Productivity of most improved major food crops showed stagnation in the past decades. As human population is projected to reach 9-10 billion by the end of the 21st century, agricultural productivity must be increased to ensure their demands. Photosynthetic capacity is the basic process underlying primary biological productivity in green plants and enhancing it might lead to increasing potential of the crop yields. Several approaches may improve the photosynthetic capacity, including integrated systems management, in order to close wide gaps between actual farmer’s and the optimum obtainable yield. Conventional and molecular genetic improvement to increase leaf net photosynthesis (P N) are viable approaches, which have been recently shown in few crops. Bioengineering the more efficient CC4 into C3 system is another ambitious approach that is currently being applied to the C3 rice crop. Two under-researched, yet old important crops native to the tropic Americas (i.e., the CC4 amaranths and the C3-CC4 intermediate cassava), have shown high potential P N, high productivity, high water use efficiency, and tolerance to heat and drought stresses. These physiological traits make them suitable for future agricultural systems, particularly in a globally warming climate. Work on crop canopy photosynthesis included that on flowering genes, which control formation and decline of the canopy photosynthetic activity, have contributed to the climate change research effort. The plant breeders need to select for higher P N to enhance the yield and crop tolerance to environmental stresses. The plant science instructors, and researchers, for various reasons, need to focus more on tropical species and to use the research, highlighted here, as an example of how to increase their yields., M. A. El-Sharkawy., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Changes in the content of protein, glycogen, neutral lipids and sterols were investigated in locust eggs from oviposition until larval hatching. The content of all of these nutritional reserves was higher in the eggs of S. gregaria because of their larger size, although relative changes in utilization or synthesis of these materials during embryogenesis showed a more or less parallel course. The amount of protein increased progressively during embryogenesis, while glycogen and neutral lipids were successively metabolized or utilized for development of the embryo. There appeared significant relative differences in the way of utilizing energetic reserves during embryogenesis between the two species. This was especially manifested by a larger relative decrease in the content of neutral lipids (mainly triglyceride) in the eggs of S. gregaria. Conversely, the eggs of L. migratoria showed a larger relative utilization of glycogen reserves. The content of steroids was higher in the eggs of S. gregaria during the initial 6 days of embryonic development. Later on, during advanced stages of pharate larval development, the steroids were rapidly utilized and decreased in both species. The described changes in utilization of the main energetic resources were correlated with periods of tissue growth and differentiation and with the cuticulogenesis of the growing embryo.
We compared responses of maize, tomato, and bean plants to water stress. Maize reached a severe water deficit (leaf water potential -1.90 MPa) in a longer period of time as compared with tomato and bean plants. Maize stomatal conductance (gs) decreased at mild water deficit. gs of tomato and bean decreased gradually and did not reach values as low as in maize. The protein content was maintained in maize and decreased at low water potential (ψw); in tomato it fluctuated and also decreased at low ψw; in bean it gradually decreased. Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase activity remained high at mild and moderate stress in maize and tomato plants; in bean it remained high only at mild stress. and M. Castrillo ... [et al.].
Wheat provides a unique genetic system in which variable sink size is available across the ploidies. We characterized monocarpic senescence in diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploid wheat species in flag leaf from anthesis up to full grain maturity at regular intervals. Triticum tauschii Acc. cv. EC-331751 showed the fastest rate of senescence among the species studied and the rate of loss per day was highest in terms of photosynthesis rate, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBPCO) content, and flag leaf N content coupled with a higher rate of gain in grain N content. Cultivars Kundan and HD 4530 maintained high flag leaf N content throughout grain filling as compared to the diploids and showed a slower rate of senescence. RuBPCO content was higher in the diploids as compared to Kundan and HD 4530 at anthesis. However, the rate of decline in RuBPCO content per day was also higher in the diploids. This degradation in RuBPCO was mediated by high endoproteolytic activities in the diploids which in turn supported its higher rate of N mobilization as compared to the tetraploid and hexaploid wheat. Acidic endopeptidases were responsible for the mobilization of flag leaf nitrogen in wheat across ploidy levels (r=-0.582, p<0.01). and B. Srivalli, R. Khanna-Chopra.
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Sonalika) seedlings were grown in Hoagland solution. Primary leaves were harvested at 8, 12, and 15 d and cut into five equal segments. Contents of photosynthetic pigments and proteins, and photosystem 2 (PS2) activity increased from base to apex of these leaves. Chlorophyll (Chl) content was maximum at 12 d in all the leaf segments, but PS2 activity showed a gradual decline from 8 to 15 d in all leaf segments. In sharp contrast, the CO2 fixation ability of chloroplasts increased from 8 to 15 d. CO2 fixation ability of chloroplasts started to decline from base to apex of 15-d-old seedlings, where the content of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase large subunit (RuBPCO-LSU) increased acropetally. RuBPCO-LSU content was maximum in all the leaf segments in 12-d-old seedlings. This shows a distinctive pattern of PS2, Chl, CO2 fixation ability of chloroplasts, and RuBPCO-LSU content along the axis of leaf lamina during development and senescence. RuBPCO-LSU (54 kDa) degraded to fragments of 45, 42, 37, 19, and 16 kDa products which accumulated along the leaf axis during ageing of chloroplasts. Thus the CO2 fixation ability of chloroplasts declines earlier than PS2 activity and photosynthetic pigment contents along the leaf lamina. and F. Dilnawaz ... [et al.].