Drought significantly constrains higher yield of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) in arid and semiarid areas all over the world. This study evaluated the responses of leaf cuticular wax constituents to drought treatment and their relations to gas-exchange indexes across six alfalfa cultivars widely grown in China. Water deficit was imposed by withholding water for 12 d during branching stage. Cuticular waxes on alfalfa leaves were dominated by primary alcohols (41.7–54.2%), alkanes (13.2–26.9%) and terpenes (17.5–28.9%), with small amount of aldehydes (1.4–3.4%) and unknown constituents (4.5–18.4%). Compared to total wax contents, the wax constituents were more sensitive to drought treatment. Drought decreased the contents of primary alcohol and increased alkanes in all cultivars. Alkane homologs, C25, C27, and C29, were all negatively correlated with photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, and leaf water potential. Under drought conditions, both stomatal and nonstomatal factors were involved in controlling water loss from alfalfa leaves. No direct relationship was observed between wax contents and drought resistance among alfalfa cultivars. An increase in alkane content might be more important in improving drought tolerance of alfalfa under water deficit, which might be used as an index for selecting and breeding drought resistant cultivars of alfalfa.

Two B rassica napus genotypes with different resistances to S clerotinia sclerotiorum were used to clarify whether or not the epicuticular wax is involved in the defence mechanism of B . napus to S . sclerotiorum . The total wax and wax constituents were significantly higher in the susceptible cultivar than in the resistant cultivar, except for esters. Infection by S . sclerotiorum increased the content of aldehydes in both cultivars, while increasing the content of alkanes and unknowns in the resistant cultivar. More crystalloid rods were observed on adaxial surfaces of leaves of the susceptible cultivar than on those of the resistant cultivar. The resistance to S . sclerotiorum was correlated to the responses of wax content but not the amount of total wax. The up‐regulation of transcription of a wax‐related gene and a pathogenesis‐related gene ( PR1 ) in the pathogen‐challenged resistant cultivar also supported this observation. After inoculation, the increase in phenylalanine ammonia lyase ( PAL ) activity in the resistant cultivar and the decrease in the susceptible cultivar were correlated with their resistance to disease. The content of alkanes, alcohols, ketones and total wax were negatively correlated with the activities of PAL and polyphenoloxidase. After wax removal, the resistant cultivar developed more necrotic spots compared to seedlings with intact wax, whilst no significant change was observed for susceptible seedlings. These results show that epicuticular wax contributed more to the defence of resistant cultivars than susceptible cultivars. The leaf epicuticular wax, defence enzymes and salicylic acid‐dependent signalling pathway all contribute to defence against S . sclerotiorum in B . napus .

Background: Fertilization as one of the measures in restoring degraded soil qualities has been introduced on arid steppes in recent decades. However, the fertilization use efficiency on arid steppes varies greatly between steppe types and years, enhancing uncertainties and risks in introducing fertilizations on such natural system to restore degraded steppes.Methods: The experiment was a completely randomized design with five fertilization treatments, 0 (Control), 60 kg P ha⁻¹(P), 100 kg N ha⁻¹(N), 100 kg N ha⁻¹plus 60 kg P ha⁻¹(NP), and 4,000 kg sheep manure ha⁻¹(M, equaling 16.4 kg P ha⁻¹and 81.2 kg N ha⁻¹). Soils were sampled from a degraded arid steppe which was consecutively applied with organic and inorganic fertilizers for three years. We analyzed the diversity and abundance of soil bacteria and fungi using high-throughput sequencing technique, measured the aboveground biomass, the soil chemical properties (organic carbon, available and total phosphorus, available and total nitrogen, and pH), and the microbial biomass nitrogen and microbial biomass carbon.Results: In total 3,927 OTU (operational taxonomic units) for bacteria and 453 OTU for fungi were identified from the tested soils. The Ace and Chao of bacteria were all larger than 2,400, which were almost 10 times of those of fungi. Fertilizations had no significant influence on the richness and diversity of the bacteria and fungi. However, the abundance of individual bacterial or fungi phylum or species was sensitive to fertilizations. Fertilization, particularly the phosphorus fertilizer, influenced more on the abundance of the AMF species and colonization. Among the soil properties, soil pH was one of the most important soil properties influencing the abundance of soil bacteria and fungi.Discussion: Positive relationships between the abundance of bacteria and fungi and the soil chemical properties suggested that soil bacteria and fungi communities in degraded steppes could be altered by improving the soil chemical properties through fertilizations. However, it is still not clear whether the alteration of the soil microbe community is detrimental or beneficial to the degraded arid steppes.