The Nujiang Dry-hot Valley region in Yunnan is an ideal area for the cultivation of Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica L.). However, the continuous occurrence of coffee leaf diseases has a significant impact on the health, yield and quality of coffee trees, causing considerable losses to local agricultural production. To effectively manage the diseases, this study focused on the isolation and identification of the pathogens associated with coffee leaf diseases in the Nujiang Dry-hot Valley region. Typical diseased leaf samples were collected from various coffee plantations, and through pathogen isolation, purification, verification using Koch’s postulates, morphological observation and ITS gene sequence analysis. Seven pathogenic strains, Lu 11-2, Lu 9-1, Xin 5-2, Xin 7-5, Xin 8-2, Xin 15-2 and Lu 23-1, were identified. Lu 11-2, Lu 9-1, Xin 5-2 and Xin 7-5 were identified as Alternaria sp., Xin 15-2 and Lu 23-1 were identified as Colletotrichum sp., and Xin 8-2 was identified as Pestalotiopsis sp. The primary pathogens causing coffee leaf diseases in this region could be categorized into three types, Alternaria sp., Pestalotiopsis sp. and Colletotrichum sp.. Specifically, Alternaria sp. and Pestalotiopsis sp. were the primary pathogens responsible for coffee leaf spot disease, while Colletotrichum sp. was the causative agent of coffee anthracnose disease. The findings of this study would not only provide a scientific basis for a deeper understanding of the types of coffee leaf diseases in the Nujiang Dry-hot Valley region of Yunnan but also offer theoretical support for effective disease management in the area. This research plays a significant guiding role for local coffee cultivation and serves as a reference for disease control in coffee-growing regions elsewhere.

The molecular mechanism underlying white-fleshed pitaya (Hylocereus undatus) in response to MeJA treatment during the fruit postharvest ripening was investigated. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) response to MeJA treatment were analyzed by the digital gene expression profiling technology. The results showed that compared with the control, a total of 15 596 DEGs, including 6135 up-regulated genes and 9461 down-regulated genes, were identified. Gene ontology analysis showed that most DEGs were involved in cell metabolism, biological regulation, biosynthesis, catalysis, binding activities and transport activities. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis revealed that all DEGs were assigned in many pathways, mainly involving in photosynthesis, plant hormone signal transduction, protein processing and starch and carbohydrate metabolism. Moreover, the transcripts of most genes involved in ethylene-signaling transduction and cell-wall degradation, belonging to ERF, EIN, XTH, PG and XTH family, were found to be significantly down-regulated. These results strongly suggest that MeJA treatment may be involved in delaying the softening of white-pitaya by restraining the ethylene-signaling transduction and retarding the degradation of cell wall during postharvest ripening. The results would lay a foundation for further research on developing the more efficient postharvest preservation technology for tropical fruits.

GC-MS method was utilized to determine the volatile components of wild Glyptostrobus pensilis leaves from six geographic distributions in Guangxi (Binyang county, Tiandeng county, Yanshan district, Cangwu county, Pingle county and Qintang district) to investigate the geographic variation patterns of volatile components in the leaves. A total of 139 chemical components were detected in the volatile components of the leaves from different geographic distributions. Terpenes α-pinene and D-limonene had relatively high contents across all geographic distributions, ranging from 18.61% to 28.32% and 16.80% to 49.02%, respectively. Qintang had the fewest volatile species, while Binyang had the most. The relative contents of alcohols, aromatic hydrocarbons, ethers, aldehydes, terpenes, ketones and esters were the lowest in Yanshan, whereas the relative contents of aromatic hydrocarbons, phenols, ethers, aldehydes, acids, terpenes and alkanes were the highest in Tiandeng. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the cumulative contribution rate of the first three principal components reached 97.53%, reflecting most of the component information. The absolute values of characteristic vectors for ethers, terpenes, alkanes, aromatic hydrocarbons, acids, olefins, phenols, lipids, ketones, alcohols and other compounds were larger, indicating these are the differential substances distinguishing the different geographic distributions of G. pensilis. Cluster analysis results showed that Qintang, Cangwu and Yanshan clustered into one group, Pingle and Binyang clustered into another group, and Tiandeng formed a separate group. Correlation analysis between volatile components and environmental factors indicated that longitude and altitude had the greatest impact on the content of volatile components. The study would provide reference for the cultivation and resource utilization of G. pensilis.

Cassava roots were used as the raw material. Single factor tests combined with the Box-Behnken response surface method were used to optimize the extraction process of cassava crude polysaccharide (CPCR) assisted by ultrasonic wave, and the process of enzymatic hydrolysis of cassava tuber roots by four different enzymes was analyzed. The results showed that the four enzymatic hydrolysis processes were different. The extraction yield of CPCR with enzyme was significantly higher than that without enzyme. The CPCR yield of the four enzymes was α-medium temperature>pullulanase>hemicellulase>α-low-temperature amylase, the ultrasonic treatment time of α-low-temperature amylase was the longest (360 min), but the CPCR yield was the lowest (7.02%). The α-medium temperature CPCR yield was the highest (20.25%), and the best enzymatic extraction process was as follows: ultrasonic power 300 W, ultrasonic temperature 70 ℃, enzyme content 5 KU/g, solid-liquid ratio (g/mL) 1∶2.5, and ultrasonic time 240 min. The ultrasonic treatment time of pullulanase was the shortest (60 min), and the CPCR yield was 13.98%. The yield of CPCR under hemicellulase hydrolysis was 7.99%. The optimized conditions were further verified, and the results showed that the yield of crude polysaccharide was close to the predicted value. However, the crude polysaccharide content was also detected under the condition that only enzyme was added without cassava sample, and the extraction rate of medium temperature α-amylase was still the highest (17.22%) after deducting the influence of enzyme. It can be seen that medium temperature α-amylase enzymatic hydrolysis of cassava tuber roots is an efficient way to extract CPCR. This study is expected to provide technique basis for its further research and utilization of crude polysaccharide.

In order to screen cocoa breeding materials with excellent fruit traits, pulp and cocoa bean quality, 17 indicators including fruit quality, fruit shell quality, fruit length, fruit width, fresh quality of seeds, pulp content, soluble sugar, total acid, pH, sugar-acid ratio, pulp sensory evaluation (aroma, sour-sweet taste, acceptance), cocoa butter, theobromine, caffeine, and polyphenols were measured for 11 cocoa germplasm. Principal component analysis and cluster analysis were used to comprehensively evaluate the 17 indicators of different cocoa germplasm fruits. The results indicated that the coefficients of variation (CV) for the 17 indicators ranged from 4.16% to 52.91%, with an average of 16.73%. Notably, caffeine exhibited the highest CV among all indicators. The CVs for pulp content, total acid, sugar-acid ratio, and caffeine were all above 20%, suggesting significant variations in fruit traits and quality among the 11 cocoa germplasms. This rich genetic diversity indicates a vast potential for the selection and improvement of cocoa cultivars with desirable characteristics. In the sensory evaluation of cocoa pulp, variety Xiangke 16 scored the highest, followed by TAS420 and TAS1413. Furthermore, the acceptability among testers was primarily influenced by the balance of sweetness and sourness in the pulp. Correlation analysis revealed that there were mainly positive correlations between fruit traits and pulp quality, while there were primarily negative correlations between cocoa bean quality traits and both fruit traits and pulp quality. In the principal component analysis, a total of five principal components with eigenvalues greater than 1 were extracted, accounting for a cumulative contribution rate of 89.521%. Based on the principal component scores of each indicator, a comprehensive ranking was conducted, with TAS420, Xiangke 16, and TAS414 scoring the highest. The three cocoa germplasm exhibited superior performance in fruit traits, pulp quality, and cocoa bean quality. Principal components 1 and 2 played crucial roles in the comprehensive evaluation. Among them, indicators such as pH, sugar-acid ratio, sensory evaluation, fruit quality, fruit shell quality, and fruit width contributed significantly to the evaluation of cocoa fruits. Based on the cluster analysis, the 11 cocoa germplasms were subdivided into four groups. Group I consisted of TAS1413, which exhibited superior fruit traits and pulp quality but had the poorest cocoa bean quality. Groups II and III comprised the top four germplasm in the comprehensive ranking, demonstrating excellent overall indicators and serving as important materials for breeding superior varieties. The remaining six germplasm belonged to Group IV, which had relatively average fruit traits and quality. This study would provide a foundation for the breeding of superior cocoa varieties, contributing to the diversification and development of the cocoa industry.

The aim of this study was to screen out insecticides that exhibit higher toxicity to Ferrisia virgata, thereby establishing a scientific foundation for controlling F. virgata. The toxicity of 14 insecticides on F. virgata was assessed indoors at 6 h, 12 h, 24 h and 48 h after application by a spraying method, among which the median lethal concentration (LC₅₀) values of the 7 insecticides showing greater efficacy against the 3rd nymph F. virgata were determined specifically at 24 h and 48 h post-application. Based on the recommended dosage of each insecticide, the field control efficacy of acetamiprid, sulfoxaflor, fenpropathrin, diazinon, thiamethoxam, profenofos·lufenuron, flonicamid·bifenthrin against F. virgata was evaluated by artificial spraying in the areca field of Yazhou, Sanya, Hainan in May 2024. The preliminary screening results showed that acetamiprid, sulfoxaflor, fenpropathrin, diazinon, thiamethoxam, profenofos·lufenuron, flonicamid·bifenthrin had good toxicity against the 3rd nymph F. virgata, with the mortality rate of more than 70% at 48 h after treatment. The results of laboratory toxicity determination showed that 24 h and 48 h after treatment, the relative virulence of the seven agents ranked from highest to lowest as follows: Thiamethoxam, fenpropathrin, sulfoxaflor, acetamiprid, diazinon, flonicamid·bifenthrin, profenofos·lufenuron. The results of field efficacy test showed that thiamethoxam, fenpropathrin, sulfoxaflor and acetamiprid exhibited the superior field control effect, and the corrected control effect was more than 60% during 1-7 days after treatment, while that of diazinon, flonicamid·bifenthrin, profenofos. lufenuron was less than 60% on 7 days after treatment. Thiamethoxam had the highest field control effect on mealybug bistripe, achieving a corrected control effect of 90.13% after 1 day of application, peaking at 94.53% after 3 days, and maintaining a substantial efficacy of 87.20% after 7 days, which was significantly higher than that of the other insecticides. The results of this study demonstrated that thiamethoxam, fenpropathrin, sulfoxaflor had good laboratory insecticidal activity and field control efficacy against F. virgata. The findings would provide a scientific basis for selecting suitable pesticides for controlling F. virgata, and also offer technical support for the prevention and control strategy of areca palm yellow leaf disease.

Date palm is hermaphroditic and highly heterogeneous in genetics, resulting in severe phenotypic variation. Propagation of seedlings depends on asexual reproduction, and tissue culture technology is the main means of commercializing date seedling production at present. However, the difficulty in inducing embryogenesis and the long induction cycle lead to difficulties in system construction and high tissue culture costs. Therefore, it is urgent to study the effects of hormone regulation on the endogenous metabolic substances of date embryos and optimize the embryogenesis system. This study is based on the selection of date explants, induction of callus and embryogenic callus in the previous studies, and uses orthogonal experimental design to screen and match the plant growth regulators and concentrations in the MS culture medium to induce embryogenesis from callus. The study statistically recorded the embryogenesis rate, induction cycle, and survival rate; date embryos with different levels of hormone were sampled; the morphological changes of date embryos in a regular manner were observed; and the changes in the content of total protein (Cpr), soluble sugar (WSS), catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR), amino acids (AA), auxin, cytokinin (CTK), abscisic acid (ABA), and gibberellin (GA) were measured. The results showed that the embryogenic rate of C₉ was higher than that of C₅, C₄, C₆, and the time for embryogenesis was the shortest in the C₅ treatment. In the C₉ treatment, the highest content of catalase and amino acids was found in the embryos, and the highest protein content was found in the C₅ treatment. The coefficient of variation was the largest for glutathione reductase content, and the maximum difference was found in amino acid content. The correlation analysis showed that thiocyanate and gibberellin had the strongest correlation with glutathione reductase, and soluble sugar had the strongest correlation with protein and amino acid. Principal component analysis showed that the first four principal components accounted for 88.714% of the total variance, with an eigenvalue of 3.877 for the first principal component, a contribution rate of 43.076%, and the first principal component was mainly influenced by thiocyanate content, soluble sugar content, protein content, and gibberellin content, with the highest eigenvalue of 0.921 for thiocyanate content, reflecting the impact of thiocyanate on embryogenesis. The study would provide theoretical support for optimizing the embryogenesis system and laying a technical foundation for achieving efficient and rapid propagation of date palm.

Tetranychus urticae is a dangerous agricultural pest worldwide. Abamectin is a widely used acaricide in the prevention and control of T. urticae. However, the resistance caused by inappropriate application of acaricide has become an increasing challenge. Explorating the resistant mechanisms of T. urticae against abamectin can provide the theoretical basis for prolonging lifespan and perform a comprehensive prevention and control strategy. In this study, we conducted an abamectin bioassays on field population, laboratory-derived resistant-and sensitive populations. It was found that the 24 h median lethal concentration (LC₅₀) values of the three populations was 7.19 µg/mL, 2061.43 µg/mL and 0.10 µg/mL, respectively, while the LC₅₀ values of the 48 h was 6.32 µg/mL, 1971.55 µg/mL and 0.09 µg/mL, respectively. In addition, the resistance ratio of the field population and the laboratory resistant population exceeded 70-fold and 20 000-fold respectively, which belonged to the medium resistance level and the high resistance level. Detoxification enzyme activity of surviving T. urticae following exposure to LC₅₀ treatment showed that the activity of glutathione S-transferase (GSTs) and uridine diphosphate glycosyltransferase (UGTs) in the resistant population was the highest, followed by the field populations, and both two population were significantly higher than those of sensitive population. In comparison, prior to the acaricide treatment, the enzyme activity of the highly resistant population and the medium resistant population increased over time, while the enzyme activity of the sensitive population were inhibited. Quantitative PCR was used to compare the expression differences of the coding gene of the above enzyme detoxification enzymes. It revealed that prior to the treatment, the expression level of GSTm09, GSTd10, UGT204a2 and UGT201d3 in the highly resistant population and the medium resistant population in the field was significantly higher than that in the sensitive population, and the difference in the expression of detoxification enzyme genes between the resistant population and the sensitive population increased further with the extension of treatment time. Correlation analysis showed that the detoxification enzyme activity and the expression of the coding genes were significantly positively correlated with the resistance level to abamectin. The study would provide a theoretical reference for in-depth exploration of T. urticae resistant target genes and the development of resistance management strategies.

Vanda coerulea, an epiphytic plant with bare roots growing in air, has important value for orchid breeding and ornament. Exploring the development and defense mechanism of the aerial roots from the omics level can provide a theoretical basis for comprehensive understanding of the unique adaptation mechanism of aerial roots. In this study, we used three root sites with different developmental levels of V. coerulea aerial roots as materials, combined with transcriptomics and metabolomics, to reveal the development of different parts of V. coerulea roots and the defense mechanisms. Transcription-metabolism analysis showed that the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially accumulated metabolites (DAMs) were significantly enriched in the metabolic pathway, biosynthesis pathway of various secondary metabolites and pathway of plant hormone signaling in two comparison groups. Transcriptome analysis showed 11 995 DEGs between the meristematic (group A) and elongation (group B) zones of the root, with 6274 up-regulated and 5721 down-regulated. There were 3673 DEGs between the elongation (group B) and maturation zone (group C) of the root, with 1691 up-regulated and 1982 down-regulated. Metabolomic results revealed 102 DAMs between the two comparison groups, with 52 up-regulated and 50 down-regulated. In the development of roots, the relative expression levels of growth regulators such as auxin, gibberellins (GAs) and abscisic acid (ABA) had significant changes in different developmental stages of plant roots. In terms of defense mechanism, the genes related to the synthesis of alkaloids, flavonoids, and lignins were more expressed in the meristem and elongation zone of roots than in the mature zone. The results indicate that aerial roots development under the regulation of the above-mentioned hormones and accumulate a variety of secondary metabolites to improve defensive capabilities.

The unique charm and graceful appearance of bamboo align with traditional Chinese aesthetic preferences and moral consciousness. Additionally, due to its rapid growth, diverse species, and strong adaptability, bamboo has been an important element in environmental construction in China since ancient times. This study employed the line transect method to conduct on-site investigations and data collection in 44 urban parks in Fuzhou, exploring the application of bamboo plants and the characteristics of bamboo landscape construction in Fuzhou’s urban parks. The aim was to provide theoretical and practical guidance for improving the environmental quality of urban parks. The results showed that among the 44 urban parks, there were 38 varieties of bamboo plants across 12 genera (including species, varietas, forma and cultivarietas), with 15 varieties from the genus Bambusa, 8 varieties from the genus Phyllostachys and 2 varieties from the genus Dendrocalamus being used more frequently. The most commonly used bamboo plants were P. iridescens, P. glauca, and D. latiflorus. In different types of bamboo landscapes, the proportion of bamboo resources applied to bamboo with other plants and bamboo with environmental furniture exceeded 70%, followed by bamboo with architecture and bamboo with pavement. The application of bamboo resources accounted for 63% and 55%. The application proportion was the lowest in bamboo with terrain and bamboo with water landscapes, accounting for 45% and 32%. In all types of bamboo landscapes, the frequency of single bamboo resource application was below 30%. The quantitative distribution of bamboo landscapes in Fuzhou’s urban parks generally showed higher concentrations in the city center and lower in the surrounding areas. The application of bamboo landscapes was concentrated in traditional Chinese garden styles and larger urban parks built around the year 2000. Among bamboo landscape applications, bamboo with other plants ranked the highest with 154 instances, followed by bamboo with architecture (140 instances), bamboo with environmental furniture (109 instances), bamboo with pavement (103 instances), and the least were bamboo with terrain (46 instances) and bamboo with water (42 instances). Bamboo with other plants and bamboo with architecture were distributed across 34 parks, making them the most widespread. Following were bamboo with environmental furniture and bamboo with pavement, found in 32 and 27 parks, respectively. The least widespread were bamboo with terrain and bamboo with water, located in 16 and 11 parks, respectively. Except for Chating Park and Yushan Scenic and Historic Park, the overall distribution density of bamboo landscapes in Fuzhou’s urban parks was relatively low, with bamboo landscape nodes being scattered. The application of bamboo plants and the construction of bamboo landscapes in urban parks were still at a relatively low level. In future urban park construction, systematic planning should be strengthened, the diversity of ornamental bamboo plants should be increased, and emphasis should be placed on the characteristics of the parks to comprehensively improve the environmental quality of urban parks.