Biochemical and microbial properties of rhizospheres under maize/ peanut intercropping

Maize/peanut intercropping system shows the significant yield advantage. Soil microbes play major roles in soil nutrient cycling and were affected by intercropping plants. This experiment was carried out to evaluate the changing of rhizosphere microbial community composition, and the relationship between microbial community and soil enzymatic activities, soil nutrients in maize/peanut intercropping system under the following three treatments： maize （Zea mays L.） and peanut （Arachis hypogaea L.） were intercropped without any separation （NS）, by half separation （HS） using a nylon net （50 μm） and complete separation （CS） by using a plastic sheet, respectively. The soil microbial communities were assessed by phospholipid fatty acid （PLFA）. We found that soil available nutrients （available nitrogen （Avail N） and available phosphorus （Avail P）） and enzymatic activities （soil urase and phosphomonoesterase） in both crops were improved in NS and HS treatments as compared to CS. Both bacterial and fungal biomasses in both crops were increased in NS followed by HS. Furthermore, Gram-positive bacteria （G＋） in maize soils were significant higher in NS and HS than CS, while the Gram-negative （G-） was significant higher in peanut soil. The ratio of normal saturated to monounsaturated PLFAs was significantly higher in rhizosphere of peanut under CS treatment than in any other treatments, which is an indicator of nutrient stress. Redundancy analysis and cluster analysis of PLFA showed rhizospheric microbial community of NS and HS of both plants tended to be consistent. The urase and Avail N were higher in NS and HS of both plants and positively correlated with bacteria, fungi （F） and total PLFAs, while negatively correlated with G＋/G- and NS/MS. The findings suggest that belowground interactions in maize/peanut intercropping system play important roles in changing the soil microbial composition and the dominant microbial species, which was closely related with the improving of soil available nutrients （N and P） and enzymatic activities.

Differential Proteomic Analysis of Leaf Development at Rice (Oryza sativa) Seedling Stage

To identify the function of differential expression proteins in different leaves of rice seedlings extracted from 2- to 5-leaf stages, the leaf proteins at the seedling stage of hybrid rice Shanyou 63 were studied by using the approach of plant proteomics, and those proteins were separated with two-dimensional electrophoresis （2-DE） and then analyzed with an imagemaster 2D Elite 5.0. The results showed that the 41 protein spots were detected differential expression, of which 17 new protein spots appeared after the 3-leaf stage, including 9 special protein spots, which were only detected at the 3-leaf stage. Thirteen protein spots increased first and then decreased in expression abundance gradually and finally even disappeared. For the other 11 protein spots, 3 protein spots decreased, but 6 protein spots were opposite in expression abundance, however, 2 protein spots expressed in an irregular pattern after the 2-leaf stage. Of the 41 differential leaf proteins, 15 protein spots were identified by ESI-Q MS/MS and categorized into 4 groups of functions. The results indicated that proteins were the carriers of the functions in cells, but were significantly influenced by the changes in cell function or intercellular environment; hence, the reason that caused the proteomic changes as mentioned earlier might be related to the occurrence of tillers at the rice seedling stage after the 3-leaf stage.

Simulation and Validation of Rice Potential Growth Process in Zhejiang Province of China by Utilizing WOFOST Model

A crop growth model of WOFOST was calibrated and validated through rice field experiments from 2001 to 2004 in Jinhua and Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. For late rice variety Xiushui 11 and hybrid Xieyou 46, the model was calibrated to obtain parameter values using the experimental data of years 2001 and 2002, then the parameters were validated by the data obtained during 2003. For single hybrid rice Liangyoupeijiu, the data recorded in 2004 and 2003 were used for calibration and validation, respectively. The main focus of the study was as follows： the WOFOST model is good in simulating rice potential growth in Zhejiang and can be used to analyze the process of rice growth and yield potential. The potential yield obtained from the WOFOST model was about 8100 kg/ha for late rice and 9300 kg/ha for single rice. The current average yield in Jinhua is only about 78% （late rice） and 70% （single rice） of their potential yield. The results of the simulation also showed that the currant practice of management at the middle and late growth stages of rice should be reexamined and improved to reach optimal rice growth.

Physiological traits of rice seedlings in response to inorganic arsenic

The aim of our study was to better understand the different responses of rice seedling to different species of inorganic arsenic As203 （As（Ill）） and Na2HAsO4 （As（V））. Our results indicate that the biomass of rice seedling decreased as arsenic concentration increased, with the decrease being more significant at higher arsenic concentrations. In addition, the analysis of superoxide dimutase （SOD）, peroxidase （POD）, and catalase （CAT） in rice roots and leaves showed that the activity of these three enzymes significantly decreased in rice tissues, especially in rice roots, as arsenic concentration was increased,. Further, the uptake and utilization efficiencies of N, P, and K were found to decrease as arsenic concentration was increased. However, the uptake and utilization efficiencies of P and K were mainly affected by As（IlI）, whereas those of N were mainly affected by As（V）. Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry （ICP-MS） was used to assay arsenic accumulation in rice tissues; the results indicate that the arsenic content in rice tissues was enhanced when arsenic concentration was increased, especially in rice roots after arsenic treatment.

Rice allelopathy and its properties of molecular ecology

Crop allelopathy is a promising and environmentally friendly method in weed control;however,the inducible genetic trait for allelopathy in the suppression of weeds needs to be overcome for practical use.Further study needs to be directed to this end to elucidate the molecular genetics and its physiologic mechanism.In this paper,the authors review recent advances in the investigation of rice allelopathy and its molecular regulatory mechanism,especially in responses to stressful conditions including biotic and abiotic factors in China.Previous studies show that rice allelopathy could be enhanced when the rice accession was exposed to stressful conditions,and further analysis by the transcriptomics and proteomics approaches conducted in our laboratory indicated that the increase in allelopathic potential of rice,when exposed to the stresses,was attributed to increased expression level of genes involved in phenolic synthetic metabolism.The increasing phenolic compounds have been confirmed as the main allelochemicals and they jointly act to suppress the target,especially in responses to stressful condition,but it seems to be the primary effect in phenolic allelopathy.We still wonder how the exudates from rice root,which were released into rhizosphere soil,are transformed by soil microorganism to produce the higher secondary effect of phenolic allelopathy in the suppression of weeds.Therefore,the authors suggest that rhizosphere biologic properties of allelopathy in rice and its mechanism are being the key research areas in the world now,and systems biology and its approaches,such as metagenomics and metaproteomics,would be helpful to reveal the process and its molecular ecological mechanism regarding rhizospheric biology of rice allelopathy.