Analysis of Some Important Forage Quality Attributes of Southeastern Wildrye (Elymus glabriflorus) Using Near-Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy

Southeastern wildrye (Elymus glabriflorus, Vasey ex L.H. Dewey) is a cool-season, perennial grass native to southeastern United States. Recently, there is a growing interest in its development as a grazing and haying forage crop due to its wide area of adaptation across this region. Consequently, there is a great need for the evaluation of its forage quality by rapid, but accurate analytical methods like Near-Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS). In this study, acceptable NIRS calibration models were developed for: dry matter, DM (n = 113, R2 = 0.904, RSCD = 2.54, RSCIQ = 4.65);crude protein, CP (n = 113, R2 = 0.974, RSCD = 5.16, RSCIQ = 5.92);acid detergent fiber, ADF (n = 116, R2 = 0.896, RSCD = 2.35, RSCIQ = 1.28);neutral detergent fiber, NDF (n = 118, R2 = 0.934, RSCD = 2.53, RSCIQ = 3.38);digestible dry matter, DDM (n = 116, R2 = 0.895, RSCD = 2.36, RSCIQ = 1.35);dry matter intake, DMI (n = 115, R2 = 0.924, RSCD = 2.40, RSCIQ = 2.53);and relative feed value, RFV (n = 114, R2 = 0.932, RSCD = 2.94, RSCIQ = 2.81). Prediction of independent validation sets yielded good agreement between the NIRS predicted values and the laboratory reference values for each of: DM (n = 53, R2 = 0.831, RPD = 2.45, RPIQ = 4.24);CP (n = 57, R2 = 0.967, RPD = 5.37, RPIQ = 7.16);ADF (n = 49, R2 = 0.895, RPD = 2.97, RPIQ = 1.51);NDF (n = 53, R2 = 0.928, RPD = 3.75, RPIQ = 4.22);digestible dry matter, DDM (n = 55, R2 = 0.860, RSCD = 265, RSCIQ = 1.15);dry matter intake, DMI (n = 156, R2 = 0.845, RSCD = 2.48, RSCIQ = 2.11);and relative feed value, RFV (n = 55, R2 = 0.916, RSCD = 3.45, RSCIQ = 3.04) contents, indicating that all seven calibration models had good quantitative information. Therefore, precise, accurate, and rapid analysis of these important forage quality attributes of southeastern wildrye can be routinely done using the developed NIRS calibration models.

Novel Type II Peroxiredoxin Gene Homologue from Chinese Wildrye Enhancing Salt Stress Tolerance of Transgenic Yeast

Peroxiredoxins（Prxs） are a large family of antioxidant enzymes of various types that take part in signal transduction via decomposing reactive oxygen species（ROS）. Although extensive efforts have been made over the last decades in understanding the structures and functions of Prxs, type II Prxs in monocots are hardly studied. In this work, a monocot type II Prx gene homologue from Chinese wildrye（Leymus Chinensis）, designated as LcTpxII, was isolated and characterized. LcTpxII encoding a 162-amino acid protein contains a thioredoxin domain and a cysteine residue at position 51, suggesting that it is a member of the Prxs family. The LcTpxII is capable of decomposing H2O2 and protecting plasmid DNA from damage caused by ROS. The expression of LcTpxII in Chinese wildrye was induced by 400 mmol/L NaCl and 100 mmol/L Na2CO3 in the experiment. The overexpression of LcTpxII enhances the tolerance of transgenic yeast to 1.6 mol/L NaCl and 10 mmol/L Na2CO3.

The Yield and Water Use Efficiency to First Cutting Date of Siberian Wildrye in North China

A field experiment study was conducted in Bashang Plateau in North China in 2008 to determine the effect of three first cutting dates on the growth and water use efficiency （WUE） of Siberian wildrye （Elymus sibiricus L.） in the agropastoral ecotone of North China （APENC）. The experiment was conducted in a split plot design with three replications with water supply regime as the main plot treatment and first cutting date as the subplot treatment. Two water supply regimes were used, which included rain-fed treatment as control （CK） and a single irrigation and straw mulch treatment （W）. Three first cutting date treatments were conducted at early heading stage on July 1 （E）, at late heading stage on July 12 （L）, and at flowering stage on July 27 （F）, respectively. The results showed that the forage yield and WUE were the lowest at early heading stage harvest, while the highest at flowering stage either in CK or W treatment. Under combined CK and W treatments, average forage yields of the F subplots were 2 900 and 6 703 kg ha-~, and the values of WUE were 0.82 and 2.28 kg m-3, respectively. Under the CK treatment, forage yields of the E and L subplots were 43.8 and 41.9% lower than the F subplots, and their values of WUE were 46.2 and 50.3% lower than F, respectively. Under the W treatment, the forage yields of the E and L subplots were 74.9 and 61.6% lower, and their values of WUE were 78.1 and 63.3% lower, respectively, as compared with F subplots. Therefore, earlier first cutting did not increase the regrowth of Siberian wildrye and improve the mismatch between rainy season and the period of high growth potential of the grass in the semiarid APENC.