Wheat (Triticum aestivum L) production on the Huang-Huai Plain of China has substantially affected in the past 50 years as a result of the decreasing total solar radiation and sunshine hours. Potassium has a significant effect on improving leaf photosynthesis ability under stress conditions. Five potassium application rates (K), 0 (K0), 50 (K50), 100 (K100), 150 (K150), and 250 (K250) mg K₂O kg^-1 soil, combined with two shading levels, no shading (NS) and shading at early filling stage for 10 days (SE), were used to investigate the effects of K application on winter wheat growth under SE condition. Under NS condition, the parameters related to chlorophyll fluorescence characteristics, dry matter productivity and grain yields reached the maximum values at a middle K application rate (100 mg K₂O kg^-1 soil). Shading stress significantly reduced leaf SPAD value, showed negative effects on chlorophyll fluorescence characteristics and reduced grain yield of winter wheat. However, as the result of the interaction of K×S, compared to NS condition, higher K application rate (150 mg and 250 K₂O kg^-1 soil) was beneficial in terms of achieving a higher grain yield of winter wheat under SE by improving leaf SPAD value, alleviating the damage of SE on the winter wheat photosynthetic system, and increasing fructan content and dry matter translocation percentage.

Laser-induced fluorescence is an important technique to study photosynthesis and plants. Information on chlorophyll and other pigments can be obtained. We have been using a mobile laboratory in a Chinese experimental farm setting to study maize (Zea mays L.) leaves by reflectance and fluorescence measurements and correlated the spectroscopic signals to the amount of fertilizer supplied. Further, we studied five different species of maize using the remote monitoring of the fluorescence signatures obtained with the same mobile laboratory, but now in a laser radar remote-sensing configuration. The system separation from the target area was 50 m, and 355 nm pulsed excitation using the frequency-tripled output from an Nd:YAG laser was employed. Principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis were combined to identify the different maize species using their fluorescence spectra. Likewise, the spectral signatures in reflectance and fluorescence frequently allowed us to separate different fertilizer levels applied to plants of the same species.

In a greenhouse experiment, we examined the behavior of biochar in arable soil to demonstrate that these supplements can boost soil carbon storage, as well as to track changes in microbial biomass and identify the microbial communities that use these biochars. In order to ascertain if biochar can consistently alter soil microbial activities, we studied the impact of biochar combination treatments on 16S rRNA gene diversity. In soil treated with biochar, there was a rise in the relative abundance of taxa belonging to the phyla Actinobacteria and Gemmatimonadetes, despite the overall diversity decreasing with biochar addition. According to all of these observations, pyrogenic carbon has a major effect on the composition of the soil microbial community and enriches keystone taxa within the parent soil microbial community. Certain species experienced increases throughout the biochar-amended incubation period, despite the total diversity declining following biochar amendments. The phyla Actinobacteria and Gemmatimonadetes increased in the relative abundance of bacteria in soil treated with biochar, according to DNA sequencing of these species. In summary, these findings show that biochar significantly impacts the constitution and composition of the soil microbial community and enriches important taxa within the parent soil microbial community.

Nitrogen (N), a fundamental element in essential biological macromolecules like proteins, nucleic acids, and chlorophyll, is vital for plant growth and development. Maize cultivation places a high nitrogen demand, with the supply of nitrogen fertiliser significantly influencing maize yield (Guo et al. 2021). Insufficient nitrogen fertiliser supply can lead to yellowing of maize leaves, reduced photosynthesis, stunted plant growth, shortened ears, and reduced nitrogen concentration, all of which have a negative impact on maize yield and quality (Yu et al. 2016, Wei et al. 2016). Research indicated that the leaf growth and photosynthesis of maize were enhanced by increasing nitrogen fertiliser application, and Enhanced maize yield and nitrogen efficiency with low molecular weight