Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture最新文献

{"title":"Metabolic profiling and pathway elucidation of flavonoids in Ocimum basilicum for high-quality breeding and sustainable utilization.","authors":"Jingtian Yang, Xuelang Fu, Jing Yuan, Mengling Yu, Yanping Mao, Mei Liu, Lei Liu, Lingliang Guan","doi":"10.1002/jsfa.70009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.70009","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Ocimum basilicum, valued for its medicinal, culinary, ornamental, and aromatic uses, offers significant potential for development. This study analyzed four O. basilicum accessions to comprehensively assess their total flavonoid content, flavonoid metabolites, and flavonoid metabolism-related genes.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 510 flavonoid metabolites were identified, categorized into ten distinct types. Among these, flavones and flavonols were the most prominent, accounting for over 70% of the total flavonoid metabolites. Significant differences in total flavonoid content were observed among the four accessions (P < 0.05). Thirteen flavonols were identified that likely have the greatest impact on the variation in total flavonoid content among these materials. Based on transcriptome data, 768 differentially expressed genes associated with flavonoid metabolism were identified. Several key genes were identified that may influence the accumulation patterns of candidate flavonoid metabolites.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study investigated the metabolic diversity and regulatory mechanisms of flavonoids in O. basilicum, providing a theoretical foundation for high-quality breeding. It aids in the identification of varieties with high flavonoid content and superior medicinal and industrial value. The research also promotes the utilization of O. basilicum in the pharmaceutical, food, and agricultural industries, supporting sustainable development. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry.</p>","PeriodicalId":17725,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144333431","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A drone-based system for sampling airborne bacteria near intensive farms.","authors":"Marta Nerini, Marco Merlini, Sonia Renzi, Benedetta Cerasuolo, Aldo D'Alessandro, Duccio Cavalieri, Giuseppe Rossi, Massimiliano Marvasi","doi":"10.1002/jsfa.70001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.70001","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Bioaerosols, which include airborne bacteria, are a growing concern for public health, especially near intensive farming operations that generate high concentrations of microorganisms. Intensive farms, such as those for cattle, can release potentially pathogenic bacteria into the air, posing risks to nearby communities and farmworkers. Traditional sampling methods are often limited, as they require stationary collection points and can miss key information about how these bioaerosols disperse. To address this issue, this study introduces a proof-of-concept drone-based system designed to monitor and sample airborne bacteria near intensive farms.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The drone, equipped with a sampling device, was used to sample three different points near a livestock production farm. DNA extraction, which was also traditionally a limitation in microbial airborne molecular biology, was achieved after only 10 min of flying by employing an ad hoc developed DNA extraction protocol coupled with a petroleum trap and virus DNA extraction kit. The results showed that DNA was successfully extracted, and reads were checked for quality. The primary bacterial genera found across all sites are Acinetobacter and Bacillus. While Acinetobacter includes both commensal and mastitis-causing strains, Bacillus species such as Bacillus subtilis serve as probiotics in animal feed. Probiotic genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium were also detected, alongside potentially pathogenic Staphylococcus, highlighting hygiene concerns. Unexpected genera, including cyanobacteria from nearby water bodies, and Microvirga, typically found in arid, metal-rich soils, suggest environmental influences or contaminants.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Further development of this system can provide an early warning mechanism by tracking the presence and movement of harmful microorganisms in a 3D space surrounding the farms, allowing for safety and public health applications. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry.</p>","PeriodicalId":17725,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144333430","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effect of salt reduction on fiber-like chewiness of dried pork and fish slices.","authors":"Xu Cheng, Fang Yang, Yi Wu, Qixing Jiang, Pei Gao, Wenshui Xia, Dongxing Yu","doi":"10.1002/jsfa.70006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.70006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Salt reduction (SR) in dried meat slices addresses consumers' health concerns, and numerous studies are focused on its impact on product flavor and taste. However, the literature about effects on texture, particularly chewiness, is rare. This study was therefore aimed to investigate the effect of SR on the fiber-like chewiness of dried pork and fish slices and clarify the underlying mechanisms, to provide a theoretical guide for future strategies for texture improvement of SR products.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A 66.7% SR led to significant changes in shearing force and tensile distance, with decreases of 23.2% and 4.1%, respectively. Further analysis revealed that with 66.7% and 100% SR bound water content decreased by 4.6% and 10.4%, and the myofibril fragmentation index increased by 14.8% and 45.1%, respectively. Additionally, there was a marked 37.9% decrease in ionic bonds at 66.7% SR and a decline in myofibrillar protein dissolution, which weakened protein binding and loosened the microstructure.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>These findings suggested that 'salt-reduced' labeled dried meat slices (25% SR) can have similar texture to non-salt-reduced products. However, excessive SR may compromise texture, mainly due to reduced bound water and lower dissolution of salt-soluble proteins. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry.</p>","PeriodicalId":17725,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144326175","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The hydrogenation metabolism process of rosmarinic acid by microbial enzymes in chickens.","authors":"Xuedong Ding, Jing Wang, Weiyun Zhu","doi":"10.1002/jsfa.70000","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.70000","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The gut microbiota plays a critical role in the metabolism of rosmarinic acid (RA) through converting RA to caffeic acid (CA), danshensu (DSS), and m-coumaric acid. However, the gut environment and microbiota may have complicated metabolic converting RA processes. This study aimed to investigate the metabolism of RA in gastrointestinal tract of chickens through liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and metagenomic analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Through in vivo and in vitro studies, RA was found to be hydrogenated into dihydrorosmarinic acid, then hydrolyzed into DSS and dihydrocaffeic acid (DHCA). DSS and DHCA could be further converted to 3-hydroxyphenylpropionic acid. But RA remained stable in the stomach, duodenum, jejunum, and ileum, as well as in the cecum of antibiotic-treated chickens. This indicated that the degradation of RA was mainly mediated by cecal microbiota. Furthermore, the metagenomic analysis of cecal microbiota revealed that reductases and hydrolases from Clostridium spp., Alistipes spp., and other microbiota were involved in these processes. NADH:flavin oxidoreductase and 3-oxoacyl-[acyl-carrier-protein] reductase participated in the hydrogenation reaction of RA, and BaiCD involved in dehydroxylation reaction of RA.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The hydrogenation process by microbial enzymes was an important metabolic pathway of RA. These hydrogenation products contribute to improving the biological function of RA. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry.</p>","PeriodicalId":17725,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144317315","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comprehensive analysis of lncRNAs and mRNAs in Vitis vinifera defense mechanisms against multiple pathogens.","authors":"Weilin Cao, Yiyi Wang, Xuechen Zhao, Liming Gan, Yuting Sheng","doi":"10.1002/jsfa.70005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.70005","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are critical regulators of plant immunity, yet their roles in broad-spectrum resistance of Vitis vinifera (grapevine) against multiple pathogens remain underexplored. In the present study, we investigated the functional roles of grapevine lncRNAs during infection with five pathogens, including Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Xylella fastidiosa, Flavescence dorée, Erysiphe necator and Plasmopara viticola.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We identified 7752 candidate lncRNAs through transcriptome analyses of grapevine infected by five pathogens, including fungi, bacteria, oomycetes and phytoplasmas. These lncRNAs regulated key immune-related pathways, such as plant-pathogen interaction, mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway-plant and plant hormone signal transduction. Subsequently, specific lncRNA-mRNA pairs induced by each pathogen were identified by differential expression, co-expression network and expression trend analyses. The results showed that the specific pairs were linked to pathogen resistance, targeting immune-related genes, such as UDP-glycosyltransferase, ethylene-responsive transcription factor, glycosyltransferase 2, GDSL esterase lipase, thaumatin-like protein, cytochrome P450 malectin receptor-like protein kinase and glycoside hydrolase chitinase. In addition, broad-spectrum resistance was associated with 254 lncRNAs regulating 324 functional genes, including leucine-rich repeat proteins and transcription factors.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This comprehensive dataset advances understanding of grapevine immunity, highlighting lncRNAs as potential targets for breeding pathogen-resistant grapevine varieties and fostering sustainable viticulture practices. Furthermore, we intend to explore the functional mechanisms of these broad-spectrum resistance genes, such as by using CRISPR (i.e. clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) for functional validation, identifying their promoter binding sites, screening for interacting proteins using yeast two-hybrid assays and constructing regulatory networks via bioinformatics approaches. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry.</p>","PeriodicalId":17725,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144326174","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Improvement of antioxidant phytochemicals and color quality of green tea (Camellia sinensis L.) as influenced by cold plasma.","authors":"Mehran Fathi, Abdullah Hatamzadeh, Mohammad-Taghi Ebadi, Hamid Ghomi","doi":"10.1002/jsfa.14286","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.14286","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Cold plasma (CP) was investigated as an innovative method to enhance green tea (Camellia sinensis) quality by improving extraction efficiency, bioactive retention. This study optimized dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) CP using air, argon, and nitrogen at 14, 18, and 22 kV for 6, 9, and 12 min to improve extraction and the qualitative and quantitative properties of green tea.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>CP treatments significantly impacted green tea traits. Argon and air gases, especially at higher voltages (22 kV) and longer durations (12 min), significantly increased hydrophilicity and phytochemical extraction, increasing yields by up to 48% compared to the control. These treatments had the highest total phenol [78.334 and 77.08 mg g^-1 dry weight (DW)], total flavonoid (8.09 and 7.72 mg g^-1 DW), antioxidant activity (80.74% and 81.93%), and catechins compounds content. Color properties, including brightness (L*) and greenness (a*), were enhanced compared to the control, with argon > air > nitrogen in effectiveness. Some treatments reduced color indices with higher voltage/time, while others increased them. Air and argon plasma (22 kV, 12 min) enhanced brightness, yellow-green color, and color purity in brewed tea. Principal component analysis (PCA) biplot confirmed that argon (18 and 22 kV, 12 min) and air (22 kV, 12 min) improved hydrophilicity, total phenol content, total flavonoid content, antioxidant activity, catechins, and color quality.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>While argon and air plasmas were effective for extracting important phytochemicals, successful large-scale commercialization must consider costs, ionization potential, and energy usage, and so forth, of plasmas based on argon versus air. These findings can benefit the tea processing industry in producing higher-quality products for various sectors. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry.</p>","PeriodicalId":17725,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144326176","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Optimizing nitrogen application frequency to enhance the post-flowering matter accumulation, yield and water/nitrogen use efficiency of densely planted and drip-irrigated maize.","authors":"Dongping Shen, Linli Zhou, Keru Wang, Bo Ming, Ruizhi Xie, Jun Xue, Liang Fang, Tingting Zhang, Zhen Wang, Jinghui Yu, Xiaoxue Xu, Hui Jiang, Naijiao Ma, Guoqiang Zhang, Shaokun Li","doi":"10.1002/jsfa.14411","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.14411","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Maize yield stability is crucial for China's national food security. Conventional irrigation and nitrogen application methods have problems like low yield, inefficiency and environmental pollution. Optimizing water/fertilizer management is therefore imperative. This study reports on a field experiment conducted in Tongliao, Inner Mongolia (2020-2021) that used 'Dika 159' maize grown at a density of 9.0 × 10⁴ plants ha^-1. Five nitrogen application frequencies were set up, 0 (F0), 2 (F2), 4 (F3), 6 (F4), 8 (F5) with drip irrigation, in addition to farmers' one-time basal and flood irrigation as the control (F1).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Compared that of F1, the leaf area index of F4 increased by 5.05% at the VT (silk emergence) stage and by 73.01% at the R6 (maturity) stage, and the maximum leaf area duration appeared at the VT-R3 (silk emergence-milk ripening) stage. The frequency of nitrogen application mainly affected the post-anthesis photosynthetic rate of maize. F4 and F1 did not differ significantly in their pre-anthesis matter accumulation, but F4's post-anthesis matter accumulation was significantly higher, the maximum dry matter accumulation rate of F4 being 94.44% higher than that of F1. The six-time nitrogen application resulted in the optimum yield (15.82-16.06 t ha^-1) and physiological nitrogen-use efficiency (PNUE; 7.87-7.44 kg kg^-1), and its water-use efficiency (WUE) reached 2.10-2.14 kg m^-3, raising the yield by 65.75-69.84%, enhancing the WUE by 62.12-62.79% and improving the PNUE by 29.23-40.11%.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>A greater frequency of nitrogen application (six times) can prolong the functional period of maize leaves, slow leaf senescence, enhancing the post-anthesis photosynthetic capacity of maize to bolster its post-anthesis matter accumulation and kernel weight, improving the yield and water/fertilizer utilization rate. © 2025 The Author(s). Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.</p>","PeriodicalId":17725,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144317303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of Sibiraea laevigate maxim polysaccharides on intestinal flora in immunosuppressed mice.","authors":"Dandan Gao, Xingchen Guo, Zhong Yang, Huaxin Li, Ying Chen, Xuankang Yang, Li Song, Xuhua Yang, Jutian Yang, Chenggang Zhou","doi":"10.1002/jsfa.14433","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.14433","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The intestinal microbial ecology plays a significant role in maintaining normal physiological function processes and significantly influences the immune system. However, research regarding its effects on gut flora and in vivo immunomodulation is insufficient.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In this study, cyclophosphamide was administered to mice to establish an immunosuppressed mouse model. The regulatory effects of Sibiraea laevigata maxim polysaccharides (SLMPs) on immunity and intestinal microbiota in the immunosuppressed mouse model were investigated. The results indicated that SLMPs could mitigate spleen and thymus damage, protect immune organs, increase the levels of leukocytes, lymphocytes, neutrophils and monocytes in mouse blood and upregulate the levels of IL-2, IFN-γ, TNF-α and IgA in mouse serum. Furthermore, SLMPs can restore intestinal microbial imbalance and enhance the diversity of gut microorganisms in immunosuppressed mice.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The findings from this study indicated that SLMPs could enhance immunity and improve the structure and abundance of intestinal flora in mice. These results provide a theoretical basis for the further development and utilization of SLMPs in immunomodulatory adjuvants and functional foods, thereby promoting their application in these fields. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry.</p>","PeriodicalId":17725,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144317302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Infrared radiation and subsequent hot-air drying increased lipid concomitant contents and improved storage stability of fresh camellia seeds.","authors":"Shuizhong Luo, Jiahui Lin, Wenjing Zhang, Lihua Pan, Zhi Zheng, Wenqi Zhang, Wei Chen","doi":"10.1002/jsfa.14443","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.14443","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Camellia oleifera is a woody oil-bearing crop, and the quality of its seeds and pressed oil is affected by the postharvest drying. In order to find a suitable drying method for camellia seeds maintaining their good qualities, effects of three drying methods, including room temperature (RT) drying, 60 °C hot-air (HA) drying, as well as 600-800 W infrared pre-drying and sequential 60 °C hot-air (IR-HA) drying, on the drying efficiency, qualities and storage stabilities of camellia seeds were compared.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Compared with HA drying, IR-HA drying shortened the drying time of fresh camellia seeds by 42-47%. The IR-HA dried seeds showed brighter color, higher contents of α-tocopherol, γ-tocopherol, β-sterol and squalene, and better oxidation stability than the RT dried and the HA dried seeds. Heat treatments with HA and IR-HA slightly destroyed the microstructure of camellia kernels, changed the compositions and contents of the free phenolics, decreased the activities of lipoxygenases, polyphenol oxidase and lipase, increased the sulfhydryl contents of the enzyme proteins while reduced the α-helix contents of enzyme proteins. However, except for arachidonic acid, the fatty acid profiles of the HA and IR-HA dried camellia seeds were similar to that of the RT dried ones. The obvious decrease of enzyme activities in IR-HA dried seeds could be related to the changed secondary structures of enzyme proteins and the increase of sulfhydryl groups.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The results indicate that IR-HA drying is suitable for obtaining camellia seeds with better quality and higher storage stability. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry.</p>","PeriodicalId":17725,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144326177","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Photosynthetic performance and yield of intercropped maize and soybean are directly opposite under different intercropping ratios and maize planting densities interactions.","authors":"Yan Rui Gu, Rotimi George Ibitoye, Jing Jing He, Fei Gao, Xun Bo Zhou","doi":"10.1002/jsfa.70004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.70004","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Maize-soybean intercropping, a sustainable intensification practice, has been extensively studied. However, systematic research on how maize planting density and crop allocation patterns influence yield-related photosynthetic mechanisms in intercropping systems is scarce. This study conducted a two-year field trial during the 2022 and 2023 planting seasons to evaluate the effects of intercropping ratios (M4S4: four rows maize to four rows soybean; M2S2: two rows maize to two rows soybean) and maize planting densities (D1: 45 000 plants ha^-1, D2: 52 500 plants ha^-1, D3: 60 000 plants ha^-1) on photosynthetic performance and yield of maize and soybean, with monoculture as controls.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Compared to monoculture, the two-season average of maize under M2S2 at D2 density showed the most significant increase (9.63-64.92%) in leaf area index, SPAD value (relative chlorophyll content), photosynthetic parameters (net photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, intercellular CO₂ concentration), light interception, photochemical quenching and maximum quantum efficiency of PSII photochemistry, and the most significant decrease (13.11-31.23%) in penetration (Pr), reflectance (Re) and non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), resulting in a 58.80% maize yield increase. Conversely, the two-season average of soybean indicators in intercropping exhibited opposite trends to maize, with the worst performance at D3 under M2S2, increasing Pr, Re, and NPQ by 19.99-46.86%, and decreasing other photosynthetic parameters by 6.70-33.23%, with soybean yield decreasing by 36.03%.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Conclusively, intercropped maize with a similar monoculture density of 52 500 plants ha^-1 under the M2S2 intercropping ratio produced the optimal photosynthetic performance and yield, with results opposite in intercropped soybean. Therefore, this intercropping ratio and planting density are recommended for sustainable maize production. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry.</p>","PeriodicalId":17725,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144326178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}