World Plant and Soil Science Congress October 14-15, 2020 Rome, Italy

Biography:

Deepika is pursuing her PhD in Plant Biotechnology under the guidance of Dr. Kashmir Singh’s supervision from Department of Biotechnology, Panjab University. She has published three papers in reputed journals and has reviewed one manuscript for Scientific Reports

Abstract:

Stresses produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) which damage plant growth and development and reduce productivity of rapeseed-mustard crops (Brassica). Efforts in the past have been made to identify such gene families that will help provide resistance against these stresses.SODs constitute the first line of defense against ROS which catalyzes the dismutation reaction O^2- + 2H⁺→O₂ + H₂O₂. Classification according to their metal co-factors distinguish SODs into three classes: Cu-ZnSOD, MnSOD, FeSOD. Present study reports genome-wide identification of SOD genes which yielded a total of  29 and 18 in B. juncea and B. rapa. Genomic co-ordinates of BjuSOD genes were obtained from BRAD and mapping was done through MapInspect software. Phylogenetic classification was based on their domain composition, which was also supported by sub-cellular locations predictions. Gene annotation of SOD genes was done via BLAST2GO. Expression analysis under abiotic stresses was done through Trinity Software and candidates were validated under heat and drought stresses in B. juncea and B. rapa plants through qRT-PCR. Cis-regulatory elements predicted in BjuSOD genes supported the expression anlaysis data. A total of  10 and 14 abiotic stress responsive SOD genes were successfully predicted in B. junceaand B. rapa respectively. Our study will help in providing significant information of SOD gene family responsive to abiotic stresses which would act as a potential resource for the improvement of stress resistance in Brassica crops.

Biography:

Besma Kahlaoui is a Dr in Plant physiology and has postdoctoral studies in the University of Talca, Chile. She has more than 20 papers in indexed journals. She  contributed  in the scientific and extension presentations and conferences, collaborative cooperation at national and international level and has been serving in editorial colaboration in different journals.

Abstract:

Abiotic stresses, including low temperatures, severely affect yield and productivity of plants worldwide. Detection and signaling of low temperature is a complex process and dramatically alters the physiological, biochemical and morphological processes of plants.  In addition of these effects in plants, cold stress promotes the development of a physiological disorder in fruits: sunscald. It affects the postharvest quality of apple (Malus domestica Borkh) leading to important economic losses worldwide. In this study, Granny Smith apple was harvested from homogenous trees. Five replicates of 100 apples per replicate per sunburn category were stored at 0-2 °C. Fruit classification was done according the following categories: ‘Exposed’ (Exp), ‘Moderate’ (Mod) and ‘Severe’ (Sev). As results, significant decrease in protein, SOD, MDHR  and GR activities were signaled in the case of the severity category (Sev.) compared to the others of sunburn category (Mod and Exp). The activity of DHAR was the same in all the categories (Exp, Mod and Sev.) of the fruit during the storage period. As a conclusion, all the fruits related to the suburn category have almost no antioxidant metabolism and antioxidant enzymes to deal with post-harvest oxidative stress. These antioxidant systems have already been overwhelmed due to photo-oxidative stress in the field.

Biography:

Mohamed Sadoud is a doctor of the National Agronomical School of Algiers (Algeria) in Rural Economics and Sociology. He is a research professor at the University of Chlef in Algeria. He has several publications in international journals and several papers in international congresses. He taught 17 subjects and supervised several engineering and master's theses and currently supervises a doctoral student. He is a member of the scientific committee of two scientific journals and congresses.

Abstract:

Soil resources in Algeria account for 20% of the country's total area of ​​nearly 47 million hectares, including 8 million hectares of agricultural land. The soil resources of the greater Cheliff area cover a total area of ​​498,122 ha, or 60% of the total area of ​​the two wilayates of Chlef and Ain Defla, and an agricultural area of ​​approximately 384,906 ha. The objective of this study is to show the characteristics of the Grand Cheliff soil resources and the importance of agricultural activities generated by the pedological resources of the region. The latter are characterized by an uneventful topography and alluvial and silty soils, with a generally variable texture and a fairly high nutrient content. Forage crops are second only to cereals and are still dependent on weather conditions in the region. Their areas reserved for this purpose are very small. This is explained by the food supply cycle, depending on the farm's territory, its equipment, its forage potential and its climate and the cycle of forage demand depending on the number of animals and intensive farming is very underdeveloped. The soil resources of the Great Plains region of Cheliff are considered the most fertile in Algeria and represent large islands, used for the production of insurance crops, a source of food for animals and for humans . These resources require preservation and good management and therefore sustainable development.

Biography:

Muhtor Nasyrov is currently working as a Vice Rector, International Relations and Dean, Faculty of Natural Science, Samarkand State University Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Abstract:

Temperature and water regimes are the main factors that affect the growth, development, and yield of plants growing in arid and semi-arid regions.  Consequently, any change in climate will likely have a major influence on plants growing in these areas.  For example, a 1-3 0C rise in temperature can shift growth to 5-14 days earlier, which may result in growth initiation during the last week of February.  This shift may be critical for the growth of vegetation where growth would be shifted to a period of more intensive rainfall and lower air temperatures, resulting in declines in total biomass production.  This may be particularly important for sedges (Carex spp.), a main fodder crop in Central Asia, which have previously been shown to exhibit considerable reductions in height during the last 30 years. 

To precisely evaluate the effects of water stress on plant growth, it is often desirable to grow plants under controlled conditions such as greenhouses and growth chambers.  Controlled environments minimize variability within experimental treatments and allow for the precise testing of hypotheses related to environmental effects on plant growth.  However, plant growth in pots in a greenhouse or growth chamber can be problematic because soil water dynamics in pots can differ significantly between plants grown in pots or small containers compared to field plots.  Use of deep soil columns for evaluation of water stress effects on plant growth represent an improvement over pots because soil columns are deeper, hold more soil, and better approximate field water dynamics.  Generally, the deeper the soil column in relation to the surface area of column, the closer actual field water dynamics can be simulated.  A small soil column surface area for soil columns compared to the column depth allows the development of realistic water stress effects in a greenhouse or controlled environments.  As a result, several randomized treatments can be effectively established with soil columns within a small area.  In addition, new techniques using Watermark sensors have been developed to more precisely monitor levels of water stress in soil columns.  The combination of these techniques will allow careful statistical comparisons to be made to precisely evaluate water stress effects in arid plants.

Biography:

Antonia Dolores Asencio Martínez has completed her PhD from University of Murcia (Spain) and postdoctoral studies from Université de Liège (Belgium). Currently, she is professor at University Miguel Hernández (Spain). She has published more than 50 papers in reputed journals and more than 20 informative articles.

Abstract:

Cyanoprokaryota can improve plant growth and provide tolerance against biotic or abiotic stress. Semi-arid Mediterranean environments are characterized by frequent droughts.

The interest in researching the unknown role of Cyanoprokaryota in gypsiferous rhizospheres arises from the fact that they are components of the biological crust and colonize gyprocks. In the rhizospheres of three gypsophytes and in non-rhizospheric soil, two samplings were carried out - the first during a summer drought and the second during spring - to detect the responses to the availability of water in the soil. Surprising results were obtained when water retention and water loss were studied, with the highest values being obtained for the dry season due to the association of Cyanoprokaryota with the rhizospheres.

The results are also explained by two water pulses that occurred before the samplings. We propose three functional adaptation mechanisms of these plants associated with the Cyanoprokaryota in their rhizospheres and related to the water availability as determined by drought and water pulse effects. Herniaria fruticosa is a pioneer with the greatest diversity of Cyanoprokaryota, in both summer and spring (10 species and 11 species, respectively), and with high-medium abundance (5–30%). Teucrium balthazaris exhibits an intermediate strategy, with greater diversity of Cyanoprokaryota in spring (7 species) and predominance of high-medium abundance (5–30%). Finally, Helianthemum squamatum has lower diversity, with one species in summer (with low abundance, <5%) and no species in spring.

Biography:

Enrique Misle is scholar at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Forestry of Universidad Católica del Maule since 1995. He has worked mainly in crop ecophysiology seeking for simulation models and linking his work with sustainability of natural resources, adressing for water and soil problems particularly in horticultural crops. He has more than 27 papers in indexed journals, contributing also with extension notes in different media, scientific and extension presentations and conferences, collaborative cooperation at national and international level and has been serving in editorial colaboration in different journals.

Abstract:

A study was carried out in a Protea ‘Pink Ice’ stand located in the coastal area of central Chile in an alfisol, aiming to determine some ecophysiological traits useful for the productive assessment of the crop, given the limited quantitative information of this variety. Floral stems were taken in four sampling dates measuring length and diameter, leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf area ratio as well as leaf mass and area of floral stems. The specific leaf area for this Protea variety was 44.8 cm².g^-1. Allometric functions were determined for the calculation of leaf area depending on leaf length and leaf number depending on stalk length. These results contribute to the quantitative crop assessment using fast and non-destructive estimation of some parameters.

Biography:

Anna Nadolska-Orczyk is a Full Professor of PBAI – NRI, head of Department of Functional Genomics. She has her expertise in development of RNAi technology to functional genomics and biotechnology of cereals: i) functional analysis of CKX genes involved in cytokinin-dependent regulation of barley and wheat development and productivity, ii) characterization of Pina and Pinb wheat genes determining grain texture; development of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology to analyze gene function and to generate plants with improved characteristics of agricultural traits.

Abstract:

Multigene family of CKX genes encoding cytokinin oxidase / dehydrogenase (CKX) enzymes, affect cytokinin-regulated processes including plant growth and plant productivity. Their expression in different plants is tissue and developmentally specific. The detailed biological function of most of the TaCKX genes in wheat is not known. The goal of this research is to select those, which correlate with yield-related traits in wheat breeding material. In our earlier research we showed that expression level of HvCKX genes in developing kernels and seedling roots of barley may indicated  their role in growth and productivity (Zalewski et al. 2010, 2014). Therefore the first step of current project was to analyze specificity of expression of all 11 TaCKX family genes in developing plants of wheat and their cooperation within and among organs (Ogonowska et al. 2019). Based on these and other our research on the role of TaCKX genes in determining yield-related traits, we have been chosen the most important ones to test breeding material of wheat (30 breeding lines and cultivars, selected F1 and segregating progeny). There were: TaCKX1, TaCKX2.1, TaCKX2.2 and TaCKX3 for 7-14 DAP (days after pollination) spike development, and TaCKX1, TaCKX5 and TaCKX6 for seedling root development. Correlation coefficients between expression levels of TaCKX genes and activity of CKX enzymes with phenotypic traits were calculated. In 7 DAP spikes expression level of TaCKX1 strongly and positively correlated with expression level of TaCKX3 and in seedling roots with TaCKX5 and TaCKX6. Moreover expression of TaCKX1 significantly and positively correlated with the mass of seedling roots and thousand grain weight (TGW), and expression of TaCKX6 with the productivity. Negative, significant correlation was also observed between levels of expression of some TaCKX genes in developing kernels and selected phenotypic traits. The possible mechanism of cooperation of TaCKX genes in regulation of growth and productivity of common wheat will be discussed.

Biography:

Enrique Misle is scholar at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Forestry of Universidad Católica del Maule since 1995. He has worked mainly in crop ecophysiology seeking for simulation models and linking his work with sustainability of natural resources, adressing for water and soil problems particularly in horticultural crops. He has more than 27 papers in indexed journals, contributing also with extension notes in different media, scientific and extension presentations and conferences, collaborative cooperation at national and international level and has been serving in editorial colaboration in different journals.

Abstract:

A study was carried out in a Protea ‘Pink Ice’ stand located in the coastal area of central Chile in an alfisol, aiming to determine some ecophysiological traits useful for the productive assessment of the crop, given the limited quantitative information of this variety. Floral stems were taken in four sampling dates measuring length and diameter, leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf area ratio as well as leaf mass and area of floral stems. The specific leaf area for this Protea variety was 44.8 cm².g^-1. Allometric functions were determined for the calculation of leaf area depending on leaf length and leaf number depending on stalk length. These results contribute to the quantitative crop assessment using fast and non-destructive estimation of some parameters.

Biography:

Estrella Garrido did her Doctoral studies at the Austral University of Chile. She works as an academic of the Faculty of Agricultural and Forest Sciences of the Catholic University of Maule, she works in the area of natural resources and sustainability and has published on these topics. She has been Director of the School of Agronomy and served as evaluator of applicants for ANID(ex CONYCIT) scholarships and projects in Chile.      

Abstract:

The role of mining has been key for the economic development of Chile from the time of the Spanish colony through the nitrate boom years i.e. end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. Expansion of mining activity directly influenced the generation of important environmental impacts, which gradually gained notoriety until becoming unsustainable. The aim of this work was to carry out an exploratory analysis of the Cu level in agricultural soils of the Maule region (34°47´44´´S; 71°02´53´´O and  35° 06´28´´S; 71° 17´42´´ O) to establish a baseline, given that large-scale mining is projected towards this region and compare them with the soils of the O'Higgins region (34°15'35.96" S; 71°4'40.44" O and 34° 18′ 0″ S; 71° 6′ 0″ O)  where mining has been exploited industrially since the last century. In the O'Higgins region, the values ​​fluctuated between 5,4 and 27,1 mg*kg^-1  of Cu²⁺ at 0.1 m depth, among the factors that prevent damage to the plants is the significant level of carbonates in irrigation waters. The foliar analyzes carried out in fruit trees show that the levels of Cu present are in the accepted ranges; no damage were observed in the plants. In fruits, the levels are ten times lower than the tolerable levels. In the Maule region, the values ​​fluctuate between 0,65 and 15 mg*kg^-1 of Cu²⁺ at 0-0.1 m, which would indicate that intensive agriculture would also contribute to the contamination of the environment by copper.