General combining ability （GCA） is an important index to evaluate the utilization value of parental inbred lines. In order to analyze the genetic mechanism of combining ability of maize， 537 hybrid combinations obtained from NCII genetic mating design were used as materials， seven multi-locus genome-wide association study （MGWAS） methods were used to identify significant loci for GCA of kernel row number， kernel length， and kernel width in Xinxiang， Zhoukou， and combined environment， combining with 11 734 high-quality single nucleotide polymorphism （SNP） markers obtained from the maize 5.5K liquid breeding chip. Based on MGWAS， five genomic selection methods were used to predicting the GCA effects. The results showed that 46 SNPs were detected and significantly associated with GCA of kernel row number and two kernel traits （P<8.52×10^-7）. Among them， ten loci were detected using two-to-five MGWAS methods simultaneously， and eight SNPs were co-located in at least two environments. Six SNPs （1_43440622， 2_69742504， 2_71037706， 2_197716855， 5_219239213， and 8_134634317） were both environment-stable and MGWAS method-stable loci， which were important loci controlling the GCA effects of kernel row number and kernel traits. The prediction accuracy of GCA for kernel row number and kernel width was high when using five random effect models， with a value of 0.62~0.74， and the prediction accuracy of GCA for kernel length was low， with a value of 0.28~0.45. In most cases， adding significant SNPs identified from different MGWAS as fixed effects into genomic best linear unbiased prediction(GBLUP) and reproducing kernel Hilbert space(RKHS) improved the prediction accuracy of GCA for kernel row number and two kernel traits in the three environments， with the percentage increase of 0.66%~15.96% for kernel row number and kernel width and 9.26%~83.05% for kernel length. The results of this study provide important gene information and technical guidance for subsequent gene function verification and genomic selection-assisted breeding of key loci.

Over past two decades， the application of nuclear techniques has been integrated into many aspects of scientific research and production practice in food and agriculture， and nuclear techniques are unique and irreplaceable in some areas. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the latest developments and major achievements from the nuclear application in major fields of food and agriculture around the world. The application status and innovative development of nuclear techniques in the fields of animal production and health， food safety and control， plant mutation breeding and genetics， water and soil management and agricultural environment， and insect pest control were reviewed emphatically. Considering many severe global challenges faced by the food and agriculture around the world， the authors discussed and showed the prospects and strategic priorities of nuclear application in food and agriculture.

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) are rod-like nanomaterials extracted from natural plant fibers, with a length of several hundred nanometers and a width of 5~50 nm. Because it is natural green, biodegradable, biocompatible with high specific surface area and great reactivity, CNC has been widely investigated by researchers. In this review, the preparation and modification methods of CNC are summarized, and the characterization methods of CNC are also introduced. Furthermore, the applications of CNC materials in biomedicine, photoelectric energy, environmental protection, food and other fields are also summarized, and its future development trend is prospected. This review may provide theoretical references for the development and utilization of cellulose nanocrystals.

For exploring the effect mechanism of different nitrogen application amounts impact on potato tuber starch formation and yield in Ningxia arid areas, field trials were carried out in the mountainous areas of southern Ningxia in 2017(normal year) and 2019(wet year) respectively. The potato cultivar Qingshu No. 9 was used as the material and a single factor random Block experiment was designed, with no nitrogen fertilizer (N0) as the control, to study the effects of pure nitrogen application rate of 75 (N1), 150 (N2), 225 kg·hm^-2 (N3) on potato starch content, key starch forming enzymes and yield. The results showed that with the increase of nitrogen application amount, the total starch and amylopectin content increased first and then decreased, with N2 being the highest, significantly increasing by 21.23, 26.42 percentage point (2017) and 19.74、24.93 percentage point(2019); while the amylose content increased with the increase of nitrogen application amount, reaching the highest at N3, which was 1.59 percentage point (2017) and 1.78 percentage point (2019) higher than N0. Both adenosine diphosphate glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPP) and starch branching enzyme (SBE) had the highest N2, which increased by 57.38%, 36.83% (2017) and 67.19%, 29.01% (2019) compared with N0, respectively; while soluble starch synthase (SSS) and bound starch synthase (GBSS) were the highest with N3, which increased by 33.90%, 49.51% (2017) and 46.02%, 51.00% (2019) respectively compared with N0. Correlation and general analysis show that starch content and key enzymes in starch synthesis have a positive correlation, and AGPP, SSS, and GBSS have a greater direct contribution to the process of starch synthesis; Compared with N0, the potato output of N1~N3 increased by 10.72%~21.02% and 8.40%~16.30% in 2017 and 2019, respectively. The yield of N2 is the best; the best nitrogen application rate to achieve the highest yield is 150-184 (2017), 150-196 kg·hm^-2 (2019). Therefore, it is suggested that the nitrogen application amount of 150-200 kg·hm^-2 for potato in arid areas of Ningxia can effectively increase the activity of key enzymes in starch formation, accelerate starch formation and accumulation, and promote the increase of potato production, thereby increasing the economic benefits of local people.

Mulching technique is a widely used agricultural technology. The traditional plastic film currently in use brings huge economic benefits， but also induces serious ecological pollution problems and affects the sustainable development of agriculture， so the development of environmentally degradable mulching films is an inevitable trend. This study systematically describes the research progress and application status of the preparation materials， preparation technologies and products of photodegradable mulching film， biodegradable mulching film， photo/biodegradable mulching film， liquid mulching film and plant-fiber mulching film at home and abroad， as well as the advantages and shortcomings of the five types of degradable mulching films， and provides an outlook on the research direction and development prospects of plant-fiber mulching film. The results of this study provide a theoretical basis for further development of green， environmentally friendly and completely biodegradable agricultural mulching films to promote green and sustainable development of agriculture.

CRISPR/Cas9 is a genome directed editing technique mediated by small guide RNA. Since 2005, the technology has been developed rapidly and was widely used in biology, medicine and crop genetics and breeding. Compared with meganucleases, zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) and transcription-like activator effector nucleases (TALENs), CRISPR/Cas9 technology has unsurpassed advantages and has become the most important gene editing technology at present due to its simple operation and high editing efficiency. This paper systematically described the origin, development and the characteristics of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, summarized the application of this technology in crop gene editing and other aspects. The purpose of this paper is to provide reference for crop germplasms innovation, gene mining and breeding.

In order to reveal the possible roles of MIR319 family (miR319, miR319a and miR319a-3p) under the CGMMV stress, mature sequences of MIR319 were blasted against the watermelon genome to obtain the precursor gene. MEGA was used to analyze the evolutional relationship of precursor genes for MIR319. PlantCARE was used to analyze the cis-acting regulatory elements of the precursor gene promoter. Degradome sequencing was used to identify target genes of MIR319, and transcriptome sequencing and qRT-PCR were used to obtain the expression of target genes. The common precursor gene of MIR319, Pre-MIR319 was obtained, which was 170 bp in length, able to form the stem-loop structure. Sequence alignment showed that mature sequences of MIR319 were highly conserved at the 2~14 bases of 5'-terminal. Phylogenetic analysis of watermelon Pre-MIR319 and 116 miR319 precursor sequences from 35 species divided these precursor sequences into four branches. Watermelon Pre-MIR319 was closest to potato precursor gene miR319a (MI0025952). The promoter of Pre-MIR319 contain several cis-acting regulatory elements, such as light responsive element, gibberellin responsive element, ethylene responsive element, methyl jasmonate response element, MYB, MYC and etc. Five target genes of MIR319 family, Cla019567, Cla013523, Cla023342, Cla002428 and Cla013668, were predicted by degradome sequencing results. Among which, Cla019567, Cla013523, Cla023342 and Cla002428 are annotated as TCP transcription factor and Cla013668 is annotated as MYB transcription factor. The cleavage sites were located at the 10^th of MIR319 at the 5'-terminal end. The amino acids number, molecular weight and theoretical isoelectric point of target genes were 319~554 aa, 34.94~61.21 kDa and 5.29~7.80, respectively. These proteins do not contain transmembrane domains and was located in the nucleus/cytoplasm. Expression profiles of target genes using transcriptome and qRT-PCR analysis revealed that miR319a negatively regulated its target gene Cla013523 (TCP). These results clarified the role of MIR319 family members in CGMMV stress response and revealed the regulation of MIR319 on their target genes.

Sucrose metabolism plays a critical role in plant development, stress response and yield formation. The growth and development process of the plant is promoted through the synthesis and decomposition of a series of sugars. As a signal factor, it participates in regulating the expression of related genes, and can interact with other genes, hormones, and defense signals. However, the coupling mechanism of sucrose metabolism and signal transmission between intracellular and external is different from the signal transduction mechanism of sucrose metabolizing enzymes. This article reviews the function of crucial sucrose metabolism enzymes in plant development and response to abiotic stresses. Combining with the current researches, the future research direction of sugar metabolism and its signal transduction has being proposed, which will contribute to understanding and improving the characteristics of plant growth and development as well as stress resistance.

Tomato brown rugose fruit virus （ToBRFV） belongs to the genus Tobamovirus in the Virgaviridae family and is classified as a quarantine virus in China， posing a serious threat to the safety of tomato production. Signal transduction system plays an important role in plant disease resistance， and phospholipid signaling is crucial in the process of extracellular resistance signal transduction. Phospholipase C （PLC） is critical in the transmembrane signaling of the phospholipid signaling system. In this study， we first identified 10 tomato PLC genes based on bioinformatics， including seven phosphati-dylinositol-specific phospholipase C （PI-PLC） and three non-specific phospholipase C （Non-specifc -PLC， NPC）， the seven PI-PLC PLC proteins have three core structural domains （PLC_X c， PLC_Y c， C2） and an EF_hand-like structural domain， and the three NPC proteins only have a phosphoesterase structural domain. 10 tomato PLC proteins can be divided into seven branches according to their structural similarity， namely NPC1， NPC2， NPC6， PI-PLC2， PI-PLC3， PI-PLC4 and PI-PLC6. In addition， the 10 tomato PLC secondary structures were similar in proportion， but there were significant differences in tertiary structures. Co-linearity analysis showed that there were 3， 12 and 16 pairs of co-linear relationships between the distribution of tomato PLC genes and rice， Arabidopsis and Raymond-type cotton PLC genes. Finally， to clarify which tomato PLCs are involved in the plant defense response against ToBRFV， this study examined the relative expression levels of the PLC gene family after ToBRFV inoculation by transcriptome sequencing， and the results showed that SlNPC1， SlNPC6 and SlPLC4 were expressed at higher levels in the ToBRFV-inoculated samples， while the expression levels of other PLC genes were reduced after ToBRFV inoculation. This study lays the technical and theoretical foundation for tomato ToBRFV resistance research and breeding.

The Chinese expression of the terminology “biochar” has created arguments in academic world for many years. This paper looks insight into the concept of biochar and analyzes the confusion nomenclature phenomena, based on the basic method of logistics on concept, phrases, definition and classification. By clarifying the logic problems on the definition and classification of biochar, this work established good practice for the in-depth understanding of biochar terminology, and promoting the spread of the related scientific knowledge and the application of the technological achievements.

NAC transcription factors are involved in plant growth and development， fruit pigment accumulation， cell wall morphogenesis， and plant senescence. To systematically study the precise function of SNAC4 （SlNAC48， Gene ID： 101247735） and SNAC9 （SlNAC19， Gene ID： 101248665） in the tomato ripening and aging， we designed SNAC4/9 knockout targets and constructed a single guide RNA （sgRNA） expression cassette through Overlapping Polymerase Chain Reaction （Overlapping PCR） method. Single or multiple sgRNA expression cassettes were assembled into pYLCRISPR/Cas9 vector by the Golden Gate cloning method. PCR and sequencing results showed that the SNAC4/9 knockout vector was successfully constructed. The genes encoding Cas9 protein and sgRNA were introduced into Micro-Tom tomato cells by the Agrobacterium transformation method， and the target and off-target of positive seedlings were detected. The results showed that tomatoes were mutated successfully without off-target. The identification of T₁ mutants further demonstrated that CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing targets in tomato could be inherited stably between generations. Compared with wild type， SNAC4/9 knockout fruits had less pigment accumulation and delayed ripening， suggesting that SNAC4/9 played an essential role in tomato fruit ripening. This study provided genetic material and an experimental basis for further exploring the mechanism of SNAC4/9 regulating pigment metabolism and cell wall metabolism in tomatoes.

Phytoene Synthase 1 （SlPSY1）， a key rate-limiting enzyme of carotenoid synthesis， directly affects the accumulation of carotenoids in tomato fruit. We constructed and transformed the bait vector pSlPSY1pro-AbAi into the yeast cell to explore the transcriptional regulation of SlPSY1. Then， the AP2/ERF family transcription factor SlJERF1 and 10 other proteins were screened by yeast-one-hybrid experiment using the yeast hybrid cDNA library built by mixed tissue of tomato. Subsequently， the sequence of SlJERF1 gene was cloned and the recombinant vector pGADT7-SlJERF1 wasconstructed. The molecular interaction between SlJERF1 and SlPSY1 promoterwas varified through yeast-one-hybrid point-to-point test. The results showed that the yeast in the control group could not grow normally under 150 ng·mL^-1 Aureobasidin A （AbA）， while the yeast transformed with SlJERF1 could grow normally， indicating the interaction between SlJERF1 and the promoter of SlPSY1 gene. This result provides an important theoretical basis for the regulatory network of carotenoid synthesis， and confers new ideas for further study in the future.

In order to reduce the usage of herbicides in corn fields and improve the control effect of herbicides， formulation optimization and field efficacy of coconut oil tank mix adjuvant， which has been reported to be synergistic on herbicides in our previous study， were studied. Results showed that the optimum formula of the additives was obtained with n-hexanol as the solvent and 1.40∶3.60 as the compound emulsifier Span-80 versus Tween-80. In the greenhouse test， the synergistic ratios of coconut oil tank adjuvant to nicosulfuron and mesotrione could be increased by 11.24-49.35 percentage points， and those to mixture of nicosulfuron?and atrazine and mixture of mesotrione and atrazine could be increased by 14.71-31.25 percentage points， and the weeds control effect of adding adjuvant after the reduction of herbicide is equivalent to that of the constant amount without adjuvant. In the mixed treatment of oxaflutole and atrazine， the synergistic effect of the coconut oil tank mix adjuvant was 2.33-6.99 percentage points higher than that of the ethyl and methyl ester vegetable oil adjuvants. The field test results showed that the synergistic ratio of coconut oil tank mix adjuvants to post-emergence herbicides such as mixture of nicosulfuron?and?atrazine， mixture of mesotrione and atrazine， was 8.46%-13.57%. It was indicated that the control effect of herbicides at a reduction dosage after adding tank adjuvant was better than of herbicides at the recommended dose without adjuvant. In conclusion， the coconut oil tank mix adjuvant could reduce the herbicide dosage and herbicide cost， and provide a theoretical basis for the development of new pesticide additive products.

In order to explore the changes of root morphological distribution， nutrient accumulation and yield under different root configuration maize varieties intercropping， monoculture and intercropping treatments were conducted both in the field and pot-cultivation to study the variation characteristics of intercropping of maize （Zea mays L.） on root traits， spatial distribution， nutrient accumulation and grain yield， two maize varieties JS501 （small root angle type） and LY16 （large root angle type） with different root system architecture were used as experimental materials. The results showed that the total root length， total root surface area， total root volume and root diameter of maize population under intercropping treatments increased by 10.19%， 19.55% and 15.95% on average compared with monoculture treatments， respectively. But there was no significant change in root diameter between intercropping and monoculture treatment. In 0~20 cm soil layer， the total root length， total surface area and total volume of maize in intercropping were 15.27%， 21.82% and 9.44% higher than those in monoculture， and 12.95%， 9.18% and 20.31% higher than monoculture at 20~40 cm， respectively. Intercropping enlarged the horizontal distribution of JS501 root and extends outward by 5 cm， deepened root vertical distribution by 10 cm in intercropping treatments and increased root length density by 26.03% on average in 40~60 cm soil layer. Intercropping also significantly improved root activities by 27.83% compared with monoculture. The accumulation of nitrogen， phosphorus and potassium in intercropping population increased by 18.27%， 14.79% and 15.75% on average compared with monoculture， respectively. Land equivalent ratio was more than 1 under intercropping and dry matter weight and grain yield were increased significantly by 11.03% and 15.36% on average compared with monoculture， respectively. Path analysis showed that total root surface areas significantly affected the accumulation of N and K， which indirectly affected dry matter accumulation and 100-grain weight， and significantly increased grain yield under intercropping conditions. However， the correlation coefficient between factors in monoculture was lower than that in intercropping. In summary， intercropping changed the spatial distribution of maize roots with different root architecture and increased the proportion of roots in deep soil. It reshaped root architecture in 40~60 cm soil layer， improved root activities and make use of the root spatial complementary. These characteristics promoted the nutrient accumulation and increased grain yield. This study provided a theoretical and practical strategy for high efficiency of nutrient resources and sustainable agriculture.

In the process of food storage and transportation, it is easily to be polluted by fungi and cause spoilage. As a natural fungistat, plant essential oil is volatile, biodegradable, low residue, low toxicity, and environmentally friendly, which has become a hot spot in the research and development of food industry. This paper reviews the sources and active ingredients of plant essential oils, the inhibitory effect on fungal growth and mycotoxin synthesis, and their applications in food preservation, which would provide reference for further development and utilization of plant essential oil as natural antifungal agents and food preservatives.

In order to explore the biological function of the FaGI gene in tall fescue. In this study， yeast two-hybrid， bimolecular fluorescence complementation and co-immunoprecipitation were used to explore the proteins interacting with FaGI， and the overexpression vector p1300-FaGI was transformed into Arabidopsis thaliana by an Agrobacterium-mediated method， and the FaGI transgenic Arabidopsis lines were obtained. The wild type Col-0， overexpression FaGI gene lines and gi mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana were used for transcriptome sequencing and observing flowering performance. The results showed that the FaCO protein interacting with FaGI was screened by yeast two-hybrid method， and the interaction between FaGI and FaCO in vivo and in vitro was proved by bimolecular fluorescence complementation and co-immunoprecipitation. The flowering time of Arabidopsis plants overexpressing the FaGI gene was about 1.24 days earlier than that of wild-type Col-0. Differentially expressed genes （DEGs） of 1 963 and 92 were screened by comparing FaGI-OE and gi with WT， respectively. Compared with wild-type plants， the differentially expressed genes of overexpression FaGI lines were enriched in biological processes and metabolic pathways related to growth and development， photoperiod pathway， hormone synthesis and signal transduction， and carbon metabolism. In conclusion， FaGI affects the expression of photoperiod pathway-related genes， and overexpression of FaGI promotes flowering in Arabidopsis under long-day light conditions. At the same time， the function of FaGI are diverse and complex， which can be used as target genes for molecular breeding of tall fescue. The results of this study laid the foundation for revealing the function of FaGI gene and its regulatory network.

With the continuous development of economy and science technology in China, freeze-drying (FD) technology, as an efficient drying technology that can effectively maintain the cellular structure, functional components, color, flavor, and nutrition of food, has received great attention from the food industry. In recent years, FD has been rapidly and widely applied in the precise design and manufacture of nutritious and healthy foods. This article summarizes the history, current situation as well as development trend of FD technology, equipment and products from the view food technology and industry, which may provide references for its potential application in food industry.

NPR1 (non-expressor of PR genes 1) gene is an activator of plant system acquired resistance, and also one of the most important core factors in plant response to pathogen infection, it plays an important role in plant disease resistance. In order to classify the NPR1 gene family and verify the expression pattern of SbNPR1, bioinformatics and real-time fluorescence quantitative analysis (RT-qPCR) were used to analyze the NPR1 gene family and the expression of SbNPR1 expression respectively. The results showed that 5 NPR1 genes, SbNPR1~SbNPR5, were identified in sorghum and the length of amino acid sequence is 480~621 aa, the theoretical molecular weight is between 50.496 81~67.648 06 kDa, theory of isoelectric point is 5.64~6.11. Phylogenetic analysis showed that SbNPR1 was closely related to Sh253P03. Genetic structure analysis showed that the number of exons and introns varied little among members of the family. RT-qPCR analysis showed that the expression of SbNPR1 gene had tissue specificity in sorghum plant. The expression of SbNPR1 was inhibited and induced respectively by the treatment of hormone cyclophosphamide (GR24, 1 μmol·L^-1) and salicylic acid (SA, 1 mmol·L^-1). The expression of SbNPR1 showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing treated by PEG6000 (20%) and NaCl (250 mmol·L^-1), the relative expression levels were reached the maximum at 0.5 h, and then decreased. However, after treatment with Mannitol (D-Mannitol, 300 mmol·L^-1), the expression level of SbNPR1 gene decreased significantly after 3 h. Sorghum bicolor is treated with pathogen-associated molecular pattern receptors (PAMPs) flg22 (100 nmol·L^-1) and Chitin (8 nmol·L^-1). The expression of SbNPR1 was induced by flg22 and reached to the highest at 12 h after treatment, while its expression was inhibited by Chitin treatment. This study provides a basis for further exploring the role of NPR1 family in regulating sorghum resistance, signal transduction, plant hormones and stress regulation.

Jasmonic acid （JA） is involved in regulating various important biological processes such as plant growth， development and defense， in which JAZ proteins play an important role as the repressor in jasmonic acid-mediated biotic and abiotic stress response processes. To investigate the function of SlJAZ11， this study analyzed the expression pattern of SlJAZ11 after treatment with hormones such as salicylic acid （SA） and jasmonic acid （JA） as well as pathogenic bacteria infection， and the results showed that SlJAZ11 was able to respond to the induction of salicylic acid， jasmonic acid and Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato （Pst DC3000）. A tomato cDNA library was screened by yeast two-hybrid assay， and 14 potential interacting proteins of SlJAZ11 were obtained. The interactions between the candidate SlENT， SlOOLG and SlJAZ11 were further verified by yeast two-hybrid point-to-point assay and bimolecular fluorescence complementation technique （BiFC）， and the interactions between SlENT and SlJAZ11 were confirmed. Analysis of the expression pattern of SlENT revealed that its expression was significantly inhibited by SA and Pst DC3000， while MeJA significantly induced its expression， indicating that SlJAZ11 may regulate JA-mediated disease resistance in tomato by interacting with SlENT. This study may lay a good molecular foundation for elucidating the function and mechanism of SlJAZ11.

Food safety problems caused by food-borne pathogens seriously threaten the public health, which have caused widespread concern. Therefore, how to safety and effectively inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria in food has become a research hotspot in the food field. Current researched show that plant-derived natural products have wide sources, which possess broad antibacterial spectrum and less side effects than chemical preservatives, and can be used as natural preservatives in food. This article reviewed the antibacterial activity, mechanism and application in food preservation of plant-derived natural products, in order to provide theoretical basis for reducing food-borne pathogen contamination in food.