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• 1. [Article] Introducing and validating a high-throughput bud break sensor

  Bud break is a key adaptive trait that can help us understand how plants respond to a changing climate from the molecular to landscape scale. Despite this, acquisition of bud break data is currently constrained ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Introducing and validating a high-throughput bud break sensor Author: Kleinknecht, George J. Bud break is a key adaptive trait that can help us understand how plants respond to a changing climate from the molecular to landscape scale. Despite this, acquisition of bud break data is currently constrained by cost, scale, and a lack of information at the plant scale on the environmental stimuli that precede and cause bud dormancy to release. Additionally, to date, little effort has been devoted to phenotyping plants in nature owing to the challenge of controlling for environmental variation to isolate genomic effects on plant phenotype. Notwithstanding, natural selection operates on natural populations, and investigation of adaptive phenotypes in situ is warranted and can validate results from controlled laboratory experiments. In order to identify genomic effects on individual plant phenotypes in nature, environmental drivers must be concurrently measured and characterized. Here, we innovated and evaluated a sensor to meet these requirements for temperate woody plants. It was designed for use on a tree branch to measure the timing of bud break together with its key environmental drivers, temperature and day length. Specifically, we evaluated the sensor through independent corroboration with time-lapse photography and a suite of environmental sampling instruments. We also tested whether the presence of the device itself on a branch influenced the timing of bud break. Our results indicated the following: the bud break sensor's digital thermometer closely approximated a thermocouple touching plant tissue; the photoperiod detector measured ambient light with the same accuracy as time lapse photography; the phenology sensor accurately detected the timing of bud break; and the sensor itself did not influence bud phenology. Future use of the sensor can help galvanize a new field of study, landscape phenomics, or high-throughput phenotyping of organisms at the landscape level for integration with landscape genomics among other potential applications and disciplines. Title: Introducing and validating a high-throughput bud break sensor Author: Kleinknecht, George J. Bud break is a key adaptive trait that can help us understand how plants respond to a changing climate from the molecular to landscape scale. Despite this, acquisition of bud break data is currently constrained by cost, scale, and a lack of information at the plant scale on the environmental stimuli that precede and cause bud dormancy to release. Additionally, to date, little effort has been devoted to phenotyping plants in nature owing to the challenge of controlling for environmental variation to isolate genomic effects on plant phenotype. Notwithstanding, natural selection operates on natural populations, and investigation of adaptive phenotypes in situ is warranted and can validate results from controlled laboratory experiments. In order to identify genomic effects on individual plant phenotypes in nature, environmental drivers must be concurrently measured and characterized. Here, we innovated and evaluated a sensor to meet these requirements for temperate woody plants. It was designed for use on a tree branch to measure the timing of bud break together with its key environmental drivers, temperature and day length. Specifically, we evaluated the sensor through independent corroboration with time-lapse photography and a suite of environmental sampling instruments. We also tested whether the presence of the device itself on a branch influenced the timing of bud break. Our results indicated the following: the bud break sensor's digital thermometer closely approximated a thermocouple touching plant tissue; the photoperiod detector measured ambient light with the same accuracy as time lapse photography; the phenology sensor accurately detected the timing of bud break; and the sensor itself did not influence bud phenology. Future use of the sensor can help galvanize a new field of study, landscape phenomics, or high-throughput phenotyping of organisms at the landscape level for integration with landscape genomics among other potential applications and disciplines. Close

• 2. [Article] Utilization of the night-interruption phenomenon to hasten the seed increase of long-day cereals during short-day regimes in California and Arizona

  Tests were carried on in growth chambers and in the field to determine if the harvest of daylength-sensitive long-day cereals grown during the winter in Arizona could be hastened 30 days by the use of ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Utilization of the night-interruption phenomenon to hasten the seed increase of long-day cereals during short-day regimes in California and Arizona Author: Ebeltoft, David C. Tests were carried on in growth chambers and in the field to determine if the harvest of daylength-sensitive long-day cereals grown during the winter in Arizona could be hastened 30 days by the use of night interruption. Two durum lines which were near-isogenic for sensitivity to daylength were used throughout the study. The average day and night temperatures and daylengths for the Yuma, Arizona area during the period November to May and for the Santa Ana, California area from August through November were simulated in the growth chambers. Light for the night interruption was provided by incandescent lamps. Various intensities of light were tested and different durations of night interruption were applied. The night interruptions were initiated approximately one month after planting. From the studies it was learned that the date of harvest could be hastened 30 days by the use of incandescent lighting on the plants. To induce heading and hasten the harvest date by 30 days through the use of night interruption the following conditions had to be met: 1. The light intensity had to be at least 6 foot candle. 2. A night interruption of 6 foot candle intensity requires 5 hours of light (9:30 p.m. - 2:30 a.m.) each night. 3. Night interruption has to continue for approximately 85 days after it is initiated. Title: Utilization of the night-interruption phenomenon to hasten the seed increase of long-day cereals during short-day regimes in California and Arizona Author: Ebeltoft, David C. Tests were carried on in growth chambers and in the field to determine if the harvest of daylength-sensitive long-day cereals grown during the winter in Arizona could be hastened 30 days by the use of night interruption. Two durum lines which were near-isogenic for sensitivity to daylength were used throughout the study. The average day and night temperatures and daylengths for the Yuma, Arizona area during the period November to May and for the Santa Ana, California area from August through November were simulated in the growth chambers. Light for the night interruption was provided by incandescent lamps. Various intensities of light were tested and different durations of night interruption were applied. The night interruptions were initiated approximately one month after planting. From the studies it was learned that the date of harvest could be hastened 30 days by the use of incandescent lighting on the plants. To induce heading and hasten the harvest date by 30 days through the use of night interruption the following conditions had to be met: 1. The light intensity had to be at least 6 foot candle. 2. A night interruption of 6 foot candle intensity requires 5 hours of light (9:30 p.m. - 2:30 a.m.) each night. 3. Night interruption has to continue for approximately 85 days after it is initiated. Close