The effects of replacing wheat flour with 0-15% debittered moringa seed (DBMS) flour on the dough rheology of wheat flour and physical, sensory and chemical properties of bread were studied. Incorporation of an increasing amount of DBMS from 0 to 15% decreased farinograph water absorption, dough stability, amylograph peak viscosity and overall quality of bread. The bread with 10% DBMS had a typ...

The Porous Tube Plant Nutrient Delivery System (PTPNDS), a hydrophilic, microporous ceramic tube hydroponic system designed for microgravity, will be tested in a middeck locker of the Space Shuttle. The flight experiment will focus on hardware operation and assess its ability to support seed germination and early seedling growth in microgravity. The water controlling system of the PTPNDS hardwa...

Mikania micrantha H.B.K is an invasive alien weed in South China. To help understand the mechanisms of its invasiveness, we studied its seed germination ecophysiology. We found that the optimal temperatures for seed germination were 25, 30, 15/30°C (night/day), and an ambient temperature (24-32°C). Germination percentage (GP) in dark was less than 10%, and it increased with increasing light int...

Endophytic filamentous actinobacteria were isolated from surface-sterilized roots of wheat plants. Endophytic colonization of germinating wheat seed was examined using one of these endophytes, Streptomyces sp. strain EN27, tagged with the egfp gene. Endophytic colonization was observed from a very early stage of plant development with colonization of the embryo, endosperm, and emerging radicle.

To demonstrate the combined toxicity of cadmium (Cd) and arsenate (As) to early developmental stages of six wheat varieties, young seedlings were exposed to solutions containing both contaminants and seed germination frequency and seedling biomass, root length and shoot height, Cd and As uptake, amylase activity, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), soluble protein and ...

Pyruvate, Pi dikinase (PPDK) is a key enzyme in the C4 photosynthetic pathway. However, its metabolic role in C3 plants remains uncertain. Northern blot analyses of PPDK mRNAs from wheat leaves and seeds probed with maize PPDK cDNA indicates the presence of organ-specific mRNAs. Immunofluorescent labeling of protein in wheat seed demonstrate that the PPDK polypeptide and the ribulose-1, 5-bisph...

The amount of pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase (PPDK) (EC 2.7.9.1) protein in wheat (Triticum aestivum L. var Cheyenne) grains was determined at different stages of development by the protein blot method. The variation in PPDK protein with time in developing wheat grains was similar to that of the enzyme's activity reported by Meyer et al. (1982 Plant Physiol 69: 7-10). The variation in levels ...

Heavy nitrogen (N) application to gain higher yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) resulted in increased production cost and environment pollution. How to diminish the N supply without losing yield and/or quality remains a challenge. To meet the challenge, we integrated and expressed a tobacco nitrate reductase gene (NR) in transgenic wheat. The 35S-NR gene was transferred into two winter cult...

Pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) is a major abiotic factor affecting grain weight and quality, and is caused by an early break in seed dormancy. Association mapping (AM) is used to detect correlations between phenotypes and genotypes based on linkage disequilibrium (LD) in wheat breeding programs. We evaluated seed dormancy in 80 Chinese wheat founder parents in five environments and performed a gen...