R4D China

LDPI Working Paper 18. Upheaval in Chinese Villages. A Case Study of Rural Land Expropriation for “Large-Scale” Commercial Farming in Rural China

Thu, 09 May 2013 07:25 GMT

Production Year: 2013

Citation: Liu, K. LDPI Working Paper 18. Upheaval in Chinese Villages. A Case Study of Rural Land Expropriation for “Large-Scale” Commercial Farming in Rural China. The Land Deal Politics Initiative, (2013) 25 pp.

Summary: Tens of millions of Chinese peasants are in the process of being uprooted from their agricultural land and farmhouses, leaving them in the short run with few means to sustain their families. This study examines a very recent campaign in China to consolidate land for large-scale commercial farming, analyzing three major actors, namely agribusiness entrepreneurs, local government officials, and peasants. This example of very large-scale rural land grabbing is tightly connected to the new stateled campaign of “Constructing a Socialist New Countryside.” By comparing two models of land consolidation, defined by the author as “reversible” and “irreversible,” she argues that the top-down implementation of the campaign favors the “irreversible” model, thus causing many unintended consequences, including forced land dispossession, a rise in agrarian capitalist land accumulation, and increased hardships on vast numbers of peasants who have now lost much of their autonomy, while becoming precarious wage laborers.

LDPI Working Paper 14. The social and environmental implications of urbanization strategies and domestic land grabbing in China: The case of Chongming Island

Wed, 08 May 2013 13:22 GMT

Production Year: 2013

Citation: Siciliano, G. LDPI Working Paper 14. The social and environmental implications of urbanization strategies and domestic land grabbing in China: The case of Chongming Island. The Land Deal Politics Initiative, (2013) 26 pp.

Summary: Domestic land grabbing is defined as the process of land expropriation and displacement put in place by governments within their country borders to supposedly enhance development. While development-induced displacement occurs all over the world, China is responsible for a large fraction of such type of displacement and resettlement projects. Urban sprawl and land commodification for food security and agricultural modernization are the main consequences of domestic land grabbing in the country. Although attention towards the implications of land grabbing and urbanization on the social stability of China has recently increased, studies which try to identify the main drivers of domestic land grabbing and urbanization, as well as to look at the impacts, trade-offs and migrant views, are still rare. These aspects need further study in order to provide better insights into the relationship between rural development, urbanization and land expropriation. Drawing on a case study from a rural island in east China, this paper analyses the impacts of displacement and resettlement projects in relation to: (i) land tenure rights and compensation measures; (ii) rural workers’ livelihoods and the hukou registration system; (iii) environmental degradation. Results reveal that landless people and rural areas in general are facing the risk of unemployment, food self-sufficiency problems, the mismanagement of resettlements, and environmental degradation. Under such circumstances, it is very difficult to view the urbanization strategy and resettlement policy of China as a good opportunity to improve development.

Gene expression profile of wheat seedling response to drought stress by cDNA-AFLP

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:59 GMT

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Zhang YueGiang; Li JianFeng; Wang Zhong; Fan ZheRu; Wang Hao; Zhang HongZhi. Gene Expression Profile of Wheat Seedling Response to Drought Stress by cDNA-AFLP. Journal of Triticeae Crops (2012) 32 (28) 240-244. [Chinese]

Summary: Drought is one of the most adverse environmental factors affecting wheat yield and quality. Under drought stress, target genes in wheat could be activated and expressed to produce drought-induced proteins, enabling plants to actively adapt to drought, and to maintain survival and yield formation. So, studying on drought-induced proteins and the related genes is essential for future genetic engineering and crop breeding of drought-resisting and water-saving. The objective of this research is to analyse the gene expression profile of wheat under drought stress, and to detect the fragments related to drought-resistant gene expression. Genes induced by drought stress in the seedling of Xinjiang spring wheat cultivar Xinchun 6 at 2-leaf stage were analysed by cDNA-AFLP techniques.

Breeding of Chang 8744, a new wheat variety of drought resistance, stable high yield and wide adaptability

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:52 GMT

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Zhang JunLing; Sun MeiRong; Zhang DongXu; Li YanHua; Yan JinLong; Shen ShuZhen. Breeding of Chang 8744,a New Wheat Variety of Drought Resistance, Stable High Yield and Wide Adaptability. Journal of Shanxi Agricultural Sciences (2012) 40 (6) 596-598, 623. [Chinese]

Summary: According to additive inheritance and supplementary principle of parental traits, we took Jinmai 62 as female parent to hybrid with 98- 6160 as male. In the early generation, we selected the materials by planting in dry or irrigated land alternatively. In the high- generation, we evaluated the materials by measuring yield, selecting wheat spikes, surveying the agronomic traits in field and investigating the seed traits indoor. All above methods made the useful genes from parents expressed in Chang 8744 as drought resistance plus high yield, wide adaptability plus stable yield variety and super comprehensive agronomic performances.

Exploring elite alleles for chlorophyll content of flag leaf in natural population of wheat association analysis

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:29 GMT

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Li WeiYu; Zhang Bin; Zhang JiaNan; Chang XiaoPing; Li RunZhi; Jing RuiLian. Exploring Elite Alleles for Chlorophyll Content of Flag Leaf in Natural Population of Wheat by Association Analysis. Acta Agronomica Sinica (2012) 38 (6) 962-970. [Chinese]

Summary: Elite alleles associated with chlorophyll content of flag leaf in a natural population of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) consisting of 262 accessions were measured at flowering and grain-filling stages under both rainfed and well-watered conditions in two experimental locations in Beijing, China. A total of 169 SSR markers distributed on the 21 chromosomes of wheat were employed to detect the genetic diversity and genetic structure of the population. Association analysis between SSR loci and chlorophyll content trait was performed using TASSEL MLM (mixed linear model) program.

Primary identification and evaluation of wheat germplasm from Generation Challenge Programme

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:22 GMT

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Zhang JunLing; Sun MeiRong; Zhang DongXu; Yan JinLong; Shen ShuZhen. Primary Identification and Evaluation of Wheat Germplasm from Generation Challenge Program. Journal of Shanxi Agricultural Sciences (2012) 40 (5) 429-432. [Chinese]

Summary: An identification and evaluation for 1000-seed weight, grain number per ear, ear number per plant, plant height, plumpness of kernels and yield of 146 wheat germplasms from GCP projects were conducted. The results showed that: the tested varieties had a wealth of genetic diversity in yield, grain number per ears, ear number per plant and so on; there were different correlations in each trait; heading and maturity stages had effects to grain number per ear, yield and 1 000 seed weight. We had successfully selected 8 big ear fertility varieties, 8 big grain fertility varieties, 5 short stalk fertilities and 25 fine varieties of super traits and outstanding fertility.

Functional marker mapping and association analysis of gene W16 in common wheat

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:15 GMT

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Lei MengLin; Li Ang; Chang XiaoPing; Xu ZhaoShi; Ma YouZhi; Liu HuiMin; Jing RuiLian. Functional marker mapping and association analysis of gene W16 in common wheat. Scientia Agricultura Sinica (2012) 45 (9) 1667-1675.

Summary: Objective The objective of this study is to develop and map functional markers for W16, a gene of transcription factor DREB (dehydration responsive element binding) family, to analyze the relationship between haplotypes and phenotypic traits, and provide a basis for the genetic improvement by molecular markers in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

Method The W16 was cloned from hexaploid wheat, and its diploid and tetraploid wild relative species. Molecular markers were developed according to sequence polymorphisms. Chromosomal location and genetic mapping of W16 were performed by Chinese Spring nulli-tetrasomic lines and a doubled haploid (DH) population (Hanxuan 10 × Lumai 14). The relevance between W16 haplotypes and phenotypic traits was analyzed by using a natural population consisted of 154 historical wheat accessions.

Result The W16 was mapped in the interval between marker CWM517 and WMC20 on chromosome 1A in Chinese Spring nulli-tetrasomic lines and DH population, and the distances were 7.8 cM and 19.4 cM from the left and right flanking markers. In the natural populations, three haplotypes of W16 were detected which were associated with spike per plant, grain per spike, spikelet per spike and grain plumpness.

Conclusion The present research mapped W16 on the chromosomes 1A. HapⅡ is considered as a potential superior haplotype for the improvement of spike per plant and grain plumpness, while HapⅢ is a potential superior haplotype for grain per spike. These functional markers and association analysis results provide important information for the molecular breeding of wheat.

Genome wide linkage disequilibrium in Chinese asparagus bean (Vigna unguiculata ssp. sesquipedialis) germplasm: implications for domestication history and genome wide association studies

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 08:30 GMT

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Xu, P.; Wu, X.; Wang, B.; Luo, J.; Liu, Y.; Ehlers, J.D.; Close, T.J.; Roberts, P.A.; Lu, Z.; Wang, S.; Li, G. Genome wide linkage disequilibrium in Chinese asparagus bean (Vigna unguiculata ssp. sesquipedialis) germplasm: implications for domestication history and genome wide association studies. Heredity (2012) 109 (1) 34-40. [DOI: 10.1038/hdy.2012.8]

Summary: Association mapping of important traits of crop plants relies on first understanding the extent and patterns of linkage disequilibrium (LD) in the particular germplasm being investigated. We characterize here the genetic diversity, population structure and genome wide LD patterns in a set of asparagus bean (Vigna unguiculata ssp. sesquipedialis) germplasm from China. A diverse collection of 99 asparagus bean and normal cowpea accessions were genotyped with 1127 expressed sequence tag-derived single nucleotide polymorphism markers (SNPs). The proportion of polymorphic SNPs across the collection was relatively low (39%), with an average number of SNPs per locus of 1.33. Bayesian population structure analysis indicated two subdivisions within the collection sampled that generally represented the ‘standard vegetable’ type (subgroup SV) and the ‘non-standard vegetable’ type (subgroup NSV), respectively. Level of LD (r2) was higher and extent of LD persisted longer in subgroup SV than in subgroup NSV, whereas LD decayed rapidly (0–2 cM) in both subgroups. LD decay distance varied among chromosomes, with the longest (≈5 cM) five times longer than the shortest (≈1 cM). Partitioning of LD variance into within- and between-subgroup components coupled with comparative LD decay analysis suggested that linkage group 5, 7 and 10 may have undergone the most intensive epistatic selection toward traits favorable for vegetable use. This work provides a first population genetic insight into domestication history of asparagus bean and demonstrates the feasibility of mapping complex traits by genome wide association study in asparagus bean using a currently available cowpea SNPs marker platform.

Genetic dissection of developmental behaviour of grain weight in wheat under diverse temperature and water regimes

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 12:38 GMT

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Li ShiPing; Wang ChengShe; Chang XiaoPing; Jing RuiLian. Genetic dissection of developmental behavior of grain weight in wheat under diverse temperature and water regimes. Genetica (2012) 140 (7-9) 393-405. [DOI: 10.1007/s10709-012-9688-z]

Summary: As a quantitatively inherited trait related to high yield potential, grain weight (GW) development in wheat is constrained by abiotic stresses such as limited water supply and high temperature. Data from a doubled haploid population, derived from a cross of (Hanxuan 10 × Lumai 14), grown in four environments were used to explore the genetic basis of GW developmental behavior in unconditional and conditional quantitative trait locus (QTL) analyses using a mixed linear model. Thirty additive QTLs and 41 pairs of epistatic QTLs were detected, and were more frequently observed on chromosomes 1B, 2A, 2D, 4A, 4B and 7B. No single QTL was continually active during all stages or periods of grain growth. The QTLs with additive effects (A-QTLs) expressed in the period S1|S0 (the period from the flowering to the seventh day after) formed a foundation for GW development. GW development at these stages can be used as an index for screening superior genotypes under diverse abiotic stresses in a wheat breeding program. One QTL, i.e. Qgw.cgb-6A.2, showed high adaptability for water-limited and heat-stress environments. Many A-QTLs interacted with more than one other QTL in the two genetic models, such as Qgw.cgb-4B.2 interacted with five QTLs, showing that the genetic architecture underlying GW development involves a collective expression of genes with additive and epistatic effects.

The zero-fee tour: price competition and network downgrading in Chinese tourism

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:03 GMT

Production Year: 2013

Citation: Dev Nathan; Yang FuQuan; Yu Yin. The zero-fee tour: price competition and network downgrading in Chinese tourism. (2013) 22 pp. ISBN 978-1-909336-91-9 [Capturing the Gains Working Paper 2013/28]

Summary: This paper deals with the impact of competition on the tourism network in China. It identifies the supply and demand conditions among service providers, tour operators and tourists that have led to the zero-fee tour and then deals with the impact of this intense price competition in terms of the reduction in product quality and degrading of the whole network. The paper also deals with various attempts by local governments and others to curb the zero-fee tour. It points out that price restrictions have worked in a destination that has established a brand value and, thus, has become a differentiated product. In concluding, the paper deals with the supply reductions that are needed to reduce price competition in various segments of the tourism network.