Two-stage seedling cultivation method for sweet peppers combining closed plant factory and solar greenhouse

This study introduced a two-stage cultivation method for sweet pepper seedlings, integrating the strengths of a closed plant factory and solar greenhouse, to mitigate the environmental constraints in Northeast China during the early spring season. In the first stage, seedlings were cultivated in a closed plant factory, followed by a second stage in a solar greenhouse. Four treatments- T1 (9 and 36 d), T2 (12 and 33 d), T3 (15 and 30 d), and T4 (18 and 27 d) - were designed for the first and second stages, respectively, with solar greenhouse-only approach serving as the control (CK). The findings reveal that the two-stage methodology significantly outperformed the control across multiple metrics, including seedling health index, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic capacity, yield, etc. Specifically, T3 emerged as optimal, boosting the health index by 38.59%, elevating chlorophyll content by 39.61%, increasing net photosynthesis by 34.61%, and augmenting yield per plant by 40.67%. Additionally, T3 expedited the time to harvest by 25 d compared to the control. Although the seedling cost for T3 was 0.12 RMB yuan higher, the benefits offset the additional investment. In conclusion, the two-stage cultivation method effectively leverages the advantages of both closed-plant factories and solar greenhouses, resulting in superior seedling quality compared to using only solar greenhouses. It offers a practical and economically viable solution for enhancing the quality and yield of sweet pepper seedlings, thus contributing to the progress in the field of facility seedling cultivation research.

Effect of Low Light on the Characteristics of Photosynthesis and Chlorophyll a Fluorescence During Leaf Development of Sweet Pepper

Low light stress is one of the main limiting factors which influence the production of sweet pepper under protected cultivation in China. In this experiment, two genotypes of sweet pepper, ShY （low light-tolerant genotype） and 20078 （low light-sensitive genotype）, were used to study the effects of low light （photosynthetic photon flux density, PPFD was 75- 100 umol m-2 s-1, control 450-500 umol m-2 s-1） on photosynthesis during leaf development. The result indicated that under low light chlorophyll content, net photosynthetic rate （PN）, photosynthetic apparent quantum efficiency （Фi） and carboxylation efficiency （CE） of sweet pepper leaves increased gradually and decreased after reaching the maximum levels. The time to reach the peak values for all the above parameters was delayed, whereas the light compensation point （LCP） decreased gradually along with leaf expansion. The decrease in maximum quantum yield of PS II （Fv/Fm） was not observed at any stages of the leaf development under low light condition, but the actual PS II efficiency under irradiance （ФPS II） was lower accompanied by an increased non-photochemical quenching （NPQ） in young and/or old leaves compared with mature leaves. The antenna thermal dissipation （D） was a main way of heat dissipation when young leaves received excessive light energy, while the decline in photosynthetic function in senescence leaf was mostly owing to the decrease in carbon assimilation capacity, followed by a significantly increased allocation of excessive energy （Ex）. Compared with 20078, ShY could maintain higher PN, ФPS II and lower QA reduction state for a longer time during leaf development. Thus, in ShY photosynthetic efficiency and the activity of electron transport of PS II were not significantly affected due to low light stress.

Effects of Cyclic Electron Flow Inhibitor(Antimycin A)on Photosystem Photoinhibition of Sweet Pepper Leaves upon Exposure to Chilling Stress Under Low Irradiance

In chloroplast, there were two pathways involved in the cyclic electron flow around photosystem 1 （PS 1）. One was the NADH dehydrogenase （NDH）-dependent flow and the other was the ferredoxin quinone reductase-dependent flow. It was proposed that the NDH-dependent cyclic electron flow around PSI was related to the xanthophyll cycle-dependent non-photochemical quenching （NPQ） at chilling temperature under low irradiance （CL）. The function of the chloroplastic cyclic electron flow around PS 1 was examined by comparing sweet pepper （Capsicum annuum L.） control with its antimycin A （AA）-fed leaves upon exposure to CL stress. During CL stress, the maximum photochemical efficiency of PS2 （Fv/Fm） decreased markedly in both controls and AA-fed leaves, and P700＋ was also lower in AA-fed leaves than in controls. These results implied that cyclic electron flow around PS 1 functioned to protect the photosynthetic apparatus from CL stress. Under such stress, NPQ and PS2-driven electron transport rate were different between AA-fed leaves and controls. The lower NPQ in AA-fed leaves might be related to an inefficient proton gradient across thylakoid membranes （ApH） because of inhibiting cyclic electron flow around PS 1 under CL stress.

Effects of Short-Term Chilling Stress on the Photosystems and Chloroplast Ultrastructure in Sweet Pepper

By measuring chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, composition of fatty acids, active oxygen species and activities ofsome antioxidant enzymes, effects of chilling stress (4C) in the low light (100 mmol m-2 s-1) on chilling-sensitive plants werestudied. After 6 h chilling stress (4C) in the low light, the maximal photochemical efficiency of PSII (Fv/Fm) of sweetpepper leaves decreased by 35.6%, and the oxidizable P700 decreased by 60%. However, chilling stress in the dark had noeffect on both of them. Unsaturation of fatty acids in thylakoid membrane was accelerated, which might be helpful tostabilize photosynthetic apparatus. Distortion and swelling of grana caused by chilling in the dark probably decreasedactivities of antioxidant enzymes, which resulted in the accumulation of active oxygen species. On the contrary,photooxidation might be related to the disintegration and unstacking of grana. Chilling stress induced photoinhibition ofPSII and PSI, and active oxygen species might be one of the factors causing the decrease of the oxidizable P700. PSIseemed to be more sensitive to chilling stress in the low light than PSII.

Indoor Inoculation and Identification Technology of Sweet (Hot) Pepper Virus

[Objective] The paper was to establish an affordable indoor virus inoculation and identification technology. [Method] Taking Tobacco Mosaic Virus （TMV） and Cucumber Mosaic Vires （CMV） of sweet （hot） pepper as the sources of virus, an affordable indoor virus inoculation and identification technology was developed in the paper. [ Result] The suitable inoculation concentration of CMV was five to ten times, and the best seedling age for inoculation was five to six leav- es. Suitable inoculation concentration of TMV was 20 to 30 times, and the best seedling age for inoculation was three to six leaves. Single inoculation technology was mainly used for indoor virus inoculation and identification of sweet （hot） pepper, and complex inoculation technology could also be adopted with first, st inoculation of CMV and late inoculation of TMV. For mixed inoculation technology, CMV： TMV should be 1： 1. Complex inoculation and mix inoculation should base on the tech- nology of single inoculation. Disease resistant materials, AID1-W22-dg176, ABgl-W22-48123, AB91-DL-6428, HY031-2-8-1-6, BYT-4-1-3-6-8, JFG-2-1-2-6, JF8S-1-1-5-4-8 and I＇502-1-1-3-5, were identified by this method. [ Conclusion] This research provided scientific basis for standardization of indoor inoculation of sweet （hot） pepper virus.

Nutrient Limiting Factors in Acidic Vegetable Soils

Nutrient limiting factors in acidic soils from vegetable fields of the Chongqing suburbs of China were assessed by employing the systematic approach developed by Agro Services International (ASI) including soil testing, nutrient adsorption study, and pot and field experiments to verify the results of soil testing, with a conventional soil test (CST) used for comparison. The ASI method found the moderately acidic soil (W01) to be N and P deficient; the strongly acidic soil (W04) to be N, K and S deficient; and the slightly acidic soil (W09) to be N, K, S, Cu, Mn, and Zn deficient. The CST method showed that W01 had P, B and Cu deficiencies; W04 had N, P and S deficiencies; and W09 had N, P, S, B, Cu, and Zn deficiencies. There were differences between the two methods. Among the two indicator plants selected, the response of sorghum on the three representative acidic soils was more closely related to the ASI results than that of sweet pepper.

Predicting Pepper Fruit Yield Based on Temperature and Solar Radiation

Two separate experiments were conducted in bell pepper （Capsicum annum L.） in order to evaluate the effects of temperature and radiation on fruit yield. The results of the temperature experiment were integrated into the radiation experiment to give an overall empirical model for potential pepper fruit yield grown in greenhouse. In the temperature experiment, pepper plants were planted during the summer time of Israel in the Arava region in a commercial, one hectare greenhouse, equipped with a cooling wet-mat system. Eleven plots were assigned along the 80 m down the row from the wet mat. Air seasonal temperatures were affected by the distance from the wet-mat and linearly increased at the rate of 0.036 ℃/m, while relative humidity was not affected. Fruit yield dropped from 19.4 kg/m at a distance of 20 m, to 13.1 kg/m2 at 80 m away from the wet-mat, respectively. Yield regression decreased linearly with increased temperature at -11%/℃. In the radiation experiment, during the summer time of Israel in the Western Negev region, three sweet pepper varieties were grown under six radiation treatments, which accumulated to the following relative global radiation fractions （lint/lout）： 0.72, 0.61, 0.46, 0.38, 0.32 and 0.21 from outside radiation. The three varieties did not differ in their response to radiation. The seasonal temperature normalized yield response to radiation quantity at 21 ℃ （Y21） yielded a linear regression formula with a slope of 7.6 × 10^-3 kg/m^2/MJ. The multiplicative model of temperature and radiation on fruit yield was found to predict well the potential fruit yield for various locations and seasons in Israel.

Automatic sweet pepper detection based on point cloud images using subtractive clustering

Automatic identification and detection of fruit on trees by machine vision is the basis of developing automatic harvesting robots in agriculture.The occlusion of branches,leaves and other fruits in canopy images will affect the accuracy of fruit detection.To provide a scientific and reliable technical guidance for fruit harvesting robots,a method using point cloud images was proposed in this study to detect red fruits to overcome the impact of occlusion on detection.Firstly,the fruit regions were segmented from a tree’s point cloud by applying the color threshold of red and green.Then,the noise in fruit point clouds was removed with sparse outlier removal.Finally,the point cloud of each fruit was detected and counted based on the subtractive clustering algorithm.For the sweet pepper dataset,the true positive rate(TPR)is 90.69%and the false positive rate(FPR)is 6.97%for all fruits that are at least partially visible in the scene.

Pepper variome reveals the history and key loci associated with fruit domestication and diversification

Pepper(Capsicum spp.)is an important vegetable crop that provides a unique pungent sensation when eaten.Through construction of a pepper variome map,we examined the main groups that emerged during domestication and breeding of C.annuum,their relationships and temporal succession,and the molecular events underlying the main transitions.The results showed that the initial differentiation in fruit shape and pungency,increase in fruit weight,and transition from erect to pendent fruits,as well as the recent appearance of large,blocky,sweet fruits(bell peppers),were accompanied by strong selection/fixation of key alleles and introgressions in two large genomic regions.Furthermore,we identified Up,which encodes a BIG GRAIN protein involved in auxin transport,as a key domestication gene that controls erect vs pendent fruit orientation.The up mutation gained increased expression especially in the fruit pedicel through a 579-bp sequence deletion in its 5′upstream region,resulting in the phenotype of pendent fruit.The function of Up was confirmed by virus-induced gene silencing.Taken together,these findings constitute a cornerstone for understanding the domestication and differentiation of a key horticultural crop.