Tree Genetics and Molecular Breeding 2025, Vol.15, No.2, 44-53 http://genbreedpublisher.com/index.php/tgmb 50 6 Resistance of Soapberry Seedlings to Biological Stress 6.1 Common diseases and pests affecting Pinus plants Like many crops grown in gardens, young soapberry seedlings are vulnerable to various pests and diseases, such as fungi, bacteria, viruses, and nematodes. These harmful substances can seriously affect the growth and development of seedlings, making them grow poorly, have low yields, and also limit the places where they can grow (Xu et al., 2022). If acacia is always planted in the same plot of land, the diseases in the soil will become more serious, greatly affecting the yield and quality of acacia (Xu et al., 2022). Especially root-knot nematodes and some fungi pose a great threat to young soapberry seedlings. They can make the seedlings listless and even cause a large number of deaths. Therefore, some useful methods have to be thought of to reduce the harm they cause (Xu et al., 2022; Wu and Zhang, 2024). 6.2 Biological resistance mechanism The young soapberry seedlings themselves have some ways to resist pests and diseases. One of them can produce some substances, which can drive away leaf-eating insects and also inhibit the growth of bacteria (Puentes et al., 2018). In addition, the genes of the seedlings themselves are also crucial. Just like different seedlings have different resistance abilities when facing insect bites, this is the role of genes (Puentes et al., 2018). Cultivating soapberry seedlings with special seedling raising methods can make them more resistant to pests. Compared with the seedlings cultivated by ordinary methods, the seedlings cultivated by this method are attacked by pests less frequently and suffer less damage, indicating that this seedling cultivation method can enable the seedlings to activate the “defense mechanism” and enhance their ability to resist pests and diseases (Puentes et al., 2018). 6.3 Strategies for enhancing resistance to pests and diseases To make the young soapberry seedlings more resistant to pests and diseases, you can try these methods. By means of biological control, such as introducing beneficial microorganisms or releasing some animals that specifically feed on pests, the number of pests can be controlled and the occurrence of diseases can be reduced without using pesticides (Xu et al., 2022). There are also comprehensive control methods, which combine improving planting conditions, biological control and the use of pesticides when necessary, and can comprehensively solve the problems of pests and diseases (Xu et al., 2022). It is also a good approach to cultivate soapberry varieties that are resistant to pests and diseases through genetic modification and breeding. Identifying the genes for disease and pest resistance and then transferring them to newly cultivated varieties can make the young soapberry seedlings inherently more resistant to diseases and pests (Xu et al., 2022). If these methods are combined with modern biotechnology, the soapberry pods can better resist pests and diseases. 7 Current Challenges and Gaps in Research 7.1 Issues in scaling up fast propagation techniques for large-scale cultivation One major challenge in promoting the rapid propagation technology of soapberry seedlings on a large scale is to adjust the indoor cultivation environment so that a large number of seedlings can be raised quickly and well, and each one is similar. Although there are already rapid cultivation methods, such as the technology for cultivating trilingual acacia, these methods require precise control of the dosage of growth-promoting agents and environmental conditions, and it is difficult to maintain stability all the time during large-scale cultivation (Asthana et al., 2011). During the cultivation process, growth agents of specific concentrations are used and the cultivated seedling parts need to be frequently transferred. All these make large-scale promotion difficult (Asthana et al., 2011). Besides, not many of the seedlings that have been cultivated indoors can survive after being transplanted into the soil. Although the survival rate is very high when cultivated indoors, for instance, the three-leaf soapberry can reach 90%, when grown outdoors, due to factors such as soil quality and weather changes, the survival rate will
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