Dataset Information

Structural parameters for X-ray micro-computed tomography (?CT) and their relationship with the breakage rate of maize varieties.

ABSTRACT: Background:High grain breakage rate is the main limiting factor encountered in the mechanical harvest of maize grain. X-ray micro-computed tomography (?CT) scanning technology could be used to obtain the three-dimensional structure of maize grain. Currently, the effect of maize grain structure on the grain breakage rate, determined using X-ray ?CT scanning technology, has not been reported. Therefore, the objectives of this study are: (i) to obtain the shape, geometry, and structural parameters related to the breakage rate using X-ray ?CT scanning technology; (ii) to explore relationships between these parameters and grain breakage rate. Result:In this study, 28 parameters were determined using X-ray ?CT scanning technology. The maize breakage rate was mainly influenced by the grain specific surface area, subcutaneous cavity volume, sphericity, and density. In particular, the breakage rate was directly affected by the subcutaneous cavity volume and density. The maize variety with high density and low subcutaneous cavity volume had a low breakage rate. The specific surface area (r?=?0.758*), embryo specific surface area (r?=?0.927**), subcutaneous cavity volume ratio (0.581*), and subcutaneous cavity volume (0.589*) of maize grain significantly and positively correlated with breakage rate. The cavity specific surface area (- 0.628*) and grain density (- 0.934**) of maize grain significantly and negatively correlated with grain breakage rates. Grain shape (length, width, thickness, and aspect ratio) positively correlated with grain breakage rate but the correlation did not reach statistical significance. The susceptibility of grain breakage increased when kernel weight decreased (- 0.371), but the effect was not significant. Conclusions:The results indicate that X-ray ?CT scanning technology could be effectively used to evaluate maize grain breakage rate. X-ray ?CT scanning technology provided a more precise and comprehensive acquisition method to evaluate the shape, geometry, and structure of maize grain. Thus, data gained by X-ray ?CT can be used as a guideline for breeding resistant breakage maize varieties. Grain density and subcutaneous cavity volume are two of the most important factors affecting grain breakage rate. Grain density, in particular, plays a vital role in grain breakage and this parameter can be used to predict the breakage rate of maize varieties.

SUBMITTER: Hou J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6933881 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Structural parameters for X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT) and their relationship with the breakage rate of maize varieties.

Hou Junfeng J Zhang Ying Y Jin Xiuliang X Dong Pengfei P Guo Yanan Y Wang Keru K Fan Yinghu Y Li Shaokun S

Plant methods 20191227

<h4>Background</h4>High grain breakage rate is the main limiting factor encountered in the mechanical harvest of maize grain. X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT) scanning technology could be used to obtain the three-dimensional structure of maize grain. Currently, the effect of maize grain structure on the grain breakage rate, determined using X-ray μCT scanning technology, has not been reported. Therefore, the objectives of this study are: (i) to obtain the shape, geometry, and structural par ...[more]

PMID: 31889985

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Project description:BackgroundSexual selection has been considered to promote diversification and speciation. Sexually dimorphic species have been used to explore the supposed effect, however, with mixed results. In dwarf spiders (Erigoninae), many species are sexually dimorphic-males possess marked prosomal modifications. These male traits vary from moderate elevations to bizarre shapes in various prosomal regions. Previous studies established that male dwarf spiders produce substances in these prosomal modifications that are taken up by the females. These substances can act as nuptial gifts, which increase the mating probability of males and the oviposition rate in females. Therefore, these dimorphic traits have evolved in the context of sexual selection. Here, we explore the evolutionary lability of this gustatory trait complex with the aim of assessing the role of this trait complex in species divergence by investigating (1) if erigonine modified prosomata are inherently linked to nuptial-gift-producing glands, (2) if the evolution of the glands evolution preceded that of the modified prosomal shapes, and by assessing (3) the occurrence of convergent/divergent evolution and cryptic differentiation.ResultsWe reconstructed the position and extent of the glandular tissue along with the muscular anatomy in the anterior part of the prosoma of 76 erigonine spiders and three outgroup species using X-ray micro-computed tomography. In all but one case, modified prosomata are associated with gustatory glands. We incorporated the location of glands and muscles into an existing matrix of somatic and genitalic morphological traits of these taxa and reanalyzed their phylogenetic relationship. Our analysis supports that the possession of glandular equipment is the ancestral state and that the manifold modifications of the prosomal shape have evolved convergently multiple times. We found differences in gland position between species with both modified and unmodified prosomata, and reported on seven cases of gland loss.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that the occurrence of gustatory glands in sexually monomorphic ancestors has set the stage for the evolution of diverse dimorphic external modifications in dwarf spiders. Differences among congeners suggest that the gland position is highly susceptible to evolutionary changes. The multiple incidences might reflect costs of glandular tissue maintenance and nuptial feeding. Our results indicate divergent evolutionary patterns of gustatory-courtship-related traits, and thus a likely facilitating effect of sexual selection on speciation.

Project description:Background:Micro-computed tomography (?CT) bring a new opportunity to accurately quantify micro phenotypic traits of maize stem, also provide comparable benchmark to evaluate its dynamic development at the different growth stages. The progressive accumulation of stem biomass brings manifest structure changes of maize stem and vascular bundles, which are closely related with maize varietal characteristics and growth stages. Thus, micro-phenotyping (?Phenotyping) of maize stems is not only valuable to evaluate bio-mechanics and water-transport performance of maize, but also yield growth-based traits for quantitative traits loci (QTL) and functional genes location in molecular breeding. Result:In this study, maize stems of 20 maize cultivars and two growth stages were imaged using ?CT scanning technology. According to the observable differences of maize stems from the elongation and tasseling stages, function zones of maize stem were firstly defined to describe the substance accumulation of maize stems. And then a set of image-based ?Phenotyping pipelines were implemented to quantify maize stem and vascular bundles at the two stages. The coefficient of determination (R2) of counting vascular bundles was higher than 0.95. Based on the uniform contour representation, intensity-related, geometry-related and distribution-related traits of vascular bundles were respectively evaluated in function zones and structure layers. And growth-related traits of the slice, epidermis, periphery and inner zones were also used to describe the dynamic growth of maize stem. Statistical analysis demonstrated the presented method was suitable to the phenotyping analysis of maize stem for multiple growth stages. Conclusions:The novel descriptors of function zones provide effective phenotypic references to quantify the differences between growth stages; and the detection and identification of vascular bundles based on function zones are more robust to determine the adaptive image analysis pipeline. Developing robust and effective image-based phenotyping method to assess the traits of stem and vascular bundles, is highly relevant for understanding the relationship between maize phenomics and genomics.

Dataset Information

Structural parameters for X-ray micro-computed tomography (?CT) and their relationship with the breakage rate of maize varieties.

Publications

Structural parameters for X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT) and their relationship with the breakage rate of maize varieties.

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