Lactobacillus from fermented bamboo shoots prevents inflammation in DSS-induced colitis mice via modulating gut microbiome and serum metabolites

Fermented bamboo shoots(FBS)is a region-specific food widely consumed in Southwestern China,with Lactobacillus as the predominant fermenting bacteria.However,the probiotic potential of Lactobacillus derived from FBS reminds largely unexplored,especially for diseases with a low prevalence in areas consuming FBS,namely,inflammatory bowel disease.In this study,Lactiplantibacillus pentosus YQ001 and Lentilactobacillus senioris YQ005 were screening by in vitro probiotic tests to further investigate the probioticlike bioactivity in dextran sulfate sodium(DSS)-induced ulcerative colitis(UC)mouse.They exhibited more positive probiotic effects than Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG in preventing intestinal inflammatory response.The results revealed that both strains improved the abundance of deficient intestinal microbiota in UC mice,including Muribaculaceae and Akkermansia.In the serum metabolome,they modulated the DSS-disturbed levels of metabolites,with significant increment of cinnamic acid.Meanwhile,they reduced the expression levels of interleukin-1β(IL-1β),interleukin-6(IL-6)inflammatory factors and increased zonula occludens-1(ZO-1),Occludin,and cathelicidin-related antimicrobial peptide(CRAMP)in the colon.Consequently,these results demonstrated that Lactobacillus spp.isolates derived from FBS showed promising probiotic activity based on the gut microbiome homeostasis modulation,anti-inflammation and intestinal barrier protection in UC mice.

Summer Warming Limited Bud Output Drives a Decline in Daughter Shoot Biomass through Reduced Photosynthetis of Parent Shoots in Leymus chinensis Seedlings

Understanding how summer warming influences the parent and daughter shoot production in a perennial clonal grass is vital for comprehending the response of grassland productivity to global warming.Here,we conducted a simulated experiment using potted Leymus chinensis,to study the relationship between the photosynthetic activ-ity of parent shoots and the production of daughter shoots under a whole(90 days)summer warming scenario(+3°C).The results showed that the biomass of parents and buds decreased by 25.52%and 33.45%,respectively,under warming conditions.The reduction in parent shoot biomass due to warming directly resulted from decreased leaf area(18.03%),chlorophyll a(18.27%),chlorophyll b(29.21%)content,as well as a reduction in net photosynthetic rate(7.32%)and the maximum quantum efficiency of photosystem II(PSII)photochemistry(4.29%).The decline in daughter shoot biomass was linked to a decrease in daughter shoot number(33.33%)by warming.However,the number of belowground buds increased by 46.43%.The results indicated that long-term summer warming reduces biomass accumulation in parent shoot by increasing both limitation of stoma and non-stoma.Consequently,the parent shoot allocates relatively more biomass to the belowground organs to maintain the survival and growth of buds.Overall,buds,as a potential aboveground population,could remedy for the cur-rent loss of parent shoot density by increasing the number of future daughter shoots if summer warming subsides.

Multi-Scale Mixed Attention Tea Shoot Instance Segmentation Model

Tea leaf picking is a crucial stage in tea production that directly influences the quality and value of the tea.Traditional tea-picking machines may compromise the quality of the tea leaves.High-quality teas are often handpicked and need more delicate operations in intelligent picking machines.Compared with traditional image processing techniques,deep learning models have stronger feature extraction capabilities,and better generalization and are more suitable for practical tea shoot harvesting.However,current research mostly focuses on shoot detection and cannot directly accomplish end-to-end shoot segmentation tasks.We propose a tea shoot instance segmentation model based on multi-scale mixed attention(Mask2FusionNet)using a dataset from the tea garden in Hangzhou.We further analyzed the characteristics of the tea shoot dataset,where the proportion of small to medium-sized targets is 89.9%.Our algorithm is compared with several mainstream object segmentation algorithms,and the results demonstrate that our model achieves an accuracy of 82%in recognizing the tea shoots,showing a better performance compared to other models.Through ablation experiments,we found that ResNet50,PointRend strategy,and the Feature Pyramid Network(FPN)architecture can improve performance by 1.6%,1.4%,and 2.4%,respectively.These experiments demonstrated that our proposed multi-scale and point selection strategy optimizes the feature extraction capability for overlapping small targets.The results indicate that the proposed Mask2FusionNet model can perform the shoot segmentation in unstructured environments,realizing the individual distinction of tea shoots,and complete extraction of the shoot edge contours with a segmentation accuracy of 82.0%.The research results can provide algorithmic support for the segmentation and intelligent harvesting of premium tea shoots at different scales.

Study of Potential Edaphic Chemical Factors in the Prevalence of Swollen Shoot Disease of Cocoa in the Marahoué Region (Côte d’Ivoire)

This study looks at the prevalence of swollen shoot disease in cocoa plantations in the Marahoué region of Côte d’Ivoire, a key cocoa-producing area. Cocoa accounts for around a third of the country’s export earnings, but production is under threat from the swollen shoot virus, which is causing major yield reductions. The aim of the study is to establish a link between the chemical properties of the soil and the presence of the disease, in particular the levels of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium and acidity (pH) in the soil. Specifically, soils from healthy plots were compared with soils from infested plots in six plantations in the Bouaflé and Kononfla sub-prefectures. The results show that soils from infested plots have lower phosphorus levels and near-neutral acidity in the 20 - 40 cm soil layer, while soils from healthy plots are slightly acidic and contain more calcium and phosphorus. These chemical differences seem to influence the prevalence of the virus. Low phosphorus levels appear to be a key factor in the vulnerability of cocoa trees to the disease. The study therefore suggests that any strategy to combat swollen shoot should include better soil management, incorporating factors such as soil depth and the availability of essential nutrients. In addition, an assessment of the micro-organisms present in the soil could provide further information on the interactions between the soil and the disease.

Visual navigation in orchard based on multiple images at different shooting angles

The orchards usually have rough terrain,dense tree canopy and weeds.It is hard to use GNSS for autonomous navigation in orchard due to signal occlusion,multipath effect,and radio frequency interference.To achieve autonomous navigation in orchard,a visual navigation method based on multiple images at different shooting angles is proposed in this paper.A dynamic image capturing device is designed for camera installation and multiple images can be shot at different angles.Firstly,the obtained orchard images are classified into sky and soil detection stage.Each image is transformed to HSV space and initially segmented into sky,canopy and soil regions by median filtering and morphological processing.Secondly,the sky and soil regions are extracted by the maximum connected region algorithm,and the region edges are detected and filtered by the Canny operator.Thirdly,the navigation line in the current frame is extracted by fitting the region coordinate points.Then the dynamic weighted filtering algorithm is used to extract the navigation line for the soil and sky detection stage,respectively,and the navigation line for the sky detection stage is mirrored to the soil region.Finally,the Kalman filter algorithm is used to fuse and extract the final navigation path.The test results on 200 images show that the accuracy of visual navigation path fitting is 95.5%,and single frame image processing costs 60 ms,which meets the real-time and robustness requirements of navigation.The visual navigation experiments in Camellia oleifera orchard show that when the driving speed is 0.6 m/s,the maximum tracking offset of visual navigation in weed-free and weedy environments is 0.14 m and 0.24 m,respectively,and the RMSE is 30 mm and 55 mm,respectively.

Comparison of Morphological Microstructure of Vitrified and Normal Shoots of Aronia melanocarpa Elloit

The Aronia melanocarpa El oit was used as test material. The microstruc-ture of normal and vitrified shoots and the characteristics of their stomas on leaf surface were compared by paraffin section and leaf epidermis-tearing method. The results showed the palisade tissue of Aronia melanocarpa El oit consists of 2-3 lay-ers of cells. The stomas on lower epidermis cave in, and are smal and dense. There are abundant vessels and sieve tubes in stems. ln contrast, the main veins of vitrified shoots are unobvious, messy and irregular. The boundary between pal-isade tissue and spongy tissue is not obvious. The stomas open circularly and bigly. The stems are swel ing and thick, but the pith parenchyma cells are broken.

Standardization of harvesting age of bamboo shoots with respect to nutritional and anti-nutritional components

Bamboo shoots can be harvested at different ages but the data on the changes in nutritional composition with age are scanty. We standardized harvesting age of bamboo shoots in central India to obtain best quality produce with respect to nutritional composition. The shoots harvested on different days （2–20 days after emergence from ground） were analyzed for their nutritional （dietary fibres, carbohydrates, proteins, total phenols, ascorbic acid, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium and phenolic acids） and anti nutritional （cyanogen） constituents. A significant variation （at p ≤ 0.5） was observed in the nutritional composition of shoots of Dendrocalamus asper, D. strictus and Bambusa tulda harvested at different days. An overall decrease was observed in proteins and total phenols while dietary fibres and carbohydrates increased with ages. Significant variation （at p ≤ 0.5） was also observed in phenolic acids while minerals did not vary significantly. Results revealed that the optimum harvesting age for D. asper, D. strictus and B. tulda was on 10–14 days, 6–10 days and 10–16 days （after emergence from the ground） respectively. These results can be used to obtain quality bamboo shoots.

One Rapid and Efficient Method for Isolation of Total RNA from Shoots Regenerated in vitro of Populus suaveolens

Total RNA was isolated from shoots regenerated in vitro of Populus suaveolens by the modified method of CTAB, and two clear bands of rRNA (28S and 18S) were observed in agarose electrophoresis. In addition, the values of OD260/OD280 and OD260/OD230 of extracted RNA were 2.12 and 2.23 respectively. The results show that RNA is little decomposed and the purity of RNA is high. Moreover, RNA isolated by the modified method of CTAB reagent had been successfully used for reverse transcription of P. suaveolens cDNAs and ideal special band was observed.

Effects of UV-B treatment on controlling lignification and quality of bamboo (Phyllostachys prominens) shoots without sheaths during cold storage

For evaluating the effects of UV-B treatment on lignification and quality of bamboo(Phyllostachys prominens) shoots during postharvest, fresh bamboo shoots without sheaths were irradiated with UV-B at a dose of 8.0 kJ m^(–2) and then stored at(6±1)℃ along with 85–90% relative humidity(RH) for 15 d. The results showed that UV-B treatment apparently slowed down the increase rates of flesh firmness, weight loss, and contents of cellulose and lignin. It also decreased the activities of 4-coumarate CoA ligase(4CL), peroxidase(POD), cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase(CAD) and phenylalanine ammonialyase(PAL) and the expression of their encoding genes during cold storage. It was suggested that these effects of UV-B treatment on decreases in these enzymatic activities and the expression of encoding genes might collectively regulate lignin synthesis and accumulation in the flesh of bamboo shoots and consequently benefit in maintaining the edible quality of bamboo shoots during cold storage.

Regulation of phytohormones on root primordium initiation and adventitious root formation in the etiolated shoots of Paeonia suffruticosa'Yinfen Jinlin'

Tree peony is well known and sought after for its large, colorful flowers. Its propagation is via vegetative methods. Mech- nisms of the adventitious rooting and the regulation of rooting processes are the principles and techniques of plant propagation and improvement. Microstructures and fluctuations of phytohormones in the adventitious rooting were studied with the etiolated soft- wood shoots of Paeonia suffkuticosa ＇Yinfen Jinlin＇. There are no pre-primordia in the shoots of the cultivar. Adventitious roots are produced in five stages： shoot selection, primordium initiation, primordium growth, conducting tissue differentiation and root protru- sion. Primordia initiated in the cortex. The contents of the endogenous hormones, IAA, ABA and GA, were 5.842, 0.873 and 1.043 nmol·g^-1 FW on the bases of shoots, respectively. CTKs which included isopentenyl adenine （iPA）, zeatin riboside （ZR） and dihy- drozeatin riboside （DHZR） were 0.949, 0.695 and 2.034 nmol·g^-1 FW, respectively. DHZR is active among CTKs. The ratio of IAA to GA, CTK and ABA clearly increased at the stage of primordium initiation, while they showed low levels at the stages of primor- dium growth. The ratios were restored at the shoot levels at the stage of root protrusion. IBA provoked primordia initiation in the cortex, the vascular cambium, the pith and even in the callus induced on the base of shoots. ]AA levels in the treated shoots increased gradually to its highest level （three times of control） at the stage of conducting tissue differentiation. The ratios of IAA to GA, CTK and ABA clearly decreased at the stage of primordium initiation. The ratio of IAA to ABA is regulated at 10：1.

An efficient method for clonal propagation and in vitro establishment of softwood shoots from epicormic buds of teak(Tectona grandis L.)

Softwood shoots were produced from 40 cm long stem segments placed horizontally in flat trays containing sterilized sand under natural light or shade conditions for subsequent rooting and micropropagation studies in teak （Tectona grand＆ L.）. Higher number of shoots （6.17） per log was produced under natural light as compared to shade conditions. Forcing was also better in natural light as compared to shade in terms of shoot length, number of nodes or leaves. For rooting, 2-4 cm long softwood shoots were excised and treated with either indole-3-butyric acid （IBA） or α-naphthyl acetic acid （NAA） at 0, 1000, 2000 or 3000 μmol.L^-1 each or with combinations （1000 ＋ 1000, 2000 ＋ 2000 or 3000 ＋ 3000 μmol.L^-1） and then placed in flat trays containing autoclaved sand at 25 ± 2℃ in 16 h photoperiod at 35 μmol.m^-2.s^-1. After 28 days, softwood cuttings treated with IBA ＋ NAA （3000 ＋ 3000 μmol.L^-1） had highest rooting percentage （89.3%） with 5.5 mean roots. Shoot apex and nodal explants of softwood cuttings were pretreated with 0.1% （w/v） ascorbic acid, boric acid, activated charcoal, citric acid, glutamine or polyvinylpolypyrollidone （PVP） for 24 h to remove phenolic compounds before surface disinfestation. Glutamine （G1） and PVP were equally effective resulting in 60% establishment of shoot apices on MS medium supplemented with 10 μmol.L^-1 6-benzylaminopurine （BAP） ＋ 5 μmol.L^-1 NAA. Using shoot apices, highest （42.80） number of multiple shoots with 54.33 mm shoot length were obtained on MS ＋ BAP （8.8 p.mol.L 1） ＋ IBA （2 μmol.L^-1） after 45 days. Shoots were successfully rooted and acclimatized to greenhouse conditions.

Micropropagation of Pinus densiflora and the evaluation of nematode resistance of regenerated microshoots in vitro

To accelerate the breeding and selection of Pinus densiflora Siebold and Zucc. resistance to pine wilt disease, a micropropagation system was established and nematode resistance evaluated in vitro. Cotyledon-hypocotyl explants from 28-day-old seedlings were first cultured on Gresshoff and Doy medium supplemented with 4.0 mg L^(-1) 6-benzyladenine and 0.2 mg L^(-1) a-naphthaleneacetic acid(NAA) to stimulate the formation of buds. Induced buds were subsequently subcultured on Gupta and Durzan medium supplemented with 0.1%(w/v)activated charcoal for elongation. Stem sections derived from shoots were used as explants for the further multiplication. Roots were formed from shoots transferred to woody plant medium containing 0.2 mg L^(-1) NAA for4 weeks. The nematode resistance test showed that symptoms in micropropagated shoots after infection with pine wood nematode(PWN) were similar to those in plants infected in the field. The wilting rate varied from 20 to100% among different clones 18 days after inoculation.The most susceptible clone was Clone 6-4 with a 100%wilting rate, while Clone 8-4 showed a relatively high resistance with a 20% wilting rate. The number of nematodes recovered from Clone 8-4 shoots was significantly lower(P = 0.05) than from Clones 5-10 and 16-4. This work contributes to the breeding of PWN resistance in P.densiflora.

Surveys of harvest technology of winter bamboo shoots

Winter bamboo shoots are widely used in Asian cuisine. We surveyed growth depth （tail depth and root depth）, harvest speed, and harvest processes to provide information for developing new harvest technology. The tail depth of most winter bamboo shoots was 100 350 mm below the soil surface, and the root depth was 200 500 mm below the soil surface. Most winter bamboo shoots were difficult to locate with only the naked eye. The digging depth was 200 500 mm to cut winter bamboo shoots from the root. The highest harvest rate was 7.75 times faster than the slowest one and the average harvest speed ratio of men： women was about 1.71：1. The harvest process of winter bamboo shoots was divisible into three steps： searching, digging a hole （around the shoot） and cutting the root. The ratio of searching time to the sum of digging and cutting time was about 8：1, showing that searching required more time than digging and cutting together.

Preliminary Report of PGR’s Influence to Multiple Shoots Induction and Plant Regeneration on <i>Plumbago auriculata</i>

With the explants of young nodals and leaves of Plumbago auriculata, we studied multiple shoots induction and plant regeneration in the medium with different PGR proportions. The results showed the nodals of Plumbago auriculata could be used as the explant to induce multiple shoots. After culturing young nodals for 30 d, optimum single shoot formation was achieved on MS medium supplemented with 0.3 mg/L 6-BA and the induction rate was 70.79%. After being transferred to the medium containing 1.0 mg/L 6-BA, 1.0 mg/L NAA and 0.2 mg/L IAA for 1 - 2 generation, single shoot was induced to form multiple shoots with the multiplication rate was 506.45%. After multiple shoots grew to 3 cm high, the multiple shoots were cut into single shoots and transferred onto half-strength MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mg/L NAA and the rooted rate was 94.33%. Finally the intact plants were obtained.

Determination of Inorganic Elements Content and Distribution in Bamboo Shoots by Microwave Digestion and ICP-MS

Microwave digestion and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) method was used to determine the contents of 25 inorganic elements in basal part, meat and shell of bamboo shoots. It could be concluded that the method could be applied to determine 25 inorganic elements in bamboo shoots. The elements with a dry basis content higher than 10 mg/kg were listed in the order of content decrease as follows, basal part of bamboo shoots: K > Ca > Mg > Mn > P > Al > Fe > Zn > Na;bamboo shoots meat: K > P > Ca > Mg > Mn > Fe > Al > Zn > Na > Ba > Sr;bamboo shoots shell: K > P > Mg > Ca > Mn > Al > Fe > Na > Zn;B, Pb, Cu, Cr ranged from 1.0 - 10 mg/kg;Ga, As, Se, Cd, Sn, Sb, V, Co, Ni were lower than 0.80 mg/kg. The harmful elements Cd, As, Cr, Hg, Pb were commonly monitored in feeds. The wet basis content (mg/kg) of Cd, As, Cr was lower than: 0.028, 0.022 and 0.42 respectively;no Hg was found;the content of Pb(mg/kg) in basal part, meat and shell of bamboo shoots was 0.82, 0.35 and 0.41 respectively. The results provide basic data for the development of bamboo shoots and its byproduct.

Effects of tissue-cultured mountain ginseng （Panax ginseng CA Meyer） extract on male patients with erectile dysfunction

Korean ginseng and mountain ginseng （Panax ginseng CA Meyer） are important traditional herbal plants whose ginsenosides are generally accepted as serving to improve sexual functions, such as penile erection. We investigated the effects of tissue-cultured mountain ginseng extract （TMGE） on male patients with erectile dysfunction （ED）. A double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted with 143 patients experiencing ED. Over the course of 8 weeks, one group took 1 000 mg of TMGE twice a day, and the other group took 1 000 mg of placebo twice a day. The effects of the TMGE and the placebo were analyzed using the Korean version of the International Index of Erectile Function （IIEF） questionnaire. A total of 86 patients completed 8 weeks of treatment. The scores on the five domains of the IIEF after medication were significantly higher than the baseline scores in the group treated with TMGE （P 〈 0.05）, whereas no significant improvement was observed in the placebo group （P 〉 0.05）. Erectile function and overall satisfaction scores after medication were significantly higher in the TMGE group than in the placebo group （P 〈 0.05）. Erectile function of patients in the TMGE-treated group significantly improved, suggesting that TMGE could be utilized for improving erectile function in male patients.

Comparison between Sulfuric Acid-phenol and Sulfuric Acid-anthrone Methods Used for Determination of Polysaccharides in Shoots of Aralia elata (Miq.) Seem.

Sulfuric acid-phenol and sulfuric acid-anthrone methods were used to detect polysaccharide content in shoots of Aralia elata（ Miq.） Seem.,and the conversion factor to glucose was measured with refined polysaccharides. Comprehensive evaluation was carried out by linear relationship,precision,reproducibility,stability and recovery rate. The results showed that the linear relationship between glucose concentration and absorbance was good when glucose concentration was0-40 μg/ml,and the average recovery rate was equal to or higher than 97. 00% with good reproducibility（ RSD 〈 1. 60%,n = 5）. It revealed that the two methods were accurate and reliable,and suitable for the determination of polysaccharide content in the shoots of A. elata. Polysaccharide content detected by sulfuric acid-phenol and sulfuric acid-anthrone methods was 19. 31% and 20. 40% respectively.

Morphological and functional alterations of female reproduction after regular exposure of bamboo shoots of North East India

Objective:To evaluate the effect of daily consumption of bamboo shoots (BS) on the morphological features and functional status of the female reproductive system in adult with respect to thyroid.Methods: Adult female rats were divided into control and experimental groups of six each. Control group was given normal diet while experimental group was fed BS by 1/3rd replacement of 180 g of their foodi.e.60 g of BS containing 35 g of goitrogens of cyanogenic origin such that each rat likely consumed 6 mg/100 g of body weight per day for a period of 45 d. Morphological features like changes in body weight and organ weight were noted. Key steroidogenic enzyme levels viz?53β hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (HSD) and 17β HSD along with serum estradiol, estriol and progesterone levels were measured. Estrous cyclicity of the animals monitored regularly followed by histological analysis of thyroid, ovary and uterus at the end of experimentation.Results:Increase in body weight, thyroid gland weight and thyroid stimulating hormone, decrease in serum triiodothyronine and thyroxine, a decrease in ovarian as well as uterine weight and the activity of steroidogenic enzymes?53β HSD andβ17β HSD along with diminished serum estradiol, estriol and progesterone levels were noted;while histological plates showed prominent degenerative changes in both the ovary and uterus. Estrous cyclicity of the treated animals were irregular and almost stopped at diestrous stage of the cycle in the latter stage of the treatment as compared to control.Conclusions: Overall results indicates that BS rich in cyanogenic constituents induces biochemical hypothyroidism in the experimental animals that acts in corroboration to cause morphological and functional alteration of reproductive organs indicating its likely impact in fertility on continued use.

Extraction,Optical Properties and Bio-Imaging of Fluorescent Composition From Moso Bamboo Shoots

A novel fluorescent composition was firstly isolated from natural winter fresh Moso bamboo shoots,and its optical properties were fully investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy.It could emit strong blue light both in solid and solution state,providing high fluorescence intensity in ethanol.The solution’s concentration and addition of water greatly affected the fluorescence intensity,high concentration and addition of much water could quench fluorescence.Apoptosis results showed that the fluorescent extract(0-25 mg/L)could not induce apoptosis of Hela cells.Confocal fluorescent microscopic imaging in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells(HepG2)was realized using the fluorescent extract,it could dye the whole cell well which was different from 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole(DAPI)only dying cell nucleus.The fluorescent extract may be candidate for future natural fluorescent bio-imaging agent.

Conversion of Sugarcane Shoots and Leaves into Reducing Sugars by Pretreatment and Enzymatic Hydrolysis

Sugarcane shoots and leaves consist of 38% cellulose, 30.6% hemicellulose and 12.8% lignin on dry solid （DS） basis and have the potential to serve as low cost feedstocks for ethanol production. The pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis conditions include particle size, alkali （NaOH）/dilute acid （H2SO4） pretreatment, chemical and substrate concentrations, temperature, autoclaving time for pretreatment, enzyme concentration, pH and temperature for hydrolysis varied were evaluated for conversion of sugarcane shoots and leaves cellulose and hemicellulose to reducing sugar. The optimum conditions were accomplished by using 14% w/v DS of 0-10 mm sugarcane shoots and leaves in particle size, pretreated with 1.5% w/v of dilute sulfuric acid at 121℃, 15 lbs/in2 for 15 min and enzymatic saccharification using 40 FPU/g DS cellulose at 50℃ and pH 5, After incubating at 160 rpm for 12 hrs, 59 g/L or 386,38 mg/g DS of reducing sugar and 50.69% saccharification were obtained.