The relationship between canopy microclimate, fruit and seed yield, and quality in Xanthoceras sorbifolium

Exploration of the Plant World: Application and Innovation of Plant-Wearable Sensors for Real-Time Detection

Plants play a crucial role in improving the environment by regulating the temperature, preventing soil erosion, and reducing wind speed. By yielding edible resources such as food crops, vegetables, and fruits, plants also provide essential nutrients for human beings. Consequently, the real-time monitoring of plant growth and surrounding environment has been the primary focus of researchers. Traditional plant monitoring relies on manual inspection, which is both subjective and discontinuous. In recent years, ongoing advancements in wearable sensors have enabled their application in various areas of plant monitoring such as plant growth assessment, environmental monitoring, nutritional detection, water management, and pest warning. These wearable sensors can be directly fixed to plant organs to deliver real-time data on plant growth and environmental conditions via wireless connections with smart devices. This facilitates user management and monitoring, which can contribute to the development of intelligent agriculture with high planting efficiency and sustainability. This review summarizes the design principles, manufacturing methods, characteristics, and feasibility of plant-wearable sensors based on their functions, including plant-phenotype sensors (e.g., hormones and nutrients), plant-growth-environment sensors (e.g., surrounding humidity), and plant stress sensors (e.g., pesticides, volatile organic compounds, and environmental stress). It also explores the challenges and development prospects in this field, providing valuable insights into the future application of wearable sensors to effectively optimize the plant growth status for crop yield and quality.

Genome-wide association analysis identifies a candidate gene controlling seed size and yield in Xanthoceras sorbifolium Bunge

Yellow horn (Xanthoceras sorbifolium Bunge) is a woody oilseed tree species whose seed oil is rich in unsaturated fatty acids and rare neuronic acids, and can be used as a high-grade edible oil or as a feedstock for biodiesel production. However, the genetic mechanisms related to seed yield in yellow horn are not well elucidated. This study identified 2 164 863 SNP loci based on 222 genome-wide resequencing data of yellow horn germplasm. We conducted genome-wide association study (GWAS) analysis on three core traits (hundred-grain weight, single-fruit seed mass, and single-fruit seed number) that influence seed yield for the years 2022 and 2020, and identified 399 significant SNP loci. Among these loci, the Chr10_24013014 and Chr10_24012613 loci caught our attention due to their consistent associations across multiple analyses. Through Sanger sequencing, we validated the genotypes of these two loci across 16 germplasms, confirming their consistency with the GWAS analysis results. Downstream of these two significant loci, we identified a candidate gene encoding an AP2 transcription factor protein, which we named XsAP2. RT-qPCR analysis revealed high expression of the XsAP2 gene in seeds, and a significant negative correlation between its expression levels and seed hundred-grain weight, as well as single-fruit seed mass, suggesting its potential role in the normal seed development process. Transgenic Arabidopsis lines with the overexpressed XsAP2 gene exhibited varying degrees of reduction in seed size, number of seeds per silique, and number of siliques per plant compared with wild-type Arabidopsis. Combining these results, we hypothesize that the XsAP2 gene may have a negative regulatory effect on seed yield of yellow horn. These results provide a reference for the molecular breeding of high-yielding yellow horn.