Whether traditional soybean (Glycine max L.) breeding can improve seed yield in low-input agricultural systems was not well known. In this study, we found: (1) traditional soybean breeding increased yield under both P and non-P supply, without affecting seed protein content and mineral concentrations; (2) a trade-off between high seed yield and seed P, Zn and Ca concentration, as affected by different environments. Both the yield improvement and the tolerance to low nutrition can be improved by soybean breeding.

A 24-h light period is found as an important factor for the production of greenhouse crops and production in plant factories. In this study, the effects of continuous light on antioxidants, carbohydrate metabolism was analysed and the mechanism involved in this phenomenon was understated. Our results showed that continuous light benefited the growth of Vigna radiata L. (mung bean) without causing leaf injuries.

Phenotyping can significantly accelerate breeding of new plant cultivars. However, no reliable markers have been identified to date for the selection of the most promising cultivars at an early stage. The results of the present study show the possibility of using the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters of young seedlings as predictors of plant biomass accumulation and tolerance to drought and short-term heat stress. We believe that the time needed for new cultivar creation can be significantly shortened using these parameters.

The hypothesis that fruit removal affected photosynthetic performance of Shiraz grapevines was undertaken by comparing recently harvested and continuously vegetative vines. Fruiting vines had higher rates of CO₂-limited photosynthesis compared to vegetative vines before harvest but after, photosynthetic rates were highest in vegetative vines. Sink removal caused a sustained depreciation in photosynthesis. Why assimilation of continuously vegetative vines increased during the harvest time when there were no apparent changes in sink demand was not resolved.

The presented studies report the characteristics of the plasmodesmata in Arabidopsis thaliana(L.) Heynh during somatic embryogenesis for the first time. In this system, cells that are realising different developmental programs can be distinguished based on their cytology, ultrastructure, and from a symplasmic communication point of view, on the different number of plasmodesmata between the cells within a given symplasmic domain. The results indicate that changes in the number and shape of the plasmodesmata correlate with changes in the direction of cell differentiation.

Melatonin plays important roles in multiple stress responses, especially salt stress. Although melatonin had be reported to alleviate salt stress in some plant, there is no report about the melatonin’s functions and its precise molecular mechanisms in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) under salt condition. In this study, different response of melatonin counteracting salt damage was reported. The morphological, physiological and transcriptome differences of root were compared systematically to elucidate the mechanisms of cultivars response to melatonin under salt stress.