Monitoring of overwintering leaf age by integrating phenological, temporal, and thermal data: An indicator for assessing winter wheat seedling condition
KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
image:
Fig. 1 – Workflow of the proposed method for monitoring winter wheat leaf age
view moreCredit: Zhenhai Li, et al.
The seedling condition of winter wheat before overwintering affects its safe overwintering and final yield, and leaf age is an important indicator for evaluating the seedling condition. However, traditional leaf age surveys primarily rely on manual observation, which is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive but also makes large-scale and simultaneous observations difficult. Existing methods based on image segmentation are constrained by issues such as unclear leaf boundaries, leaf overlapping, and high computational complexity, limiting their large-scale application.
Against this backdrop, a research team led by Dr. Zhenhai Li from Shandong University of Science and Technology has proposed a method for monitoring winter wheat leaf age that integrates remote sensing phenological information, temporal variations in vegetation indices, and GDD (Fig. 1). Their study, made available online on May 28, 2026 in The Crop Journal, integrates remote sensing and meteorological data, providing new technical support for the monitoring and precise management of winter wheat seedling condition on a regional scale and laying the foundation for cross-regional application and long-term monitoring.
Based on MODIS remote sensing data and ERA5-Land reanalysis temperature data, the research team first extracted the emergence date of winter wheat and then used the emergence date, GDD, and NDVI change rate (β) to construct a physiologically-based GDD leaf age model (LAGDD) and a random forest-based leaf age model (LARF) to estimate the leaf age of winter wheat before overwintering.
To evaluate model performance, the researchers used field-measured leaf age samples for validation and found that the LARF model, which integrates multi-source data, significantly improved the accuracy of leaf age monitoring. It achieved an R² of 0.67 and an RMSE of 0.56 leaves, which was significantly better than the LAGDD model that relied solely on GDD. “The model demonstrated good adaptability and stability in major winter wheat planting areas of Shandong Province, providing a new technical solution for regional-scale winter wheat seedling monitoring,” says corresponding author Dr. Zhenhai Li.
The researchers also found that the emergence date is a key factor affecting the leaf age of winter wheat before overwintering. Winter wheat that emerges earlier can accumulate more GDD before overwintering, thereby achieving a higher leaf age and a better seedling condition. “This phenomenon was particularly evident in 2021. The continuous rainfall in Shandong Province that year led to widespread delays in sowing and emergence, ultimately resulting in a generally lower leaf age across the province,” explains Li. “This further illustrates the important role of sowing and emergence dates in the development of seedling condition.”
###
Contact Author:
Zhenhai Li
E-mail address: lizh323@126.com
The publisher KeAi was established by Elsevier and China Science Publishing & Media Ltd to unfold quality research globally. In 2013, our focus shifted to open access publishing. We now proudly publish more than 200 world-class, open access, English language journals, spanning all scientific disciplines. Many of these are titles we publish in partnership with prestigious societies and academic institutions, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).
Journal
The Crop Journal
Method of Research
Computational simulation/modeling
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
Monitoring of overwintering leaf age by integrating phenological, temporal, and thermal data: An indicator for assessing winter wheat seedling condition
Pm72, a new powdery mildew resistance gene identified from wild einkorn wheat
KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
image:
Characterization of the new powdery mildew resistance gene Pm72 from wild einkorn accession PI 427741
view moreCredit: Siyuan Zhou, et al.
Wheat powdery mildew, a prevalent foliar disease, severely threatens wheat yield and quality. Cultivating resistant wheat varieties is an effective way to control this disease.
Wild einkorn wheat (Triticum boeoticum) is a diploid species containing Ab genome close to A genome of modern wheat. Wild einkorn has abundant genetic diversity and possesses effective resistance to several wheat diseases, such as rusts and powdery mildew. Recently, researchers from Jiangsu University have identified a new powdery mildew resistance gene, Pm72, from wild einkorn that will be a useful gene resource for wheat breeding. They published their findings in The Crop Journal.
The researchers investigated a panel of wild einkorn accessions provided by international germplasm institutions and found that the Iraqi accession PI 427741 has effective resistance to wheat powdery mildew. Genetic analysis based on a bi-parent population suggested that PI 427741 has two dominant resistance genes.
“We found that PI 427741 possesses the powdery mildew resistance gene PmNCA6. To that end, we developed a diagnostic PmNCA6 marker to detect the F2 plants,” shares Professor Huagang He, corresponding author of the study. “We then used a segregating F3 family without PmNCA6 to map the unknown resistance gene in PI 427741.”
The team adopted bulked segregant exome capture sequencing (BSE-Seq) and molecular marker technologies to determine the chromosome position of the unknow resistance gene.
“The gene, officially cataloged as Pm72 now, was mapped to a 1.28-cM genetic interval on the long arm of chromosome 6A,” says first author Siyuan Zhou. “This region corresponds to a 940-kb physical region of the TA299 reference genome, where contains 21 NLR (nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat receptor)-like disease resistance genes — it poses a great challenge to clone Pm72.”
To assess the utilization value of Pm72, the team investigated its resistance spectrum. They found that Pm72 is resistant to all the ten pathogen isolates tested. “Through interspecific hybridization, we that Pm72 confers effective powdery mildew resistance in the hexaploid wheat background. “It means that this new gene has potential breeding value.” adds He. “Furthermore, the 253-bp bands generated by the co-segregating marker XTb6AL05 are highly specific to the Pm72 in wheat background.”
The researchers postulated this marker to be a powerful tool for marker-assisted selection of Pm72 in breeding program.
###
Author contact:
Huagang He
Email address: hghe@ujs.edu.cn
The publisher KeAi was established by Elsevier and China Science Publishing & Media Ltd to unfold quality research globally. In 2013, our focus shifted to open access publishing. We now proudly publish more than 200 world-class, open access, English language journals, spanning all scientific disciplines. Many of these are titles we publish in partnership with prestigious societies and academic institutions, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).
Journal
The Crop Journal
Method of Research
Experimental study
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
Characterization of Pm72, a new powdery mildew resistance gene on chromosome 6AL of Triticum boeoticum accession PI 427741
No comments:
Post a Comment