Salt Tolerance of Limonium gmelinii subsp. hungaricum as a Potential Ornamental Plant for Secondary Salinized Soils

Effects of different straw breeding substrates on the growth of tomato seedlings and transcriptome analysis

Traditional substrate cultivation is now a routine practice in vegetable facility breeding. However, finding renewable substrates that can replace traditional substrates is urgent in today's production. In this study, we used the 'Pindstrup' substrate as control and two types of composite substrates made from fermented corn straw (i.e. 0-3 and 3-5 mm) to identify appropriate substrate conditions for tomato seedling growth under winter greenhouse conditions. Seedling growth potential related data and substrate water content related data were tested to carry out data-oriented support. Since the single physiological data cannot well explain the mechanism of tomato seedlings under winter greenhouse condition, transcriptomic analysis of tomato root and leaf tissues were conducted to provide theoretical basis. The physiological data of tomato seedlings and substrate showed that compared with 0-3 mm and Pindstrup substrate, tomato seedlings planted in 3-5 mm had stronger growth potential and stronger water retention, and were more suitable for planting tomato seedlings. Transcriptome analysis revealed a greater number of DEGs between the Pindstrup and the 3-5 mm. The genes in this group contribute to tomato growth as well as tomato stress response mechanisms, such as ABA-related genes, hormone-related genes and some TFs. The simulation network mechanism diagram adds evidence to the above conclusions. Overall, these results demonstrate the potential benefits of using the fermented corn straw of 3-5 mm for growing tomato seedlings and present a novel method of utilizing corn straw.

Ornamental Plants and Urban Gardening

Urban green areas serve both the mental and physical health of the people living in the settlements; therefore, the ornamental plants used on green areas currently have a prominent role in reducing the effects of climate change and urbanization, as well as in providing ecosystem services. This is a dynamically changing, new field that requires close cooperation with several scientific fields, such as landscape architecture and plant physiology, genetics, plant breeding, and ecology. The monitoring and research of settlement communities as ecological systems greatly serves the perception of the effects of climate change and helps to mitigate them. The sustainability and economic operation of established urban green space systems can be made effective by applying innovative technologies. The Special Issue "Ornamental Plants and Urban Gardening" was launched in 2022 and published 13 articles on the topic until 31 July 2023. The published articles also have a very wide spectrum of topics, which also shows the diversity and the interdisciplinary nature of the scientific field. In the following, we present the main topics of the published articles and the results with which their authors contributed to the enrichment of the scientific field. We present a brief summary of the articles in shorter subsections.