Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) is an important sugar-producing and energy crop worldwide. The sugar beet pure line IMA1 independently bred by Chinese scientists is a standard diploid parent material that is widely used in hybrid-breeding programs. In this study, a high-quality, chromosome-level genome assembly for IMA1was conducted, and 99.1% of genome sequences were assigned to nine chromosomes. A total of 35,003 protein-coding genes were annotated, with 91.56% functionally annotated by public databases. Compared with previously released sugar beet assemblies, the new genome was larger with at least 1.6 times larger N50 size, thereby substantially improving the completeness and continuity of the sugar beet genome. A Genome-Wide Association Studies analysis identified 10 disease-resistance genes associated with three important beet diseases and five genes associated with sugar yield per hectare, which could be key targets to improve sugar productivity. Nine highly expressed genes associated with pollen fertility of sugar beet were also identified. The results of this study provide valuable information to identify and dissect functional genes affecting sugar beet agronomic traits, which can increase sugar beet production and help screen for excellent sugar beet breeding materials. In addition, information is provided that can precisely incorporate biotechnology tools into breeding efforts.

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Microbial consortia have substantial promise to degrade returned straw biomass and implement conversion strategies for soil nutrients to improve the quality of cultivated land. However, the composition of microbial consortia under different nitrogen conditions, the interaction between members and the functions during the process of decomposition of lignocellulose remain poorly understood. This study comprehensively examines the functional potential and structural diversity of the GF‐20 microbial consortium that degrades lignocellulose and soil used for inoculation and will explore the associated metabolic pathway networks in Cluster of Orthologous Groups (COG) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) using metagenomic analyses. Analyses of the metagenomic taxonomic affiliation data showed that the soil used for inoculation primarily contained members from the phyla Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi and Acidobacteria, as well as Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes in microbial consortia (N1 and N6). However, N6 is likely to be able to reduce the diversity of microbial species and change the community structure in a more concentrated comparison with N1. Notably, the key microbes were determined to be Cellvibrio, Brevundimonas, Flavobacterium and Achromobacter, whose analogous physiological functions were critical for the degradation of lignocellulosic substrates. The COG annotation indicated that the microbial metabolic cluster was the predominant category in all the samples, while the metabolic genes in N6 were relatively less abundant compared with those in N1. The KEGG annotation demonstrated that the inoculation soil (Q) has more metabolic functions and pathways than those of the microbial consortia, and the number of orthologies, modules, pathways and enzymes in N6 was observably lower than that in N1. A more detailed analysis showed that both of the consortia had functional profiles that were highly similar. These functional profiles clearly differed compared with those in the Q community. The relative abundance (RA) of ABC transporters in the Q was higher than that in the microbial consortia and higher in N1 than in N6. However, the two‐component system of N1 and N6 was higher than that of Q because of their relation to the microbial degradation of lignocellulosic materials. Most of the abundances of lignocellulolytic enzymes in the Q were lower than those in the microbial consortia (N1 and N6), and the RAs of some of these enzymes (e.g., β‐glucosidase, xylan 1,4‐β‐xylosidase, arabinoxylan arabinofuranohydrolase, β‐galactosidase, feruloyl esterase, mannan endo‐1,4‐β‐mannosidase, alpha‐glucuronidase and arabinogalactan endo‐1,4‐β‐galactosidase) in N6 were significantly higher than those of N1.The taxonomic structure and function of the Q and that of the consortia differed significantly, and the use of urea resulted in a decrease in the taxonomic species of microorganisms. The changes in functional diversity were accompanied with variation in the microbial composition, m...

Solid bacterial agents are required to accelerate stover degradation in low-temperature areas. However, the laboratory-to-practice translation of bioprocessing techniques is hindered by high cost, poor practicality, and short shelf life. Using corn stover powder, starch, and bran as additives, we screened Pseudomonas putida and Acinetobacter lwoffii, which effectively degrades corn stover at low temperatures, to develop a sustainable and low-cost bacterial agent formula that ensures bacterial viability in low-temperature soil and storage. The optimal formulation included precipitates and additives at a 1:4 ratio, including corn stover powder, starch, and bran at a 4:3:9 ratio. The viable bacterial count with this formulation reached 7.5 × 1010 colony-forming units/g, with high lignocellulase activities. The degradation effect of the optimal formulation on stover and its components, in both lab soil culture simulation and the field environment, was significantly higher than that without bacterial agent application. This formulation had an outstanding effect on lignin. The optimal storage conditions included vacuum packing under 10% water content at 4 °C; the survival rate of viable bacteria reached 85.33% after 180 d. Given the global value of stover-return agriculture, our results offer a valuable strategy for application in low-temperature soils where stover degradation rates are otherwise low.