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The sex-dependent differences in the response to salt stress of the dioecious Rumex thyrsiflorus and the influence of different concentrations of sodium chloride (NaCl) on the biosynthesis of phenolic compounds in callus suspension cultures were evaluated. The cultures originated from callus obtained on hypocotyls isolated from male and female seedlings were cultured on Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 0.4 mg/L 6-benzylaminopurine and 1 mg/L 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid. The results showed that the response to salt stress depends on both the sex of the plant and the NaCl concentration in the culture medium. The analysis of the main morphometric parameters showed that callus tissue derived from the hypocotyls of female seedlings was less sensitive to salt stress than that from male seedlings, which was correlated with higher concentrations of phenolic compounds. The optimal NaCl concentration to increase the production of phenolic compounds was 129 mM for females and 43 mM for males. In the methanolic tissue extracts 22 compounds were determined using the HPLC–DAD method. In general, higher amounts of compounds were detected in the extracts from the female tissue. The following dominated: catechin (max. 213.31), cryptochlorogenic acid (max. 76.35) and epicatechin (max. 54.84) (mg/100 g DW). This comprehensive phytochemical analysis of the sex-related aspects of the response to salt stress was performed for the first time in this dioecious model species. The results revealed potential application of NaCl as the ecological friendly and inexpensive elicitor to increase the production of pharmaceutically valuable compounds and highlight the importance of dioecy in phytochemistry.Key messageThe influence of salt stress on the phenolic compounds production as well as the sex-dependent callus tissue response was documented for the first time for the dioecious model species Rumex thyrsiflorus.

Dioecy-separate male and female individuals-occurs in less than 10% of angiosperms. Studying dioecy and plant sex chromosomes is key to understanding sex determination, genetic diversity, and ecological interactions, with implications for crop breeding, conservation, and pollination management. Many dioecious plant species deviate from the 1:1 sex ratio expected under Fisher's principle, displaying male- or female-biased populations. The genus (Polygonaceae) is a valuable model for investigating sex-ratio variation and sex chromosome evolution. The dioecious species and possess heteromorphic sex chromosomes and typically exhibit female-biased sex ratios in natural populations. However, the environmental and developmental drivers of these biases remain largely unresolved. Previous studies on have often relied on single or infrequent population surveys, potentially overlooking the seasonal dynamics of sex ratios, especially given phenological differences between sexes. Female plants remain morphologically recognizable for longer periods due to seed set, which can bias sex-ratio estimates when sampling is limited to specific reproductive stages or time points. To address these limitations, we systematically investigated the temporal dynamics of observable sex ratios in and throughout an entire growing season using regular monitoring. Our results demonstrate that observable sex ratios in these populations are dynamic, with significant seasonal fluctuations driven by differences in developmental timing and the duration of morphological recognizability between sexes. As a result, the period during which field-observed sex ratios accurately reflect the true population structure is both limited and highly dependent on the timing of observations. Notably, the earlier flowering of male plants in can lead to male-biased sex ratios in early-season surveys, while the prolonged recognizability of fruiting females may bias estimates toward females later in the season.

The pale grass blue butterfly Zizeeria maha is sensitive to low-dose radioactive pollution from the Fukushima nuclear accident in the field but is also highly tolerant to radioactive cesium (137Cs) in an artificial diet in laboratory experiments. To resolve this field-laboratory paradox, we hypothesize that the butterfly shows vulnerability in the field through biochemical changes in the larval host plant, the creeping wood sorrel Oxalis corniculata, in response to radiation stress. To test this field-effect hypothesis, we examined nutrient contents in the host plant leaves from Tohoku (mostly polluted areas including Fukushima), Niigata, and Kyushu, Japan. Leaves from Tohoku showed significantly lower sodium and lipid contents than those from Niigata. In the Tohoku samples, the sodium content (but not the lipid content) was significantly negatively correlated with the radioactivity concentration of cesium (137Cs) in leaves and with the ground radiation dose. The sodium content was also correlated with other nutrient factors. These results suggest that the sodium imbalance of the plant may be caused by radiation stress and that this nutrient imbalance may be one of the reasons that this monophagous butterfly showed high mortality and morphological abnormalities in the field shortly after the accident in Fukushima.

Today, more than ever, the search for non-trivial sources of biologically active substances is critical. Plants of the genus Rumex are noteworthy. Plants of this genus stand out for a number of advantages from the dominant plant core of meadow phytocenoses of the temperate climatic zone: a short growing season, an intensive increase in biomass, and undemanding growth conditions. In addition, this plant genus is known as a super-producer of secondary phenolic compounds. The wide distribution and intensive synthesis of biologically active substances make plants from the genus Rumex a promising object for study. Seven species of the genus Rumex (R. acetosa, R. acetosella, R. confertus, R. crispus, R. maritimus, R.obtusifolius, and R. sanguineus) were analyzed. Plants were collected under relatively uniform growing conditions. For subsequent extraction and analysis of phenolic compounds, as well as antioxidant activity, plants leaves were used. R. acetosella, R. crispus, R. maritimus, R. obtusifolius, and R. sanguineus were characterized by a high total content of phenolic compounds (111–131 mg g–1). The maximum content of flavonoids was found in the leaves of R. maritimus and R. acetosella. At the same time, according to high-performance liquid chromatography with diode-array detection (HPLC-DAD) analysis, derivatives of flavones (apigenin and luteolin) predominated in the leaves of R. acetosella, while in other species, mainly derivatives of flavonols (quercetin and kaempferol) were identified. Plants of R. acetosa, in comparison with other studied species, were characterized by a lower content of the studied groups of phenolic compounds, with the exception of hydroxycinnamic acids, the content of which in this species was comparable to the content of flavonoids. The maximum content of catechins was found in R. sanguineus; proanthocyanidins—in R. sanguineus, R. obtusifolius, and R. crispus; and tannins—in R. obtusifolius. Extracts from R. crispus were characterized by high antioxidant activity, measured by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS), and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays. In addition, the assessment of the phenolic profile of the plant made it possible to group the plants within the framework of cluster analysis. The distribution pattern in the clusters corresponded to the generally accepted taxonomy, with a characteristic division into subgenera (Acetosa, Acetosella, and Rumex). Thus, the phenolic profile can be considered as an additional instrumental approach when drawing up a systematic hierarchy.

The elimination of broadleaf weeds from agricultural fields has become an urgent task in plant and environment protection. Allelopathic control is considered a potential approach because of its exclusive and ecological safety measures. Plant secondary metabolites also called allelochemicals are released from plant leaves, roots, stem, bark, flowers and play significant roles in soil rhizosphere signaling, chemical ecology, and plant defense. The present study was carried out to evaluate the impact of two allelochemicals; ferulic acid (FA) and p-hydroxybenzoic acid (pHBA) on photosynthetic characteristics; Fv/Fm: efficiency of photosystem II photochemistry in the dark-adapted state; ΦPSII: photosynthetic quantum yield; NPQ, non-photochemical quenching; qP, photochemical quenching, and photon energy dissipation (1−qP)/NPQ in Rumex acetosa following 6 days exposure. R. acetosa seedlings were grown in perlite culture, irrigated with Hoagland solution and treated with allelopathic compounds FA and pHBA and were evaluated against the photosynthetic attributes. Both compounds behaved as potent inhibitors of photosynthetic traits such as Fv/Fm, ΦPSII, qP, and NPQ in R. acetosa. Photon energy dissipation (1−qP)/NPQ increased significantly from days 3 to 6. Higher dissipation of absorbed energy indicates the inactivation state of reaction centers and their inability to effectively use the absorbed energy in photosynthesis. These results indicated the potential allelopathic application of FA and pHBA for control of broadleaf weed, Rumex acetosa.

Allelopathy is a biological process in which one organism releases biochemicals that affect the growth and development of other organisms. The current investigation sought to determine the allelopathic effect of Rumex acetosella on white clover (Trifolium repens) growth and development by using its shoot extract (lower IC 50 value) as a foliar treatment. Here, different concentrations (25, 50, 100, and 200 g/L) of shoot extract from Rumex acetosella were used as treatments. With increasing concentrations of shoot extract, the plant growth parameters, chlorophyll and total protein content of Trifolium repens decreased. On the other hand, ROS, such as O 2 .− and H 2 O 2, and antioxidant enzymes, including SOD, CAT, and POD, increased with increasing shoot extract concentration. A phytohormonal study indicated that increased treatment concentrations increased ABA and SA levels while JA levels were reduced. For the identification of allelochemicals, liquid‒liquid extraction, thin-layer chromatography, and open-column chromatography were conducted using R. acetosella shoot extracts, followed by a seed bioassay on the separated layer. A lower IC 50 value was obtained through GC/MS analysis. gammaSitosterol was identified as the most abundant component. The shoot extract of Rumex acetosella has strong allelochemical properties that may significantly impede the growth and development of Trifolium repens . This approach could help to understand the competitive abilities of this weed species and in further research provide an alternate weed management strategy.

Deep learning convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are an emerging technology that provide an opportunity to increase agricultural efficiency through remote sensing and automatic inferencing of field conditions. This paper examined the novel use of CNNs to identify two weeds, hair fescue and sheep sorrel, in images of wild blueberry fields. Commercial herbicide sprayers provide a uniform application of agrochemicals to manage patches of these weeds. Three object-detection and three image-classification CNNs were trained to identify hair fescue and sheep sorrel using images from 58 wild blueberry fields. The CNNs were trained using 1280x720 images and were tested at four different internal resolutions. The CNNs were retrained with progressively smaller training datasets ranging from 3780 to 472 images to determine the effect of dataset size on accuracy. YOLOv3-Tiny was the best object-detection CNN, detecting at least one target weed per image with F1-scores of 0.97 for hair fescue and 0.90 for sheep sorrel at 1280 × 736 resolution. Darknet Reference was the most accurate image-classification CNN, classifying images containing hair fescue and sheep sorrel with F1-scores of 0.96 and 0.95, respectively at 1280 × 736. MobileNetV2 achieved comparable results at the lowest resolution, 864 × 480, with F1-scores of 0.95 for both weeds. Training dataset size had minimal effect on accuracy for all CNNs except Darknet Reference. This technology can be used in a smart sprayer to control target specific spray applications, reducing herbicide use. Future work will involve testing the CNNs for use on a smart sprayer and the development of an application to provide growers with field-specific information. Using CNNs to improve agricultural efficiency will create major cost-savings for wild blueberry producers.

FTIR analysis for five selected green leafy vegetables (GLVs) viz., Hibiscus cannabinus L., (kenaf), H. sabdariffa L., (roselle), Basella alba L., (vine spinach), B. rubra L. (malabar spinach) and Rumex vesicarius L., (sorrel) confirmed the presence of free alcohol, intermolecular bonded alcohol, intramolecular bonded alcohol, alkane, aromatic compounds, imine or oxime or ketone or alkene, phenol and amine stretching. The chlorophyll content was higher in native leaves of B. alba (2.96 g/kg) than defatted samples (1.11 g/kg). Total phenolic content (TPC) in H. sabdariffa native methanol extractives is more (17.6 g/kg) than defatted leaves (9.67 g/kg). Native B. rubra methanol extractives exhibited highest total flavonoid content (TFC) (21.59 g/kg), while that of R. vesicarius was lowest (3.21 g/kg). In general, antioxidant activities showed a significant reduction in retention of antioxidants in both native and defatted GLVs samples of ethanol and methanol extractives. Methanol extractives showed significantly stronger antioxidant activity probably due to greater solubility of phenolics and destruction of cellular components.

Many plant species comprising the present‐day Arctic flora are thought to have originated in the high mountains of North America and Eurasia, migrated northwards as global temperatures fell during the late Tertiary period, and thereafter attained a circumarctic distribution. However, supporting evidence for this hypothesis that provides a temporal framework for the origin, spread and initial attainment of a circumarctic distribution by an arctic plant is currently lacking. Here we examined the origin and initial formation of a circumarctic distribution of the arctic mountain sorrel (Oxyria digyna) by conducting a phylogeographic analysis of plastid and nuclear gene DNA variation. We provide evidence for an origin of this species in the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau of southwestern China, followed by migration into Russia c. 11 million yr ago (Ma), eastwards into North America by c. 4 Ma, and westwards into Western Europe by c. 1.96 Ma. Thereafter, the species attained a circumarctic distribution by colonizing Greenland from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Following the arrival of the species in North America and Europe, population sizes appear to have increased and then stabilized there over the last 1 million yr. However, in Greenland a marked reduction followed by an expansion in population size is indicated to have occurred during the Pleistocene.

Sorrel (Rumex acetosa L.) is a perennial wild herb appreciated as a folk medicine and for use in folk-traditional cuisines, and its nutraceutical properties are increasingly known and studied. Nowadays, there is a lack of knowledge about the possibility of using this species as fresh-cut produce, and no reports have investigated the physiological/biochemical changes of sorrel leaves upon storage. To test the aforementioned, sorrel seedlings were cultivated in a floating system and two consecutive harvests took place: The first cut at 15 days (C1) and second cut at 30 days (C2) after sowing. Fresh-cut sorrel leaves from C1 and C2 were stored in plastic boxes at 4 °C for 15 days and chlorophylls, carotenoids, total phenols, flavonoids, ascorbic acid, and antioxidant capacity were evaluated during the storage period. During storage, sorrel leaves from the same cut did not show significant changes in total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity, which represents a positive outcome for the maintenance of the nutraceutical value of this species. For this reason, sorrel may be a very promising species as a “new” fresh-cut leafy vegetable. However, some differences were observed between the two cuts, especially in the total flavonoid and the total ascorbic acid contents. While promising, further research will be necessary to standardize the yield and the nutraceutical content of this species in different cuts, which will be necessary to introduce and promote sorrel to consumers.