Background: Beta vulgarisL. is one of the main sugar-producing crop species and is highly adaptable to saline soil. This study explored the alterations to the carbon and nitrogen metabolism mechanisms enabling the roots of sugar beet seedlings to adapt to salinity.Results: The ionome, metabolome, and transcriptome of the roots of sugar beet seedlings were evaluated after 1 day (short term) and 7 days (long term) of 300 mM Na⁺treatment. Salt stress caused reactive oxygen species (ROS) damage and ion toxicity in the roots. Interestingly, under salt stress, the increase in the Na⁺/K⁺ratio compared to the control ratio on day 7 was lower than that on day 1 in the roots. The transcriptomic results showed that a large number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were enriched in various metabolic pathways. A total of 1279 and 903 DEGs were identified on days 1 and 7, respectively, and were mapped mainly to 10 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways. Most of the genes were involved in carbon metabolism and amino acid (AA) biosynthesis. Furthermore, metabolomic analysis revealed that sucrose metabolism and the activity of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle increased in response to salt stress. After 1 day of stress, the content of sucrose decreased, whereas the content of organic acids (OAs) such as L-malic acid and 2-oxoglutaric acid increased. After 7 days of salt stress, nitrogen-containing metabolites such as AAs, betaine, melatonin, and (S)-2-aminobutyric acid increased significantly. In addition, multiomic analysis revealed that the expression of the gene encoding xanthine dehydrogenase (XDH) was upregulated and that the expression of the gene encoding allantoinase (ALN) was significantly downregulated, resulting in a large accumulation of allantoin. Correlation analysis revealed that most genes were significantly related to only allantoin and xanthosine.Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that carbon and nitrogen metabolism was altered in the roots of sugar beet plants under salt stress. Nitrogen metabolism plays a major role in the late stages of salt stress. Allantoin, which is involved in the purine metabolic pathway, may be a key regulator of sugar beet salt tolerance.

The objective of this study was to examine the impact of starter nitrogen fertilizer on soybean root activity, leaf photosynthesis, grain yield and their relationship. To achieve this objective, field experiments were conducted in 2013 and 2014, using a randomized complete block design, with three replications. Nitrogen was applied at planting at rates of 0, 25, 50, and 75 kg N ha^-1. In both years, starter nitrogen fertilizer benefited root activity, leaf photosynthesis, and consequently its yield. Statistically significant correlation was found among root activity, leaf photosynthetic rate, and grain yield at the developmental stage. The application of N₂₅, N₅₀, and N₇₅ increased grain yield by 1.28%, 2.47%, and 1.58% in 2013 and by 0.62%, 2.77%, and 2.06% in 2014 compared to the N₀ treatment. Maximum grain yield of 3238.91 kg ha^-1 in 2013 and 3086.87 kg ha^-1 in 2014 were recorded for N₅₀ treatment. Grain yield was greater for 2013 than 2014, possibly due to more favorable environmental conditions. This research indicated that applying nitrogen as starter is necessary to increase soybean yield in Sangjiang River Plain in China.

Melatonin has been regarded as a promising substance that enhances the abiotic stress tolerance of plants. However, few studies have devoted attention to the role of melatonin in improving salt tolerance in sugar beets. Here, the effects of different application methods (foliar application (100 μM), root application (100 μM), and combined foliar and root application) of melatonin on the morphological and physiological traits of sugar beets exposed to salt stress were investigated. The results showed that melatonin improved the growth of sugar beet seedlings, root yield and sugar content, synthesis of chlorophyll, photosystem II (PS II) activity, and gas exchange parameters under salt stress conditions. Moreover, melatonin enhanced the capacity of osmotic adjustment by increasing the accumulation of osmolytes (betaine, proline, and soluble sugar). At the same time, melatonin increased the H⁺-pump activities in the roots, thus promoting Na⁺ efflux and K⁺ influx, which maintained K⁺/Na⁺ homeostasis and mitigated Na⁺ toxicity. In addition, melatonin strengthened the antioxidant defense system by enhancing the activities of antioxidant enzymes, modulating the ASA-GSH cycle, and mediating the phenylalanine pathway, which removed superoxide anions (O₂^•−) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and maintained cell membrane integrity. These positive effects were more pronounced when melatonin was applied by combined foliar and root application. To summarize, this study clarifies the potential roles of melatonin in mitigating salt stress in sugar beets by improving photosynthesis, water status, ion homeostasis, and the antioxidant defense system.

The Songnen Plain, whose climatic conditions are perfectly suited to sugar beet growth, is located in northeastern China. Unfortunately, this region has a lot of saline-alkaline land, which is the most important factor limiting sugar beet production. This study was undertaken to determine whether biochar-based organic fertilizer could alleviate the negative effect of saline-alkaline soil on sugar beet yield and whether such an effect correlated with changes in nitrogen assimilation, antioxidant system, root activity, and photosynthesis. Three treatments were established: Chemical fertilizers were applied to neutral soil (CK), chemical fertilizers were applied to saline-alkaline soil (SA), and biochar-based organic fertilizer was applied to saline-alkaline soil (SA + B). Our results showed that saline-alkaline stress significantly inhibited the nitrogen assimilation and antioxidant enzymes activities in root, root activity, and photosynthesis, thus significantly reducing the yield and sugar content of sugar beet. Under saline-alkaline conditions, the application of biochar-based organic fertilizer improved the activities of nitrogen assimilation enzymes in the root; at the same time, the antioxidant enzymes activities of the root were significantly increased for improving root activity in this treatment. Moreover, the application of biochar-based organic fertilizer could improve the synthesis of photosynthetic pigments, PSII (Photosystem II) activity, stomatal opening, and photosynthesis of sugar beet under saline-alkaline conditions. Hence, the growth and yield of sugar beet were improved by applying biochar-based organic fertilizer to saline-alkaline soil. These results proved the significance of biochar-based organic fertilizer in alleviating the negative effect of saline-alkaline stress on sugar beet. The results obtained in the pot experiment may not be viable in field conditions. Therefore, in the future, we will verify whether biochar-based organic fertilizer could alleviate the adverse effects of saline-alkaline stress on sugar beets yield under field conditions.

Improving nitrogen use efficiency is a significant scientific problem to be solved. Two maize hybrids JD27 (Jidan 27) and SD19 (Sidan 19) were selected to study the effects of nitrogen levels on root characteristic parameters and plant dry matter accumulation, distribution and transportation. We set five different nitrogen levels, which were nitrogen deficiency (000N), low nitrogen (075N), medium nitrogen (150N), high nitrogen (225N) and excessive nitrogen (300N). The results showed that the root length and root surface area of JD27 were significantly higher than those of SD19 under 075N. With the increase of nitrogen levels, the root difference among varieties gradually decreased. The root length, projection area, total surface area and total volume reached the maximum values at silking stage. The average root diameter kept stable or decreased slowly with the growth stage. The dry matter accumulation of JD27 was higher than that of SD19 at all growth stages. Increasing the amount of nitrogen fertilizer can promote the transport of dry matter to grain and improve dry matter transport efficiency after anthesis. Under the treatment of medium and high nitrogen fertilizer, maize was easy to obtain a higher yield, but excessive nitrogen fertilizer inhibited the increase of yield. This study provides theoretical and practical guidance for maize production techniques.