UCDavisPlants

Red and blue filters above the tomato plants with the monitoring sensors. The infrared radiometer, directed to the canopy under the blue treatment is shown in the right-bottom panel while the Atmos 14 and PAR sensors appear in the lower panels as installed on white PVC tubes.

🍅 From Energy Nexus: Spectral agrivoltaic panels cut tomato yields but improved water use efficiency and land productivity by producing both crops and solar power. (Majdi Abou Najm, Andre Daccache, Mohamed Emami)

▶️ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#PlantScience #AgEngineering #Agrivoltaics

🌱 From Developmental Cell (03/2025): A newly identified gene from plastid DNA transfer boosts photosynthesis and plant growth, pointing to new genetic routes for higher crop productivity. (Gail Taylor)

▶️ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#PlantScience

Transformative Gift Propels UC Davis’ Leadership in Ag Tech UC Davis receives a $25 million gift from the estate of Dan G. Best II to fund endowed chairs, scholarships and agricultural innovation in honor of C.L. Best.

🚜 From UC Davis: $25M gift from Dan G. Best II, grandson of founding leader of Caterpillar Tractor Co., will accelerate ag tech research in AI, robotics and data driven farming methods to tackle climate resilience and sustainable #agriculture.

▶️ www.ucdavis.edu/news/transfo...

#AgEngineering

Structure and genetic diversity of wild populations of Malpighia glabra L. from Yucatan, Mexico - Molecular Biology Reports Background Malpighia glabra (Malpighiaceae), a wild fruit tree native to the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, is economically important in countries such as Brazil and Japan. Its fruits are one of the riche...

🌱 From Molecular Biology Reports: Wild Yucatan acerola (Mayan cherry) populations retain strong genetic diversity, strengthening options for conservation and breeding nutrient rich, climate resilient fruit crops. (Daniel Potter)

▶️ link.springer.com/article/10.1...

#PlantScience #Botany #Yucatan

Introducing the “Bloom” Cycle, or Why Plants Are Not Stupid For decades, the basics of plant growth have been taught in grade-school: Plants make their food out of water from the soil, light from the sun and carbon dioxide from the air in a process called phot...

Scientists have long puzzled over photorespiration, a seemingly wasteful metabolic process in plants. Now UC Davis plant scientist Arnold Bloom has discovered the "Bloom cycle," which plants can use for key processes @ucdavisplants.bsky.social www.ucdavis.edu/egghead/blog...

Why Plants Are Not Stupid: Introducing the “Bloom Cycle" Arnold Bloom proposes a newly identified “Bloom cycle” within photorespiration, showing the process is not wasteful but essential for nitrogen assimilation, energy transport and pest defense.

🌱 From UC Davis: New research reframes photorespiration as a nitrogen-fueling cycle, explaining crop nutrition losses under rising CO2 and guiding smarter breeding. (Arnold Bloom)

▶️ www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/news/bloom-c...

#PlantScience #PlantBiology

Management inputs, site conditions, and fire history shape outcomes of invasive plant control and native recovery Millions of dollars and countless hours are spent on invasive plant management, and the field of invasion ecology has gained increasing attention in recent decades. Yet, despite these efforts to cont....

🌱 From Ecological Applications: Long-term data show invasive plant control works best when infestations are small and treatments are persistent, guiding smarter use of limited restoration funds. (Justin Valliere, Olivia Parra)

▶️ esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

#PlantScience

Blooming Plumeria Tree. Image Source: Pixabay, HOerwin56

🌱 From Archives of Virology: A new ampelovirus infecting plumeria expands our view of plant virus diversity. Genetic divergence and distinct lineages signal risks for ornamentals. (Minsook Hwang, Kristian Stevens, Maher Al Rwahnih)

▶️ link.springer.com/article/10.1...

#PlantScience #PlantPathology

Staining of human skin through contact with wounded walnut tissues (left) and PPO activity assays from hull tissues (right). The juices from the disrupted walnut hull tissues will stain human skin (left), a hallmark of manual walnut hull removal, which is minimally removed by washing and only reverts to normal by replacement with new skin cells. The same reaction is observed on native polyacrylamide gels (right) when assaying for PPO activity. Total protein (10 μg) extracted from hull tissues is used for in-gel tyrosinase staining and was the means by which JrPPO1 was originally discovered. Lane A shows the pure mushroom tyrosinase control, while lanes B and C show extracts from the hull epidermal tissue and cortical tissue, respectively.

🌱 From the International Journal of Molecular Sciences: Walnut reveals melanin as a redox defense system. Dual PPO enzymes turn phenolic oxidation into protective pigment, linking metabolism and stress resilience. (Abhaya M. Dandekar, Sriema L. Walawage)

▶️ www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/27...
#PlantScience

Scatter plots showing correlations between growing degree days (GGD) of four phenological stages of Phelipanche ramosa. Each plot represents the relationship between two consecutive life stages, based on two experimental runs of 10 replicate rhizotrons with tomato as the host plant at Davis, CA.

🌱 From Weed Science: A growing degree day model predicts branched broomrape stages in tomato, identifying a key 300 to 730 GDD control window to improve in season weed management. (Pershang Hosseini, Bradley Hanson, Matthew Fatino, Mohsen Mesgaran)

▶️ www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

#WeedScience

a woman kneeling among grapevines in a vineyard under a hooped shade with smoke

Can a simple spray protect grapes from wildfire smoke?

UCDavis & USDA researchers applied a calcium spray to grapes to see if it would protect the fruit from smoke exposure. The spray could offer a way to protect the state’s $88B wine industry from wildfires.

caes.ucdavis.edu/news/can-sim...

Comparison of simulated gastrointestinal digestion platforms with varying complexity and sample mass requirements, using common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) as a model BACKGROUND Measuring bioaccessible nutrient levels during digestion in a physiologically relevant (dynamic) manner is a bottleneck in plant breeding and food product development. The first aim of th...

🌱 From Science of Food and Agriculture: Digestion models show that bean genotype and environment shape bioaccessible protein and phenolics, improving nutrition screening. (Tayah M Bolt, Gail M Bornhorst, Christine H Diepenbrock)

▶️ scijournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

#PlantScience

Figure 1. Heterosis in rice plants. F1 hybrid shows superior traits compared to its parents. F2 sexual progeny lose heterosis after selfing due to genetic segregation. Heterosis can be maintained in F2 clonal progeny generated through synthetic apomixis.

🌱 From Current Opinion in Biotechnology: Synthetic apomixis could lock hybrid vigor into seeds, but fertility and crop-specific barriers still limit wider use. (Hui Ren, Venkatesan Sundaresan)

▶️ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#PlantScience #Biotechnology

(PDF) Soil structure changes under reduced tillage and cover cropping enhance carbon mineralization in Mediterranean croplands PDF | Conservation agriculture practices like no‐tillage and cover cropping are promoted for rebuilding soil health and sequestering carbon, but their... | Find, read and cite all the research you nee...

🌱 From Vadose Zone Journal: Conservation tillage built 50% more surface carbon but improved soil structure also sped carbon loss when soils were wet, complicating sequestration gains. (Jeffrey P. Mitchell)

▶️ www.researchgate.net/publication/...

#PlantScience #SoilScience

Chromosome-scale diploid unphased assembly of horsemint (Mentha longifolia) - BMC Genomic Data Objectives Mint oils are essential oils with many commercial applications. Mint oils are harvested from peppermint or spearmint plants. Spearmint (Mentha spicata) is an allotetraploid, hybrid between ...

🌱 From BMC Genomic Data: A new chromosome-scale genome for Mentha longifolia clarifies mint parentage, enabling trait mapping and improvement of spearmint and peppermint oils. (Luca Comai)
▶️ link.springer.com/article/10.1...
#PlantScience #PlantGenetics

Enemy at the Stomatal Gate: How Bacteria Trick Plants Into Letting Them Pass Plants have resources, and bacteria want them. Plants have gates on their leaves to keep the thieves out. But a nasty bug called Salmonella has figured out how to trick plants into opening up their sa...

🌱 From UC Davis: Salmonella reopens leaf pores by hijacking auxin signaling, slipping inside greens and evading washing, a key step toward breeding safer leafy crops. (Maeli Melotto, Brianna Fochs)
▶️ www.ucdavis.edu/blog/enemy-s...

#PlantScience #PlantBiology

Seed treatment technologies: Effects on physical, functional, and physiological seed quality Seed treatment is a foundational technology in modern agriculture, designed to protect high-value seeds against initial pest and pathogen attacks, amo…

🌱 From Plant Science: Seed treatments protect crops but can damage seeds. This review shows that dose, formulation, and storage shape affect germination and vigor. (Venicius Urbano Vilela Reis, Everson Reis Carvalho, Imtiyaz Khanday)

▶️ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#PlantBreeding

Growth form and lifespan of herbaceous species mediate the role of traits in short-term drought response - Nature Ecology & Evolution Using 63 globally distributed grassland and shrubland sites from the International Drought Experiment, this study identified plant traits linked to drought resistance after 1 year of extreme drought a...

🌱 From Nature Ecology & Evolution: Traits that aid short drought survival vary by growth form and lifespan, showing no universal plant strategy for resisting extreme dry spells. (Samantha J. Worthy, Jennifer L. Funk)

▶️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#PlantScience #Climate

Spatial and single-cell expression analyses reveal complex expression domains in early wheat spike development - Genome Biology Background Wheat is important for global food security. Understanding the molecular mechanisms driving spike and spikelet development can benefit the development of more productive varieties. Results ...

🌱 From Genome Biology: Spatial and single-cell maps reveal how genes coordinate early wheat spike formation, guiding breeding for higher-yielding wheat. (Xiaosa Xu, H. Lin, J. Zhang, G. Burguener, F. Paraiso, K. Li, C. Tumelty, C. Li, Y. Liu, Jorge Dubcovsky)
▶️ link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Techno-economic Analysis of Fungal Biomass Production from Agricultural Byproducts: Exploring a Low-Cost Solution for Myco-food Production - Food and Bioprocess Technology Fungal biomass production from agricultural byproducts offers both economic and environmental advantages as a novel myco-food. A system model was developed using SuperPro Designer and applied to the t...

🌱 From Food and Bioprocess Technology: Converting almond hull byproducts into fungal foods could deliver low-cost, sustainable protein and fiber while reducing agricultural waste. (Lin Cao, Yike Chen, Hamed M. El Mashad, Zhongli Pan & Ruihong Zhang)
▶️ link.springer.com/article/10.1...
#AgEngineering

What Is a Healthy Soil for Winegrape Production? Grower Perspectives Differ From Soil Health Paradigms Soil health (SH) is linked to sustainable agriculture, yet few studies link SH assessments to specific crop-relevant outcomes needed. This study integrates grower participation to align SH indicators...

🍇From European Journal of Soil Science: For winegrapes, ideal soils may score lower on typical soil health metrics because growers prioritize controlled vigor and water balance. (Noelymar Gonzalez-Maldonado,E. Yao,N. Moonilall, Cristina Lazcano)
▶️ bsssjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Long-distance transport of siRNAs with functional roles in pollen development - Nature Plants This study shows that many small RNAs in Capsella rubella pollen originate from maternal tissues. These mobile small RNAs support proper pollen development, revealing that non-cell-autonomous small RN...

🧬 From Nature Plants: Plants send mobile small RNAs from maternal tissues to pollen, enabling essential gene control for normal male fertility. (Blake C. Meyers)

▶️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#PlantScience #PlantBiology

Integrating legumes to enhance cereal production: The relative inputs of fertiliser nitrogen and legume biological nitrogen fixation in major wheat and maize producing countries - Plant and Soil Background Cereal crops dominate arable agriculture and underpin global food supply. Cereal grain yield is closely related to crop nitrogen (N) uptake. However, excessive inputs of N fertiliser in cer...

🌱 From Plant and Soil: Adding legumes to wheat and maize rotations can replace major fertilizer nitrogen inputs, improve cereal yields and reduce environmental risks. (Jagdish K. Ladha)

▶️ link.springer.com/article/10.1...

#PlantScience #Agriculture

Full text now available!

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UC Davis Energy and Efficiency Institute Accelerating the development and commercialization of sustainable energy technologies & solutions Energy Graduate Group Providing the interdisciplinary training required to tackle the energy challenge...

Hey all. We've had a few questions about this article. If you have further questions or want to learn about the UC Davis Energy and Efficiency Institute, contact Noah Krasner for more information.
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Fig. 5. COR and PsyI/PsyR modulate partially overlapping metabolic processes in Pst DC3000.A, Growth curves of Pst DC3000, psyI-R-, and DB29 in COR-promoting medium HSC. Bacteriawere cultured in four biological replicates at 28 ºC and 200 rpm. The optical density (OD) at 600nm was measured every 2 hours using a spectrometer. B, Principal component analysis (PCA)plot created with normalized read counts from all replicates (n=4 per bacterial strain). The ovalsrepresent the 95% confidence for each group. C, Hierarchical clustering analysis of normalizedread counts of all DEGs identified with at least one pairwise comparison (i.e., DB29 vs. PstDC3000 and/or psyI-R- vs. DC3000). The heatmap reflects the normalized data (Log2 counts permillion) calculated by the mean-centered divided by the standard deviation of each transcriptusing default setting of MetaboAnalyst 5.0. D, Venn diagram of DEGs modulated in either DB29or psyI-R-, including the directions of gene regulation (i.e., up or down).

From Phytopathology: Quorum-sensing genes psyI and psyR enable a tomato pathogen to reach full virulence, linking bacterial communication to stronger disease symptoms. (Jirachaya Yeemin,Gabrielle Rossidivito, David F. Bridges, Maeli Melotto)

▶️ apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/10.1094/...

#PlantPathology

Fig. 1. Evaluation of stripe rust severity in susceptible (Kronos S, Avocet S) and resistant (Kronos R [Tyr15-K7], Avocet R) wheat leaves following inoculation with four Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst)concentrations. (A) Hemocytometer-based quantification of spore concentration (scale bar = 200 μm). (B)Phenotypic responses of leaves to Pst inoculation. (C) Bar plots illustrating the impact of spore concentrationon sporulation and cell death areas. The percentage of sporulation and cell death leaf area was measured bythe RGB-based method. The effect of spore concentration was tested using one-way ANOVA, followed byTukey-Kramer post hoc tests to compare different concentrations within each genotype. The letters underbars represent groupings based on the significance level (P < 0.05) in the post-hoc test. Error barsrepresent the standard deviation (SD) of the mean. Dots represent biological replicates representingsamples from the middle section of the second leaf taken from different plants. (D) Comparative analysis ofsusceptibility and resistance responses across different genetic backgrounds under varying Pst inoculumloads.

🌱 From Phytopathology: A wheat resistance gene stays effective even under heavy disease pressure, showing durable protection against stripe rust across genetic backgrounds and pathogen loads. (Gitta Coaker)

▶️ apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/abs/10.1...

#PlantScience #PlantPathology

Kings Canyon National Park, Pixabay/banyanphotos

🌲 From Forest Ecology and Management: Satellite time series reveal fewer surviving trees after wildfire than standard severity maps suggest, reshaping how delayed mortality and recovery are tracked. (Saba Saberi, Andrew Latimer, Derek J.N. Young)
▶️ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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(a) The historical record of atmospheric CO2 concentrations from 1950 to 2022 and predictions until 2100 estimated by a collection of Global Climate Models, which assume several CO2 emission scenarios (IPCC 2021). (b) Earth's atmospheric CO2 concentration during the past 40 million years, according to two independent proxy measures (δ¹¹B and alkenones) (Rae et al. 2021).

🌱 Plant, Cell & Environment: Plants may stabilize protein levels under rising CO2 by shifting nitrogen use and metal cofactors, boosting energy efficiency and maintaining carbon nitrogen balance. (Arnold J. Bloom, Xiaoxiao Shi, Nathan M. Hannon)
▶️ www.researchgate.net/publication/...

#PlantScience

Frontiers | Soil surface properties and implications for soil carbon sequestration in early-stage ecovoltaic grassland restoration Large, ground-mounted photovoltaic solar energy (GPV) development is expanding rapidly, but its impact on soils and ecosystem services is unresolved. The co-...

🌱 Frontiers in Environmental Science: Early ecovoltaic grassland restoration under solar panels boosts soil moisture and accelerates carbon and nitrogen gains, especially in runoff microsites. (Noah Z. Krasner, Rebecca R. Hernandez)

▶️ www.frontiersin.org/journals/env...

#PlantScience #SoilScience