Detection of maize tassels for UAV remote sensing image with an improved YOLOX Model

Maize tassel detection is essential for future agronomic management in maize planting and breeding,with application in yield estimation,growth monitoring,intelligent picking,and disease detection.However,detecting maize tassels in the field poses prominent challenges as they are often obscured by widespread occlusions and differ in size and morphological color at different growth stages.This study proposes the SEYOLOX-tiny Model that more accurately and robustly detects maize tassels in the field.Firstly,the data acquisition method ensures the balance between the image quality and image acquisition efficiency and obtains maize tassel images from different periods to enrich the dataset by unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV).Moreover,the robust detection network extends YOLOX by embedding an attention mechanism to realize the extraction of critical features and suppressing the noise caused by adverse factors(e.g.,occlusions and overlaps),which could be more suitable and robust for operation in complex natural environments.Experimental results verify the research hypothesis and show a mean average precision(mAP_(@0.5)) of 95.0%.The mAP_(@0.5),mAP_(@0.5-0.95),mAP_(@0.5-0.95(area=small)),and mAP_(@0.5-0.95(area=medium)) average values increased by 1.5,1.8,5.3,and 1.7%,respectively,compared to the original model.The proposed method can effectively meet the precision and robustness requirements of the vision system in maize tassel detection.

Transcriptomes of early developing tassels under drought stress reveal differential expression of genes related to drought tolerance in maize

Tassel, the male reproductive organs in maize, its development is adversely affected by drought during tasseling. To determine drought tolerance mechanisms of tassel differentiation at transcriptome level, RNA-Seq was performed using RNA of early developing tassel from 10 maize inbred lines under well-watered （control） and drought-stressed conditions, respectively. Results showed that the most active pathway for drought stress in maize were related to metabolic regulation at RNA level. And some genes, encoding enzymes involved in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, were significantly down-regulated in drought-stressed plants. While, the transcription factors and genes, encoding catabolic or degradative enzymes, were over-expressed in maize early developing tassels under drought-stressed conditions, and among them, the transcripts of genes encoding exon-junction complexes involved in ＇RNA transcript＇ and ＇mRNA surveillance＇ pathways were significantly affected by drought stress. In addition, many other genes related to drought stress showed transcriptional changes at the later period of stress.

Direct differentiation of ears and tassels from cultured shoot apices of maize

In vitro morphogenesis of inflorescences from the cultured corn seedling shoot tips was obtained on modified Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium in complete darkness. Some shoot tip meristems excised from seedlings of inbred line 515, inbred line 8112 and their filial generations would directly give rise to florets on modified MS medium supplemented with 2.0 mg/L N6-bezyladenine (6-BA) in five or six weeks. On the medium with 1.0 mg/L 6-BA and 0. 2 mg/L 2, 4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2, 4-D), the explants swelled first, and produced multiple shoot clumps, then the culture of the shoot tips from all of the six inbred lines in experiment would ultimately initiate to develop ears and tassels accompanied by multiple shoot clumps developing on the medium with 1.0 mg/L 6-BA and 0. 2 mg/Lin-dole-3-butyric acid (IBA). The developmental patterns of the corn inflorescences were similar to the controls of normal plants in the field, but the number of the ears was much more than that of the tassels in vitro. It seemed that proper kinds and concentrations of exogenous hormones were necessary for the initiation and development of the inflorescences. The genotype of explants was responsible for the response to culture conditions. It could be inferred that there were different control mechanisms existing in the vegetative and reproductive developmental processes of maize, because the cultured shoot tips could directly produce the reproductive organs.

In-field automatic detection of maize tassels using computer vision

The heading stage of maize is an important period during its growth and development and indicates the beginning of its pollination.In this regard,an automated method for maize tassel detection is highly important to monitor maize growth.However,the recognition of maize heading stage mainly relies on visual evaluation.This method presents some limitations,such as expensive and subjective.This work proposed a novel method for automatic tassel detection.In the proposed algorithm,a color attenuation prior model was used to model the scene depth of saturation graph to remove image saturation.An Itti visual attention detection algorithm was used to detect the area of interest.Texture features and vegetation indices were used to develop a classification model to eliminate false positives.Pictures were captured using a commercial camera for two years to verify the stability of the proposed algorithm.Three indices were calculated to quantitatively assess and rate the algorithms.Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms other existing methods,and its recall,precision,and F1 measure values are 86.30%,91.44%,and 88.36%,respectively.Results indicate that the proposed method can effectively detect maize tassels in field images and remain stable with time.

Effects of Drought Stress and Re-watering on Growth and Yield of Different Maize Varieties at Tasseling Stage

[Objective] The aim was to explore the response of different maize vari- eties in Guangxi to drought stress and re-watering at tasseling stage, so as to pro- vide reference for study on drought resistance mechanism, breeding of drought-re- sistant varieties and selection of maize varieties for fall sowing. [Method] At the tasseling stage, total five degrees of drought stress （4, 8, 12, 16 and 20 d） and corresponding re-watering after drought stress were simulated by a tub planting ex- periment in greenhouse for five different maize varieties （Guidan 0810, Dika 008, Zhengda 619, Chenyu 969, Guidan 901）. Normal watering was set as the control. Sampling was carried out on Day 1 after drought stress and on Day 15 after re- watering, and the secondary root number, maximum root length, green leaf number, root dry weight and shoot dry weight were measured. At the harvest time, the ear yield per plant was measured. With yield as the basis, the drought resistance coef- ficient and drought resistance index were calculated. Cluster analysis was conducted for drought resistance coefficient. [Result] The shoot dry weight, root dry weight, secondary root number, maximum root length and green leaf number of maize in the treatment groups decreased compared with those in the control group. The ratio of each index between the treatment and control groups declined with the extension of drought stress. After re-watering, the re-growth amount of each index all de- creased as the stress time prolonged. Post-re-watering over compensation effect oc- curred in none of the indices except the maximum root length, after 4 days of drought stress. Under drought stress, the reductions of all the indices of Guidan 0810, Dika 008 and Zhengda 619 were smaller than those of Chenyu 969 and Guidan 901. After re-watering, the re-growth abilities of Guidan 0810, Dika 008 and Zhengda 619 were stronger than those of Chenyu 969 and Guidan 901. The drought resistance coefficients and drought resistance indexes of Guidan 0810, Dika 008 and Zhengda 619 were all greater than those of Chenyu 969 and Guidan 901. The results of drought resistance coefficient cluster analysis showed that the five maize varieties were classified into two groups： Guidan 0810, Dika 008 and Zheng- da 619 had strong drought resistance, while Guidan 901 and Chenyu 969 had weak drought resistance. [Conclusion] The root and shoot growth of Guidan 0810, Dika 008 and Zhengda 619 was slightly affected by drought stress during the tasseling period, and they restored the growth rapidly after re-watering, thus ensuring high biomass and yield. Therefore, Guidan 0810, Dika 008 and Zhengda 619 can be promoted as drought-resistant autumn maize varieties in Guangxi.

Unique Tail Appendages of Marine Bacteriophages

The objective was to visualize a variety of marine bacteriophage and identify unique structural features that set them apart from terrestrial phages. Phages were plaque isolated and characterized using atomic force microscopy. Bacteriophage infecting cyanobacteria synechococcus that exhibits a novel structural feature not previously reported for any other phages were observed. These cyanophages have up to four, 450 nm long, multi-stranded, complex helical fibers that emanate from either the base plate and/or the collar of the phage particle, origins of shorter fibers on well-studied phages such as T4. The flexible fibers terminate at their distal ends in multiple bulbs of diameter 30 nm composed of 20 to 30 closely associated proteins. Bulbs form one of two distinctive patterns, or tassels. Most commonly, the arrangement is a 3 + 1 pattern of three consecutive bulbs at the very end with a forth lying upstream, separated from the terminal three by a gap of 135 nm. In other populations the fibers terminate in 5 consecutive bulbs. It is proposed that the novel appendages may be involved in host cell searching and recognition in a marine environment.

Dissection of the genetic architecture for tassel branch number by QTL analysis in two related populations in maize

Tassel branch number （TBN） is the principal component of maize tassel inflorescence architecture and is a typical quan- titative trait controlled by multiple genes. The main objective of this research was to detect quantitative trait loci （QTLs） for TBN. The maize inbred line SICAU1212 was used as the common parent to develop BC1S1 and recombinant inbred line （RIL） populations with inbred lines 3237 and B73, respectively. The two related populations consisted of 123 and 238 lines, respectively. Each population was grown and phenotyped for TBN in two environments. Eleven QTLs were detected in the BC1S1 population, located on chromosomes 2, 3, 5, and 7, accounted for 4.45-26.58% of the phenotypic variation. Two QTLs （qB11Jtbn2-1, qB12Ctbn2-1, qBJtbn2-1; q11JBtbn5-1, qB12Ctbn5-1, qBJtbn5-1） that accounted for more than 10% of the phenotypic variation were identified. Three QTLs located on chromosomes 2, 3 and 5, exhibited stable expres- sion in the two environments. Ten QTLs were detected in the RIL population, located on chromosomes 2, 3, 5, 8, and 10, accounted for 2.69-13.58% of the TBN variation. One QTL （qR14Dtbn2-2） explained 〉10% of the phenotypic variation. One common QTL （qB12Ctbn2-2, qR14Dtbn2-2, qRJtbn2-2） was detected between the two related populations. Three pairs of epistatic effects were identified between two loci with or without additive effects and accounted for 1.19-4.26% of the phenotypic variance. These results demonstrated that TBN variation was mainly caused by major effects, minor effects and slightly modified by epistatic effects. Thus, identification of QTL for TBN may help elucidate the genetic basis of TBN and also facilitate map-based cloning and marker-assisted selection （MAS） in maize breeding programs.

Remote Sensing Monitoring of Surface Characteristics in the Badain Jaran, Tengger, and Ulan Buh Deserts of China

Deserts and sandy land in northern China are very susceptible to sandy desertification and are the main source of sand-dust storms of Asian dust. However, because of the complex factors involved, descriptions of the relationship between sandy desertification and surface characteristics in these regions are lacking. We monitored the surface characteristics and their changes in time using information about soil, vegetation, and landforms in the Badain Jaran Desert(BJD), Tengger Desert(TD), and Ulan Buh Desert(UBD) in the northern China. The monitoring was done using tasseled cap angle(TCA), disturbance index(DI), and topsoil grain size index(TGSI) from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) images combined with a decision tree classification. Results showed that the TD had higher topsoil fine sand content, and the ratio of non-vegetated to vegetated areas was similar with that in the UBD. Northeast-southwest coarse sand dunes with thin interdune(NECTI) dominated the BD, fine sand dunes(FSD) dominated the TD, and a combination of northeast-southwest coarse sand dunes with wide interdune(NECWI) and northwest-southeast coarse sand dunes with wide interdune(NWCWI) dominated the UBD. From 2000 to 2015, in the BJD the area of the NECTI, non-sand dune(Non) and potential sand sources(PSS) increased, whereas the area of the NECWI, FSD and NWCWI decreased, indicating a improve process in the BJD. In the TD, the area covered by Non increased, whereas the area covered by PSS, NECWI, NECTI, FSD, and NWCWI decreased from 2000 to 2015. The area covered by the various surface characteristic types fluctuated annually in the UBD from 2000 to 2015. Changes in surface characteristics reflect the combined effects of natural conditions and human activity. The findings of our study will assist scientists and policy makers in proposing different management techniques to combat sandy desertification for the different surface characteristics of these regions.

Poor development of spike differentiation triggered by lower photosynthesis and carbon partitioning reduces summer maize yield after waterlogging

Stable yield of staple grains must be ensured to satisfy food demands for daily dietary energy requirements against the backdrop of global climate change. Summer maize, a staple crop, suffers severe yield losses due to extreme rainfall events, threatening food security. A randomized block experiment with four treatments: control, no water stress(CK);waterlogging for 6 days at the third leaf, sixth leaf stage,and 10 th day after tasseling, was conducted to investigate the mechanism of waterlogging-induced yield losses of summer maize. Waterlogging delayed plant growth and impaired tassel and ear differentiation,leading to high grain yield losses of Denghai 605(DH605). Waterlogging at third leaf(V3) stage reduced the photosynthesis of DH605, reducing total dry matter weight. Waterlogging at V3 stage reduced sucrose-cleaving enzymes activities in spike nodes and ears, reducing the carbon partitioned to ears(–53.1%), shanks(–46.5%), and ear nodes(–71.5%) but increasing the carbon partitioned to ear leaves(9.6%) and tassels(43.9%) in comparison with CK. The reductions in total carbon assimilate together with the reduced carbon partitioning to ears resulted in poor development of spikes(with respectively 15.2%and 20.6% reductions in total florets and fertilized florets) and lengthened the anthesis–silking interval by around 1 day, leading to high yield losses.

Horseradish Peroxidase Biosensor to Detect Zinc Ions in Aqueous Solutions

Maize tassel-multiwalled carbon nanotube (MT-MWCNT) composite has been used as a matrix for physical adsorption of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) onto the surface of a glassy carbon electrode through electrostatic interactions. The HRP/MT-MWCNT biosensor was applied for the detection of Zn2+ in aqueous solution. The biosensor designed was able to determine Zn2+ in the range of 0.35 - 12 mg/L with a detection limit of 7.5 μg/L. The inhibition was found to be reversible and uncompetitive when data were modeled using the Dixon and Cornish-Bowden plots. The biosensor was found to have good repeatability, reproducibility and high selectivity. The developed biosensor can be used to detect other HRP inhibiting trace metal ions.

Extraction of LUCC with different methods and threshold value

The research of land use and land cover (LUCC) is an important aspect in the global change research. The goal of this study is to find methods of extraction of LUCC’s change outlined and change type from remotely sensed data. Take the country of Fengxian in Shanghai as an example, it was supposed two steps to finish extraction of LUCC information: the first step was to use different methods, which is used to outline change areas; the second step include methods of false composing of two-temporal and threshold value. Through combining two methods, a model rule is built and the LUCC product is obtained, four kinds of change type within the study area are given, and the results are obvious. Finally, the results support the application of the high resolution image and tasseled cap composition (greenness and wetness) in the specific regional too.

Antioxidant and Antigenotoxic Activity of Bioactive Extracts from Corn Tassel

This study is designed to evaluate antioxidant and antigenotoxic activities of corn tassel extracts（CTTs）. The major bioactive components of CTTs include flavonoid, saponin and polysaccharide. The antioxidant properties of the three bioactive components of CTTs were investigated by Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Property（FRAP） and 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl（DPPH） assays. The activities of the extracts were determined by assessing the inhibition of mutagenicity of the direct-acting mutagen fenaminosulf, sodium azide, and indirect-acting mutagen 2-aminofluorene using the Ames test（strains TA98 and TA100）. The results showed that the extraction rates of flavonoid, saponin, and polysaccharide from the dried corn tassels were 1.67%, 2.41% and 4.76% respectively. DPPH and FRAP assay strongly demonstrated that CTTs had antioxidant properties. CTTs at doses of 625, 1250 and 2500 μg per plate reduced 2-aminofluorene mutagenicity by 12.52%, 28.76% and 36.49% in Salmonella typhimurium TA98 strain assay respectively and by 10.98%, 25.27% and 37.83%, at the same doses in Salmonella typhimurium TA100 assay system, respectively. 3-[4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide（MTT） assay showed that the different concentrations of CTTs inhibited the proliferation of MGC80-3 cells in a dose-dependent manner（P0.01）. It is concluded that these integrated approaches to antioxidant and antigenotoxicity assessment may be useful to study corn tassel as a natural herbal material.

Classification of the mining land cover based on density segmentation

The Datun mining area is the test area in this paper,and the purpose is to obtain the mining land cover classification map in 2003.The data source used in this paper is the Landsat enhanced thematic mapper plus(ETM)remote sensing data.By obtaining the normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI)of the study area,the land cover classification information is extracted using the density segmentation method.Because the results cannot distinguish the construction land and wetland,this paper obtains the humidity information of multi-spectral data through the tasseled cap transformation.From the density segmentation image of humidity information,the construction and wetland types can be clearly distinguished.Finally,combining the two classification maps,the visual interpretation using Landsat ETM fusion image with 15-m resolution helps to get the final classification results.After classification accuracy assessment,the overall accuracy calculated from the classification confusion matrix is 86%.This result can be applied in actual project.

Uncertainty Analysis of Spatial Autocorrelation of Land-Use and Land-Cover Data within Pipestem Creek in North Dakota

A major threat to biodiversity in North Dakota is the conversion of forested land to cultivable land, especially those that act as riparian buffers. To reverse this trend of transformation, a validation and prediction model is necessary to assess the change. Spatial prediction within a Geographic Information System (GIS) using Kriging is a popular stochastic method. The objective of this study was to predict spatial and temporal transformation of a small agricultural watershed—Pipestem Creek in North Dakota;USA using satellite imagery from 1976 to 2015. To enhance the difference between forested land and non-forested land, a spectral transformation method—Tasseled-Cap’s Greenness Index (TCGI) was used. To study the spatial structure present in the imagery within the study period, semivariograms were generated. The Kriging prediction maps were post-classified using Remote Sensing techniques of change detection to obtain the direction and intensity of forest to non-forest change. TCGI generated higher values from 1976 to 2000 and it gradually reduced from 2000 to 2011 indicating loss of forested land.

Bioremediation of Lead(II) from Polluted Wastewaters Employing Sulphuric Acid Treated Maize Tassel Biomass

The ability to modify a waste by-product precursor, maize tassel biomass using sulfuric acid as the activating agent with specific focus on Lead(II) ion from water has been proposed. The treating of maize tassel using sulphuric acid is believed to enhance sorption capacity of Lead(II) ions. For this, batch adsorption mode was adopted for which the effects of initial pH, adsorbent dosage, contact time and initial concentration were investigated. Consequently, it was found that the adsorbent capacity depends on pH;since it increases up to 4.5 and then decreases. The highest percentage of Lead(II) ion removal was achieved in the adsorbent dosage of 1.2 g and at an initial concentration of 10 mg/L metal ion. In an attempt to determine the capacity and rate of Lead(II) removal, isotherm and kinetic data were modeled using appropriate equations. To this end, the adsorption data fitted best into the Langmuir model with an R2 (0.9997) while kinetically the Lead(II) adsorption followed the pseudo-second-order model. Furthermore, as a way to address issues related to sustainability, maize tassel is recommended since the process is considered to be a dual solution for environmental cleaning. From one side, it represents a better way to dispose the maize tassel which has no use after fertilization and on the other hand it is an economic source of carbonaceous materials.

Gorgeous Eight Years:SPINEXPO Moving into A New Journey Interview with Ms. Karine Van Tassel,the founder and organizer of SPINEXPO

Since the first International Textile Exhibition created by SPINEXPO in March 2003, Ms. Karine Van Tassel, the founder and organizer of SPINEXPO, dedicates herself to the display of the

Information extraction and dynamic evaluation of soil salinization with a remote sensing method in a typical county on the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain of China

Monitoring the dynamics of soil salinization is of great importance for agricultural production.This study selected Yucheng County,a typical county on the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain(HHHP)of China,as the study area and evaluated the spatial and temporal variation of soil salinization.Three methods,consisting of principal component analysis(PCA)transformation,tasseled cap(TC)transformation,and optimal band combination(OBC),were used to extract information from an early Landsat multispectral scanner(MSS)image from 1984,and their advantages were compared.In addition,OBC was used on a thematic mapper(TM)image from 2009.An iteratively self-organizing data analysis algorithm was used together with prior knowledge of likely classifications to interpret the MSS and TM images for data classification.Finally,a transfer matrix method was used to assess the spatial and temporal variability of soil salinization and analyze the driving factors of soil salinization.Compared to PCA transformation and OBC,TC transformation was a more effective method for extracting soil salinization information from the MSS sensor.The results indicate that a soil area of approximately 298 km^2was affected by salinity in 1984 in Yucheng County,of which 5.40%,11.96%,and 12.75%were classified as being subject to slight,moderate,and severe salinization,respectively.In 2009,the saline area was reduced to only 146 km^2,of which 10.70%and 3.75%were characterized by slight to moderate salinization and no severe salinization,respectively.The saline land decreased at an average rate of 6 km^2per year.This decrease was probably a result of lower groundwater depth,increased organic fertilizer or crop straw in soil,changed land use type,and increased vegetation coverage.

A tasseled cap transformation for CBERS-02B CCD data

The tasseled cap transformation of remote sensing data has been widely used in agriculture,forest,ecology,and landscape.In this paper,tasseled cap transformation coefficients appropriate for data from a new sensor(China & Brazil Earth Resource Satellite(CBERS-02B)) are presented.The first three components after transformation captured 98% of the four-band variance,and represent the physical characteristics of brightness(coefficients:0.509,0.431,0.330,and 0.668),greenness(coefficients:0.494,0.318,0.324,and 0.741),and blueness(coefficients:0.581,0.070,0.811,and 0.003),respectively.We hope these results will enhance the application of CBERS-02B charge-coupled device(CCD) data in the areas of agriculture,forest,ecology,and landscape.

AGO_18b negatively regulates determinacy of spikelet meristems on the tassel central spike in maize

The maize tassel represents an indeterminate male inflorescence. The number of primordia that a given inflorescence meristem produces is related to its determinacy, i.e., capacity for continued meristem activity.Transcription factors(TFs) controlling determinacy in tassel axillary meristems are well studied in maize, and small RNAs are known to influence tassel development by repressing targets, including tassel-related TFs. As core components of the RNA-inducible silence complex(RISC),Argonaute(AGO) proteins are required for small RNAmediated repression. Here, we characterized the biological function of AGO8b, a tassel-enriched AGO. The abundance of AGO8b transcripts gradually increased during tassel development from inception to gametogenesis and were enriched in the inflorescence meristem and axillary meristems of the tassel. Repressing AGO8b expression resulted in more spikelets, which contributed to a longer central spike of the tassel. Additionally, the transcripts of several HD-ZIP Ⅲ TFs that were canonical targets of micro RNA66(miR66) accumulated in the AGO8b repressed lines. We propose that AGO8b is a negative regulator of the determinacy of inflorescence and axillary meristems, and that it acts by interacting with the miR66-HD-ZIP Ⅲ TF regulatory pathway.

Batch equilibrium studies on the adsorptive capacity of powdered and pelleted maize tassel to remove PFOA and PFOS from aqueous medium

This study was aimed at evaluating the potential of raw maize tassel powder and pellets to remove PFOA and PFOS from water.Batch experiments were first conducted using ultrapure water to investigate the effects of pH,adsorbent dosage,initial PFASs concentration,contact time and temperature in adsorption efficiency of powdered and pelleted maize tassel.The optimum conditions for the removal of PFOA/PFOS observed for both maize tassel powder and pellets were as follows:pH 2.0,adsorbate initial concentrations of 20 mg g1,adsorbent dosage of 0.5 g(20 pellets),1 h contact time,all at 25℃.These optimum conditions were,thereafter,applied to surface water samples from Apies River in Pretoria,spiked with 20 mg L^(-1)PFOS/PFOA.Shimadzu LC-MS/MS was employed in analysis and the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were used to determine the types of adsorption mechanism.High percentage removal 91.3%and 89.7%for PFOA and PFOS respectively using both MT powder and pellets were achieved.The maximum adsorption capacities identified for the monolayer of the Langmuir isotherm model was found to be between 41.6 mg g^(-1)and 58.82 mg g^(-1)for PFOA using powder and pellets respectively;and between 42.37 mg g^(-1)and 176.5 mg g^(-1)for PFOS for the same adsorbents respectively.These results showed very insignificant conformity to the Langmuir model;therefore it can be assumed that the Langmuir model was not obeyed.However,the experiments proved to be primarily consistent with the Freundlich model,with high correlation coefficient(R2)values ranging from 0.900 to 0.998 for both PFOA and PFOS.Maximum adsorption capacities of 142.8 mg g^(-1)and 78.57 mg g^(-1)for PFOA and 107.4 mg g^(-1)and 85.7 mg g^(-1)for PFOS at 25℃using both powder and pellets respectively were obtained suggesting that adsorption took place on heterogeneous layers for both targeted PFASs.