No abstract

A reliable and comprehensive method for identifying the origin and assessing the quality of Epimedium has been developed. The method is based on analysis of HPLC fingerprints, combined with similarity analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), principal component analysis (PCA) and multi-ingredient quantitative analysis. Nineteen batches of Epimedium, collected from different areas in the western regions of China, were used to establish the fingerprints and 18 peaks were selected for the analysis. Similarity analysis, HCA and PCA all classified the 19 areas into three groups. Simultaneous quantification of the five major bioactive ingredients in the Epimedium samples was also carried out to confirm the consistency of the quality tests. These methods were successfully used to identify the geographical origin of the Epimedium samples and to evaluate their quality.

To understand the influence of salt content in soil on the photosynthetic physiological indexes of spring wheat with trickle irrigation, the changes of the photosynthetic physiological indexes of spring wheat and the stomatal limitation and non-stomatal limitation features of photosynthesis were analyzed so as to provide theoretical basis and technical support for spring wheat cultivation in salinealkali soils with trickle irrigation. Pot experiment was conducted to investigate changes of the photosynthetic characteristics of spring wheat under different salt contents in soil (0.15 % (CK), 0.80 %, 1.70 %, and 2.60 %). The results showed that under different conditions of salt content, the daily variations of photosynthetic physiological indexes were similar, and the "noon nap" phenomenon during photosynthesis was obvious. Leaf stomatal conductance of spring wheat was suppressed by the salts in soil, resulting in the decreases of net photosynthetic rate, water utilization efficiency and solar energy utilization efficiency; leaf photosynthesis of spring wheat was restrained by the simultaneous existing of stomatal and nonstomatal factors; decrease of the net photosynthetic rate was mainly caused by stomatal factors under low salt content conditions and by non-stomatal factors under high salt content conditions. The spring wheat leaves had relatively high net photosynthetic rates in soils with initial salt contents of 0.15 % and 0.80 %. According to the results from this study, it is preliminarily concluded that spring wheat with trickle irrigation can be planted in saline-alkali soils with salt content lower than mild salinization soil. Keywords: Trickle irrigation; Spring wheat; Salt content in soil; Photosynthetic characteristics; Stomatal and non-stomatal factor The ability of endophytes to grow in plant tissues is poorly understood as the plant-endophyte association is a complex interaction. It has been hypothesized that poor endophyte growth in plant tissues may consequently result in inferior colonization and expression of antifungal activities. It is pertinent that the growth of the various endophytes (fast-and slow-growing endophytes) are studied in planta, particularly when fast-and slow-growing endophytes competitively exclude pathogens and produce strong antifungal compounds, respectively. In this study, plantlets were first inoculated with fastgrowing endophytes (Trichoderma asperellum T2, Diaporthe phaseolorum WAA02) and slow-growing endophytes (Penicillium citrinum BTF08, Ganoderma boninense or Gb). Their growth in planta was determined based on ergosterol extraction (microwave-assisted extraction method) and quantified with HPLC. Results revealed that slow-growing endophyte BTF08 is naturally richer in ergosterol (66.4 μg per 2 g biomass) compared to fast-growing endophytes (WAA02 and T2 with 13.4 and 39.3 μg per 2 g biomass, respectively). Unlike BTF08, Gb (22.6 μg per 2 g biomass) has lesser ergosterol, suggesting that sporulation may be another factor contributing to ergosterol content. In plants...