Fall armyworm (FAW, Spodoptera frugiperda) has now spread to more than 26 Chinese provinces. The government is working with farmers and researchers to find ways to prevent and control this pest. The use of biochar is one of the economic and environmentally friendly strategies to increase plant growth and improve pest resistance. We tested four v/v combinations of bamboo charcoal with coconut bran [BC1 (10:1), BC2(30:1), BC3(50:1)] against a control (CK) in maize. We found that plant height, stem thickness, fresh weight and chlorophyll content were significantly higher in BC2, in addition to the lowest FAW survival %. We then compared the metabolome and transcriptome profiles of BC2 and CK maize plants under FAW herbivory. Our results show that the levels of flavonoids, amino acids and derivatives, nucleotides and derivatives and most phenolic acids decreased, while terpenoids, organic acids, lipids and defense-related hormones increased in BC-grown maize leaves. Transcriptome sequencing revealed consistent expression profiles of genes enriched in these pathways. We also observed the increased expression of genes related to abscisic acid, jasmonic acid, auxin and MAPK signaling. Based on these observations, we discussed the possible pathways involved in maize against FAW herbivory. We conclude that bamboo charcoal induces anti-herbivory responses in maize leaves.

Crematogaster matsumurai (Forel 1901) is an important arboreal ant species commonly found on Phyllostachys heterocycla (Carr.) in Lishui, Zhejiang, China. This study analyzed the mitochondrial genome sequence of C. matsumurai and discussed its phylogenetic relationship in Hymenoptera. The circular mitochondrial genome was 16,028 bp long, including a standard set of 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs), two ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), and 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), which showed the typical insect mitochondrial genome arrangement. The AT and GC contents of the mitochondrial genome sequence were 76.92% and 23.08%, respectively. The maximum-likelihood (ML) phylogenetic analysis based on whole mitochondrial genome sequences showed that C. matsumurai is closest to Crematogaster teranishii.

Fertilization is widely used in managed Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis (Carrière) J.Houz.) forests in subtropical China, but its short-term effects on soil properties and microbiomes remain uncertain. In this study, we conducted a field experiment with four treatments: no fertilization (NF), compound fertilizer (CF), sheep manure organic fertilizer plus compound fertilizer (SOCF), and a biochar-based sheep manure organic fertilizer combined with compound fertilizer (BSOCF). Surface soils samples were collected approximately one year after the initial application, and soil properties were measured together with bacterial and fungal communities using high-throughput sequencing. Results showed that fertilization mainly affected soil chemical properties rather than overall microbial community structure. Compared with CF, BSOCF significantly increased soil pH (4.56 ± 0.10 vs. 4.30 ± 0.05) and resulted in the highest available phosphorus (AP, 6.38 ± 1.10 mg kg⁻¹) and available potassium (AK, 128.16 ± 17.56 mg kg⁻¹) contents. Microbial responses were comparatively limited. Bacterial richness remained stable, fungal alpha diversity showed only a weak increasing trend, and both beta diversity and phylum-level composition changed little among treatments. Variation in treatment-enriched taxa was associated mainly with soil pH and nutrient availability. Overall, the results indicate that biochar-based sheep manure organic fertilizer can improv soil fertility and partially alleviated soil acidity, while causing only limited short-term shifts in the overall microbial community structure. These findings suggest that BSOCF may be a suitable fertilization strategy for enhancing nutrient availability in Moso bamboo forests with relatively low short-term disturbance to soil microbial assemblages.