No abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate Al3+-induced IAA transport, distribution, and the relation of these two processes to Al3+-inhibition of root growth in alfalfa. Alfalfa seedlings with or without apical buds were exposed to 0 or 100 μM AlCl3 and were foliar sprayed with water or 6 mg L−1 IAA. Aluminium stress resulted in disordered arrangement of cells, deformed cell shapes, altered cell structure, and a shorter length of the meristematic zone in root tips. Aluminium stress significantly decreased the IAA concentration in apical buds and root tips. The distribution of IAA fluorescence signals in root tips was disturbed, and the IAA transportation from shoot base to root tip was inhibited. The highest intensity of fluorescence signals was detected in the apical meristematic zone. Exogenous application of IAA markedly alleviated the Al3+-induced inhibition of root growth by increasing IAA accumulation and recovering the damaged cell structure in root tips. In addition, Al3+ stress up-regulated expression of AUX1 and PIN2 genes. These results indicate that Al3+-induced reduction of root growth could be associated with the inhibitions of IAA synthesis in apical buds and IAA transportation in roots, as well as the imbalance of IAA distribution in root tips.

Farming practices that integrate plastic film mulching and nitrogen (N) fertilization have been extensively used to enhance crop productivity. However, the interactive effects of mulching and N application on soil microbial properties and crop yields have received little attention. A 2‐year field experiment was carried out in the Loess Plateau to investigate the independent and combined effects of plastic mulch and N application rate on the soil microbial population, enzymatic activity and grain yield. From 2016 to 2017, two mulching patterns (i.e., plastic mulching and no mulching) were exposed to five different N application rates (0 (N0), 80 (N80), 160 (N160), 200 (N200) and 240 (N240) kg N ha−1). N application significantly affected the soil microbial community composition, as suggested by significant increases in soil total bacteria, cellulose‐decomposing bacteria and the bacterial‐to‐fungal ratio with N rates. In contrast, the mulching pattern significantly affected soil extracellular enzyme production. Furthermore, there were significant effects of mulching, N application and their interaction on grain yield. The highest grain yield (11,728 kg N ha−1 in 2016 and 12,350 kg N ha−1 in 2017) in both growing seasons was consistently obtained under plastic mulching with a N level of 200 kg N ha−1. Our study showed that plastic mulching significantly affected extracellular enzyme production, and N fertilizer application significantly affected the composition of the soil microbial community. Highlights Independent and coupled effects of mulching and N application on soil biological properties and grain performance were explored. N application significantly influenced soil microbial community composition. Mulching pattern rather than N application independently and significantly affected soil extracellular enzyme production The combined application of plastic mulching with 200 kg N ha−1 should be seem as an optimum crop production pattern in this area.

River discharge and width, as essential hydraulic variables and hydrological data, play a vital role in influencing the water cycle, driving the resulting river topography and supporting ecological functioning. Insights into bankfull river discharge and bankfull width at fine spatial resolutions are essential. In this study, 10-m Sentinel-2 multispectral instrument (MSI) imagery and digital elevation model (DEM) data, as well as in situ discharge and sediment data, are fused to extract bankfull river widths on the upper Yellow River. Using in situ cross-section morphology data and flood frequency estimations to calculate the bankfull discharge of 22 hydrological stations, the one-to-one correspondence relationship between the bankfull discharge data and the image cover data was determined. The machine learning (ML) method is used to extract water bodies from the Sentinel-2 images in the Google Earth Engine (GEE). The mean overall accuracy was above 0.87, and the mean kappa value was above 0.75. The research results show that (1) for rivers with high suspended sediment concentrations, the water quality index (SRMIR-Red) constitutes a higher contribution; the infrared band performs better in areas with greater amounts of vegetation coverage; and for rivers in general, the water indices perform best. (2) The effective river width of the extracted connected rivers is 30 m, which is 3 times the image resolution. The R2, root mean square error (RMSE), and mean bias error (MBE) of the estimated river width values are 0.991, 7.455 m, and −0.232 m, respectively. (3) The average river widths of the single-thread sections show linear increases along the main stream, and the R2 value is 0.801. The river width has a power function relationship with bankfull discharge and the contributing area, i.e., the downstream hydraulic geometry, with R2 values of 0.782 and 0.630, respectively. More importantly, the extracted river widths provide basic data to analyze the spatial distribution of bankfull widths along river networks and other applications in hydrology, fluvial geomorphology, and stream ecology.

Tandem alkylation/arylation of primary phosphines PH 2 R (R = Ph, Cy, Fc, FcCH 2 ; Fc = ferrocenyl) with 5-bromo-6chloromethylacenaphthene (1) and 2 equiv of NaOSiMe 3 using the catalyst precursor Cu(IPr)(Cl) gave a series of 1-phosphapyracenes (R-PyraPhos, 2a−d), which were isolated as borane adducts 3a−d. Similar reactions of the chiral air-stable primary phosphines PH 2 Ar* (Ar* = (S)-binaphthyl ( 4), (R)-MeO-binaphthyl ( 5)) to yield 2e,f and 3e,f were diastereoselective (dr = 2:1 and 1.2:1, respectively), and chromatography gave a highly enriched sample of one diastereomer of 3f. The mechanism of catalysis was investigated by NMR monitoring and independent syntheses of potential intermediates. The phosphido complexes Cu(IPr)(PHAr′) (Ar′ = Ph, (R)-MeO-binaphthyl) were generated in equilibrium mixtures, along with Me 3 SiOH, from Cu(IPr)(OSiMe 3 ) and PH 2 Ar′. They reacted with benzyl chloride 1 to yield Cu(IPr)(Cl) and the secondary phosphines PHAr′(CH 2 Ar) (Ar = Br-acenaphthyl); addition of NaOSiMe 3 yielded PyraPhos derivatives 2a,f. Deprotonation of the cations [Cu(IPr)(PHAr′CH 2 Ar)][OTf] (Ar′ = Ph, (R)-MeO-binaphthyl) was investigated as a route to the secondary phosphido complexes Cu(IPr)(PAr′CH 2 Ar) (13). We propose that C−Br oxidative addition in the Cu(I)−phosphido intermediates 13 followed by P−C reductive elimination from Cu(III)−phosphido complexes forms the PyraPhos ring, with diastereoselection arising from rapid pyramidal inversion of Cu−phosphido groups.