Browsing by study line "Växtproduktionsvetenskaper"

Agroforestry, a widespread land-use in tropics and especially in tropical drylands, is gaining increasing attention due its carbon sequestration and storage potential. Majority of African countries acknowledge agroforestry as a national climate change mitigation and adaptation strategy. Despite the large extent of African drylands and the commonness and importance of agroforestry systems to dryland livelihoods, these systems are scarcely studied and research on dryland African agroforestry carbon stocks are few. The aim of the study was to compare carbon stocks of three land-uses: Vitellaria paradoxa dominated parkland (PL), improved agroforestry system (IA) and, as a control, abandoned land (AL), to study carbon allocation between and within the land-uses and to examine the variability of biomass estimates of different allometric equations used in carbon inventory in West African Sahel. Study was conducted in two villages in Yorosso, Southern Mali. Carbon stocks accounted were woody above- and belowground biomass, litter and top-soil organic carbon. Allometric equations and root-to-shoot ratios were used for woody biomass measurement. Comparison of biomass estimations of different allometric equations and root-to-shoot-ratios was conducted by using multiple equations for the dataset. Total system carbon stocks were 24.7 MgC haˉ¹, 29.9 MgC haˉ¹ and 42.2 MgC haˉ¹, for PL, AL and IA, respectively, with statistically significant difference between PL and IA. Top-soil organic carbon (SOC) was important carbon pool, accounting 34.8 % of total system carbon in PL and IA, and 49.6 % in AL. There were no statistically significant differences on the SOC/biomass C ratios between the land-uses. PL had lower SOC stocks than IA or AL, difference being statistically significant. The reason for lower SOC stock of PL could not be explained in this study. IA had larger woody biomass carbon stocks (27.0 MgC haˉ¹) than PL (15.5 MgC haˉ¹ ) and AL (14.4 MgC haˉ¹), but the difference was not statistically significant due to the similar density of large mature trees in all of the land-uses and partly due to the large woody biomass variation within the land-uses. In all of the land-uses, most of biomass carbon was stored in large mature trees and in two species: V. paradoxa and Parkia biglobosa. Large woody individuals had major impact on the land-use level carbon stocks. For carbon conservation, these individuals should be preserved and spared even during land-use change. Despite relatively large density, young trees and shrubs stored diminutive amount of carbon compared to mature trees. As the currently young planted trees in IA will grow and mature in the future, the woody biomass carbon stocks of the system will increase significantly. Lack of regeneration observed in PL threatens the sustainability of the system and its carbon stocks. Future carbon storage potential of AL depends on the regeneration potential of large tree species. Comparison of different allometric equations for tree biomass estimation revealed substantial variation. The choice of allometric equation used affects the obtained results, hampering the comparison of studies using different equations. Commonly used root-to-shoot ratios vary on their estimations, and most probably by underestimating root biomass. There is a clear need for specialised and standard carbon inventory methods for drylands and agroforestry systems.

Despite their immobile nature, their ability for adaptation allows plants to face harmful conditions from the environment to successfully survive and reproduce. Plant cells sense and integrate signals from the environment and activate response mechanisms. Participants in these mechanisms are the receptor-like protein kinases (RLKs) and a subgroup of RLKs, the cysteine-rich receptor-like kinases (CRKs). Members of this family have been associated with functions related to environmental stress responses in plants. CRK2 is one interesting member of the CRK clade of RLKs. While roles of CRK2 in the response to biotic and abiotic stimuli have been recently described, many aspects of the diverse functions of CRK2 remain elusive. The reduced size of the crk2 mutant suggests that developmental processes are affected by the absence of the protein. One of the objectives of this work was to analyse potential reasons for the smaller size of crk2. The difference in plant size could be due to a reduced number of cells. Results from the analysis of young cotyledons showed that the smaller plant size is not due to a reduced cell number in leaves when compared to Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) ecotype Columbia (Col-0). Another way to understand the processes in which a protein is involved is to target possible interaction partners. Therefore, genotyping and analysis of growth phenotypes of T-DNA insertion mutant lines for candidate interaction partners for CRK2 was performed. The results revealed smaller phenotype for a nitrate transporter (NRT1.7) mutant in fresh weight and rosette area whereas for a protein kinase (QSK1) mutant, higher fresh weight but reduced rosette area was observed compared to Col-0. Generation of constructs for fusion protein expression and purification revealed the possibility of expressing tagged cytoplasmic regions of these proteins for further analysis of protein-protein interaction through kinase assays due to the kinase activity of CRK2. Generation of fluorescent-tagged proteins from the candidate interaction partners allowed for localization studies via confocal microscopy to determine the co-localization to the plasma membrane of these proteins with CRK2, which is located to plasma membrane under standard growth conditions. The co-localization results suggest that the proteins NRT1.7 and QSK1 colocalize with CRK2, which is a step forward in the verification of their possible interaction in planta. The smaller size of the nrt1.7 and qsk1 mutants indicates that the lack of these proteins affects plant development.

The growing demand for crop products caused by population growth and climate change encourages plant scientists to investigate sustainable strategies to tackle such problems. Translating the knowledge of plant molecular mechanisms into applicable practices in the field would help in improving the plants' efficiency and productivity. The size of a plant's shoot apical meristem (SAM) is an important factor in biomass production and crop productivity. Besides, understanding the molecular regulation of the shoot apical meristem would help to know more about the 3D growth innovations of different plant families across the kingdom. This thesis aimed to study the regulation mechanisms of the meristem activity in Gerbera, the model organism of the Asteraceae family that has an informative phylogenetic position to understand evolutionary events. The inflorescence of Gerbera is highly resembling clv3 mutants in Arabidopsis. CLV3 peptide is involved in maintaining the meristem activity, these differences between the two species suggested an evolutionary modification for this pathway. GhCLV3-GhWUS signaling components in Gerbera hybrida were identified following bioinformatics approaches. Then sequence comparisons and phylogenetic analyses between Gerbera sequences and other species were performed. The coding sequence of GhCLV1 was cloned to expression vectors. The expression pattern analysis of the receptors was performed by RT-PCR and RNA-seq data. The results suggest that GhCLV1 is an important factor in maintaining the enlarged inflorescence meristem in Gerbera. Also, all the other receptors were expressed at different levels suggesting their contribution in the GhCLV3-GhWUS pathway and inflorescence termination.

Strawberries (Fragaria sp.) are perennial plants that belong to Rosaceae family. According to flowering habit, strawberries are classified as seasonal flowering and perpetual flowering strawberries. Environmental factors regulate flowering in plants. Among them, photoperiod and temperature are two important cues to affect flowering in strawberries. Besides, FT is a general flowering activator in many plant species. This thesis explored the flowering habits and FT expression level of two diploid strawberries F. bucharica and F. nilgerrensis under short and long day at cool temperature at 11 °C. The results were compared with F. vesca which has been studied earlier. After 2, 4 and 6 weeks of cool temperature (11 °C) treatment, all F. vesca and the majority of F. bucharica flowered regardless of photoperiod. As for F. nilgerrensis, there was no floral induction under SD and 20 % flowering rate after 6 weeks of LD treatment. After 4 weeks of the treatment, the expression of FT was down-regulated in F. vesca and F. bucharica compared with control groups under long day at 20 °C. In conclusion, the cool temperature at 11 °C induced flowering both in F. vesca and F. bucharica. The photoperiod affected flowering in F. vesca, while not in F. bucharica. As for F. nilgerrensis, the treatments were not strongly inductive for flowering. It may need more time for floral induction. The FT1 expression was down regulated after 4-week cool temperature treatments in F. vesca and F. bucharica, which was negatively correlated with flower induction. The photoperiod and temperature significantly affect branch crown formation in F. nilgerrensis, while the temperature had significant effects on runner formation and leaf formation in these three species.

The objectives of the study were to assess the efficiency of transient expression of sgRNA/Cas9 construct in Petunia V26, where sgRNA targeted a cytosine deaminase gene (CodA) that converts 5-fluorocytosine into the toxic compound 5-fluorouracil. Disrupting CodA by transient expression of sgRNA/Cas9 introduced a conditional negative selection system that allowed plants with mutated CodA to regenerate on media containing 5-fluorocytosine. The single transcriptional unit vector pMOH2 was designed to carry two amplified sgRNAs guiding Cas9 targeting at HinfI cutting sites. The expression vector was transformed into Petunia V26 using Agrobacterium tumefaciens (pGV2260). Successful mutations were detected on 62.5 mg/L 5-fluorocytosine. Large numbers of in vitro shoots were regenerated from the transformed leaves on a modified MS-media containing 1 mg/L zeatin. The study revealed that transient expression of the sgRNA/Cas9 construct is efficient and can be used to target other genes in Petunia V26. pMOH2 targeted its sites successfully, and proved that CodA can be used as a conditional negative selection marker to detect cells with an edited genome.

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is an important vegetable, which provides major nutritional benefits. In Finland, basal rot caused by Fusarium fungal species (FBR) has become the most destructive disease of onion in recent years. It causes damping off and stunted growth on onion seedlings and root death and abscission and bulb rot on mature onions. The average onion crop loss caused by basal rot has been up to 10% in conventional farming and as high as 30% in organic farming. In this study, a seedling assay was conducted to test the virulence of different Fusarium isolates on a commercial onion cultivar. The study goals were, primarily, to find out which of the Fusarium isolates, originating from onion and crop rotation plants grown in Finland, are pathogenic, and secondly, to compare the virulence of different isolates. Altogether 115 Fusarium isolates were tested for virulence on onion seedlings in a greenhouse. Fifty-five of the tested isolates of F. oxysporum, F. proliferatum and F. redolens were more or less virulent. 19.4% of F. oxysporum isolates, 35.3% of F. proliferatum isolates and 18.2% of F. redolens isolates showed high virulence. Among the aggressive pathogens isolated from onion samples, F. oxysporum f.sp. cepae is still the dominant onion pathogen, F. proliferatum is a new pathogen on onion in Finland, and relatively more aggressive than F. oxysporum. The F. solani and F. tricinctum isolates tested did not have any detrimental effects on the onion seedling health or growth. In order to control FBR in Finland, avoiding planting onion in the infested soils, growing onions from local seedlings to avoid new contamination and storing onions at cold temperatures are recommended.

It is important to study the factors which inhibit the cultivation of major crops which serve as a source of food and feed, with various other medicinal values as well. One of these factors is soil degradation and infertility which could be due to high amounts of toxic elements or unfavourable pH conditions. Faba bean is one such crop and is widely affected by the acidity and aluminium toxicity in soil. In this study, an effort has been made to observe the varying tolerance of faba bean accessions and understand the underlying mechanisms used by them under stress conditions. The accessions selected were Aurora, Babylon and Kassa. Each accession was subjected to three treatments and were grown in pH 7 (control), pH 4.5 (acid treatment) and pH 4.5 + Al3+ (aluminium treatment). The pH of peat for acidic treatment was reduced to 4.5 using Sulphuric acid (H2SO4) and for aluminium treatment, Aluminium sulphate (Al2(SO4)3) was added in addition to the acid. At 16 Day after Sowing (DAS) and 30 DAS the physiological data was collected which comprised of chlorophyll concentration (SPAD value), stomatal conductance, leaf temperature and photosynthesis rate. At 35 DAS, the experiment terminated and the shoot data (fresh and dry weights of leaves and stem; and leaf area) of each plant was recorded. Then the root data (tap root length, quality and quantity of nodules and photographs of roots) was taken for each plant. ICP samples for peat, shoot and shoot were also analysed. The data collected were subjected to analysis of variance using R version 4.0.3. (means separated by 5% significance level). From the plant data, Aurora was found to be tolerant. Kassa was sensitive (especially the roots) and Babylon was sensitive to both acid and aluminium treatments. The ICP results provided the reason for this tolerance pattern and a higher concentration of elements needed for plant growth such as P and S were found to be higher in aluminium and acid treatments.

Norway spruce is commonly cultivated throughout Europe, Russia, and Japan. Cultivation of Norway spruce often faces the issue of fungal diseases, one of which is cherry rust disease caused by Thekopsora areolata. The gene model MA_10g0010 encoding an uncharacterized peroxidase (PabPrx86) has previously been associated with the presence of this pathogen. The aim of this study was to describe and assay the protein produced from this gene model, observe its localization in the cell, and determine its relative expression level in different tissues of Norway spruce. Experiments were performed by isolating the full length cDNA for PabPrx86 and cloning the cDNA into destination vectors pEAQ-HT-DEST1 and pK7FWG2 leading to a hypertranslatable transcript and a C-terminal GFP fusion, respectively. The plasmid constructs were transformed to Agrobacterium tumefaciens and agro-infiltrated to Nicotiana benthamiana. In addition, the relative expression level of this gene in different spruce tissues at different times of the year was determined using the qRT-PCR method. Sequencing showed that there were two allelic variants of this gene in the spruce individual sampled for RNA. Results showed that both alleles code for a peroxidase with basic pI. Subcellular localization with the GFP tag detected that PabPrx86 protein was located out of cytoplasm, indicating that the protein was translated in the ER-ribosomes, whereas relative expression level analysis revealed that PabPrx86 was highest expressed in the bud and lateral bud in June. Peroxidases are known to relate with plant defense, but further experiments are required to determine the role of PabPrx86 in Norway spruce and what the association with T. areolata means.

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the major crops in the world and an important agricultural commodity in Finland with various uses. Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a deadly disease of cereal crops and with the gradual increase in temperature and precipitation, it is becoming alarming to Finnish agriculture. Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a vomitoxin produced by Fusarium graminearum species during the FHB infection and is hazardous to health if taken in larger quantities by humans and animals. European Union has legalized the maximum allowed DON content in wheat flour for human consumption at 1.75 ppm. Various types of resistance against FHB are known till date, including tolerance and escape from the disease. Anther extrusion (AE) is a highly heritable trait in wheat and is mechanistically involved in resistance against FHB by preventing the availability of nutrients for the fungus. Other traits such as heading, maturity, and height have shown correlations with FHB incidence and severity in previous studies. Genomic information is crucial to identify markers to accelerate wheat breeding programs against FHB. This experiment was conducted at Boreal Plant Breeding Ltd. Finland using 198 spring wheat breeding lines in a row-and-column design with three replications in an artificially spawn-inoculated F. graminearum field. The goal of the project was to evaluate the genetic diversity for various agronomic and FHB-resistance traits and to estimate correlations among them. A genome-wide association study was also performed by using 11,987 SNP markers to investigate any marker-trait association(s) in the spring wheat breeding germplasm. Larger phenotypic variability was observed in both agronomic and FHB-resistance related traits. Many spurious associations were found with general linear models (Naïve and Q model). No marker-trait associations were observed among the traits in mixed linear model (K) after including kinship as a covariate. Cryptic relatedness among breeding lines has shown a significant role during association mapping. An unexpected negative correlation was found between DON and Fusarium severity indicating inaccuracies in phenotyping. A negative phenotypic and genotypic correlation was found between AE and DON. Future studies on the validation of AE as a phenotypic marker against DON accumulation is recommended. Repeating the experiment with the inclusion of more lines with Fhb1 gene in homozygous state might be helpful in finding reliable associations for FHB-resistance related traits.

Jääsalaattia (Lactuca sativa var. crispa L.) tuotetaan ympärivuotisesti kasvihuoneessa ja se on kuluttajien keskuudessa suosittu lehtivihannes. Jääsalaatti kerää monien muiden lehtivihannesten tapaan nitraattia ja sen nitraattipitoisuudet voivat nousta melko suuriksikin. Jääsalaatin nitraattipitoisuuteen vaikuttavat useat eri tekijät, kuten laji, lajike, lannoitustaso ja valon intensiteetti. Tehokkailla nitraattipitoisuuden hallintakeinoilla voidaan parantaa tuottajan mahdollisuuksia vaikuttaa sadon laatuun. Valtaosa ravinnon mukana saatavasta nitraatista on peräisin lehtivihanneksista. Euroopan unioni on asettanut katteen alla kasvatetun salaatin nitraattipitoisuudelle talvi- ja kesäkauden raja-arvot. Nitraatti on ihmisen terveydelle haitallinen yhdiste, sillä osa siitä muuttuu elimistössä nitriitiksi, mikä kasvattaa etenkin pienten lasten methemoglobinemian riskiä. Glysiinibetaiini on osmolyytti ja solun metabolian kanssa yhteensopiva yhdiste. Monet viljelykasvit syntetisoivat glysiinibetaiinia vasteena abioottisille stresseille ja se parantaa kasvien stressinkestävyyttä myös eksogeenisesti annettuna. Glysiinibetaiinia saadaan ravinnon mukana esimerkiksi viljatuotteissa ja se on ihmisille turvallinen yhdiste, jota voidaan käyttää myös ravintolisänä. Glysiinibetaiinia eristetään muun muassa sokerijuurikkaan melassista ja sitä voidaan käyttää orgaanisena lannoitteena tai kasvunedistäjänä kasvintuotannossa. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää glysiinibetaiinin käyttömahdollisuuksia jääsalaatin tuotannon edistäjänä. Kasvihuonekokeessa seitsemän vuorokautta kestänyt glysiinibetaiinikäsittely aloitettiin jääsalaattien ollessa 29 vuorokauden ikäisiä. Glysiinibetaiinikäsittelyjen pitoisuudet olivat 0, 1, 7,5 ja 15 mM. Jääsalaatin nitraattipitoisuus, glysiinibetaiinipitoisuus sekä tuore- ja kuivamassa määritettiin 24, 29, 36, 41 ja 49 vuorokauden ikäisistä kasveista. Tutkimus toteutettiin kiertovesiviljelyjärjestelmässä ja glysiinibetaiinikäsittely annettiin ravinneliuoksessa. Jääsalaatit ottivat eksogeenisesti annettua glysiinibetaiinia. Glysiinibetaiinikäsittely pienensi jääsalaatin nitraattipitoisuutta seitsemän vuorokauden käsittelyn jälkeen merkitsevästi kontrolliin verrattuna ja alenema oli suoraan verrannollinen käsittelyn pitoisuuteen. Lisäksi glysiinibetaiinikäsittely pienensi jääsalaatin tuorepainoa ja suurensi kuiva-ainepitoisuutta. Määrityksissä myös jääsalaatin glysiinibetaiinipitoisuuden havaittiin olevan suoraan verrannollinen käsittelyn pitoisuuteen.