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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Dear all,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">This is a correction to the earlier seminar announcement, which included information for only one speaker. I apologize if this causes any confusion.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Please join us in <a href="https://map.arizona.edu/107">
<b>Marley 230</b></a> on <b>Tuesday, April 8, at 4:00 PM</b> for a double-header seminar session co-presented by Jim Legins and Rodrigo Silva, School of Plant Sciences, University of Arizona. Dr. Duke Pauli will serve as the host.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Zoom link: <a href="https://arizona.zoom.us/j/84253432688">
https://arizona.zoom.us/j/84253432688</a> (password: <b>SPLS2025</b>).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Refreshments will be provided in the Marley Lobby at 3:30 PM.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Jim’s Seminar Title: High-Performing Upland Cotton Shifts Root-Associated Microbiomes Under Water Limitation<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Abstract:</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> Water scarcity significantly threatens cotton productivity, a challenge amplified by climate change and increasing competition for limited water resources.
As a major source of natural fiber, cotton's resilience to drought stress is essential for maintaining productivity and supporting global textile production. However, the mechanisms underlying this resilience, particularly the role of root-associated microbial
communities that may influence plant drought stress responses, remain unclear. Here, we used amplicon sequencing on the Illumina platform to quantify plasticity of microbial communities associated with roots of six cotton cultivars grown under water-limiting
and well-watered conditions in a hot, arid environment. Communities of microbes broadly resemble those in other arid-land crops, but with distinctive species not detected in roots of sorghum, lettuce, or tepary bean in the same location. The highest-yielding
cotton cultivars markedly shifted their root microbial communities between irrigation treatments, whereas low-yielding cultivars showed less responsiveness. Microbiome shifts in high performing varieties suggest these plants may leverage symbiotic relationships
to cope with water limitation. This study underscores the importance of plant-microbe interactions in supporting cotton plant health, particularly in high-performing plants, and highlights the potential for leveraging these relationships to improve crop resilience
in water-limited environments.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Rodrigo’s Seminar Title: What can canopy temperature reveal about the physiological processes occurring inside cotton plants?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Abstract:</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> Evaluating cotton genotypic responses to adverse impacts of climate change, such as high heat and water-limiting conditions, is essential for improving
plant resilience. Some physiological measurements of plants, such as canopy temperature (T<sub>C</sub>), stem water potential (Ø<sub>stem</sub>), transpiration (E), and stomatal conductance (<i>g</i><sub>s</sub>), can be used to evaluate crop water stress.
The integration of novel sensing technologies enables high throughput monitoring of crop water status via continuous measurements. In this research, we validated the novel sensing device GoField by Goanna Ag, which continuously measures T<sub>C,</sub> in a
field experiment in the Arizona low desert. We measured four genotypes in 2023 and five in 2024 across well-watered and water-limited conditions. For diurnal ground truth measurements, we used a handheld FLIR infrared camera, whose measurements had a high
correlation with the continuous measurements of the GoField. For further validation of T<sub>C</sub>, we assessed the relationship of T<sub>C</sub> with Ø<sub>stem</sub>, and we found an inverse quadratic curvilinear relationship. This research demonstrates
the continuous relationship of T<sub>C </sub>and Ø<sub>stem</sub> in cotton for the first time and agrees with recent studies in woody perennial species, in which we saw a similar relationship. Conjointly, we found a genotypic difference in the continuous
measurements, T<sub>C </sub>and Ø<sub>stem</sub>, along with the diurnal measurements,
<i>g</i><sub>s</sub> and E, under high atmospheric demand for both treatments. This work revealed the success of integrating novel sensing technologies into the monitoring and understanding of crop water stress, thus reducing the need for traditional time and
labor-intensive methods.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-ligatures:none">===============================================================<br>
</span><b><span style="font-size:20.0pt;font-family:"Vladimir Script";mso-ligatures:none">Zhongguo Xiong</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-ligatures:none"> <br>
School of Plant Sciences BIO5 Institute<br>
BIO5 Email: <span style="color:blue"><a href="mailto:zxiong@arizona.edu"><span style="color:blue">zxiong@arizona.edu</span></a></span>
<br>
Phone: (520)-621-9869<br>
Forbes 303, P.O. box 210036 Fax: (520)-621-7186<br>
University of Arizona <br>
Tucson, AZ 85721-0036 <span style="color:blue"><a href="http://ag.arizona.edu/~zxiong"><span style="color:blue">http://ag.arizona.edu/~zxiong</span></a></span><br>
===============================================================</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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