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Cultivation, Development, and Utilization of Multifunctional Tree Species

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A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Genetics and Molecular Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (29 February 2024) | Viewed by 18509

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Prof. Dr. Shengzuo Fang

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Guest Editor

College of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Interests: tree physiology and ecophysiology; genotype–environment interaction; tradeoff between tree growth and secondary metabolites accumulation; tree nutrition and forest fertilization; salt and drought tolerance in woody plants; plantation silviculture

Prof. Dr. Hailong Shen

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Guest Editor

School of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Interests: biology and technology of utilization-oriented silviculture; propagation/seedling growing for native tree species in northeastern China; restoration and reestablishment of climate-similar mixed forests of Korean pine and broadleaved tree species from secondary forests in northeast China

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As defined in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), ecosystem services mainly include supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural functions, whereas forest ecosystems currently occupy approximately 31% of the Earth's land surface and are estimated to contain more than half of all terrestrial animal and plant species. With the decrease in natural forests, developing plantation is the key method to extend forest ecosystem services. Multifunctional trees can simultaneously contribute to multiple societal objectives, and planting multifunctional trees can promote not only ecosystem services, but also economic activity and social cohesion. As a result, they represent an attractive means for improving rural livelihoods. For instance, Wheel wingnut (Cyclocarya paliurus) is an example of a multifunctional tree that produces timber and nutritious leaves that are used as nutraceutical tea, as well as serving as an ingredient in functional food and traditional Chinese medicine among broad-leaved trees, while Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) is an example that produces both high-quality timber and nutritious edible seeds among coniferous trees. Indeed, many tree species possess multiple functions; however, determining how to optimize the benefits of their multiple uses and achieve livelihood improvements remains challenging, especially when it comes to the tradeoff between economic benefits and ecological function.

This Special Issue focuses on multifunctional tree species with great development potential, such as Cyclocarya paliurus, Pinus koraiensis, Cinnamomum camphora, Ginkgo biloba, and so on, and aims to increase our understanding of how the genotype, environment, and management practices impact tree growth, targeted biomass production, and quality. We encourage contributions from around the world in all fields of study related to biomass production, phytochemicals, biological activities, vegetative propagation, genotype–environment interactions, secondary metabolite regulation, as well as wood quality for potential multifunctional trees in order to optimize their oriented cultivation pattern.

Prof. Dr. Shengzuo Fang
Prof. Dr. Hailong Shen
Guest Editors

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Keywords

multifunctional trees
target biomass production
wood quality
phytochemicals
biological activities
vegetative propagation
genotype–environment interactions
secondary metabolite regulation
oriented cultivation pattern

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Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 8412 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Research on Morphological Indicator Extraction Method of Pinus massoniana Lamb. Based on 3D Reconstruction

by Yurong Li, Haifei Xia, Ying Liu, Kaihao Ji, Lintao Huo and Chao Ni

Forests 2023, 14(9), 1726; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14091726 - 27 Aug 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1355

Abstract

Pinus massoniana (Lamb.) is an important plantation species in southern China. Accurate measurement of P. massoniana seedling morphological indicators is crucial for accelerating seedling quality assessment. Machine vision, with its objectivity and stability, can replace human eyes in performing these measurements. In this paper, a measurement method for seedling morphological indicators based on Euclidean distance, Laplacian contraction, PointNet++, and 3D reconstruction is proposed. Firstly, multi-angle sequence images of 30 one-year-old P. massoniana seedlings were collected, distorted, and corrected to generate a sparse point cloud through the Structure-from-Motion (SFM) and dense point cloud through the Patch-Based Multiple View Stereo (PMVS). Secondly, a Dense Weighted Semantic Segmentation Model based on PointNet++ was designed, achieving effective segmentation of the P. massoniana seedling point clouds. Finally, a multi-iteration plane method based on Laplacian contraction was proposed. The new skeleton points were refined by minimizing the Euclidean distance, iteratively generating the optimal morphological skeleton, thus facilitating the extraction of morphological indicators. The experimental results demonstrated a good correlation between the machine vision-extracted morphological indicators (including plant height, ground diameter, and height-to-diameter ratio) and manually measured data. The improved PointNet++ model achieved an accuracy of 0.9448 on the training set. The accuracy and Mean Intersection over Union (MIoU) of the test set reached 0.9430 and 0.7872, respectively. These findings can provide reliable technical references for the accurate assessment of P. massoniana seedling quality and the promotion of digital forestry construction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultivation, Development, and Utilization of Multifunctional Tree Species)

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12 pages, 1687 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Physiological Response to Low Temperature of Four Genotypes of Cyclocarya paliurus and Their Preliminary Evaluation to Cold Resistance

by Zanpei Zhang, Yueying Gu, Qianxing Mao and Ji Wang

Forests 2023, 14(8), 1680; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14081680 - 19 Aug 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1619

Abstract

Cyclocarya paliurus is a versatile tree species with immense potential for development, as it combines edible, medicinal, and ornamental functions. Low temperature is one of the important abiotic factors that affect plant survival and flourishing but their response mechanism to low temperature is not yet clear. In this study, we utilized annual shoots of four genotypes of C. paliurus, namely T2, W10, M31 and S12, as materials. The physiological responses of annual shoots of C. paliurus to low temperature stress were elaborated by determining and comparing indicators related to cold resistance, such as relative electric conductivity, semi-lethal low temperature, malondialdehyde, soluble sugar, soluble protein, proline, superoxide dismutase and peroxidase. The contents of malondialdehyde, proline, soluble protein and peroxidase activities were not only correlated with the treatment temperature but also related to the genotypes. Osmotic substance (soluble sugar, soluble protein and proline) contents and antioxidant enzyme activities (peroxidase and superoxide dismutase) of the four genotypes showed a trend of increasing and then decreasing with the five decreasing temperatures. Furthermore, a comprehensive evaluation of cold resistance was performed by using a combination of principal component analysis and membership function, with the cold resistance ranked as W10 > M31 > S12 > T2. Results from this study would provide some references for extending the plantation areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultivation, Development, and Utilization of Multifunctional Tree Species)

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18 pages, 4283 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effects of Korean Pine and Manchurian Walnut Monocultures and Mixed Plantations on Soil Fungal and Bacterial Communities

by Fangyuan Shen, Ning Liu, Yujiao Wang, Huifeng Liu, Haikuan Jia and Lixue Yang

Forests 2023, 14(8), 1594; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14081594 - 6 Aug 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1536

Abstract

(1) Background: Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) and Manchurian walnut (Juglans mandshurica) are the main tree species for plantation regeneration in Northeast China, and the mixed plantation of them is one of the typical measures adopted to address the decline in stand productivity in long-term monocultures. However, little is known about the effects of Korean pine and Manchurian walnut monocultures and mixed plantations on soil microbial diversity, composition, and functional groups. (2) Methods: We used ITS and 16S rRNA gene sequencing to detect fungal and bacterial communities and used the FUNGuild, FAPROTAX, and Bugbase databases to predict their functional groups. (3) Results: Fungal and bacterial alpha diversity were always higher in Manchurian walnut monocultures than in Korean pine monocultures. The plantation type had a greater impact on the fungal composition than the bacterial composition. The fungal functional groups were significantly affected by the plantation type (p < 0.05), while the bacterial functional groups were barely changed among all plantation types. The soil available nutrient content was the most important soil factor in shaping the microbial community structures and functional groups. (4) Conclusions: Shifts in fungal community compositions and functional groups might play a dominant role in soil nutrient cycling across the different plantation types in Northeast China. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultivation, Development, and Utilization of Multifunctional Tree Species)

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17 pages, 4276 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Physiological and Biochemical Traits of Needles Imply That Understory Light Conditions in the Growing Season May Be Favorable to Pinus koraiensis Trees

by Wenkai Li, Bei Li, Xiao Ma, Sudipta Saha, Haibo Wu, Peng Zhang and Hailong Shen

Forests 2023, 14(7), 1333; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14071333 - 28 Jun 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1499

Abstract

Light is often considered the primary factor leading to the regeneration failure of Korean pines (Pinus koraiensis) under the forest canopy. However, studies on the effect of light on Korean pines mainly focus on the use of an artificial sunshade net to control shade; field studies on the canopy are extremely scarce, and the current experimental results are contradictory. For a deeper understanding of the relationship between light conditions and understory Korean pine trees, the conditions of low, middle, high and full light (control) under the forest were tested at 18 years of age. The photosynthetic pigments, chlorophyll fluorescence, non-structural carbohydrate metabolism, antioxidant enzyme activity, and nutrient concentrations of current-year needles from Korean pine trees were measured. From June to September, light intensity and quality decreased under full light, but following leaf fall, understory light conditions improved slightly. As the light conditions improved, the photosynthetic pigments in the needles decreased, but Car/Chl were highest in the needles under full light. All light conditions had a positive correlation with glucose concentrations and Rubisco activity. Full-light needles had the highest APX activity, DPPH scavenging capacity, and proline concentration, as well as higher NPQ and lower Fv/Fm readings. This indicated that full-light Korean pine trees were stressed and inhibited photosynthesis to some extent, while the understory light environment may alleviate stress. The conservative strategy of storing more starch and using less glucose in understory Korean pine trees may be one of the reasons for the observed differences in growth rates among Korean pine trees under varying light conditions. Overall, this study implies that understory light during the growing season is not always unfavorable to 18-year-old Korean pine trees; this means that 18-year-old Korean pine trees still have shade tolerance to some extent and are capable of living under a canopy of deciduous trees. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultivation, Development, and Utilization of Multifunctional Tree Species)

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17 pages, 9198 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Integrative Analysis of Metabolome and Transcriptome Reveals the Molecular Regulatory Mechanism of the Accumulation of Flavonoid Glycosides in Different Cyclocarya paliurus Ploidies

by Yanhao Yu, Yinquan Qu, Shuyang Wang, Qian Wang, Xulan Shang and Xiangxiang Fu

Forests 2023, 14(4), 770; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14040770 - 9 Apr 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2565

Abstract

Cyclocarya paliurus (Batal) Iljinskaja is mainly used for harvesting leaves as materials for tea production and ingredients for the food industry. As its most important component, the contents of its total or specific flavonoids are supposed to vary at different ploidy levels. In the present study, two ploidy levels of C. paliurus are used to study their metabolome and transcriptome profiles. Though the total content of the flavonoids in leaves that were collected in September (the main harvesting season) presented insignificant differences between the two ploidies, flavonoid glucuronides were significantly accumulated in the tetraploid C. paliurus. Several structural genes related to the biosynthesis of these flavonoid glucuronides were expressed differentially, including PAL, 4CL, CHS, and CpUGTs. A weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) revealed that nine genes were highly correlated with the flavonoid glucuronide contents. Furthermore, 3 CpMYB39 and 3 CpUGT71 were highly associated with this accumulation of flavonoid glucuronides in tetraploid C. paliurus. These results can provide a new perspective on how different polyploid levels alter the quantitative and qualitative patterns of the secondary metabolite production in C. paliurus. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultivation, Development, and Utilization of Multifunctional Tree Species)

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11 pages, 2031 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Pre-Hardening and Autumn Fertilization on Biomass Allocation and Root Morphology of Pinus koraiensis Seedlings

by He Huang, Haibo Wu, Rosana López, Dongsheng Yin, Hailong Shen and Peng Zhang

Forests 2023, 14(1), 59; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14010059 - 28 Dec 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1603

Abstract

The effects of pre-hardening fertilization and autumn fertilization on seedling growth have been studied separately, but studies on their combined effects are relatively scarce. We studied the effects of pre-hardening fertilization type and autumn fertilization level on biomass allocation and root morphology of container-grown seedlings of Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis Sieb. et Zucc.), a valuable evergreen conifer distributed from Changbai Mountain to the Xiaoxing’an Mountains in northeastern China. Three pre-hardening fertilization types (conventional fertilization, exponential fertilization, and controlled-release fertilizer) were all applied with 72 mg of nitrogen. We also applied four nitrogen levels of autumn fertilization: 0 mg/plant, 2 mg/plant, 4 mg/plant, and 6 mg/plant. We found that autumn fertilization increased Korean pine seedling biomass accumulation and root growth by 65.91%–92.15% and 108.86%–141.48%, respectively. There was significant interaction between pre-hardening fertilization type and autumn fertilization level on biomass allocation and root morphology. Seedlings with conventional fertilization during the growing season have the best response to autumn fertilization, particularly in the 2 mg/seedling and 4 mg/seedling treatments. Autumn fertilization can be applied to the cultivation of high-quality Korean pine seedlings. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultivation, Development, and Utilization of Multifunctional Tree Species)

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18 pages, 3164 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mycorrhizal Fungi Synergistically Promote the Growth and Secondary Metabolism of Cyclocarya paliurus

by Tingting Zhao, Bangyou Yu, Mengjia Zhang, Shuying Chen and Bo Deng

Forests 2022, 13(12), 2188; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13122188 - 19 Dec 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1678

Abstract

Cyclocarya paliurus has traditionally been used as medicine or a nutraceutical food. This study aims at investigating whether the growth and secondary metabolism of C. paliurus could be simultaneously promoted by inoculating with mycorrhizal fungi, and if so, to uncover the underlying regulatory mechanism. A mycorrhizal microbial inoculum, consisting of the superficial layer fine roots and rhizosphere soil collected from the natural forest of C. paliurus, was used to infect aseptic seedlings of C. paliurus. Roots of aseptic seedlings were successfully infected by mycorrhizal fungi with a 59.7% colonization rate. For mycorrhizal seedlings of C. paliurus, the induced endogenous auxin, net photosynthetic rate, nitrogen absorption, and growth-related genes resulted in a significantly higher growth and biomass accumulation. In addition, a systemic defense response was observed in response to mycorrhizal fungal colonization, such that jasmonic acid biosynthesis and signaling were induced and the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites and antioxidant systems were up-regulated. The improved growth and accumulation of secondary metabolites ultimately facilitated the yield of health-promoting substrates per plant. Overall, mycorrhizal fungal colonization had a significant positive effect both on growth and production of secondary metabolites in C. paliurus. The results can provide the basis for overcoming the limitation of soil nutrient regulation in cultivation practice and offering a simpler alternative to improve the quality of medicinal plants. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultivation, Development, and Utilization of Multifunctional Tree Species)

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11 pages, 4497 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparison of Stomatal Structure and Distribution between Ovules and Leaves in Ginkgo biloba

by Siming Chen, Di Wang, Xi Sheng, Chengyu Zhang, Wei Li, Nan Xiao, Li Wang and Zhaogeng Lu

Forests 2022, 13(11), 1801; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13111801 - 29 Oct 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2370

Abstract

Stomata are plant epidermal structures that play essential roles in photosynthesis, respiration, and transpiration. Although stomata on plant leaves have been extensively studied, their structure and distribution on other organs remain poorly understood. The “living fossil “, Ginkgo biloba, has naked ovules that are thought to be primitive reproductive structures in ancient seed plants. Therefore, we hypothesized that there are some distinct stoma features in G. biloba ovules that have not been reported. In this study, we investigated the morphological development of stomata on ovules and leaves of Ginkgo biloba using scanning electron microscopy, then examined the anatomical characteristics of the general stalk and petiole using semi-thin sectioning. We found that stomata were distributed on the epidermis of the whole ovule, except near the micropyle; these stomata persisted until harvest, indicating that ovules perform gross photosynthesis to an extent similar to the photosynthesis observed in leaves, which is beneficial to ovule development. Ovule and leaf stomata share similar orientation, composition, and development; however, their distribution and subsidiary cell morphology significantly differ. The morphology of the general stalk was similar to the morphology of the petiole, but xylem cell development was minimal, and no sclerenchyma cells were present beneath the epidermis; these findings suggested that the general stalk is biomechanically weaker than the petiole. Overall, these results suggest that despite their differences, G. biloba ovules and leaves share many morphological and anatomical similarities in terms of stomatal architecture and stalk anatomy. These findings will help to elucidate the leaf origins of “flowers” in ancient plants. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultivation, Development, and Utilization of Multifunctional Tree Species)

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12 pages, 1922 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Identification and Characterization of Salt-Responsive MicroRNAs in Taxodium hybrid ‘Zhongshanshan 405’ by High-Throughput Sequencing

by Zhiquan Wang, Fengjiao Zhang, Qin Shi, Rui Zhang, Yunlong Yin and Chaoguang Yu

Forests 2022, 13(10), 1685; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13101685 - 13 Oct 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1332

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a type of noncoding RNA participating in the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression that regulates plant responses to salt stress. Small RNA sequencing was performed in this study to discover the miRNAs responding to salt stress in Taxodium hybrid ‘Zhongshanshan 405’, which is tolerant to salinity stress. A total of 52 miRNAs were found to be differentially expressed. The target genes were enriched with gene ontology (GO), including protein phosphorylation, cellular response to stimulus, signal transduction, ATP and ADP binding, showing that miRNAs may play key roles in regulating the tolerance to salt stress in T. hybrid ‘Zhongshanshan 405’. Notably, a G-type lectin S-receptor-like serine/threonine-protein kinase (GsSRK) regulated by novel_77 and novel_2 miRNAs and a mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase (MAPKKK) regulated by novel_41 miRNA were discovered under both short- and long-term salt treatments and can be selected for future research. This result provides new insights into the regulatory functions of miRNAs in the salt response of T. hybrid ‘Zhongshanshan 405’. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultivation, Development, and Utilization of Multifunctional Tree Species)

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16 pages, 2616 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Biochar Application Pyrolyzed at Different Temperatures on Soil Properties, Growth and Leaf Secondary Metabolite Accumulation in Cyclocarya paliurus

by Rui Deng, Ziyu Lan, Xulan Shang and Shengzuo Fang

Forests 2022, 13(10), 1572; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13101572 - 26 Sep 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1829

Abstract

Cyclocarya paliurus is a well-known multifunctional tree species and its leaves are in especially high demand for tea production and medical utilization in China. To meet the enormous requirements of its leaf production, lots of C. paliurus plantations have been established for harvesting the leaves, producing a large quantity of pruning residues during their management. In this study, biochar at different pyrolysis temperatures (300 °C, 500 °C and 700 °C) were prepared, utilizing the pruning residues, and the effects of biochar additions pyrolyzed at different temperatures on soil properties, growth and leaf secondary metabolite accumulation in C. paliurus were investigated. The results showed that the chemical properties and FT-IR spectra of wheel wingnut-based biochar were significantly influenced by the pyrolysis temperatures, and the application of biochars pyrolyzed at different temperatures significantly affected soil pH and nutrient availability, as well as the growth, nutrient uptake and secondary metabolite accumulation of C. paliurus seedlings (p < 0.05). Correlation analysis indicated that the total contents of polyphenols, flavonoids and triterpenoids in C. paliurus leaves were negatively correlated with the contents of total phosphorus (P) and total potassium (K) in the leaves, but positively correlated with the ratios of carbon (C)/nitrogen (N) and C/P. After 200 days of biochar treatment, the highest biomass production and leaf secondary metabolite accumulation in C. paliurus were obtained in the addition of biochar pyrolyzed at 500 °C. The findings from this pot experiment provide a potential application in C. paliurus plantations, though long-term field experiments are required to optimize the quantity of biochar addition, based on soil conditions and stand age at the planting sites. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultivation, Development, and Utilization of Multifunctional Tree Species)

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