Response of Bacterial Community and Enzyme Activity of Greenhouse Tomato under Different Irrigation Systems

The micro-sprinkler irrigation mulched(MSM)has been suggested as a novel water-saving approach in con-trolled environment agriculture.However,the effects of microbial community structure and enzyme activity in the rhizosphere soil on crop growth under MSM remain unclear.This study conducted a randomized experimen-tal design using greenhouse tomatoes to investigate changes in bacterial community structure and enzyme activity in rhizosphere soil under different irrigation frequencies(F)and amounts(I)of MSM.Thefindings revealed that with the increase of F or I,The total count of soil bacteria in tomatoesfirst rose and then fell in terms of Opera-tional Taxonomic Units(OTUs)classification.Compared to other F,the most abundance of nitrogen and phos-phorus metabolism genes and enzyme activities were observed with a 5-day F.Moreover,the diversity of soil bacterial community structure initially rose before eventually declining with the increase of the I.Applying 1.00 Epan(cumulative evaporation of a 20 cm standard pan)under MSM helped boost the abundance of nitrogen and phosphorus metabolism functional genes in soil bacteria,ensuring higher enzyme activities related to nitro-gen,carbon,and phosphorus metabolism in the rhizosphere soil of tomatoes.Tomatoes’yield initially rose before eventually declining with the increase in F or I,whereas I had a more significant effect on yield.A 1.00%increase in I yielded a minimum of 39.24%increase in tomato yield.The study showed a positive correlation between soil bacterial community,soil enzyme activity,and greenhouse tomato yield under MSM.Considering the results comprehensively,the combined irrigation mode of F of 5 d and I of 1.00 Epan was recommended for greenhouse tomatoes under MSM.This conclusion provides theoretical support for water-saving practices and yield improve-ment in facility agriculture,especially tomato cultivation.

The efficacy of a novel tomato extracts formulation on skin aging and pigmentation:A randomized,double-blind,parallel-controlled trial

Background:Oxidative stress is a significant factor in skin aging and pigmentation,which can be precipitated by various circumstances.Antioxidants and tyrosinase inhibitors,such as carotenoids,yeast extract(glutathione),sodium hyaluronate,astaxanthin,and niacin,can individually protect the skin against aging through distinct mechanisms.These mechanisms potentially enhance the skin barrier and improve signs of aging and pigmentation.However,the synergistic effects of these compounds,as found in a golden tomato extract formulation,have been scarcely explored.Objective:To evaluate the effects of an orally administered formulation on the skin aging and pigmentation.Material and Methods:In this study,a randomized,double-blind,parallel-controlled trial was conducted,utilizing the WONDERLAB?Tomato Niacinamide beverage.Out of all participants,62 volunteers completed the experiment and were included in the statistical analysis.Results:The results indicated that after eight weeks of consuming the research product,there were no significant changes in the skin indicators within the placebo group.In contrast,the treatment group receiving the sample formulation exhibited a 35.63%increase in stratum corneum hydration and a 29.39%reduction in transepidermal water loss(TEWL),suggesting enhanced skin hydration.Visual assessments revealed improvements in skin color and gloss index by 15.03%and 11.41%,respectively,in the treatment group.Furthermore,the skin gloss and individual typology angle(ITA)value increased by 18.59%and 6.36%,respectively,leading to a lighter skin tone.Significant enhancements were also observed in skin pigmentation,color uniformity,and redness.After eight weeks of intervention with the sample,blood levels of superoxide dismutase(SOD)and glutathione peroxidase(GPx)increased,while malondialdehyde(MDA)levels decreased.Conclusion:These findings confirm that continuous intake of the tomato extract formulation over eight weeks effectively improved the volunteers'skin whitening and hydration,and visibly brightened skin tone through an antioxidant mechanism.

The Yield and Diseases-Pest Performance of Breeding Materials for Tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum) Sourced from Different Exotic Sources

A study was conducted with 36 tomato germplasm [PGRC (19), The Netherlands (7), Japan (2), and Bangladesh (9)] with 3 check varieties in the research field of the Olericulture Division of Horticulture Research Centre (HRC), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Gazipur during the winter season of 2022-23 to identify promising tomato breeding germplasm. All the germplasm showed differences in most of the parameters studied. Considerable variation was observed for fruit yield per hectare varied from 39 to 144 tons, while the highest fruit yield per hectare was harvested from the germplasm viz., BD 7759B, BD 7757, BD 7751, BD 7301, QM, BD 7759A, BD 7762, QF, BD 7753, BD 8886, BD 10351, NL-1A, SLA-19. The number of locules, total soluble solids (TSS) and plant height at last harvest varied from 2 to 6.6, 2.6 to 5.9%, and 66 to 154cm, respectively. The TYLCV infection (%) and leaf-sucking pest infestation (%) were observed with a 1 to 20% range in the field condition in both cases. So, we can select that germplasm has zero per cent infestation. Considering the plant growth habit, earliness, different yield contributing horticultural traits, virus and pest infestation thirteen germplasm viz., BD 7759B, BD 7757, BD 7751, BD 7301, QM, BD 7759A, BD 7762, QF, BD 7753, BD 8886, BD 10351, NL-1A, SLA-19 were selected as breeding materials for further tomato improvement program.

Time and Space Efficient Multi-Model Convolution Vision Transformer for Tomato Disease Detection from Leaf Images with Varied Backgrounds

A consumption of 46.9 million tons of processed tomatoes was reported in 2022 which is merely 20%of the total consumption.An increase of 3.3%in consumption is predicted from 2024 to 2032.Tomatoes are also rich in iron,potassium,antioxidant lycopene,vitamins A,C and K which are important for preventing cancer,and maintaining blood pressure and glucose levels.Thus,tomatoes are globally important due to their widespread usage and nutritional value.To face the high demand for tomatoes,it is mandatory to investigate the causes of crop loss and minimize them.Diseases are one of the major causes that adversely affect crop yield and degrade the quality of the tomato fruit.This leads to financial losses and affects the livelihood of farmers.Therefore,automatic disease detection at any stage of the tomato plant is a critical issue.Deep learning models introduced in the literature show promising results,but the models are difficult to implement on handheld devices such as mobile phones due to high computational costs and a large number of parameters.Also,most of the models proposed so far work efficiently for images with plain backgrounds where a clear demarcation exists between the background and leaf region.Moreover,the existing techniques lack in recognizing multiple diseases on the same leaf.To address these concerns,we introduce a customized deep learning-based convolution vision transformer model.Themodel achieves an accuracy of 93.51%for classifying tomato leaf images with plain as well as complex backgrounds into 13 categories.It requires a space storage of merely 5.8 MB which is 98.93%,98.33%,and 92.64%less than stateof-the-art visual geometry group,vision transformers,and convolution vision transformermodels,respectively.Its training time of 44 min is 51.12%,74.12%,and 57.7%lower than the above-mentioned models.Thus,it can be deployed on(Internet of Things)IoT-enabled devices,drones,or mobile devices to assist farmers in the real-time monitoring of tomato crops.The periodicmonitoring promotes timely action to prevent the spread of diseases and reduce crop loss.

Histological,transcriptomic,and gene functional analyses reveal the regulatory events underlying gibberellin-induced parthenocarpy in tomato

Gibberellin(GA)is one of the major plant hormones that promote parthenocarpy,a highly valuable agronomic trait.Here,we demonstrated that exogenous GA3application triggered the formation of parthenocarpic fruits with smaller size but unchanged shape in tomato(Solanum lycopersicum).These fruits exhibited a thicker pericarp,undeveloped ovules,and few jelly tissues,leading to smaller locules with empty cavities.Histological investigation showed that GA treatment produced more cell layers with larger cells in the pericarp,suggesting its promotion in both cell division and expansion.Transcriptomic analyses between GA-3and mock-treated unpollinated ovaries/fruits identified a large number of differentially expressed genes related to hormones,cell division,cell expansion,and transcription factors,implying that they coordinately regulated parthenocarpy conferred by GA.In particular,the downregulation of five reported repressors of tomato parthenocarpy,including two auxin signaling components,AUXIN RESPONSE FACTOR5(SlARF5)and Sl ARF7,and three MADS-box genes,TOMATO APETALA3(TAP3),TOMATO PISTILLATA(TPI),and AGAMOUS-LIKE6(SlAGL6),after GA treatment might play a key role in this process.Furthermore,we found that the knockdown of a GA signaling factor SlMYB33,which was depressed by GA treatment,induced parthenocarpic fruit set in tomato,an effect that might have been achieved by enhancing GA biosynthesis and decreasing the expression of some repressors of tomato parthenocarpy.Thus,our results provide a basis for understanding the regulatory mechanism of GA in tomato parthenocarpy.

Dynamic regulation of the irrigation-nitrogen-biochar nexus for the synergy of yield,quality,carbon emission and resource use efficiency in tomato

Integrated water and fertilizer management is important for promoting sustainable development of facility agriculture,and biochar plays an important role in guaranteeing food production,as well as alleviating water shortages and the overuse of fertilizers.The field experiment had twelve treatments and a control(CK)trial including two irrigation amounts(I1,100%ETm;I2,60%ETm;where ETm is the maximum evapotranspiration),two nitrogen applications(N1,360 kg ha^(−1);N2,120 kg ha^(−1))and three biochar application levels(B1,60 t ha^(−1);B_(2),30 t ha^(−1)and B3,0 t ha^(−1)).A multi-objective synergistic irrigation-nitrogen-biochar application system for improving tomato yield,quality,water and nitrogen use efficiency,and greenhouse emissions was developed by integrating the techniques of experimentation and optimization.First,a coupled irrigation-nitrogen-biochar plot experiment was arranged.Then,tomato yield and fruit quality parameters were determined experimentally to establish the response relationships between irrigation-nitrogen-biochar dosage and yield,comprehensive quality of tomatoes(TCQ),irrigation water use efficiency(IWUE),partial factor productivity of nitrogen(PFPN),and net greenhouse gas emissions(NGE).Finally,a multi-objective dynamic optimization regulation model of irrigation-nitrogen-biochar resource allocation at different growth stages of tomato was constructed which was solved by the fuzzy programming method.The results showed that the application of irrigation and nitrogen to biochar promoted increase in yield,IWUE and PFPN,while it had an inhibitory effect on NGE.In addition,the optimal allocation amounts of water and fertilizer were different under different scenarios.The yield of the S1 scenario increased by 8.31%compared to the B_(1)I_(1)N_(2) treatment;TCQ of the S2 scenario increased by 5.14%compared to the B_(2)I_(2)N_(1) treatment;IWUE of the S3 scenario increased by 10.01%compared to the B1I2N2 treatment;PFPN of the S4 scenario increased by 9.35%compared to the B_(1)I_(1)N_(2) treatment;and NGE of the S5 scenario decreased by 11.23%compared to the B_(2)I1N1 treatment.The optimization model showed that the coordination of multiple objectives considering yield,TCQ,IWUE,PFPN,and NGE increased on average from 4.44 to 69.02%compared to each treatment when the irrigation-nitrogen-biochar dosage was 205.18 mm,186 kg ha^(−1)and 43.31 t ha^(−1),respectively.This study provides a guiding basis for the sustainable management of water and fertilizer in greenhouse tomato production under drip irrigation fertilization conditions.

Phytoene synthases 1 modulates tomato fruit quality through influencing the metabolic flux between carotenoid and flavonoid pathways

The deterioration in fruit quality of commercial tomatoes is a major concern of modern tomato breeding.However,the metabolism and genetics of fruit quality are poorly understood.Here,we performed transgenic and molecular biology experiments to reveal that tomato phytoene synthase 1(SlPSY1)is responsible for the accumulation of an important flavor chemical,6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one(MHO).To dissect the function of SlPSY1 in regulating fruit quality,we generated and analyzed a dataset encompassing over 2000 compounds detected by GC-MS and LC-MS/MS along with transcriptomic data.The combined results illustrated that SlPSY1 deficiency imparts novel flavor to yellow tomatoes with 236 volatiles significantly changed and improves fruit firmness,possibly due to accumulation of seven cutins.Further analysis indicated SlPSY1 is essential for carotenoid-derived metabolite biosynthesis by catalyzing prephytoene-PP(PPPP)to 15-cis-phytoene.Notably,we showed that SlPSY1 can influence the metabolic flux between carotenoid and flavonoid pathways,and this metabolic flux was confirmed by silencing SlCHS1.Our study provided insights into the multiple effects of SlPSY1 on tomato fruit metabolome and highlights the potential to produce high-quality fruit by rational design of SlPSY1 expression.

Functional prediction of tomato PLATZ family members and functional verification of Sl PLATZ17

PLATZ is a novel zinc finger DNA-binding protein that plays an important role in regulating plant growth and development and resisting abiotic stress.However,there has been very little research on the function of this family gene in tomatoes,which limits its application in germplasm resource improvement.Therefore,the PLATZ gene family was identified and analyzed in tomato,and its roles were predicted and verified to provide a basis for in-depth research on SlPLATZ gene function.In this study,the PLATZ family members of tomato were identified in the whole genome,and 19 SlPLATZ genes were obtained.Functional prediction was conducted based on gene and promoter structure analysis and RNA-seq-based expression pattern analysis.SlPLATZ genes that responded significantly under different abiotic stresses or were significantly differentially expressed among multiple tissues were screened as functional gene resources.SlPLATZ17 was selected for functional verification by experiment-based analysis.The results showed that the downregulation of SlPLATZ17 gene expression reduced the drought and salt tolerance of tomato plants.Tomato plants overexpressing SlPLATZ17 had larger flower sizes and long,thin petals,adjacent petals were not connected at the base,and the stamen circumference was smaller.This study contributes to understanding the functions of the SlPLATZ family in tomato and provides a reference for functional gene screening.

Genome-wide analyses of mi RNAs in mycorrhizal plants in response to late blight and elucidation of the role of miR319c in tomato resistance

Tomato(Solanum lycopersicum), an economically important vegetable crop cultivated worldwide, often suffers massive financial losses due to Phytophthora infestans(P. infestans) spread and breakouts. Arbuscular mycorrhiza(AM) fungi mediated biocontrol has demonstrated great potential in plant resistance. However, little information is available on the regulation of mycorrhizal tomato resistance against P. infestans.Therefore, microRNAs(miRNAs) sequencing technology was used to analyse miRNA and their targets in the mycorrhizal tomato after P.infestans infection. Our study showed a lower severity of necrotic lesions in mycorrhizal tomato than in nonmycorrhizal controls. We investigated 35 miRNAs that showed the opposite expression tendency in mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal tomato after P. infestans infection when compared with uninfected P. infestans. Among them, miR319c was upregulated in mycorrhizal tomato leaves after pathogen infection. Overexpression of miR319c or silencing of its target gene(TCP1) increased tomato resistance to P. infestans, implying that miR319c acts as a positive regulator in tomato after pathogen infection. Additionally, we examined the induced expression patterns of miR319c and TCP1 in tomato plants exposed to salicylic acid(SA) treatment, and SA content and the expression levels of SA-related genes were also measured in overexpressing transgenic plants. The result revealed that miR319c can not only participates in tomato resistance to P. infestans by regulating SA content, but also indirectly regulates the expression levels of key genes in the SA pathway by regulating TCP1. In this study, we propose a novel mechanism in which the miR319c in mycorrhizal tomato increases resistance to P. infestans.

Simulation and evaluation of tomato growth by AquaCrop model under different agricultural waste materials

This study aimed to enhance the utilization of agricultural waste and identify the most suitable agricultural waste materials for tomato cultivation. It utilized a locally modified substrate labeled as CK, along with five different groups of agricultural waste materials, designated as T1 (organic fertilizer: loessial soil: straw in a ratio of 4:5:1), T2 (organic fertilizer: loessial soil: straw: grains in a ratio of 3:5:1:1), T3 (organic fertilizer: loessial soil: straw: grains in a ratio of 2:5:1:2), T4 (organic fertilizer:loessial soil:straw:grains in a ratio of 1:5:1:3), and T5 ( loessial soil:straw:grains in a ratio of 5:1:4), the AquaCrop model was employed to validate soil water content and tomato growth and yield under these treatments. Furthermore, a multi-objective genetic algorithm was employed to determine the optimal agricultural waste materials that would ensure maximum tomato yield, water use efficiency (WUE), partial factor productivity of fertilizer (PFP) and sugar-acid ratio. The results indicated that the AquaCrop model reasonably simulated volumetric soil water content, tomato canopy cover, and biomass, with root mean square error (RMSE) ranges of 20.0-69.4 mm, 15.2%-25.1%, and 1.093-3.469 t/hm2, respectively. The CK group exhibited an R-squared (R2) value of 0.63 for volumetric soil water contents, while the ratio scenarios showed R2 values exceeding 0.80. The multi-objective genetic optimization algorithm identified T5 as the optimal ratio scenario, resulting in maximum tomato yield, WUE, PFP, and quality. This study offers a theoretical foundation for the efficient utilization of agricultural wastes and the production of high-quality fruits and vegetables.

Spatio-temporal dynamics of phytohormones in the tomato graft healing process

Graft healing involves a series of cytological and molecular events including wound responses, callus formation and vascular bundle remodelling. Hormones are important signalling molecules regulating plant development and responses to environmental stimuli. However,the detailed dynamics of phytohormones in graft healing remain elusive. In this research, internodes above and below the graft site were harvested from 0 to 168 h after grafting(HAG), and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry(LC-MS/MS) was used to determinate jasmonic acid, auxin, cytokinin, ethylene, salicylic acid, abscisic acid and gibberellin levels during the graft healing process. Uniform manifold approximation and projection(UMAP) and k-means analyses were performed to explore hormone spatio-temporal dynamics. We found the stage-specific and asymmetric accumulation of phytohormones in the tomato graft healing process. At the early healing stage(before vascular bundle reconnection), IAA, cZ, ABA, JA and SA mainly accumulated above the graft site, while tZ and ACC mainly accumulated below the graft site. MEIAA, ICAld and IP mainly accumulated at the later stage. Comminated with the healing process, we suggested that JA is mainly involved in wound responses, IAA is beneficial to the formation of callus and vascular cell development, tZ promotes cell division, and IP is linked to vascular bundle remodelling. In addition, expression of JA-related genes SlMYC2 and SlJAZ2, IAA-related gene SlIAA1, tZ-related genes SlHP2 and SlRR8, and IP-related gene SlRR9 correlated with hormone accumulation. The findings provide important information about the hormones and genes involved in the tomato graft healing process.

Genome-Wide Identification of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) CKX Gene Family and Expression Analysis in the Callus Tissue under Zeatin Treatment

The cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase(CKX)enzyme is essential for controlling thefluctuating levels of endogen-ous cytokinin(CK)and has a significant impact on different aspects of plant growth and development.Nonethe-less,there is limited knowledge about CKX genes in tomato(Solanum lycopersicum L.).Here we performed genome-wide identification and analysis of nine SlCKX family members in tomatoes using bioinformatics tools.The results revealed that nine SlCKX genes were unevenly distributed onfive chromosomes(Chr.1,Chr.4,Chr.8,Chr.10,and Chr.12).The amino acid length,isoelectric points,and molecular weight of the nine SlCKX proteins ranged from 453 to 553,5.77 to 8.59,and 51.661 to 62.494 kD,respectively.Subcellular localization analysis indi-cated that SlCKX2 proteins were located in both the vacuole and cytoplasmic matrix;SlCKX3 and SlCKX5 pro-teins were located in the vacuole;and SlCKX1,4,6,7,8,and 9 proteins were located in the cytoplasmic matrix.Furthermore,we observed differences in the gene structures and phylogenetic relationships of SlCKX proteins among different members.SlCKX1-9 were positioned on two out of the three branches of the CKX phylogenetic tree in the multispecies phylogenetic tree construction,revealing their strong conservation within phylogenetic subgroups.Unique patterns of expression of CKX genes were noticed in callus cultures exposed to varying con-centrations of exogenous ZT,suggesting their roles in specific developmental and physiological functions in the regeneration system.These results may facilitate subsequent functional analysis of SlCKX genes and provide valu-able insights for establishing an efficient regeneration system for tomatoes.

Comparative Transcriptomic Analysis of Two Tomato Cultivars with Different Shelf-Life Traits

Tomato(Solanum lycopersicum)is a perishable fruit because of its fast water loss and susceptibility to pathogens in the post-harvest stage,which leads to huge economic losses every year.In this study,firstly from 19 tomato cultivars,we screened out two cultivars,Riogrand and SalarF1,having long and short shelf-life spans,respectively.Secondly,shelf-life analysis was carried out for both cultivars at room temperature.Results exhibited that Riogrand showed higher firmness and less weight loss than SalarF1.The ethylene production was higher in SalarF1,compared with Riogrand during post-harvest storages.We performed transcriptomic analysis of both cultivars in different storage stages.We discovered 2913,2188,and 11,119 differentially expressed genes(DEGs)for three post-harvest stages(0,20,and 40 Days Post-Harvest(DPH)),respectively.These genes are enriched in ethylene biosynthesis and response,as well as cell wall-related genes.Ethylene response factor(ERF)ERF2 and ERF4 were highly expressed in SalarF1 with a short shelf life in 40 DPH,and the ethylene biosynthetic genes ACO1,ACO4,ACS6,and ACS2 were significantly upregulated in SalarF1.Regarding cell wall loosening and cell wall-related genes XTH3,XTH7,XTH23,1,3;1,4-β-D-Gluc-like,pGlcT1,Cellulase,PGH1,PL5,PL-like 1,PL-like 2 exhibited the highest levels of significance,being notably upregulated in the last stage of SalarF1.The quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction(qRT-PCR)analysis validated these gene expressions,which is in line with the transcriptome analysis.The findings suggested that the extension of tomato fruit shelf life is mostly dependent on ethylene biosynthesis,signaling pathway genes,cell wall loosening,and cell wall-associated genes.

Heat-inducible SlWRKY3 confers thermotolerance by activating the SlGRXS1 gene cluster in tomato

High temperature stress is one of the major environmental factors that affect the growth and development of plants. Although WRKY transcription factors play a critical role in stress responses, there are few studies on the regulation of heat stress by WRKY transcription factors,especially in tomato. Here, we identified a group I WRKY transcription factor, SlWRKY3, involved in thermotolerance in tomato. First, SlWRKY3 was induced and upregulated under heat stress. Accordingly, overexpression of SlWRKY3 led to an increase, whereas knock-out of SlWRKY3 resulted in decreased tolerance to heat stress. Overexpression of SlWRKY3 accumulated less reactive oxygen species(ROS), whereas knock-out of SlWRKY3 accumulated more ROS under heat stress. This indicated that SlWRKY3 positively regulates heat stress in tomato. In addition,SlWRKY3 activated the expression of a range of abiotic stress-responsive genes involved in ROS scavenging, such as a SlGRXS1 gene cluster.Further analysis showed that SlWRKY3 can bind to the promoters of the SlGRXS1 gene cluster and activate their expression. Collectively, these results imply that SlWRKY3 is a positive regulator of thermotolerance through direct binding to the promoters of the SlGRXS1 gene cluster and activating their expression and ROS scavenging.

Investigating the genetic diversity of several varieties of Iranian tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) using RAPD and ISSR molecular markers

Background:Numerous studies have demonstrated the existence of approximately 7,500 genetic tomato varieties worldwide.Hence,it is crucial to assess the genetic diversity among tomato cultivars.This study aimed to investigate the genetic diversity of selected Iranian tomato cultivars(Solanum lycopersicum)using RAPD and ISSR molecular markers.Method:Ten RAPD primers and ten ISSR primers were employed to assess the genetic diversity among 10 tomato cultivars:Matin,RFT 112,Hirad,Golsar,Raha,Hengam,Hedah,Fasa,JS12,and Emerald.Data analysis involved the UPGMA algorithm and NTYSYSpc software.Results:RAPD analysis revealed close genetic proximity between Fasa and JS12,as well as between Raha and Hadieh.Conversely,the RFT 112,Hengam,Hirad,and Emerald cultivars exhibited significant genetic diversity within this group.ISSR primer analysis identified Hengam as the most diverse variety,while Matin,Emerald,and Vibrid,as well as Raha and JS12,displayed genetic similarities with minimal observed diversity.Furthermore,the overall analysis of the cultivars using RAPD and ISSR markers indicated that Hengam exhibited the highest diversity among all the varieties.Notably,Raha and JS12 demonstrated limited diversity in this analysis.Conclusion:This research demonstrates substantial genetic diversity among the investigated tomato varieties,with Hengam displaying the highest diversity within this group.Furthermore,ISSR markers proved more effective in determining genetic diversity in tomato plants.

Effects of Different Planting Years on Physicochemical Properties and Enzyme Activities in Soil of Rice-Cherry Tomato Rotation

Crop rotation periodicity has always been one of the research focuses currently. In this study, the physicochemical properties, nutrient contents and enzyme activities were investigated in soils from rice-cherry tomato rotation for one year (1a), three years (3a), five years (5a), seven years (7a) and ten years (10a), respectively. The major objective was to analyze the optimal rotation years of rice-cherry tomato from soil perspective, so as to provide theoretical basis for effectively avoiding continuous cropping obstacles of cherry tomato via studying the response characteristics of soil physicochemical properties, nutrient contents and enzyme activities to planting years of rice-cherry tomato rotation system. The results were as follows: 1) Soil pH value was increased year by year during 1a to 5a, reached the highest value 5.32 at 5a. However, soil acidity was sharply enhanced during 7a to 10a (P P •kg-1 at 5a. 3) The content of soil available phosphorus was increased year by year with increasing of crop rotation years, and increased by 110% to 173% during 3a to 10a (P P P < 0.05). In conclusion, long-term single rotation pattern of rice-cherry tomato would aggravate soil acidification, prompt soil nutrient imbalance and reduce soil enzyme activity. 5a to 7a would be the appropriate rotation period for rice-cherry tomato, or else it would reduce soil quality, resulting in a new continuous cropping obstacle of cherry tomato.

Nitrogen application levels based on critical nitrogen absorption regulate processing tomatoes productivity, nitrogen uptake, nitrate distributions, and root growth in Xinjiang, China

The unreasonable nitrogen(N)supply and low productivity are the main factors restricting the sustainable development of processing tomatoes.In addition,the mechanism by which the N application strategy affects root growth and nitrate distributions in processing tomatoes remains unclear.In this study,we applied four N application levels to a field(including 0(N0),200(N200),300(N300),and 400(N400)kg/hm^(2))based on the critical N absorption ratio at each growth stage(planting stage to flowering stage:22%;fruit setting stage:24%;red ripening stage:45%;and maturity stage:9%).The results indicated that N300 treatment significantly improved the aboveground dry matter(DM),yield,N uptake,and nitrogen use efficiency(NUE),while N400 treatment increased nitrate nitrogen(NO_(3)^(-)-N)residue in the 20–60 cm soil layer.Temporal variations of total root dry weight(TRDW)and total root length(TRL)showed a single-peak curve.Overall,N300 treatment improved the secondary root parameter of TRDW,while N400 treatment improved the secondary root parameter of TRL.The grey correlation coefficients indicated that root dry weight density(RDWD)in the surface soil(0–20 cm)had the strongest relationship with yield,whereas root length density(RLD)in the middle soil(20–40 cm)had a strong relationship with yield.The path model indicated that N uptake is a crucial factor affecting aboveground DM,TRDW,and yield.The above results indicate that N application levels based on critical N absorption improve the production of processing tomatoes by regulating N uptake and root distribution.Furthermore,the results of this study provide a theoretical basis for precise N management.

Transcriptomics and metabolomics analyses provide insights into postharvest ripening and senescence of tomato fruit under low temperature

Tomato is one of the most important vegetable crops in the world and is a model plant used to study the ripening of climacteric fleshy fruit.During the ripening process of tomato fruit,flavor and aroma metabolites,color,texture and plant hormones undergo significant changes.However,low temperatures delayed the ripening process of tomato fruit,inhibiting flavor compounds and ethylene production.Metabolomics and transcriptomics analyses of tomato fruit stored under low temperature(LT,5°C)and room temperature(RT,25°C)were carried out to investigate the effects of storage temperature on the physiological changes in tomato fruit after harvest.The results of transcriptomics changes revealed that the differentially expressed genes(DEGs)involved in tomato fruit ripening,including several kinds of transcription factors(TFs)(TCP,WRKY,MYB and bZIP),enzymes involved in cell wall metabolism[beta-galactosidase(β-GAL),pectinesterase(PE)and pectate lyase(PL),cellulose and cellulose synthase(CESA)],enzymes associated with fruit flavor and aroma[acetyltransferase(AT),malic enzyme(ME),lipoxygenase(LOX),aldehyde dehydrogenase(ALDH),alcohol dehydrogenase(ADH)and hexokinase(HK)],genes associated with heat stress protein 70 and genes involved in the production of plant hormones such as Ethylene responsive factor 1(ERF1),Auxin/indoleacetic acids protein(AUX/IAA),gibberellin regulated protein.Based on the above results,we constructed a regulatory network model of the effects of different temperatures during the fruit ripening process.According to the analysis of the metabolomics results,it was found that the contents of many metabolites in tomato fruit were greatly affected by storage temperature,including,organic acids(L-tartaric acid,a-hydroxyisobutyric acid and 4-acetamidobutyric acid),sugars(melezitose,beta-Dlactose,D-sedoheptulose 7-phosphate,2-deoxyribose 1-phosphate and raffinose)and phenols(coniferin,curcumin and feruloylputrescine).This study revealed the effects of storage temperature on postharvest tomato fruit and provided a basis for further understanding of the molecular biology and biochemistry of fruit ripening.

Elucidating the role of SlXTH5 in tomato fruit softening

Fruit softening in tomato(Solanum lycopersicum)is closely associated with cell wall disassembly,which is brought about through the action of a range of cell wall structure-related enzymes and other proteins such as expansins.Xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolase(XTH)(EC 2.4.1.207 and/or EC 3.2.1.151)has been proposed to be key player involved in xyloglucan metabolism.SlXTH5 showed the highest expression level among all SlXTHs during tomato ripening.In this study,the role of SlXTH5 involved in tomato softening was investigated in CRISPR-based knockout mutants of SlXTH5.Loss-of-function of SlXTH5 in transgenic tomato lines resulted in slightly firmer fruit pericarp,but significantly decreased their color index compared with azygous wild type(WT)control fruits.Increased paste viscosity was detected in CRISPR mutants,indicating that the activity of SlXTH5 is responsible for maintaining cell wall structural integrity.Immunocytochemistry studies were performed using the monoclonal antibody probe LM25 to examine the localization and distribution of xyloglucan in the pericarp cells of the CRISPR mutant fruits.The data indicated more xyloglucan was retained in the pericarp of CRISPR mutant fruit than in WT control fruit.This study revealed the link between SlXTH5 and xyloglucan metabolism and indicated the potential of manipulating SlXTH5 to regulate fruit softening.

Image Generation of Tomato Leaf Disease Identification Based on Small-ACGAN

Plant diseases have become a challenging threat in the agricultural field.Various learning approaches for plant disease detection and classification have been adopted to detect and diagnose these diseases early.However,deep learning entails extensive data for training,and it may be challenging to collect plant datasets.Even though plant datasets can be collected,they may be uneven in quantity.As a result,the problem of classification model overfitting arises.This study targets this issue and proposes an auxiliary classifier GAN(small-ACGAN)model based on a small number of datasets to extend the available data.First,after comparing various attention mechanisms,this paper chose to add the lightweight Coordinate Attention(CA)to the generator module of Auxiliary Classifier GANs(ACGAN)to improve the image quality.Then,a gradient penalty mechanism was added to the loss function to improve the training stability of the model.Experiments show that the proposed method can best improve the recognition accuracy of the classifier with the doubled dataset.On AlexNet,the accuracy was increased by 11.2%.In addition,small-ACGAN outperformed the other three GANs used in the experiment.Moreover,the experimental accuracy,precision,recall,and F1 scores of the five convolutional neural network(CNN)classifiers on the enhanced dataset improved by an average of 3.74%,3.48%,3.74%,and 3.80%compared to the original dataset.Furthermore,the accuracy of MobileNetV3 reached 97.9%,which fully demonstrated the feasibility of this approach.The general experimental results indicate that the method proposed in this paper provides a new dataset expansion method for effectively improving the identification accuracy and can play an essential role in expanding the dataset of the sparse number of plant diseases.