Modified plant architecture integrated with liquid fertilizers improves fruit productivity and quality of tomato in North West Himalaya, India

India produces around 19.0 million tonnes of tomatoes annually, which is insufficient to meet the ever-increasing demand. A big gap of tomato productivity (72.14 t ha–1) between India (24.66 t ha–1) and the USA (96.8 t ha–1) exist, which can be bridged by integrating trellis system of shoot training, shoot pruning, liquid fertilizers, farmyard manure, and mulching technologies. Therefore, the present experiment was conducted on tomato (cv. Himsona) during 2019–2020 at farmers' fields to improve tomato productivity and quality. There were five treatments laid in a randomized block design (RBD) with three replications; T1 [Farmer practice on the flatbed with RDF @ N120:P60:K60 + FYM @6.0 t ha−1 without mulch], T2 [T1 + Polythene mulch (50 microns)], T3 [Tomato plants grown on the raised bed with polythene mulch + FYM @ 8.0 t ha−1 + Single shoot trellis system + Side shoot pruning + Liquid Fertilizer (LF1—N19:P19:K19) @ 2.0 g l–1 for vegetative growth + Liquid Fertilizer (LF2—N0: P52: K34) @ 1.5 g l–1 for improving fruit quality], T4 [Tomato plants grown on the raised bed with polythene mulch + FYM @ 8.0 t ha−1 + Single shoot trellis system + Side shoot pruning + LF1 @ 4.0 g l–1 + LF2 @ 3.0 g l–1], and T5 [Tomato plants grown on the raised bed with polythene mulch + FYM @ 10.0 t ha−1 + Single shoot trellis system + Side shoot pruning + LF1 @ 6.0 g l–1 + LF2 @ 4.5 g l–1]. The results revealed that tomato plant grown on the raised beds with polythene mulch, shoot pruning, trellising, liquid fertilizers, and farmyard manure (i.e., T5) recorded higher shoot length, dry matter content, and tomato productivity by 20.75–141.21, 18.79–169.4, and 18.89–160.87% as compared to T4–T1 treatments, respectively. The T5 treatment also recorded the highest water productivity (28.39 kg m–3), improved fruit qualities, net return (10,751 USD ha–1), benefit–cost ratio (3.08), microbial population, and enzymatic activities as compared to other treatments. The ranking and hierarchical clustering of treatments confirmed the superiority of the T5 treatment over all other treatments.

Does apple canker develop independently on leaf scars of a single apple shoot?

European apple canker, caused by Neonectria ditissima, causes serious damage to apple trees, particularly young trees. Canker management is difficult because of the limited availability of effective fungicides, the long latency period, inoculum abundance and host resistance in commercial cultivars as well as the need for costly manual pruning interventions. To understand disease aggregation for more effective pruning management, we assessed whether canker infection and subsequent lesion development on leaf scars are independent from each other on the same shoot. Four inoculation experiments were conducted: one in glasshouse, and three in orchards. On each shoot, 10 consecutive leaf scars were inoculated and assessed for visible cankers over time in situ. Number of cankers developed per shoot as well as spatial distribution of these cankers within a shoot was statistically analysed. Most data of the number of visible canker lesions on a single shoot failed to fit binomial distributions (indicator for independence) and were fitted much better by beta binomial distributions. In a number of cases (4–20%), there appeared to be positive association between lesion development on neighbouring leaf scars. However, in one experiment where laboratory incubation and isolation of N. ditissima from inoculated but asymptomatic leaf scars (after eight months’ field incubation) were used the results suggested independence of canker development on a single shoot. We conclude that apparent aggregation of canker lesions on individual shoots is likely to originate from host responses. Such aggregation of canker lesions on individual shoots should be taken into consideration for field disease assessment and management.

Cardiac Disorder Classification by Electrocardiogram Sensing Using Deep Neural Network

Cardiac disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Cardiovascular diseases can be prevented if an effective diagnostic is made at the initial stages. The ECG test is referred to as the diagnostic assistant tool for screening of cardiac disorder. The research purposes of a cardiac disorder detection system from 12-lead-based ECG Images. The healthcare institutes used various ECG equipment that present results in nonuniform formats of ECG images. The research study proposes a generalized methodology to process all formats of ECG. Single Shoot Detection (SSD) MobileNet v2-based Deep Neural Network architecture was used to detect cardiovascular disease detection. The study focused on detecting the four major cardiac abnormalities (i.e., myocardial infarction, abnormal heartbeat, previous history of MI, and normal class) with 98% accuracy results were calculated. The work is relatively rare based on their dataset; a collection of 11,148 standard 12-lead-based ECG images used in this study were manually collected from health care institutes and annotated by the domain experts. The study achieved high accuracy results to differentiate and detect four major cardiac abnormalities. Several cardiologists manually verified the proposed system’s accuracy result and recommended that the proposed system can be used to screen for a cardiac disorder.

Polyvariance of Shoot Morphogenesis in Clones of Salix triandra (Salicaceae) Against the Background of the Periodicity of Rainstorms

The article substantiates the need to study the development of one-year saplings from cuttings of almond willow (Salix triandra). Purpose of research: identification and analysis of seasonal dynamics of daily growth of shoots in S. triandra clones against the background of excessive atmospheric moisture in the form of three showers in 2020. Material and methods. Research methods: selection, structural-morphological, chronobiological. Object of research: model inbred-clone one-year population of S. triandra. The number of clones is 7; the recurrence is 6-fold. Material: growing annual shoots on one-year saplings; each sapling was formed into a single shoot. Results. Under experimental conditions, the rooting capacity of cuttings was 100%. Dimorphic root systems were formed on the mother cuttings of the excavated seedlings. The annual growth of the strongest shoots was 175 ... 215 cm. The daily growth in shoots reached peak values by June 10: the average daily growth was 3.6 cm/day, the maximum — 4.4 ... 4.9 cm/day. After June 10, the daily growth rate decreased unevenly until the end of the growing season. Some shoots completed growth before the beginning of August, and some continued growth until the middle of August. The cyclical nature of the seasonal dynamics of daily growth in the form of three peaks separated by two dips is established. The third peak is formed after the third rainstorm. Discussion and conclusions. Cyclical seasonal dynamics of daily growth of shoots is characterized by a high degree of synchronization of growth processes. Probably, all the shoots are affected by some powerful pulse synchronizer of unknown nature. It is possible that periodic showers may have a modifying effect on the mechanisms that regulate growth processes. The temporal discreteness of shoot morphogenesis is due to the full or partial realization of the seasonal cycle of shoot development. The duration of growth is due to interclonal and intraclonal differences. Probably, the duration of morphogenesis is controlled by both genetic and epigenetic factors.

Reducing Flower Competition for Assimilates by Half Results in Higher Yield of Fagopyrum esculentum

Despite abundant flowering throughout the season, common buckwheat develops a very low number of kernels probably due to competition for assimilates. We hypothesized that plants with a shorter flowering period may give a higher seed yield. To verify the hypothesis, we studied nutrient stress in vitro and in planta and analyzed different embryological and yield parameters, including hormone profile in the flowers. In vitro cultivated flowers on media with strongly reduced nutrient content demonstrated a drastic increase in degenerated embryo sacs. In in planta experiments, where 50% or 75% of flowers or all lateral ramifications were removed, the reduction of the flower competition by half turned out to be the most promising treatment for improving yield. This treatment increased the frequency of properly developed embryo sacs, the average number of mature seeds per plant, and their mass. Strong seed compensation under 50% inflorescence removal could result from increased production of salicylic and jasmonic acid that both favor more effective pollinator attraction. Plants in single-shoot cultivation finished their vegetation earlier, and they demonstrated greater single seed mass per plant than in control. This result suggests that plants of common buckwheat with shorter blooming period could deliver higher seed yield.

Long-term observations reveal the formation process of branching systems of the genus Sasa in Bambusoideae

Clarifying the endogenous processes that construct gross aerial shapes such as branching architecture in plants is crucial to understanding how branching contributes to plant adaptation to environments. Architectural analysis is powerful in decomposing the branching process, by comparing observations of plant growth among closely related taxa. The genus Sasa (Gramineae: Bambusoideae) contains three major sections Crassinodi, Sasa and Macrochlamys. These sections exhibit characteristic branching architectures and are distributed separately across the Japanese archipelago, in relation to macroclimatic conditions such as snow accumulation. Our study aimed to quantitatively reveal the endogenous processes underlying branching architectures in the three sections of Sasa. Long-term observations were carried out branch architectural development on Hokkaido Island from 1979 to 2012, which corresponded to the flowering interval of the genus. The results revealed that the three characteristic branching systems of the genus arise mainly from four endogenous processes (distribution of lateral buds on a culm, internode length arrangement along a culm, determination of the fate of lateral buds, development of branching with culm fragility due to ageing) and their interactions with environmental conditions, especially snow accumulation. These processes are coordinated with each other over the life span of a single shoot in developing branching architecture.

Discrete Element Modeling of Soil Displacement Resulting from Hoe Openers

Soil displacement is the most important performance indicator for seed openers, as it affects the uniformity of seeding depth. In this study, a hoe opener was modeled using Particle Flow Code in 3 Dimensions (PFC3D), a discrete element modeling software program. The objective was to simulate soil displacement in terms of soil throws. To validate the model, an air drill with hoe openers was tested in a field with clay soil at a working depth of 38 mm and travel speed of 8 km h-1. Soil throw resulting from the hoe opener was measured. To calibrate the model, a virtual soil shear test was created within PFC3D, and the output soil shear torque was compared to the torque measured in the same field. The result showed that the calibrated effective modulus, a critical micro-parameter of model particles, was 5.692 × 107 Pa. With this calibrated value, the simulated soil throws agreed well with the measured throws, with a relative error of 15%. The model was used to compare different hoe opener designs: single-shoot spread, double-shoot side-band, double-shoot paired-row, and triple-shoot openers. Among all these openers, the side-band opener resulted in the least lateral soil throw, and the paired-row opener resulted in the lowest vertical soil throw but the highest lateral throw. The developed model was effective for examining the effects of opener geometry on soil displacement. Keywords: DEM, Hoe, Opener, PFC3D, Soil displacement.

Features life cycle Isodon japonicus var. glaucocalyx (Lamiaceae) for introduction on the north of right-bank foreststeppe of Ukraine

In the M.M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Department of Cultural Flora), which is located in the north of the right bank of the forest-steppe zone, is being conducted for the introduction tests of plants of the species of the genus Isodon (Schrad. Ex Benth.) Spach. Representatives of this genus by number of species are most concentrated in East Asia – China, Korea and Japan, where they have long been known as medicinal plants and are used in traditional medicine, in particular, for the treatment of oncological diseases.In Ukraine, the Isodon genus is little known. During 2012–2018, the object of complex research was Isodon japonicus (N. Z. Burm) Hara var. glaucocalyx (Maxim.) H.W. Li. The article presents the results of studying the large life cycle of this plant species during the introduction. To establish age periods and plant conditions, classical methodical approaches are applied.The descriptive part of the work presents key morphological features that reflect changes in the shoot and root systems that a plant experiences during life. According to the duration of the study period, it was found that individuals of I. japonicus var. glaucocalyx undergo pregenerative and generative periods of development and all age states corresponding to them. It has been established that seedlings are characterized by the presence of two cotyledon leaves of a renal form, having a notch at the apex, and fragmentary lignification of root sections, which is a rather rare phenomenon. Juvenile plants lose cotyledon leaves, the shoot from the round becomes four-sided, the main root thickens. In immature plants, the shoot is stretched by lengthening the internodes, the leaves acquire the signs and dimensions of the present. In the virginal state, second-order shoots develop in plants, rhizome begins to form. For young generative individuals, there are 2–3 shoots, the development of a pair of skeletal roots, the beginning of the formation of caudex. This age condition begins for the vast majority of individuals in the first year of life. Adult generative plants reach a maximum in the development of the shoot and root systems: they have 3–5 vegetative-generative shoots, many-headed dense caudex. Spring renewal takes place: from the renewal buds – vegetative-generative shoots, dormant buds – vegetative shoots and from the buds of the plagiotropic rhizomes – partial single-shoot plants. This age condition lasts for three years. The age state of old generative individuals begins from the sixth year of plant life and is characterized by attenuation of organ-forming processes. This leads to a weakening of the escapes and root system and to the disruptive irreversible changes of the latter