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Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI), Multan, Pakistan has evolved an upland cotton cultivar Cyto-124 through introgression for Cotton Leaf Curl Virus (Begomovirus) resistance. It was developed through crossing [{2(Gossypium hirsutum x Gossypium anomalum) X ³Gossypium hirsutum} x {2(Gossypium arborium x Gossypium anomalum) x ²G. hirsutum]. It was tested for seed cotton yield in varietal trials, and zonal varietal trials at Govt. and farmer fields. Cyto-124 gave 37.1, 19.9 and 22.4% higher yield as compared to three standards MNH-786, CIM-554 and CRSM-38 respectively in varietal trials while Cyto-124 had seedcotton yield of 3075 kgha-1 in-contrast to 2919 kg ha-1 of CIM-573 in zonal trials. Cyto-124 produced more seedcotton yield (SCY) than the standards for two consecutive years (2013 & 2014) in National Coordinated Varietal Trial (NCVT). In NCVT during 2013-14, this strain had a maximum yield of 2244 kg ha-1 compared with 1326 kg ha-1 of standard variety CIM-573 in Punjab. The virus data taken in NCVT indicated that minimum disease incidence (27.9%) was recorded in Cyto-124 making it the more tolerant strain against CLCuV. The approval of this CLCuV resistant cultivar will considerably contribute a lot in the revival of cotton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manganese is an important essential micronutrient, and its deficiency causes latent health issues in humans. Agronomic biofortification can promisingly improve the plant nutrient concentration without changing the genetic makeup of plants. This study was designed to assess the best method of Mn application to enhance productivity and grain Mn contents under conventional tillage (CT) and no tillage (NT) systems. Manganese was delivered through seed coating (250-mg kg−1 seed), osmopriming (0.1-M Mn solution), soil application (1 kg ha−1), and foliar application (0.25-M Mn solution). A general control with no seed Mn application was included, whereas hydropriming and water spray were used as positive control treatments for Mn seed priming and Mn foliar spray, respectively. No tillage had a higher total soil porosity (9%), soil organic carbon (16%), soil microbial biomass carbon (4%), nitrogen (2%), and soil nutrients in the CT system. Manganese nutrition through various methods significantly enhanced the yield, grain biofortification, and net benefits for CT and NT systems. Averaged across two years, the maximum improvement in grain productivity was recorded with osmopriming (28%) followed by foliar application (26%). The highest grain Mn concentration (29% over no application) was recorded with Mn foliar applications under both tillage systems. Moreover, the highest economic returns and marginal net benefits were recorded with osmopriming. To improve the wheat production, profitability, and grain Mn concentration, Mn application through priming and foliar application may be opted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]