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Special Issue "Breeding Innovations in Crop for Resilient Cropping Systems"

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A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Breeding and Genetics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2024 | Viewed by 9316

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Pei Xu

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Guest Editor

College of Life Sciences, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, China
Interests: abiotic stress; vegetables; legumes; phenomics; breeding

Prof. Dr. Xinchao Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Tea Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310008, China
Interests: tea plant
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

A sustainable increase in global food production is fundamental to feeding the world. As sessile organisms, crops are constantly exposed to environmental stresses. There is an increasing demand to develop resilient cropping systems that are stable and resilient to erratic and extreme climates. From the perspective of breeding, crop cultivars fitting the systems should feature either the ability to withstand a perturbation or the ability to recover from it effectively. Therefore, understanding the genetic basis of the crop's traits dynamically responding to the solar-soil-atmosphere conditions is critical to the successful implementation of resilient cropping systems.

Over the past decades, breeding innovations have contributed greatly to global food security amid the changing environment. Modern technologies including genomics-assisted breeding, phenomic selection and transgenic breeding have been broadening the horizon of climate-resilient crops. This Special Issue on “Breeding Innovations in Crop for Resilient Cropping Systems” welcomes the submission of review and research papers or short communications on the following topics: crop genetics and genomics associated with environmental adaptation; crop phenomics theory, methods and applications; integrated cultivation and management measures in supporting the resilient cropping systems.

Prof. Dr. Pei Xu
Prof. Dr. Xinchao Wang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

breeding
resilient cropping systems
genomics
phenomics

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 5610 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Imidacloprid Disturbs the Nitrogen Metabolism and Triggers an Overall Stress Response in Maize Seedlings

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Agronomy 2022, 12(12), 3161; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12123161 - 13 Dec 2022

Viewed by 927

Abstract

Imidacloprid (IMI) protects crops from pests; however, its potential toxicity to plants and underlying mechanisms are still poorly understood. We investigated the effects of IMI on maize seedlings under different nitrogen sufficiency conditions. Our measurement of the maize seedlings’ growth traits and physiological indicators found that a 5 ppm IMI treatment stunted the maize’s growth and enhanced membrane lipid peroxidation under a nitrogen-supplied condition, but that it promoted an increase in biomass and alleviated chlorosis in maize shoots under nitrogen deficiency. These results suggest that IMI causes serious toxicity in maize seedlings under nitrogen-sufficient conditions. The content of IMI indicated that the leaf was the main site of IMI accumulation in maize, and that NO₃⁻ was beneficial for the transportation of IMI from the roots to the leaves. The three groups of seedlings, which received 0 (−N), 4 (N) or 10 mmol L⁻¹ NO₃⁻ (NN), were either treated or not treated with 5 ppm IMI. The six sets of transcriptome profiles from the shoots and roots were compared using Illumina sequencing. Transcriptome analysis revealed that IMI treatment led to changes in the expression of the genes involved in multiple biological processes, including nitrate transporter, nitrogen assimilation, nitrogen-regulatory factors, detoxification-related genes and several antioxidant-related genes in maize roots. The above results and the data for the nitrate content, glutamine synthetase activities and nitrate reductase activities showed that IMI disturbed nitrogen absorption and metabolism in maize seedlings. Glutathione S-transferase genes, C-type ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter 4, anthocyanins and lignin may play an important role in the detoxification of IMI in maize. These findings have helped us to elaborate the underlying detoxification mechanisms of IMI in plants, which is highly important in the cultivation of anti-pesticide crop varieties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breeding Innovations in Crop for Resilient Cropping Systems)

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17 pages, 2393 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Genetic Variation and Stability Analysis of an Artificially Synthesized Allohexaploid Brassica for Breeding Innovations

Muhammad Ahsan Farooq

and

Weijun Zhou

Agronomy 2022, 12(11), 2843; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12112843 - 15 Nov 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1142

Abstract

Allopolyploids play an essential role in plant evolution and confer apparent advantages on crop growth and breeding compared to low ploidy levels. A doubled haploid (DH) population derived from the cross between two artificially synthesized allohexaploid Brassica was created and self-crossed continuously. Morphological and yield-related traits showed considerable variation among different generations, different families and even within the same families. However, the flowering time, pollen viability and seed yield increased gradually during the selfing process. Ploidy level estimation and karyotyping analysis revealed that this population was chimeras with varied chromosome numbers within an identical plant. Chromosome translocations analysis showed that the B genome was more instable compared to the A and C genomes. The A genome was more prone to chromosome recombination than the C genome. Although some genomic regions were more likely to be duplicated, deleted, or rearranged, a consensus pattern was not shared between different progenies. This research deepened our understanding of the genetic variation of artificially synthesized allohexaploid Brassica. In addition, the allohexaploid Brassica can be used as a bridge to transfer some of the valuable traits blocked by reproductive barriers from wild Brassica species to cultivated species such as cold and drought resistance, etc. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breeding Innovations in Crop for Resilient Cropping Systems)

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17 pages, 4522 KiB

Open AccessArticle

DNA Methylation Inhibitor 5-Azacytidine Promotes Leaf Senescence in Pak Choi (Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis) by Regulating Senescence-Related Genes

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Agronomy 2022, 12(10), 2568; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12102568 - 19 Oct 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1164

Abstract

Leaf senescence is strictly regulated by multiple internal factors and external environmental signals, with the epigenetic modification being an important element among them. However, the epigenetic mechanism of leaf senescence is largely unknown in horticultural crops, especially the leaf vegetable pak choi, which easily senesces, and becomes yellow post-harvest. In this study, we found that the expression of DNA methyltransferases (BcMET1, BcSUVH4, BcDRM2, BcRDR2, and BcCMT3) of pak choi decreased during storage. The preliminary results showed that its senescence process was accompanied by DNA methylation changes. Moreover, treatment with 500 μM 5-Azacytidine (5-Aza) (DNA methylation inhibitor) can promote the senescence of pak choi leaves by (1) increasing the degradation of chlorophyll (Chl) and its derivatives, (2) increasing the activities of Mg-dechelatase (MDCase), pheophytinase (PPH) and pheophorbide a oxygenase (PAO), and (3) inducing the expression of senescence-related genes (BcSAG12, BcNYC1, BcSGR1, BcSGR2, BcPPH1, BcPPH2, BcPAO, and BcRCCR), thereby accelerating the senescence of the pak choi leaves. Further studies showed that DNA demethylation occurred in the promoter regions of BcSGR2 and BcSAG12 during storage, with the bisulfite sequencing detection showing that their degrees of methylation decreased. Therefore, our findings help us understand how epigenetic modifications affect the storage tolerance of leafy vegetables, which is highly significant for cultivating anti-senescent vegetable varieties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breeding Innovations in Crop for Resilient Cropping Systems)

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16 pages, 1986 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Variation Characteristics of Glucosinolate Contents in Leaf Mustard (Brassica juncea)

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Agronomy 2022, 12(10), 2287; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12102287 - 23 Sep 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1232

Abstract

Mustard, which belongs to the family Brassicaceae, is an annual or biennial herb and is considered as one of the most important native vegetables in China. Glucosinolates are important secondary metabolites containing sulfur and nitrogen in plants, which form a network with other metabolic pathways that play important roles in plant growth, development, and interaction with the environment. We studied varied phenotypic and glucosinolate contents of 60 mustard resources collected from various areas of China. The results showed both agronomic traits and glucosinolates varied greatly among mustard resources. We detected nine glucosinolates in mustard resources and the contents of total glucosinolates ranged from 1.2023 to 30.7310 μmol/g. Through the correlation analysis, we preliminarily found a significant negative correlation between leaf color and glucosinolate contents but needed further validation. For mustard resource JC 18-56, we analyzed the glucosinolate contents in different organs of different growth stages. The results indicated a significant difference among organs in both glucosinolates concentration and composition. The contents of glucosinolatess in alabastrums at bolting stage were highest, up to 140.1257 μmol/g dry weight (DW). We found that the main glucosinolates in roots were 4-methoxyglucobrassicin, while in other organs the glucosinolates were sinigrin. The contents of glucosinolatess in different organs of mustard were as follows: alabastrums > seeds > flowers > siliques > leaves > flower stems > stems > roots. This study provides important references for the selection and cultivation of high-quality mustard varieties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breeding Innovations in Crop for Resilient Cropping Systems)

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Review

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19 pages, 2452 KiB

Open AccessReview

Advances in the Agro-Environment Migration of Organic Chemical Pollutants and Their Biotransformation in Crops

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Agronomy 2022, 12(12), 3009; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12123009 - 29 Nov 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1733

Abstract

Global production, consumption and emission of various chemicals continue to rise, despite growing evidence of their harmful effects on environmental quality, food safety and human health. Agronomy, a nature-dependent industry, is considered to be extremely sensitive to chemical pollution. Hence, it is of great importance for food safety and human health to study the migration and biotransformation of chemical pollutants among agricultural elements, such as soil, water and crops. Thus, this review focused on typical organic pollutants (TOPs) in the agro-environment, such as pesticides, antibiotics and persistent organic pollutants (POPs), firstly describing their sources and the current state. Then, we further elucidated the mechanism and influence factors of the TOP-based uptake, translocation and biotransformation of TOPs in crops, including the apoplastic and symplastic pathway, enzyme-assisted nontarget resistance and the physicochemical properties of different TOPs. In addition, future insight into the identification of detoxified genes and lower-toxic metabolism of TOPs was presented in this review, which provides valuable information for breeding agro-products with lower chemical contaminants. In a nutshell, our review discussed comprehensive research progress on TOPs’ fates and offered theoretical guidance for pollution control and ecological risk assessment in agroecosystems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breeding Innovations in Crop for Resilient Cropping Systems)

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11 pages, 1057 KiB

Open AccessReview

Research Progress in Leaf Related Molecular Breeding of Cucurbitaceae

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Agronomy 2022, 12(11), 2908; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12112908 - 21 Nov 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2382

Abstract

Cucurbitaceae crops play an important role in agricultural production, and they are a primary source of vegetables and fruits for daily needs. The cultivation of cucurbit varieties with excellent agronomic characters has attracted much attention in recent years. As the main source energy organ of Cucurbitaceae, the development of leaves is closely related to yield and environmental response. In this paper, the main research achievements on leaf development of Cucurbitaceae plants were summarized, and the origin, genetic research, gene mapping, and effects on the agronomic and economic characters of the leaf shape and leaf color mutants of Cucurbitaceae were introduced. In addition, the effects of some hormones and environmental factors were reviewed. This work provides a reference point for molecular breeding of leaf development of Cucurbitaceae. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breeding Innovations in Crop for Resilient Cropping Systems)

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