient,the soil water availability was classified into 6 water grades.The RWC range for maintaining strong photosynthesis and high WUE in P.sepium was 63.22-69.98%.(3)Gas exchange in P.sepium was inhibited under drought and waterlogging stresses.Under these conditions,the photosynthetic electron transport chain was blocked,and the dissipation of light energy as heat increased,which ultimately led to a decline in photo synthetic productivity;moreover,transpiration and dissipation were aggravated,and water transmission and utilization processes in P.sepium were hindered.A significant negative feedback regulation mechanism in the photosynthetic and water-related physiological processes of P.sepium was observed;this mechanism allowed P.sepium growing in shell sand to be highly adaptable to water stress.

Optimised CNN Architectures for Handwritten Arabic Character Recognition

Handwritten character recognition is considered challenging compared with machine-printed characters due to the different human writing styles.Arabic is morphologically rich,and its characters have a high similarity.The Arabic language includes 28 characters.Each character has up to four shapes according to its location in the word(at the beginning,middle,end,and isolated).This paper proposed 12 CNN architectures for recognizing handwritten Arabic characters.The proposed architectures were derived from the popular CNN architectures,such as VGG,ResNet,and Inception,to make them applicable to recognizing character-size images.The experimental results on three well-known datasets showed that the proposed architectures significantly enhanced the recognition rate compared to the baseline models.The experiments showed that data augmentation improved the models’accuracies on all tested datasets.The proposed model outperformed most of the existing approaches.The best achieved results were 93.05%,98.30%,and 96.88%on the HIJJA,AHCD,and AIA9K datasets.

Effect of Co on Solidification Characteristics and Microstructural Transformation of Non-equilibrium Solidified Cu-Ni Alloys

Non-equilibrium solidification structures of Cu55Ni45 and Cu55Ni43Co2 alloys were prepared by the molten glass purification cycle superheating method.The variation of the recalescence phenomenon with the degree of undercooling in the rapid solidification process was investigated using an infrared thermometer.The addition of the Co element affected the evolution of the recalescence phenomenon in Cu-Ni alloys.The images of the solid-liquid interface migration during the rapid solidification of supercooled melts were captured by using a high-speed camera.The solidification rate of Cu-Ni alloys,with the addition of Co elements,was explored.Finally,the grain refinement structure with low supercooling was characterised using electron backscatter diffraction(EBSD).The effect of Co on the microstructural evolution during nonequilibrium solidification of Cu-Ni alloys under conditions of small supercooling is investigated by comparing the microstructures of Cu55Ni45 and Cu55Ni43Co2 alloys.The experimental results show that the addition of a small amount of Co weakens the recalescence behaviour of the Cu55Ni45 alloy and significantly reduces the thermal strain in the rapid solidification phase.In the rapid solidification phase,the thermal strain is greatly reduced,and there is a significant increase in the characteristic undercooling degree.Furthermore,the addition of Co and the reduction of Cu not only result in a lower solidification rate of the alloy,but also contribute to the homogenisation of the grain size.

Seed Storability in Rice: Physiological Foundations, Molecular Mechanisms, and Applications in Breeding

Long-term storage of crop seeds is critical for the conservation of germplasm resources, ensuring food supply, and supporting sustainable production. Rice, as a major food staple, has a substantial stock for consumption and production worldwide. However, its food value and seed viability tend to decline during storage. Understanding the physiological responses and molecular mechanisms of aging tolerance forms the basis for enhancing seed storability in rice. This review outlines the latest progress in influential factors, evaluation methods, and identification indices of seed storability. It also discusses the physiological consequences, molecular mechanisms, and strategies for breeding aging-tolerant rice in detail. Finally, it highlights challenges in seed storability research that require future attention. This review offers a theoretical foundation and research direction for uncovering the mechanisms behind seed storability and breeding aging-tolerant rice.

Advances in Wireless,Batteryless,Implantable Electronics for Real‑Time,Continuous Physiological Monitoring

This review summarizes recent progress in developing wireless,batteryless,fully implantable biomedical devices for real-time continuous physiological signal monitoring,focusing on advancing human health care.Design considerations,such as biological constraints,energy sourcing,and wireless communication,are discussed in achieving the desired performance of the devices and enhanced interface with human tissues.In addition,we review the recent achievements in materials used for developing implantable systems,emphasizing their importance in achieving multi-functionalities,biocompatibility,and hemocompatibility.The wireless,batteryless devices offer minimally invasive device insertion to the body,enabling portable health monitoring and advanced disease diagnosis.Lastly,we summarize the most recent practical applications of advanced implantable devices for human health care,highlighting their potential for immediate commercialization and clinical uses.

Implantable Electrochemical Microsensors for In Vivo Monitoring of Animal Physiological Information

In vivo monitoring of animal physiological information plays a crucial role in promptly alerting humans to potential diseases in animals and aiding in the exploration of mechanisms underlying human diseases.Currently,implantable electrochemical microsensors have emerged as a prominent area of research.These microsensors not only fulfill the technical requirements for monitoring animal physiological information but also offer an ideal platform for integration.They have been extensively studied for their ability to monitor animal physiological information in a minimally invasive manner,characterized by their bloodless,painless features,and exceptional performance.The development of implantable electrochemical microsensors for in vivo monitoring of animal physiological information has witnessed significant scientific and technological advancements through dedicated efforts.This review commenced with a comprehensive discussion of the construction of microsensors,including the materials utilized and the methods employed for fabrication.Following this,we proceeded to explore the various implantation technologies employed for electrochemical microsensors.In addition,a comprehensive overview was provided of the various applications of implantable electrochemical microsensors,specifically in the monitoring of diseases and the investigation of disease mechanisms.Lastly,a concise conclusion was conducted on the recent advancements and significant obstacles pertaining to the practical implementation of implantable electrochemical microsensors.

Physiological Mechanism of Exogenous Selenium in Alleviating Mercury Stress on Pakchoi(Brassica campestris L.)

The objective of this study was to explain the physiological mechanisms through which Na_(2)SeO_(3) mitigates the growth and developmental inhibition of pakchoi under HgCl_(2)stress.The results showed that treatment with HgCl_(2)(40 mg L^(−1))led to reduced biomass,dwarfing,root shortening,and root tip necrosis in pakchoi.Compared to control(CK),the activities of superoxide dismutase(SOD)and peroxidase(POD)in Hg treatment increased,and the content of malondialdehyde(MDA)also dramatically increased,which negatively impacted the growth of pakchoi.Low concentrations of Na_(2)SeO_(3)(0.2 mg L^(−1))significantly increased the content of soluble sugars compared with control,while chlorophyll,soluble proteins,free amino acids,and vitamin C had no significant changes.The results of the mixed treatments with HgCl_(2)and Na_(2)SeO_(3) suggested that selenium may be able to reduce the toxicity of mercury in pakchoi.The biomass,plant height,root length,chlorophyll content,soluble protein,other physiological indicators,and proline showed significant increases compared with the HgCl_(2)treatment.Additionally,the MDA content and mercury accumulation in pakchoi decreased.Our results revealed the antagonistic effects of selenium and mercury in pakchoi.Thus,a theoretical basis for studying pakchoi’s mercuryexcreted and selenium-rich cultivation technology was provided.

Physiological Response Mechanism and Drought Resistance Evaluation of Passiflora edulis Sims under Drought Stress

In order to explore the response mechanism of Passiflora edulis Sims to drought stress,the changes in morpho-logical and physiological traits of Passiflora edulis Sims under different drought conditions were studied.A total of 7 germplasm resources of Passiflora edulis Sims were selected and tested under drought stress by the pot culture method under 4 treatment levels:75%–80%(Control,CK)of maximumfield water capacity,55%–60%(Light Drought,LD)of maximumfield water capacity,i.e.,mild drought,40%–45%(Moderate Drought,MD)of max-imumfield water capacity,i.e.,moderate drought and 30%–35%(Severe Drought,SD)of maximumfield water capacity,i.e.,severe drought.On the 40th day of drought treatment,13 indices,including seedling growth mor-phology,physiology,and biochemistry,were measured.The results showed that under drought stress,the height and ground diameter of P.edulis Sims gradually decreased with increasing drought stress,and there were signifi-cant differences in seedling height and ground diameter among the treatments.Drought stress significantly inhib-ited the growth of seven P.edulis Sims varieties.The contents of soluble sugar(SS),soluble protein(SP),proline(Pro),and other substances in P.edulis Sims basically increased with increasing drought stress.With the aggrava-tion of drought stress,the malondialdehyde(MDA)content of P.edulis Sims tended to increase to different degrees,the superoxide dismutase(SOD)activity and peroxidase(POD)activity both tended to increase atfirst and then decrease,and the change in catalase(CAT)activity mostly showed a gradual increasing trend.The con-tents of endogenous hormones in P.edulis Sims significantly differed under different degrees of drought stress.With the aggravation of drought stress,the abscisic acid(ABA)content of P.edulis Sims tended to increase,whereas the contents of gibberellin(GA),indoleacetic acid(IAA),and zeatin nucleoside(ZR)exhibited a down-ward trend.A comprehensive evaluation of the drought resistance of seven P.edulis Sims varieties was conducted based on the principal component analysis method,and the results showed that the drought resistance decreased in the order XH-BL>XH-TWZ>TN1>GH1>ZJ-MT>LP-LZ>DH-JW.

Exogenous calcium enhances the physiological status and photosynthetic capacity of rose under drought stress

Drought(water shortage)can substantially limit the yield and economic value of rose plants(Rosa spp.).Here,we characterized the effect of exogenous calcium(Ca^(2+))on the antioxidant system and photosynthesis-related properties of rose under polyethylene glycol 6000(PEG6000)-induced drought stress.Chlorophyll levels,as well as leaf and root biomass,were significantly reduced by drought;drought also had a major effect on the enzymatic antioxidant system and increased concentrations of reactive oxygen species.Application of exogenous Ca^(2+)increased the net photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance of leaves,enhanced water-use efficiency,and increased the length and width of stomata following exposure to drought.Organ-specific physiological responses were observed under different concentrations of Ca^(2+).Application of 5 mmol·L^(-1)Ca^(2+)promoted photosynthesis and antioxidant activity in the leaves,and application of 10 mmol·L^(-1)Ca^(2+)promoted antioxidant activity in the roots.Application of exogenous Ca^(2+)greatly enhanced the phenotype and photosynthetic capacity of potted rose plants following exposure to drought stress.Overall,our findings indicate that the application of exogenous Ca^(2+)enhances the drought resistance of roses by promoting physiological adaptation and that it could be used to aid the cultivation of rose plants.

Physiological Analysis of Drought Resistance of Seven Cultivars Spring Wheat in Northern Regions of China

In order to determine the physiological mechanism of drought resistance of northern wheat in China,six drought resistant wheat and one sensitivity to drought wheat were planted in pots.They were subjected to drought treatment and normal water when the plants grew to the 3-leaf stage.Samples were collected at 10,20,30,and 40 days after the drought treatment,respectively.The electrical conductivity,photosynthetic parameters,chlorophyll fluorescence parameters,sugar content,proline content,protein content,and active oxygen scavenging enzyme activity of the plants were detected,and the agronomic traits of the wheat varieties were investigated at maturity.The results indicated that the phenotype and yield-related factors of Darkhan 144 changed little under the drought stress.The relative electrical conductivity of Kefeng 6 and Darkhan 166 was lower under the drought stress,and their cell membrane was less damaged.The Darkhan 144 and Darkhan 166 had higher drought resistance coefficients,and were the wheat varieties with stronger drought resistance.However,the physiological mechanisms of drought resistance of these three wheat were different:Darkhan 144 maintained a higher photosynthetic activity under the drought stress;Darkhan 166 maintained a higher protein content,photosynthetic activity and active oxygen scavenging enzyme activity.In addition,other drought-resistant varieties Kefeng 6,Kefeng 10 and Longmai 26 had a higher content of osmoregulatory substances under the drought stress.

Physiological and Transcriptome Analysis Illuminates the Molecular Mechanisms of the Drought Resistance Improved by Alginate Oligosaccharides in Triticum aestivum L.

Alginate oligosaccharides(AOS)enhance drought resistance in wheat(Triticum aestivum L.),but the definite mechanisms remain largely unknown.The physiological and transcriptome responses of wheat seedlings treated with AOS were analyzed under drought stress simulated with polyethylene glycol-6000.The results showed that AOS promoted the growth of wheat seedlings and reduced oxidative damage by improving peroxidase and superoxide dismutase activities under drought stress.A total of 10,064 and 15,208 differentially expressed unigenes(DEGs)obtained from the AOS treatment and control samples at 24 and 72 h after dehydration,respectively,were mainly enriched in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites(phenylpropanoid biosynthesis,flavonoid biosynthesis),carbohydrate metabolism(starch and sucrose metabolism,carbon fixation in photosynthetic organisms),lipid metabolism(fatty acid elongation,biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids,alpha-linolenic acid metabolism,cutin,suberine and wax biosynthesis),and signaling transduction pathways.The up-regulated genes were related to,for example,chlorophyll a-b binding protein,amylosynthease,phosphotransferase,peroxidase,phenylalanine ammonia lyase,flavone synthase,glutathione synthetase.Signaling molecules(including MAPK,plant hormones,H_(2)O_(2) and calcium)and transcription factors(mainly including NAC,MYB,MYB-related,WRKY,bZIP family members)were involved in the AOS-induced wheat drought resistance.The results obtained in this study help underpin the mechanisms of wheat drought resistance improved by AOS,and provides a theoretical basis for the application of AOS as an environmentally sustainable biological method to improve drought resistance in agriculture.

A Method for Detecting and Recognizing Yi Character Based on Deep Learning

Aiming at the challenges associated with the absence of a labeled dataset for Yi characters and the complexity of Yi character detection and recognition,we present a deep learning-based approach for Yi character detection and recognition.In the detection stage,an improved Differentiable Binarization Network(DBNet)framework is introduced to detect Yi characters,in which the Omni-dimensional Dynamic Convolution(ODConv)is combined with the ResNet-18 feature extraction module to obtain multi-dimensional complementary features,thereby improving the accuracy of Yi character detection.Then,the feature pyramid network fusion module is used to further extract Yi character image features,improving target recognition at different scales.Further,the previously generated feature map is passed through a head network to produce two maps:a probability map and an adaptive threshold map of the same size as the original map.These maps are then subjected to a differentiable binarization process,resulting in an approximate binarization map.This map helps to identify the boundaries of the text boxes.Finally,the text detection box is generated after the post-processing stage.In the recognition stage,an improved lightweight MobileNetV3 framework is used to recognize the detect character regions,where the original Squeeze-and-Excitation(SE)block is replaced by the efficient Shuffle Attention(SA)that integrates spatial and channel attention,improving the accuracy of Yi characters recognition.Meanwhile,the use of depth separable convolution and reversible residual structure can reduce the number of parameters and computation of the model,so that the model can better understand the contextual information and improve the accuracy of text recognition.The experimental results illustrate that the proposed method achieves good results in detecting and recognizing Yi characters,with detection and recognition accuracy rates of 97.5%and 96.8%,respectively.And also,we have compared the detection and recognition algorithms proposed in this paper with other typical algorithms.In these comparisons,the proposed model achieves better detection and recognition results with a certain reliability.

Audio2AB:Audio-driven collaborative generation of virtual character animation

Background Considerable research has been conducted in the areas of audio-driven virtual character gestures and facial animation with some degree of success.However,few methods exist for generating full-body animations,and the portability of virtual character gestures and facial animations has not received sufficient attention.Methods Therefore,we propose a deep-learning-based audio-to-animation-and-blendshape(Audio2AB)network that generates gesture animations and ARK it's 52 facial expression parameter blendshape weights based on audio,audio-corresponding text,emotion labels,and semantic relevance labels to generate parametric data for full-body animations.This parameterization method can be used to drive full-body animations of virtual characters and improve their portability.In the experiment,we first downsampled the gesture and facial data to achieve the same temporal resolution for the input,output,and facial data.The Audio2AB network then encoded the audio,audio-corresponding text,emotion labels,and semantic relevance labels,and then fused the text,emotion labels,and semantic relevance labels into the audio to obtain better audio features.Finally,we established links between the body,gestures,and facial decoders and generated the corresponding animation sequences through our proposed GAN-GF loss function.Results By using audio,audio-corresponding text,and emotional and semantic relevance labels as input,the trained Audio2AB network could generate gesture animation data containing blendshape weights.Therefore,different 3D virtual character animations could be created through parameterization.Conclusions The experimental results showed that the proposed method could generate significant gestures and facial animations.

A Novel 6G Scalable Blockchain Clustering-Based Computer Vision Character Detection for Mobile Images

6G is envisioned as the next generation of wireless communication technology,promising unprecedented data speeds,ultra-low Latency,and ubiquitous Connectivity.In tandem with these advancements,blockchain technology is leveraged to enhance computer vision applications’security,trustworthiness,and transparency.With the widespread use of mobile devices equipped with cameras,the ability to capture and recognize Chinese characters in natural scenes has become increasingly important.Blockchain can facilitate privacy-preserving mechanisms in applications where privacy is paramount,such as facial recognition or personal healthcare monitoring.Users can control their visual data and grant or revoke access as needed.Recognizing Chinese characters from images can provide convenience in various aspects of people’s lives.However,traditional Chinese character text recognition methods often need higher accuracy,leading to recognition failures or incorrect character identification.In contrast,computer vision technologies have significantly improved image recognition accuracy.This paper proposed a Secure end-to-end recognition system(SE2ERS)for Chinese characters in natural scenes based on convolutional neural networks(CNN)using 6G technology.The proposed SE2ERS model uses the Weighted Hyperbolic Curve Cryptograph(WHCC)of the secure data transmission in the 6G network with the blockchain model.The data transmission within the computer vision system,with a 6G gradient directional histogram(GDH),is employed for character estimation.With the deployment of WHCC and GDH in the constructed SE2ERS model,secure communication is achieved for the data transmission with the 6G network.The proposed SE2ERS compares the performance of traditional Chinese text recognition methods and data transmission environment with 6G communication.Experimental results demonstrate that SE2ERS achieves an average recognition accuracy of 88%for simple Chinese characters,compared to 81.2%with traditional methods.For complex Chinese characters,the average recognition accuracy improves to 84.4%with our system,compared to 72.8%with traditional methods.Additionally,deploying the WHCC model improves data security with the increased data encryption rate complexity of∼12&higher than the traditional techniques.

Semi-implantable device based on multiplexed microfilament electrode cluster for continuous monitoring of physiological ions

Modern medicine is increasingly interested in advanced sensors to detect and analyze biochemical indicators.Ion sensors based on potentiometric methods are a promising platform for monitoring physiological ions in biological subjects.Current semi-implantable devices are mainly based on single-parameter detection.Miniaturized semi-implantable electrodes for multiparameter sensing have more restrictions on the electrode size due to biocompatibility considerations,but reducing the electrode surface area could potentially limit electrode sensitivity.This study developed a semi-implantable device system comprising a multiplexed microfilament electrode cluster(MMEC)and a printed circuit board for real-time monitoring of intra-tissue K^(+),Ca^(2+),and Na^(+)concentrations.The electrode surface area was less important for the potentiometric sensing mechanism,suggesting the feasibility of using a tiny fiber-like electrode for potentiometric sensing.The MMEC device exhibited a broad linear response(K^(+):2–32 mmol/L;Ca^(2+):0.5–4 mmol/L;Na^(+):10–160 mmol/L),high sensitivity(about 20–45 mV/decade),temporal stability(>2weeks),and good selectivity(>80%)for the above ions.In vitro detection and in vivo subcutaneous and brain experiment results showed that the MMEC system exhibits good multi-ion monitoring performance in several complex environments.This work provides a platform for the continuous real-time monitoring of ion fluctuations in different situations and has implications for developing smart sensors to monitor human health.

Frontier Progress of Landscape Character Assessment in China

The role of Landscape Character Assessment(LCA)at the level of territorial landscape governance spans both natural and social sciences.By analyzing the development history,research distribution,methods and applications of cutting-edge cases of LCA in China,the following conclusions are drawn:①the LCA research in China originated earlier than that in Europe,but has not yet been systematically applied to the implementation of urban and rural planning at all levels;②the fundamental theory of LCA in China has been well constructed,with three main research directions:technologyled,assessment-led,and assessment combined with other theories;③the development of LCA in rural areas is more mature than in urban areas,but the progress of research is uneven across regions;④the current research presents significant“bottom-up”academic characteristics,and there is an urgent need for government decision-making authorities and academia to jointly promote a“top-down”standardized governance mechanism to comprehensively promote the modernization of territorial landscape governance.

Chip Surface Character Recognition Based on OpenCV

Chip surface character recognition is an important part of quality inspection in the field of microelectronics manufacturing.By recognizing the character information on the chip,automated production,quality control,and data collection and analysis can be achieved.This article studies a chip surface character recognition method based on the OpenCV vision library.Firstly,the obtained chip images are preprocessed.Secondly,the template matching method is used to locate the chip position.In addition,the surface characters on the chip are individually segmented,and each character image is extracted separately.Finally,a Support Vector Machine(SVM)is used to classify and recognize characters.The results show that this method can accurately recognize the surface characters of chips and meet the requirements of chip quality inspection.

Some Eco-Physiological Characteristics at R4-R5 Stage in Relation to Soybean Yield Differing in Maturities

Digital plant canopy imager and photosynthesis analyzer system were used to analyze thecharacteristics of canopy structure, photosynthetic physiology and micro-environmentalfactors at R4-R5 stage in different yielding soybean cultivars or lines with differentmaturities. The results showed that the common characteristics of high yielding soybeancultivars were high LAI, uniform foliage distribution in all horizontal directions, lessvariance of photosynthetic rate between top and bottom leaves in canopy and relativelyhigher photosynthetic rate of the whole canopy. All these characters combined in allresulted in higher canopy photosynthetic productivity, and pod number, seed number andseed weight per plant, especially pod and seed number in top and middle canopy wereincreased. The characters of high yielding canopy varied among maturities. Light interceptionwas more important to early cultivars. Less foliage inclination angle was benefit tointercept more solar energy during yield formation. As late soybean cultivars had a moreclosure canopy and higher LAI, greater foliage inclination angle in all layers of highyielding canopy made more solar radiation penetrate into canopy, which was beneficial toyield formation.

Effects of Low Light on Agronomic and Physiological Characteristics of Rice Including Grain Yield and Quality

Light intensity is one of the most important environmental factors that determine the basic characteristics of rice development. However, continuously cloudy weather or rainfall, especially during the grain-filling stage, induces a significant loss in yield and results in poor grain quality. Stress caused by low light often creates severe meteorological disasters in some rice-growing regions worldwide. This review was based on our previous research and related research regarding the effects of low light on rice growth, yield and quality as well as the formation of grain, and mainly reviewed the physiological metabolism of rice plants, including characteristics of photosynthesis, activities of antioxidant enzymes in rice leaves and key enzymes involved in starch synthesis in grains, as well as the translocations of carbohydrate and nitrogen. These characteristics include various grain yield and rice quality components （milling and appearance as well as cooking, eating and nutritional qualities） under different rates of shading imposed at the vegetative or reproductive stages of rice plants. Furthermore, we discussed why grain yield and quality are reduced under the low light environment. Next, we summarized the need for future research that emphasizes methods can effectively improve rice grain yield and quality under low light stress. These research findings can provide a beneficial reference for rice cultivation management and breeding program in low light environments.