Search

Mature sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana Dougl.) trees produce large amounts of viable seeds but have seed dormancy. In this study, we used three sugar pine genotypes, 8877, 9306, and 9375, to test seed germination response. Seed germination from local sources varied greatly, and germination percentages were poor. There was a large variation in seed size and seed weight among the genotypes. Seeds of 9375 and 9306 were significantly larger and heavier (30.7 and 28.8 g/100 seeds, respectively) than 8877 (23.6 g/100 seeds). Three types of seeds—intact seeds, hulled seeds, and naked embryos—were examined for germination. Intact seeds failed to germinate due to the physical restraint and water impermeability of the seed. Chemical scarification with 5 m hydrochloric acid and 5 m sodium hydroxide did not soften the hard seedcoat and also failed to induce any germination of intact seeds. Hulled seeds resulted in an extremely low germination percentage (≤5%) with abnormal seedling development even though the endosperm was water permeable. Germination of the hulled seeds was not increased by adding 1 mg·L−1 gibberellic acid to the culture medium. Artificial opening of the hulled seeds created by longitudinal or horizontal cuts on the endosperm after removal of the seedcoat to avoid physical restraint and allow air exchange also failed to improve germination, indicating that inhibitors related to germination were present in the endosperm. However, naked embryos of all three genotypes germinated rapidly and uniformly with 70% to 95% germination percentage regardless of cold stratification treatment. Our data indicate that sugar pine seeds from the current source did not have physiological dormancy of embryos themselves, but dormancy was imposed by the seedcoat and endosperm. Using the naked embryos as donor explants, we have successfully established an efficient in vitro culture system. The protocol described here can be applied for the tissue culture and genetic transformation of sugar pine.

Introduction Plants in arid and semi-arid regions are constantly exposed to environmental stresses such as salinity. The sensitivity of different plants to salinity stress at different growth stages is quite different. In many plants, perhaps the most sensitive stage of the plant growth cycle to salinity, is germination and emergence stages. Germination and emergence of seeds are the first important stages in plant establishment which is affected by most environmental stresses. In South Khorasan, which has saline soil and water, conventional millet cultivation is common, and it’s most important weeds are lambsquarters, tumble pigweed and purslane. Since the irrigation of millet fields in this region of the country is performed with saline water, this experiment was conducted out to investigate the emergence response of millet and lambsquarters, tumble pigweed and purslane weeds, under sodium chloride salinity in Hoagland solution. Materials and methods In order to evaluate the effect of salinity stress on quality and emergence rate of common millet, lambsquarters, tumble pigweed and purslane, four separate experiments were conducted out in a randomized complete block design with three replications in 2017 in the research greenhouse of agricultural faculty at Birjand University. Experimental treatments consisted of 10 salinity levels including Hoagland solution with 2 dS/m as control, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 dS/m (created sodium chloride in Hoagland solution). Hoagland formula was used for preparation of nutrient solution and sodium chloride was used for preparation of different salinity levels. After filling each pot with 1.5 liters of acid washed sand, 25 seeds from each species were placed at 1 cm depth from soil surface. Seedling emergence were counted daily. In order to investigate the response of each species to salinity stress, the emergence percentage in each species was analyzed in a randomized complete block design without considering treatments with zero emergence percentage. Data analysis was performed using SAS software. GLM procedure was used for analysis of variance and comparison of mean performed with protected LSD at 5% probability level. Results and discussion The results showed that common millet, purslane, tumble pigweed and lambsquarters seeds had the ability to germinate up to 20, 16, 12 and 12 dS/m, respectively. The start of emergence for common millet seeds up to 10 dS/m and tumble pigweed up to 8 dS/m was 3 days after sowing. Meanwhile, the seeds of lambsquarters emergence up to 6 dS/m on the fourth day, and purslane in 2 dS/m on the second day after sowing. Millet plants were emergence up to 18 dS/m salinity in the first five days after sowing. The results also showed that for common millet and tumble pigweed, no significant difference were observed for single seedling dry weight at 2 and 4 dS/m. Increasing salinity from 2 to 4 dS/m led to a significant decrease in purslane seedling dry weight but with increasing salinity stress from 4 to 8 dS/m, the reduction in seedling dry weight was not significant. In this study, with increasing salinity stress from 2 to 8 dS/m, dry weight of common millet, purslane, lambsquarter and tumble pigweed decreased by 55, 73.8, 80.7 and 79.5%, respectively. In this study, after ensuring that the seeds did not emerge, to determine the viability of non-emerged seeds, the pots were irrigated with distilled water. Under this condition, non-emerged millet seeds in the pots were not able to germinate at any levels of salinity stress. Purslane had no germination under salinity stress of 18 and 20 dS/m, but there were 34% and 62% emergence percentage respectively, when the salinity were terminated. Under mild stress, the percentage of germinated purslane seeds was 18% after recovery, which decreased with increasing salinity up to 12 dS/m and then increased. Conclusion In general, the results showed that salinity stress caused a change in the emergence behavior of millet and purslane, tumble pigweed and lambsquarters weeds. Common millet had the ability to germinate at all levels of salinity stress, but tumble pigweed and lambsquarters had the potential to emerge up to 12 dS/m and for the purslane up to 16 dS/m. Also, with increasing salinity stress from 8 to 16 dS/m, dry weight of seedling of common millet, purslane, tumble pigweed and lambsquarters decreased by 66, 82, 100 and 100 percent, respectively. At the end, the results showed that occurrence of salinity stress and its removal, the purslane seeds had a greater ability to keep their viability, whereas the common millet seeds completely lost their viability.

Palmarosa (Cymbopogon martinii var. motia) is an important essential oil-bearing plant that is used worldwide in the soap, perfumery and cosmetic industries. It is a highly cross-pollinated crop and can be propagated sexually through seeds or clonally by slips. The main objective of the present investigation is to collect populations of palmarosa from different parts of India, to analyse the variability present within and between population, to study the correlation of different traits and to select the best performing clones in terms of growth, herbage and essential oil yield for raising the best performing clones in polycross nursery. The seeds of seven populations/varieties were collected from various parts of India and two hundred seedlings of each population were raised and transplanted to the field at the ICAR-Directorate of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research, Anand, Gujarat, India. Observations on individual plants performance viz., plant height, number of tillers, dry herbage yield and essential oil yield were analysed for five harvests which were taken over a period of two years. For plant height, a maximum frequency of 32 per cent was recorded from 141 to150 cm in PRC-1, whereas, for the number of tillers it was 31.88 per cent from the Bengaluru collection that was between 81 and 110 tillers. Fresh and dry herbage yield showed a significant positive correlation with plant height, the number of tillers and oil yield. The correlation between dry herbage yield and the number of tillers was maximum (0.761), followed by dry herbage yield and essential oil yield (0.563) and the number of tillers and oil yield (0.417). Interestingly, a significant correlation of oil yield with plant height and number of tillers gives an indication that the improvement of the traits will not only increase the dry herbage yield but also increase the essential oil yield. Based on the performance of individual clones out of 642 clones evaluated, the best fifteen clones were selected based on the dry herbage and essential oil yield and named as DCM-1 to DCM-15. These clones were further utilized for raising polycross nursery.

An investigation was taken up to study the genetic relationship of thermosensitive genic male sterile lines developed at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore using morphological traits and SSR markers. Morphological and floral traits revealed a significant and wide genetic variation among TGMS lines. SSR markers survey using 100 SSR markers revealed that 27 were polymorphic, amplifying a total of 71 alleles with an average of 2.67 alleles. Based on the morphological characters, TNAU 18S exhibited better performance for a number of tillers per plant, angle of glume opening and panicle length and TNAU 45S expressed good floral characters. Cluster analysis differentiated six TGMS lines into four clusters. There is a difference in the dissemination of TGMS lines into different groups based on molecular and morphological data may be due to selection pressure, sampling error and genetic drift. The diverse TGMS lines obtained from cluster analysis could be used directly in the crossing program for the production of high heterotic two-line rice hybrids.

A high yielding perennial herbaceous legume fodder variety Desmanthus CO 2 was developed at the Department of Forage Crops, Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. It is a gamma ray mutant of Desmanthus CO 1. The mutant was identified owing to its superior performance in station trials conducted from 2013 to 2015. It was evaluated in Multi Location during 2015-17 and in On Farm Trial during 2016-18. Simultaneously it was also tested under the All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Forage Crops and Utilization Trials during 2016-18. The variety CO 2 (mutant TND 1308) registered an overall green fodder yield of 91.04 t/ha in all the trials which were 14.18 per cent increase over the national check CO 1. The mean dry matter yield was 115.1 q/ha which was 15.15 per cent over the national check CO 1. Similarly, it has the mean dry matter yield of 0.55 q/ha/day, the crude protein content of 15.58 per cent, Acid Detergent Fibre of 40.80 per cent, Neutral detergent fibre of 54.38 per cent and in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) of 60.06 per cent ensuring increased palatability, digestibility and intake rate. It ranked first at All India level during 2016 to 2018 for a green fodder yield (44.18 t/ha), dry matter yield (115.1 q/ha) and DMY (0.55 q/ha/day) which was 12.78, 15.15 and 14.58 per cent superior over the national check CO 1, respectively. Considering the green fodder yield and fodder quality of the culture TND 1308, it was proposed and identified for release as Desmanthus CO 2 for general cultivation throughout India.

Introduction Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is one of the most important food sources of human. It has a high nutritional value due to its protein, vitamins and fiber supply. Abiotic stresses are most important limiting factors to crop productivity that among these, drought stress is known to be the main limiting factor of bean production in worldwide. The bean has a low tolerance to water stress, while about 60% of the bean crop is obtained in areas under low water stress. It has been reported that about 25% reduction of yield bean is due to drought stress conditions. The use of modern irrigation methods in addition raise grain yield, because saves of water consumption. Materials and methods In order to investigate the effect of different irrigation regimes on gas exchanges and agronomy traits related to yield in bean, a field experiment was carried out at the Research Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, Zanjan University, Zanjan, Iran (36410N, 48290E) in spring 2012 years. The experiment was conducted at complete randomized block design with four replications. Experimental treatments included five level of irrigation (Traditional Irrigation with 100 % supply water requirement (I1), drip tape irrigation with 100 (I2), 80 (I3), 60 (I4) and 40 % (I5) supply water requirement. Each plot consisted of four rows, each measuring six meter long, distance of each rows and plants was 50 and 10 cm, respectively. Crop Evapotranspiration (ETc) of bean determined through calculation the evapotranspiration of the refrence crop (ETo) evaluated by FAO-Penman-Montith method and Crop Evapotranspiration (ETc) of plant. For of photosynthesis and other gas exchange parameters use IRGA Lci meter. At the physiological maturity stage, plants in an area of 1 m2 to measuring of length of plant, number pod in plan, number seed in pod, weight of thousand seeds, grain yield, biological yield and harvest index (HI) were harvested, then all aboveground dry matter were determined. Results and discussion The irrigation regimes have significant effect all traits investigate except plant length and intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci). Reducing the amount of available water had adverse effects on the yield and yield components. The maximum of Stomatal conductance to water vapour (gs) observed in I1 and net CO2 assimilation rate (ACO2), mesophyll conductance (gm) in I1 and I2 treatment. The intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci) was not affected by the irrigation regimes. The maximum of grain yield (945.6 kg/h), number of pod in plant (10.95) and harvest index (23.87 %) observed in I2 treatment and the highest of stomatal conductance to water vapour (gs) with 0.43 mmol.m-2s-1 was in I1 treatment. There was no difference in other traits investigate between I1 and I2 treatments. The intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci) not significant in different irrigation regimes. The grain yield, number of pod in plant and harvest index in I2 treatment was more than I1 treatment to the amount 31.29, 59 and 18.93 percent, respectively. Conclusions According to this study, results showed that the physiological and agronomical traits that affected the growth and development of common bean disturbed whit reducing the available water content and ultimately the yield reduced. Since the no significant difference between more eco-physiological traits, in order to reducing of water consumption, suggested that in the field of bean culture, instead of traditional (leakage) irrigation, to use from of drip irrigation method with 100 percent supply water requirement. Result showed that the use of drip tape irrigation with 100 % water requirement was better than traditional irrigation with 100 percent supply water requirement, because in addition raise grain yield, cause saves of water consumption and reduces of hardness of work in farm conditions.

The study was conducted at the Department of Horticulture, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai during 2018. The experimental plot was laid out in Randomized block design without replication due to segregating population with four crosses P2 X P5, P3 x P5, P5 x P6 and P6 x P5 selected from the F2 generation based on the yield attributes of a single plant from the plant population and raised as F3 generation to find out GCV, PCV, heritability, genetic advance, correlation and path analysis for growth and yield traits. Though in segregating generation the plant possesses bizarre of traits in plant population. However, a wider genetic variability was observed in the crosses. The mean performance for vine length (7.47), average fruit weight (1.15) and the number of fruits per plant (3.42) was estimated for the crosses P2 x P5, P3 x P5, P5 x P6 and P6 x P5. The PCV was registered high with low genetic advance over the mean for average fruit weight (40.44), the number of seeds per fruit (30.55) and fruit yield per plant (64.31). From the correlation it was revealed that the traits viz., average fruit weight (0.822), fruit diameter (0.417), the number of seeds per fruit (0.460) and hundred seed weight (0.340) showed a significant and positive association with fruit yield per plant in the F3 generation. Path coefficient analysis revealed that the biometric traits viz., number of fruits per vine (0.5767) and average fruit weight (0.981) showed a positive direct effect on fruit yields per plant and traits like fruit diameter (0.4566), fruit length (0.3221), flesh thickness (0.1728), number of seeds per fruit (0.5719) and hundred seed weight (0.4939) exhibited positive indirect effect through average fruit weight.

Introduction Many arid and semi-arid agricultural areas are facing with shortages of water and nutrients, especially micronutrients. Drought stress is one of the most important environmental stresses that seriously damage the growth and development of crops, limits the production and productivity of plants more than any other environmental factor. The use of micronutrients can partially alleviate the negative effects of this environmental stress on the growth and production of crops. Iron micronutrient plays an essential role in some biological and physiological processes such as respiration, photosynthesis and chlorophyll biosynthesis and is also effective in diastases as well as in chlorophyll production. According to the above, the main purpose of this experiment was to investigate the growth response of Roshan cultivar to applying iron sulfate fertilizer in different moisture conditions and to investigate changes in the content of some plant elements under these conditions. Materials and methods In order to evaluate the growth and uptake of iron and other nutrients by wheat, cv. Roshan, a two-factor factorial experiment was conducted in 2012 in the Research Greenhouse of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Birjand. The first factor was consisted of four different levels of ferrous sulfate (0, 50, 100 and 150 mg.kg-1 soil) and the second factor included two soil moisture treatments including 50 and 100% soil field capacity. After preparing the pots and applying experimental treatments, the seeds were planted and after emergence, the plant density was set to 10 plants in the pot. Moisture levels were applied from the beginning of experiments and watering the pots was done daily based on the weight of the pots and taking into account 20% drainage of soil moisture (in each irrigation treatment). Sampling was done after 8 weeks (early stem elongation stage) and at this time some morphological traits (number of leaves, leaf area, number of tillers and plant height) and the SPAD index and relative water content of leaves were measured. The iron, potassium, nitrogen and protein contents of the plants were also determined for each pot separately. Analysis of variance was performed using SAS software and mean comparison was performed using FLSD test at a significant level of 5%. Results and discussion As soil moisture decreased from 100 to 50% of field capacity, plant height (5.8%), number of stems (37%), number of leaves (22%), stem diameter (15.8%), leaf area (33%), relative leaf water content (16.8%) and SPAD index (5.45%) decreased. The results also showed that in the control treatment (without iron fertilizer), the highest amount of SPAD index (38.8) was obtained, which with an increase of ferrus sulfate to 150 mg.kg-1 of soil, it decreased by 5.8%. Also, with the increase in soil water content to 100% of field capacity, the percentage of protein, nitrogen and potassium of wheat plants decreased by 9.2, 17.18 and 23.7%, respectively, compared to 50% of field capacity. The iron content of leaf in 100% of the field capacity was equal to 142.7 mg.kg-1 dry matter, which decreased by 27% by reducing the soil water content to 50% of the field capacity. Increasing the iron fertilizer from zero to 50, 100 and 150 mg.kg-1 soil caused the leaf nitrogen percentage to increase by 5, 9.5 and 7.2%, respectively. Leaf iron content in these levels of iron fertilizer was 35.8, 97.8 and 57.8% higher than the non-use of iron sulfate, respectively. Finally, biomass production was reduced by 31% compared to 100% of field capacity and finally water use efficiency was not affected by any of the experimental treatments. Finally, the watering at 50% of field capacity decreased the biomass production by 31%, compared to the 100% field capacity, and the water use efficiency was not affected by any treatments. Conclusion In general, the results of this experiment showed that with decreasing soil moisture level, a decrease occurs in the amount of plant dry matter. Increasing the level of ferrous sulfate only led to an increase in the leaf nitrogen and also a 100% increase in the iron content of the leaves, which in turn can play a role in improving drought resistance.

Meiotic recombination and the resulting novel allele combinations are fundamental to plant breeding and the identification of superior hybrids. However, the rate of meiotic crossovers is naturally suppressed below its potential ability, which prevents plant breeding efficiency. Nine suppressors of meiotic recombination have been identified in the model plant Arabidopsis and in other crop species. Mutations in these genes can lead to increased recombination frequency and could therefore potentially be used to create hyper-recombinant lines for ornamental breeding. In Gerbera hybrida, the anti-crossover factors remain elusive. In this study, we isolated and cloned TOP3α from flower buds of G. hybrida, and it encoded 935 amino acids with three conserved domains TOPRIM, TOP1Ac and zf-GR. Moreover, TOP3α was the highest expressed at the flower bud stage, which coincided with the occurrence of meiotic recombination, suggesting that TOP3α is associated with the regulation of meiotic recombination in G. hybrida.

The emerging pests and phytopathogens have reduced the crop yield and quality, which has threatened the global food security. Traditional breeding methods, molecular marker-based breeding approaches and use of genetically modified crops have played a crucial role in strengthening the food security worldwide. However, their usages in crop improvement have been highly limited due to multiple caveats. Genome editing tools like transcriptional activator-like effector nucleases and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated endonuclease Cas9 (CRISPR/Cas9) have effectively overcome limitations of the conventional breeding methods and are being widely accepted for improvement of crops. Among the genome editing tools, the CRISPR/Cas9 system has emerged as the most powerful tool of genome editing because of its efficiency, amicability, flexibility, low cost and adaptability. Accumulated evidences indicate that genome editing has great potential in improving the disease resistance in crop plants. In this review, we offered a brief introduction to the mechanisms of different genome editing systems and then discussed recent developments in CRISPR/Cas9 system-based genome editing towards enhancement of rice disease resistance by different strategies. This review also discussed the possible applications of recently developed genome editing approaches like CRISPR/Cas12a (formerly known as Cpf1) and base editors for enhancement of rice disease resistance.

Sericulture is an age old traditional occupation in Kashmir which owns a temperate climate and its success is dictated by the quality of mulberry leaves. Like many other plants, Mulberry, Morus spp. is also damaged by frost and has been felt as an impediment in expanding the sericulture for two to three seasons from the present one season activity. The impact of winter 2018-19 on the mulberry accessions at Manasbal, Kashmir was measured during February –April 2019 in terms of frost damage and sprouting. Studies revealed large variability in frost damage ranging from 1.21 to 23.71 per cent. Morus alba accessions though recorded higher frost damage, offer higher scope and potential for frost tolerance breeding with reliable genetic estimates in terms of high GCV (72.37%), PCV (84.38%) and heritability (73.55%) but, had a low genetic advance (7.84%). A recently developed M. multicaulis variety, PPR-1 appeared to be a promising one for frost tolerance breeding as well as commercial cultivation.

Sweetpotato sprouts are buds or young shoots formed under dark or low-light conditions that can be eaten directly by people. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of light intensity and photoperiod on the quality and yield of sweetpotato sprouts and to identify the most suitable production conditions to provide a theoretical basis and technical parameters for the production of these vegetables. Four treatments involving different light intensities and photoperiods were set up: WL-1, WL-2, SL-1, and SL-2. The leaf color, nutritional quality, antioxidant capacity, texture characteristics, and yield of the sweetpotato sprouts were analyzed using Duncan’s new complex range method. The results demonstrated the following: 1) an increase in photoperiod improved leaf brightness and enhanced the appearance of the product, whereas light intensity had little effect on these parameters; and 2) low light intensity increased the yield of sweetpotato sprouts, whereas high light intensity reduced their yield. Under weak light conditions, the quality and yield of sweetpotato sprouts were improved, and their taste was unaffected. Therefore, the condition of 750 μmol·m−2·s−1 for 2 hours/day was chosen to produce crispy, high-quality, and high-yielding sweetpotato sprouts.

The discriminant function technique was used to construct selection indices in forty two genotypes of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.). Sixty three selection indices involving seed yield per plant and its five components were constructed using the discriminant function technique. The efficiency of selection increased considerably when the selection was based on two character combinations i.e. the number of pods per plant and the number of seeds per pod followed by an index based on three characters viz., the number of clusters per plant and the number of pods per plant and seed yield per plant. The use of these indices is advocated for selecting high yielding genotypes of cowpea as in practice the plant breeder might be interested in the maximum gain with the minimum number of characters.

Background We report a method to estimate carbon assimilation based on isotope ratio-mass spectrometry (IRMS) of 13CO2 labeled plant tissue. Photosynthetic carbon assimilation is the principal experimental observable which integrates important aspects of primary plant metabolism. It is traditionally measured through gas exchange. Despite its centrality in plant research, gas exchange performs poorly with rosette growth habits typical of Arabidopsis thaliana, mutant lines with limited biomass, and accounts poorly for leaf shading. Results IRMS-based carbon assimilation values from plants labeled at different light intensities were compared to those obtained by gas exchange, and the two methods yielded similar values. Using this method, we observed a strong correlation between 13C content and labeling time (R2 = 0.999) for 158 wild-type plants labeled for 6 to 42 min. Plants cultivated under different light regimes showed a linear response with respect to carbon assimilation, varying from 7.38 nmol 13C mg−1 leaf tissue min−1 at 80 PAR to 19.27 nmol 13C mg−1 leaf tissue min−1 at 500 PAR. We applied this method to examine the link between inhibition of the 2C-methyl-d-erythritol-4-phosphate (MEP) pathway and suppression of photosynthesis. A significant decrease in carbon assimilation was observed when metabolic activity in the MEP pathway was compromised by mutation or herbicides targeting the MEP pathway. Mutants affected in MEP pathway genes 1-DEOXY-d-XYLULOSE 5-PHOSPHATE SYNTHASE (DXS) or 1-HYDROXY-2-METHYL-2-(E)-BUTENYL 4-DIPHOSPHATE SYNTHASE (HDS) showed assimilation rates 36% and 61% lower than wild type. Similarly, wild type plants treated with the MEP pathway inhibitors clomazone or fosmidomycin showed reductions of 52% and 43%, respectively, while inhibition of the analogous mevalonic acid pathway, which supplies the same isoprenoid intermediates in the cytosol, did not, suggesting inhibition of photosynthesis was specific to disruption of the MEP pathway. Conclusions This method provides an alternative to gas exchange that offers several advantages: resilience to differences in leaf overlap, measurements based on tissue mass rather than leaf surface area, and compatibility with mutant Arabidopsis lines which are not amenable to gas exchange measurements due to low biomass and limited leaf surface area. It is suitable for screening large numbers of replicates simultaneously as well as post-hoc analysis of previously labeled plant tissue and is complementary to downstream detection of isotopic label in targeted metabolite pools.

The sorghum culture TNS 648 (APK 1 x M35-1) recorded an average grain yield of 2445 kg/ha and fodder yield of 6490 kg/ha with an increase of 10.30 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively over CO 30 under rainfed condition. It also excelled K 12 by recording a 9.17 per cent and 13 per cent increase for grain and fodder yield, respectively. In irrigated situation, TNS 648 recorded an average grain yield of 2911 Kg/ha and fodder yield of 11710 kg/ha with a yield increase of 12 per cent and 10, respectively overruling sorghum variety CO 30. TNS 648 also performed better over K12 by recording an 11.32 per cent and 14 per cent increase for grain and fodder yield, respectively. Under AICRP on Sorghum national level testing, TNS 648 recorded a mean yield of 3100 Kg/ha and fodder yield of 11453 Kg/ha and excelled CSV 17 by recording 6.11 and 29.99 per cent increase of grain and fodder yield, respectively. It matures in 105 - 110 days, Grains are highly acceptable, yellowish white in colour, borne on medium semi-compact ear heads. The sorghum culture TNS 648 is moderately resistant to important shoot pests viz., shoot fly and stem borer. It is moderately resistant to downy mildew and grain mold. It has high protein (11.31-14.66 %) and fiber content (5.8 %) along with better cooking quality traits. Hence, the promising culture TNS 648 has been proposed for new release during 2020 and released as sorghum CO 32 for general cultivation in Tamil Nadu for both under rainfed and irrigated condition.

Introduction Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is considered as the major cereal crop in the world in respect of the cultivated area and total production. Drought is a polygenic stress and is considered as one of the most important factors limiting crop yields around the world. Most of the Iranian soils, have a high pH and calcareous nature, and micronutrients solubility in these soils is low. Micronutrient deficiency is widespread in many Asian countries due to the calcareous nature of soils, high pH, low organic matter, salt stress, continuous drought, high bicarbonate content in irrigation water, and imbalanced application of NPK fertilizers. Micronutrients plays a critical role in increasing plant resistance to environmental stresses. Foliar nutrition is an option when nutrient deficiencies cannot be corrected by applications of nutrients to the soil. Foliar spraying of microelements is very helpful when the roots can not provide necessary nutrients. Iron as a micronutrient, is critical for chlorophyll formation and photosynthesis and is important in the enzyme systems and respiration of plants. Zinc is a ubiquitous micronutrient. It is required as a structural and functional component of many enzymes and proteins, and increases the yield and yield components of wheat. Manganese as a micronutrient, is necessary in photosynthesis, nitrogen metabolism and to form other compounds required for plant metabolism. Materials and methods To study the effect of iron, zinc and manganese foliar application on morphological and agronomic traits of bread wheat (Chamran cultivar) under irrigation regime, an experiment was conducted as split-plot with four replications in Ramhormoz city in the crop year 2016-2017. The experimental factors were included irrigation regime in two levels of complete irrigation (non-water stress) and irrigation cut from the beginning of tillering stage to the physiological ripening (water stress) as the main factor, and micronutrients foliar application in six levels of non-foliar application (control), foliar application by water, iron, zinc, manganese and iron + zinc + manganese (each 3 lit.h-1) in three times and at tillering, stemming and pollination stages as the sub factor. Solutions for foliar application were prepared by using Iron chelate (6%), Zinc chelate (7.5%) and Manganese chelate (7%). The measured traits included Peduncle length, spike length, plant height, number of tillers per m-2, number of spikes per m-2, number of grain per spike, 1000-seed weight and grain yield. At maturity, the inner two row of each plot unit were harvested to estimate grain yield, and sup sample of 1 m-2 was obtained for determining Peduncle length, spike length, plant height, number of tillers per m-2, number of spikes per m-2, number of grain per spike, 1000-seed weight. Analysis of variance was performed using general linear model (GLM) procedure of statistical analysis system (SAS version: 9.3). The means were analyzed using the least significant difference (LSD) method at P=0.05 (LSD 0.05). Results and discussion Results showed that the water stress decreased significantly (p < 0.01) traits of peduncle length (26.62%), spike length (12.87%), plant height (22.91%), number of tillers per m-2 (29.21%), number of spikes per m-2 (26.85%), number of grain per spike (13.43%), 1000-seed weight (17.37%) and grain yield (46.10%). However, the separate and combined application of iron, zinc and manganese increased the measured traits on average 15.20, 7.72, 7.32, 25.18, 23.24, 8.84, 8.76 and 32.63 percent under water stress, respectively. Meanwhile, zinc application showed the greatest effect in reducing the damage caused by water stress on measured traits. Conclusions In general, the use of micronutrients, especially zinc, as foliar application, can reduce the harmful effects caused by water stress and improve the morphological and agronomic traits of bread wheat in Ramhormoz region.

A field experiment was carried out in the Vegetable Experimental Field, SKUAST-K, Shalimar, Srinagar during kharif-2018 with twenty seven genotypes of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). They were evaluated to estimate the performance of genotypes on various traits like plant height, plant spread, the number of primary branches per plant, days to first flowering, days to 50% flowering, fruit length, fruit diameter, the number of fruits per plant, fruit yield per plot. Analysis of Variance revealed significant differences among the genotypes for all the characters studied. Days to first flowering and days to first fruit set was early in the Jawahar-99, Shalimar Tomato Hybrid-1, Roma, VRT-13, Kashi Hemanth and Kashi Anupam genotypes. Maximum fruit length and diameter was exhibited by Roma, 2016/TODVAR-3, 2016/TODVAR-11. The highest fruit yield per plot was exhibited by Kashi Sharad and Sel-07.

IntroductionGrain yield of cereals significantly affects by assimilate remobilization in arid zones. Many factors including N fertilizer application affects assimilate remobilization in cereals (Ercoli et al., 2008). Many researches have been done aboat the effects of chemical N fertilizer under normal and water stress conditions on assimilate remobilization in arid environments (Ercoli et al., 2008; Barati and Ghadiri, 2017; Bahrani and Tahmasbi-sarvestani, 2006). However, the effects of other N sources such as crop ressidues and N fixing bacteria alone or in combination with chemical N fertilizers on assimilate remobilization and consequently grain yield was very scarce specially in arid zones. Therefore, there are two main questions; 1. Can using of Azospirillum brasilense as a N fixing bacteria instead of chemical N fertilizers or in combination with them in bio-agriculture boost the assimilate remobilization and consequently grain yield of barley under water stress conditions?, and 2. Can applying plant residues increase Azospirilum activity and consequently increase assimilate remobilization and grain yield in dry areas by improving water storage capacity or another mechanisms? For answering the above questions, the effects of application of N fixing bacteria (Azospirillum brasilense) and wheat residues on dry matter remobilization and barley yield under water stress after anthesis stage was evaluated in an arid zone of Southern Iran (Fars province). Materials and methodsThis research was conducted at the experimental farm of the Darab Agricultural College of Shiraz University. A split factorial experiment in a randomized complete block design with three replications were carried out in 2017 - 2018 growing season. Treatments included: two levels of irrigation as the main plots [normal irrigation (IRN): irrigation based on the plant's water requirement up to the physiological maturity and another factor was deficit irrigation (IRDI): irrigation based on the plant's water requirement up to the anthesis stage (cutting of irrigation after anthesis)]. Also, sub plots were two levels of wheat residues [1. without residue, 2. returning 30% of wheat residues to soil] and four fertilizer sources [N0, no nitrogen fertilizer (control); N100, 100 kg N ha-1; Bio + N50, Biofertilizer (Azospirillum brasilense) + 50 kg N ha-1 and Bio, Biofertilizer (Azospirillum brasilense)]. Finally, at the anthesis stage, dry matter of shoot samples were measured. Also, at the end of growing season, grain yield, dry matter of vegetative parts of shoot were measured. Then, assimilate remobilization, assimilate remobilization efficiency and contribution of pre-anthesis assimilate to grain were calculated by Ercoli et al., 2008 methods. Data were analyzed using SAS 9.1 software (SAS Institute, 2004). Results and discussionOverall, combined N fertilizer (Bio + N50) significantly increased grain yield (53%) in normal irrigation. Similarly, the grain yield was improved up to 12% under water stress conditions by Bio + N50. Water stress increased assimilate remobilization and contribution of pre-anthesis assimilate to grain in Bio + N50 treatment by 37 % and 148%, respectively, as compared with the normal irrigation treatment. The application of plant residues decreased the amount of assimilate remobilization, assimilate remobilization efficiency and contribution of pre-anthesis assimilate to grain in all fertilizer treatments. However, it did not significantly affect the grain yield. ConclusionGenerally, considering the economic aspects and moving towards the sustainable agriculture, using of combined N fertilizer [Biofertilizer (Azospirillum brasilense) + 50 kg N ha-1] in optimal irrigation conditions is recommended for farmers of Southern Iran. Furthermore, if cutting of irrigation after anthesis is considered because of irrigation water resource shortage, this fertilizer regime is recommended as compared with the other N sources due to the significant increase in assimilate remobilization (37%) and contribution of pre-anthesis assimilate to grain (148%) and lower grain yield reduction as compared with the normal irrigation conditions.

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is a genetic tool used to assess gene function. Tobacco rattle virus (TRV) is a VIGS vector commonly used to induce endogenous gene silencing in plants. However, there is no VIGS system established for Centaurea spp. We evaluated the effectiveness of a TRV-based VIGS system using phytoene desaturase (PDS) as a reporter gene in Centaurea cyanus. Three methods including pressure-, vacuum- and apical meristem-infiltration were tested to infect C. cyanus seedlings. Photobleached leaves were only obtained using apical meristem-infiltration after a 14 d treatment. The CcPDS transcripts in photobleached leaves were significantly reduced compared with that in green leaves treated with empty TRV. Four C. cyanus cultivars were tested to detect their VIGS responses, and ‘Dwarf Tom Pouce Blue’ was the most sensitive. The agro-infiltration condition was optimized by screening for the optimal seedling stage as well as the optimum Agrobacterium density for efficient silencing. Seedlings with four true leaves and infiltration with an Agrobacterium density of OD600 0.5 were optimal conditions to obtain more photobleached leaves and more intense photobleached phenotype. The results demonstrated the feasibility of TRV-based VIGS for functional analysis of genes in C. cyanus.

Rice false smut caused by Ustilaginoidea virens is one of the widespread rice diseases across the globe in recent years, however, we know little about its molecular mechanism of infection. The cAMP signaling pathway functions directly in the development and formation of infectious structures to regulate the infection process in many pathogenic fungi. In order to investigate the role of the cAMP signaling pathway in U. virens, UvCap1, a cyclase-associated-protein homologous to Saccharomyces cerevisiae Srv2 was identified. Three targeted deletion mutants of the UvCAP1 gene were obtained with gene replacement strategy assisted with CRISPR-Cas9 system. The UvCAP1 deletion mutants showed defects in mycelial growth and conidial production. Inoculation experiments demonstrated that ΔUvcap1 exhibited defects in pathogenicity. Compared with the wild-type strain, ΔUvcap1 showed decreased tolerance to sorbitol and H2O2, and increased tolerance to NaCl, CFW and SDS, and the intracellular cAMP level was significantly reduced in ΔUvcap1. Yeast two-hybrid assay identified the interactions of UvCap1 with UvAc1 (adenylase cyclase), two Ras proteins (UvRas1 and UvRas2) and UvSte50. Taken together, as a component of cAMP signaling pathway, UvCap1 plays important roles in the development and pathogenicity of U. virens.

Vaccinium meridionale (section Pyxothamnus), a tetraploid species native to higher altitude locations in Jamaica, Colombia, and Venezuela, is of considerable interest to blueberry breeders for its profuse, concentrated flowering and monopodial plant structure, both of which may be useful in breeding for mechanical harvest. In this study, tetraploid V. meridionale was successfully hybridized as a male with 4x V. corymbosum (section Cyanococcus, highbush blueberry). The first-generation hybrids with highbush blueberry selections were intermediate in morphology and notably vigorous. The 4x F1 hybrids displayed variable branching structure, dormancy, prolificacy, fruit wax, etc.; however, most appear to be deciduous to semi-evergreen, with small, dark-colored fruit. The F1 hybrids displayed good fertility as females in backcrosses to 4x highbush and these crosses have produced numerous offspring morphologically indistinguishable from 4x highbush at the seedling stage. Evaluations of male fertility found variation for pollen production and quality but, significantly, found some clones with very good shed, high stainability, and almost complete tetrad production. The fertility suggests that these hybrids, despite being derived from intersectional crosses, might be conventionally used without significant difficulty. These hybrids also have potential value for the nascent V. meridionale breeding efforts occurring in Colombia, South America.

IntroductionIn the presence of environmental stresses such as salinity and fertility stresses, water and nutrients less absorbed by the plant. Despite the stresses of salinity and nitrogen deficiency (fertility stress), the determination of the actual water requirement of plants with the AquaCrop model, will be important. Therefore, the aim of this research was to evaluate the AquaCrop model for estimating the soil moisture, evapotranspiration and yield of maize, under the salinity and fertility stresses.Materials and methodsIn this research, two treatments of water salinity and nitrogen deficity in four levels and three replications, with a control plot, were implemented as a factorial experiment in a randomized complete of block design. The studied plant was maize with cultivar of 704 Sc and was planted in plots with dimensions of 3 × 3 meters and 1.5 meters apart. In this plan, fertility stress was in the form of nitrogen fertilizer consumption and at four levels. Treatments of N_0، N_1، N_2 and N_3consisted of consumption of 100, 75, 50 and 25% of nitrogen fertilizer based on fertilizer recommendation, respectively. Salinity stress has been applied by irrigation of the plant with saline water. Water salinity treatments were selected based on yield potential of maize at four levels of 100, 90, 75 and 50% (3). According to the above four performance levels, treatments of S_0، S_1، S_2 and S_3 were included; irrigation water with electric conductivity of 0.5, 1.2, 3.5 and 7.5 (ds/m) respectively. Determining the irrigation time, was the same as the moisture content reached the RAW (Readily Available Water) level. Between the two irrigation intervals, the stomatal resistance of maize leaf, was measured by the AP4 prometer device. At the same time as increasing stomatal resistance, RAW was calculated and plots were irrigated. In the days of between two irrigation, was measured the soil moisture content of the plots at the depth of root development. The daily evapotranspiration of the plant, was calculated based on the amount of daily water depletion. For optimal calibration of parameters in the AquaCrop model, was used the method of Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation (GLUE). Among 16 treatments, 8 treatments were randomly selected for calibration and the rest were selected for validation. Results and discussionResults were obtained for evaluating the AquaCrop model at the validation stage. The root mean square error (RMSE) of soil moisture simulation, varied from 1.43 to 2.6%. The normalized error value (NRMSE) ranged from 4 to 6 percent. The AquaCrop model showed a similar trend in the evapotranspiration simulation. The root mean square error (RMSE) of evapotranspiration simulation, varied from 1.85 to 2.35 mm. The normalized error value (NRMSE) ranged from 3.5 to 4.5 percent. For yield simulation, RMSE was 0.34 ton. ha-1 and NRMSE was 0.65%. The value of the R^2, EF, and d statistics showed a good correlation between the data and the optimal efficiency of the modeling. Therefore, the results showed that the performance of the model was good in estimating the parameters. ConclusionsEvaluating the capability of the models is a great help to the agricultural sector planners, in estimation the parameters. In this research, evaluated the estimation of soil moisture content, evapotranspiration and yield of maize, under salinity and fertility stresses with AquaCrop model. The purpose of the model calibration was to nearing the simulated data to the real data (measured in the region). The obtained amounts for NRMSE and R^2 were less than 10% and greater than 0.9, respectively, which indicated the optimal performance of the model in this regard.

Introduction Environmental stresses, especially drought and salinity stresses are considered as inhibitors of plant growth and development. The salinity stress cause delay in germination, decrease in the rate and percentage of germination and delay in the emergence of roots and stems in the germination stage. It seems that if seed could pass through the germination stage under stress conditions, the seedling will have more opportunity to grow and develop, and will have the higher ability to tolerate and overcome adverse environmental conditions. This greatly depends on the biochemical and physiological structures of the seedlings. The response is also species and genotypes dependent and depends on the length and severity of the salinity, the age, and stage of development. Differences in the salt tolerance have variation among species within a genus, and of genotypes within a species. black caraway (Nigella sativa L.) is an annual plant with valuable medicinal properties belong to Ranunculaceae family. Because Black caraway growth is slow at the beginning of the season, and on the other hand, salinity and drought are some limiting and effective factors on germination and other stages of plant growth, the aim of this study was to evaluate different N. sativa ecotypes in terms of tolerance to salinity and drought. Materials and methods In order to investigate the effects of salinity and drought stress on seed germination factors of fourteen black caraway, two separate experiments were carried out in a completely randomized design in the Seed Technology Laboratory of the University of Tehran in 2018. The treatments consisted of fourteen black caraway ecotypes (Ashkzar, Arak, Isfahan, Eqlid, Bejestan, Khaf, Khomeini Shahr, Razan, Zabol 1, Zabol 2, Sarayan, Semirum, Gardmiran, Hamedan), six salinity stress levels (0 , 40, 80, 120, 160 and 200 mM) and four levels of drought stress (0, 0.3, -0.6 and -0.9 MPa) with four replicates in each level. Salinity stress levels were due to different concentrations of sodium chloride and levels of drought stress were due to different concentrations of polyethylene glycol 6000. Distilled water was used to create a zero stress level (control treatment) in both experiments. To conduct the experiments, 50 seeds were placed on filter paper in 8 cm diameter Petri dishes containing 7 mL of each solution. Petri dishes were kept in the growth chamber at a constant temperature of 20°C. The number of seeds germinated was recorded daily until no germination was observed for two consecutive days. The Germin program was used to calculate germination percentage and rate of germination. In addition, to illustrate the germination response to drought stress, the hydrotime model was used. Results and discussion salinity experiment; The highest Ymax (germination percentage) was found in Razan, Arak, and Ashkzar ecotypes (99.5, 99.33 and 99.16% respectively) and the lowest in Khomeini-e-Shahr ecotype (85.83%). The highest salinity tolerance threshold (X0) was detected in Semirum ecotype (37.17 mM). Arak ecotype had the highest rate of germination (0.013 per hour) in salinity conditions. Thus, Semirom ecotype was the most tolerance ecotype due to the higher salinity tolerance threshold. Drought experiment; The minimum hydrotime constant (θH= 284.040 MPa h) was related to the Bejestan ecotype, and the lowest water potential (Ψb(50)= -0.563 MP ) was observed in the Isfahan ecotype. Since there is a positive correlation between the less water potential )Ψb(50) ( and the emergence percentage and rate of seedling emergence, the Isfahan ecotype was the most tolerant among biotypes that were studied. Conclusion In general, the results of these experiments showed that salinity and drought stresses reduced the percentage and rate of germination. Germination percentage response shape and germination rate were different between various ecotypes. Hydrotime model and salinity regression have high ability in separating ecotypes for germination components. The Bejestan and the Isfahan ecotypes are recommended for cultivation in drought conditions. In salt stress conditions, the Semirom ecotype was the most tolerant ecotype among ecotypes.

Introduction Salinity is one of the environmental abiotic stresses and most important factors limiting the growth and production of plants around the world, which dramatically affect various aspects of plant growth and development through anatomical, morphological and physiological changes (Siringam et al., 2011). Saline environments decrease the growth and yield characteristics of plants and increase some physiological properties such as proline content and electrolyte leakage (Noreen et al, 2010). On the other hand, in the recent years, the role of symbiotic fungi and polyamines in plants tolerance to environmental stress such as saline conditions are pronounced. Morever, due to the importance of medicinal plants, many researches of plant sciences have focused on the various aspects of the application of these plants (Vafadar et al., 2018). Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the growth and physiological response of stevia (Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni) medicinal plant to inoculation with endophytic fungi and foliar application of spermidine polyamine under salt stress conditions. Materials and methods This experiment was conducted at research greenhouse of Genetics and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute of Tabarestan (GABIT) at Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University using factorial arrangement based completely randomized design with three replicates in spring and summer of 2016. The treatment consisted of salinity in three levels (0, 6 and 12 dS/m), fungal symbiosis treatments including four levels [non-inoculated (control), inoculation with Piriformospora indica (Pi), inoculated with Trichoderma virens (Trich) and co-inoculation of two fungi (Pi+Trich)] and foliar application of spermidine in three levels (0, 0.75 and 1.5 mM). Seedlings of stevia after inoculation with fungi transfered to adaptation chamber for 40 days and then moved to the greenhouse. Plants were irrigated with tap water until the end of vegetative stage and then irrigated with saline water treatments containing mixture of distilled and Caspian sea water. The Spermidine was foliar applied one week before salinity stress. Two weeks after salinity stress, leaf samples were prepared to measure leaf relative water content (RWC), electrolyte leakage (EL), proline content and soluble sugars. Finally, the plants were removed from the pots and the growth and yield traits were measured. Results and disscusion The result showed that in saline conditions, endophytic symbiosis, especially Pi+Trich, increased the stem dry weight (40-64%) and leaf dry weight (44-50%), relative water content (5-30%) and proline content (40-64%), and reduced EL (11-20%). Also spraying 0.75 mM spermidine signiticantly increased both leaf dry weight and plant height. Fungal symbiosis, especially Pi+Trich, and spermidine 0.75 mM resulted in an increase in the RWC. Also, spraying with polyamine spermidine at both concentrations of 0.75 and 1.5 mM increased soluble sugars and inoculated with endophytic fungi, particularly co-inoculation of two fungi, led to a reduction in the content of sugar (17%) in the stevia leaf. At the most levels of salinity and fungal treatments, spermidine, especially at the rate of 0.75 mM, led to increase in stem diameter (10-35%) and leaf area (35-46%). Conclusion In general, the results of the present study indicated a negative effect of salinity on the growth and physiological characteristics of the stevia plants. However, inoculation of endophytic fungi, particularly co-inoculation of Pi and Trich, improved the growth and physiological parameters and ameliorated adverse effects of salinity in stevia plants. Morever, the spermidine (especially 0.75 mM) induced salt stress tolerance in stevia plants and showed a synergetic effects with endophytic fungi in terms of the mentioned parameters. Acknowledgements The authors wish to acknowledge Shahrood University of Technology (Shahrood, Iran), Genetics and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute of Tabarestan (GABIT), and Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University (Sari, Iran) for financial support of this study.

Drought stress is one of the most destructive abiotic stresses. Expansins are one of the cell wall expandable proteins that can expand the cell wall under a pH-dependent pathway. Stomatal opening rate Due to the expression of AtEXPA1 gene in transgenic plants has been observed. In this study, second generation (T2) of three transgenic tobacco lines with AtEXPA1 gene were studied for some physiological and biochemical traits under drought stress. Transgenic lines includes 2, 4 and 7 and Non-transgenic commercial cultivar Samson as control were cultivated. RWCL and leaf chlorophyll content has been reduced under drought stress, and ELIL, Lipid peroxidation as MDAL and leaf proline content has been increase. The activity of antioxidant enzymes such as, catalase (CAT), guaiacol peroxidase (GPOX), ascorbate peroxidase (APOX) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) was increased in leaves under drought stress. In this study, according to biochemical traits Line 2 and Line 7 and according to physiological traits Line4 in Compared to the control cultivar, could cope with stress and introduce as tolerate cultivars.

Diseases are the major constraints in realizing the yield potential of maize. Late wilt disease (LWD) caused by Harpophora maydisis one of the recently reported and widely spreading diseases across the world. Identification of LWD resistant source is an economical and eco-friendly approach. An experiment was conducted to identify LWD resistant inbred lines by subjecting 290 inbred lines to artificial screening. The same set of lines were evaluated for yield and yield attributing traits separately. Inbred lines were subjected to screening by inoculating Harpophora maydis spore suspension to stalks. Disease severity and intensity were recorded in split opened stalks using a 1 - 9 scale. Estimates of yield and yield attributing traits were also recorded and 14 inbred lines with the disease score ≤4 were identified as resistant/tolerant. Two inbred lines namely, 78 and 32589 are both tolerant to LWD and best yielding lines which can serve as potential parents for developing hybrids.

Drought stress is a serious limiting factor to rice production, which results in huge economic losses. It is becoming a more serious issue with respect to the global climate change. Keeping in view of the current and forecasted global food demand, it has become essential to enhance the crop productivity on the drought-prone rainfed lands with priority. In order to achieve the production target from rainfed areas, there is a requirement of rice varieties with drought tolerance, and genetic improvement for drought tolerant should be a high priority theme of research in the future. Breeding for drought tolerant rice varieties is a thought-provoking task because of the complex nature and multigenic control of drought tolerant traits would be a major bottleneck for the current research. A great progress has been made during last two decades in our understanding of the mechanisms involved in adaptation and tolerance to drought stress in rice. In this review, we highlighted the recent progresses in physiological, biochemical and molecular adaptation of rice to drought tolerance. A brief discussion on the molecular genetics and breeding approaches for drought tolerance in rice will be focused for the future crop improvement program for development of drought tolerant rice varieties.

Sheath blight disease (ShB) has a severe impact on the production of rice. ABI3/VP1-like 1 (RAVL1) negatively regulated the rice defense mechanism against ShB, however, this regulatory mechanism is not clearly understood. In this study, we identified that indeterminate domain 3 (IDD3) was positively regulated by RAVL1. Further, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay, yeast one-hybrid assay and transient expression assay indicated a direct binding between RAVL1 and the IDD3 promoter region. IDD3 was ubiquitously expressed in different tissues and at different stages, and its expression was significantly enhanced by Rhizoctonia solani infection. IDD3 exhibited transcription activation activity in yeast and IDD3-GFP was found to be localized in the nucleus. IDD3 mutants exhibited no significant differences in response to ShB, while IDD3 overexpressors were more susceptible to ShB compared with wild type (WT) plants. Furthermore, IDD3 repressors were less susceptible to R. solani than WT plants. Interestingly, the expression of brassinosteroid-related genes (D2, D11 and BRI1) was lower in IDD3 repressors and higher in IDD3 overexpressors compared with WT. However, the ChIP assay revealed that IDD3 did not directly bind to the D2 and D11 promoters. Overexpression of IDD3 in BRI1 mutant d61-1 inhibited the activity of IDD3, reducing its susceptibility to ShB compared with IDD3 overexpressor and WT plants, indicating that IDD3 negatively regulated the rice defense mechanism against ShB by activating the BR signaling pathway. Thus, our analyses provided information to enhance the understanding of the rice defense mechanism against ShB.

It is of great practical significance to study the development process of cut lily for regulating flowering and preservation. In this study, the developmental process of lily cut flower was explored from cellular, morphological, and physiological aspects. From a morphological aspect, the tepal edge grows faster than the midrib. The midrib groove of the flowering stage is wider than that of bud stage. The fast-growing edge of the petals results in the midrib bending outward. Moreover, the rapid growth of the stamens and stigmas also contributes to bud cracking. From the cellular aspect, in the bud stage there were more wrinkles in the outer epidermal cell wall of the tepal than those in the inner epidermal cell wall, indicating that asymmetric structural differences exist from the beginning of lily development. From a physiological aspect, from the bud cracking stage to the senescence stage, a variety of substances in the tepal cells gradually decreased, including total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total potassium, total calcium, starch, soluble sugar, and soluble protein, but not malondialdehyde. These results indicate that the asymmetric growth caused by this structural difference is responsible for flowering. The wrinkles in the cell wall can be regarded as indicators of senescent cells and are caused by the degradation of the cell wall and the loss of intracellular turgor pressure. The differences in the epidermal cells between the inner and outer tepal indicated ultrastructural changes in the tepal cells. The bud and flowering stages are maintained by the tepals acting as a sink. After flowering, the tepals gradually change from a sink to a source organ. Senescence of the cut lily flowers was caused by the decomposition of intracellular compounds in the tepals and the remobilization of nutrients from the tepals to the developing organs.

Twenty-six diverse genotypes were cultivated for two consecutive warm wet seasons of 2015 and 2016 to study genetic variation and the cause-effect relationship of different quantitative characters on seed yield in rice. The genotypes showed significant variation for all the characters. Genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation were high for the flag leaf area, spikelet number, grain number, test weight and grain yield, and moderate for plant height, days to flowering, the number of panicle and primary branches per panicle. Heritability was high for days to flowering, plant height and test weight. Genetic advance as per cent of mean was very high for test weight and grain yield, moderate for plant height, flag leaf area and the number of grains, and low for spikelet fertility (%). Genotypic and phenotypic correlations of seed yield with plant height, flag leaf area, days to flowering, the number of primary and secondary branches per panicle, the number of spikelets and filled grains per panicle, spikelet fertility (%) and test weight were significant and positive. Genotypic path analysis indicated that direct selection for test weight, the number of primary and secondary branches per panicle in a positive direction with restricted selection for panicle number and spikelet fertility would increase the grain yield of rice in the population.

Introduction Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is one of the world’s oldest cultivated crops. It is traditionally grown for its seeds and used for coloring and flavoring foods and for making red and yellow dyes. The total area of safflower harvested in Iran was 490 thousand ha, and in South Kerman was 7000 ha in 2017. Safflower is an oilseed crop, from the Asteraceae family, not very popular compared to other oil crops such as soybean, sunflower and peanut because it is not widely cultivated around the world. Safflower is a C3 plant tolerant to drought, salinity stress and highly adaptable to various environmental conditions because of having deep rooting ability, water uptake from soil, and different osmolyte accumulation. Drought stress is one of the most limiting factors in agricultural productivity because of its highly negative effect on photosynthesis, growth of plants and productivity worldwide. Water deficiency usually promotes the degradation of chlorophyll, caused by photo-inhibition, reduction of photosynthetic efficiency or other processes, such as cell division and expansion. Fernanda et al., (2017) reported that water stress decreased photosynthetic pigments, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, grain yield, oil content, oil yield, and increased electrolyte leakage. Nabipour et al., 2007. Water stress decreased 1000 seed weight, seed in capitul, capitul in plant, seed yield and oil content in safflower. Also, plant density is an important crop management that affects the seed yield. However, increasing plant density can be decreased grain yield, due to the competition for water and nutrients between the roots of the neighboring plants. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the response of safflower yield and yield component to water deficit and plant density. Materials and methods In other to study the effect of plant density and water stress on grain yield, yield components and oil content safflower. An experiment was conducted in Agricultural Research and Education Center Jiroft, Iran during 2012- 2013. This experiment was carried out as strip plot based on randomized complete blocks design with three replications. Treatments were water stress as vertical factor in four levels including normal irrigation (control), cut-off irrigation in capitul emergence stage before flowering (code 50 BBCH-scale), cut-off irrigation in 50 percent flowering (code 65 BBCH-scale), cut-off irrigation at the end of flowering and begins to expand as fruits develop (code 71 BBCH-scale), and density plant as horizontally factor in four levels including 30, 35, 40 and 45 plant/ m2. Traits were measured including plant height, 1000 seed weight, capitul number in plant, grain number in capitul, grain yield and oil content. The data were statistically analyzed using combined variance of analysis and the differences among mean values of the treatments were compared by LSD test (p≤0.05) using SAS 9.1 software. Results and discussion The results showed that water stress, plant density and water stress × plant density had significant (p < 0.05) effect on 1000 seed weight, capitul number in plant, grain number in capitul, grain yield and oil content. Plant density had not significant effect on plant height, while water stress had significant effect on plant height. Water stress decreased plant height, 1000 seed weight, capitul number in plant, grain number in capitul, grain yield and oil content significantly. The highest grain yield and oil content were obtained when applied treatment of cutoff irrigation in capitul emergence stage plus 40 plant/ m2, by 2852 and 884 kg ha-1 respectively. The lowest grain yield and oil content achieved when applied treatment of cut-off irrigation in the end of flowering plus 45 plan/m2, by 718 and 204 kg ha-1 respectively. Also, application of treatment normal irrigation (control) plus 40 plant/ m2 had the highest grain yield and oil yield by 4101 and 1239 kg ha-1 respectively. Conclusions The result of our study showed that there is a strong relationship between time cut-off irrigation and reduce of seed yield and yield component. The highest seed yield under water stress condition achieved when applied cut-off irrigation at the end of flowering, cut-off irrigation in 50 percent flowering and cut-off irrigation in capitul emergence respectively.

The MYB transcription factor is one of the largest gene families in plants, playing an important role in regulating plant growth, development, response to stress, senescence, and especially the anthocyanin biosynthesis. In this study, A total of 217 MYB genes, including 90 1R-MYBs, 124 R2R3-MYBs, and 3 R1R2R3-MYBs have been identified from the potato genome. The 1R-MYB and R2R3-MYB family members could be divided into 20 and 35 subgroups respectively. Analysis of gene structure and protein motifs revealed that members within the same subgroup presented similar exon/intron and motif organization, further supporting the results of phylogenetic analysis. Potato is an ideal plant to reveal the tissue-specific anthocyanins biosynthesis regulated by MYB, as the anthocyanins could be accumulated in different tissues, showing colorful phenotypes. Five pairs of colored and colorless tissues, stigma, petal, stem, leaf, and tuber flesh, were applied to the transcriptomic analysis. A total of 70 MYB genes were found to be differentially expressed between colored and colorless tissues, and these differentially expressed genes were suspected to regulate the biosynthesis of anthocyanin of different tissues. Co-expression analysis identified numerous potential interactive regulators of anthocyanins biosynthesis, involving 39 MYBs, 24 bHLHs, 2 WD-repeats, and 29 biosynthesis genes. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) of tuber flesh color revealed a major signal at the end of Chromosome 10, which was co-localized with reported I gene (StMYB88), controlling tuber peel color. Analyses of DEGs (Differentially Expression Genes) revealed that both StMYB88 and StMYB89 were closely related to regulating anthocyanin biosynthesis of tuber flesh. This work offers a comprehensive overview of the MYB family in potato and will lay a foundation for the functional validation of these genes in the tissue-specific regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis.

The chestnuts genus (Castanea spp.) is comprised of economically important trees native to the Northern hemisphere that are used as food and hardwood timber. Here, a very efficient method for micropropagation of European × Japanese chestnut hybrids (Castanea sativa × C. crenata) is described. Woody Plant Medium was used as the basal medium. In vitro shoots of four rootstock cultivars were micropropagated without shoot-tip necrosis on multiplication medium containing 5.7 or 11.4 µmol·L−1 zeatin riboside, and were rooted on rooting medium containing 2.46 µmol·L−1 indolebutyric acid. Monthly shoot multiplication rates for each cultivar were 2–5 folds. In vitro rooting percentages for four cultivars were 87% for ‘Maraval’, 67% for ‘Marigoule’, 93% for ‘Marsol’, and 97% for ‘Precoce Migoule’. Within a 5 week period, 80%–95% of rooted shoots were successfully acclimated under high humidity conditions after they were planted in either soil or rockwool.

The present study was undertaken to identify the stable genotypes for grain yield and yields related components with desirable performance under different environmental conditions taking forty wheat genotypes and were evaluated for two years (2017-19) with different dates of sowing. Pooled analysis of variance showed highly significant variations for genotypes, environments and genotypes x environments (G X E). Stability analysis for grain yield revealed that the genotypes LOK-1, NI-5439 and HUW-468 has a high mean value and non-significant regression coefficient (bi) and non-significant deviation from regression and found more stable across the four environments. Therefore the above mentioned genotypes were found most stable for grain yield and can be incorporated as breeding stocks in any future breeding programs aiming to produce high yielding lines of bread wheat.

A high yielding short duration new proso millet variety GPUP 25 was developed at Project Coordinating Unit, AICRP on Small Millets, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru for cultivation in Karnataka and other states in India during 2019 at central level and released as PMV 442. This variety is a derivative of a cross GPMS 109 and GPMS 908 developed by recombining the desirable characteristics of both the parents. This new variety matures in 70-75 days and has erect plant type with dwarf stature (85-90 cm), non- lodging, narrow leaves. Panicle is semi compact and medium sized. The grains are bold, oval shape and gray in colour. The grain of this variety contains calcium (26.0 mg/100 g), iron (6 mg/100 g seed) protein (7.41 %), and crude fiber (9.72 g/100 g). The variety GPUP 25 showed 29.78 and 16.39 per cent increased seed yield over the local check GPUP 21 and National check TNAU 145 respectively in Station trials. Likewise, in All India Coordinated Trials PMV 442 (GPUP 25) has showed superior performance in grain yield over national checks GPUP 21, TNAU 151 and TNAU 164 by 12.99, 23.73 and 12.44 per cent, respectively at national level. This variety has been released and notified in 83rd meeting of Central Sub -Committee on Crop Standards, Notification and release of varieties for agricultural crops held on 4th October 2019. This variety is recommended for cultivation in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana states.

Background The leaf water content estimation model is established by hyperspectral technology, which is crucial and provides technical reference for precision irrigation. Methods In this study, two consecutive years of field experiments (different irrigation times and seven wheat varieties) in 2018–2020 were performed to obtain the canopy spectra reflectance and leaf water content (LWC) data. The characteristic bands related to LWC were extracted from correlation coefficient method (CA) and x-Loading weight method (x-Lw). Five modeling methods, spectral index and four other methods (Partial Least-Squares Regression (PLSR), Random Forest Regression (RFR), Extreme Random Trees (ERT), and K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN)) based characteristic bands, were employed to construct LWC estimation models. Results The results showed that the canopy spectral reflectance increased with the increase of irrigation times, especially in the near-infrared band (750–1350 nm). The prediction accuracy of the newly developed differential spectral index DVI (R1185, R1307) was higher than that of the existing spectral index, with R2 of 0.85 and R2 of 0.78 for the calibration and validation, respectively. Due to a large amount of hyperspectral data, the correlation coefficient method (CA) and x-Loading weight (x-Lw) were used to select the water characteristic bands (100 and 28 characteristic bands, respectively) from the full spectrum. We found that the accuracy of the model based on the characteristic bands was not significantly lower than that of the full spectrum-based models. Among these models, the ERT- x-Lw model performed the best (R2 and RMSE of 0.88 and 1.46; 0.84 and 1.62 for the calibration and validation, respectively). In addition, the accuracy of the LWC estimation model constructed by ERT-x-Lw was higher than that of DVI (R1185, R1307). Conclusion The two models based on ERT-x-Lw and DVI (R1185, R1307) can effectively predict wheat leaf water content. The results provide a technical reference and a basis for crop water monitoring and diagnosis under similar production conditions.

SDG711 is a histone H3K27me2/3 transmethylases in rice, homolog ofCLFin Arabidopsis, that plays key roles in regulating of flowering time and panicle development. In this work, we investigated that the role of SDG711 in rice seed development. Overexpression and down-regulation of SDG711lead to the decrease and increase of the expression level of genes related to starch accumulation, resulting in smaller seed or even seed abortion. ChIP assay showed that SDG711-mediated H3K27me3 changed significantly in genes related to endosperm development and SDG711 can directly bind to the gene body region of several starch synthesis genes and amylase genes. In addition, H3K4me3 and H3K9ac modifications also cooperate with H3K27me3 to regulate the development of endosperm. Our results suggested that the crosstalk of SDG711-mediated H3K27me3 with H3K4me3 and H3K9ac are involved in starch accumulation to control normal seed development.

Osa-miR439 is a rice-specific microRNA family. Here we showed that Osa-miR439 acted as a negative regulator in rice immunity against blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. Osa-miR439 differentially responded to M. oryzae between susceptible and resistant rice accessions. The accumulation of Osa-miR439 was constitutively more in the susceptible accession than in the resistant one. Transgenic lines overexpressing Osa-miR439a (OX439a) showed higher susceptibility associating with lower induction of defense-related genes and less hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) accumulation at the infection sites than the control plants. In contrast, transgenic lines expressing a target mimic of Osa-miR439 (MIM439) displayed compromised susceptibility associating with increased H2O2 accumulation. Furthermore, we found that the expression of three predicted target genes was decreased in OX439a but increased in MIM439 in comparison to control plants, and this expression was differential in susceptible and resistant accessions upon M. oryzae infection, indicating that Osa-miR439a may regulate rice blast resistance via these genes. Our results unveiled the role of Osa-miR439a in rice blast resistance and provided the potentiality to improve the blast resistance via miRNA.

The present investigation was undertaken with the objective to develop high yielding, fine grain rice varieties possessing broad spectrum durable resistance by transferring bacterial leaf blight (BLB) resistant genes viz., xa13 and Xa21 from Improved Pusa Basmati 1. A popular high yielding and fine grain rice variety, HUBR 2-1 (Malviya Dhan 2-1), susceptible to BLB and Improved Pusa Basmati 1 carrying resistant genes for BLB (xa13 & Xa21 genes) were selected as parents for crossing. Improved Pusa Basmati 1 was verified for the presence of target genes by using gene linked primers viz., xa13 promotor and pTA 248. The cross viz., HUBR 2-1 x Improved Pusa Basmati 1 was undertaken during Kharif 2011 and F1 progenies were confirmed during rabi 2011. The F1 plants confirmed as true hybrids for both the genes were advanced to the F2 generation and foreground selection was done using gene linked markers. Genetic analysis in the F2 population confirmed that the genes (xa13 & Xa21) governing BLB resistance followed Mendelian inheritance. The phenotypic data analysis revealed that the plants carrying two resistance gene combinations (xa13xa13 Xa21Xa21, xa13xa13Xa21xa21) showed BLB resistance (0-3 scale), while the gene combinations viz., Xa13Xa13Xa21Xa21, Xa13Xa13Xa21xa21 and Xa13xa13Xa21Xa21, Xa13xa13Xa21xa21 showed BLB resistance (5-30).

Ailanthus triphysa [Dennst.] Alston is one of the most important and extensively used trees for making match splints in India. Despite its multiple uses, the genetic variability of the trees is little explored. The study attempted to determine the genetic diversity and select candidate plus trees from various parts of Kerala. Thirty candidate plus trees were selected based on baseline regression of trunk volume to crown volume combined with scoring for qualitative characters. The tree height, GBH, crown diameter and clean bole height of the plus trees ranged from 20 to 37 m, 0.69 to 2.11 m, 3.5 and 9.75 m and 7 to 24 m, respectively. The selected CPTs can be used for tree improvement and development of superior quality planting material.

The panda plant (Kalanchoe tomentosa Baker) is a popular ornamental succulent. The optimal method for in vitro plantlet propagation was investigated. Effects of plant growth regulator on growth and development of leaf explants were determined using various concentrations of Thidiazuron (TDZ) and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) at 0, 0.01, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.5 mg L-1. A concentration of 0.01 mg L-1 2,4-D gave the highest plantlet quality derived from direct organogenesis. Higher concentrations of 2,4-D promoted callus proliferation. The lowest concentration of 0.01 mg L-1 TDZ induced shorter shoots, while higher concentrations resulted in greater callogenesis and inhibit root production. After in vitro culture, plantlets from the optimal treatment were acclimatized by exposure to growth in sand, sand with coconut husk (2:1), sand with potting soil (2:1) and sand with perlite (2:1). Highest survival percentage (100%) was found in plantlets grown in sandy soil, the most well-drained material of those selected materials. Results demonstrated an alternative production method for panda plantlets using plant tissue culture techniques. Resumo A planta panda (Kalanchoe tomentosa Baker) é uma suculenta ornamental popular. O método para a propagação de plântulas in vitro foi investigado. Os efeitos do regulador de crescimento de plantas no crescimento e desenvolvimento de explantes de folhas foram determinados usando várias concentrações de Thidiazuron (TDZ) e ácido 2,4-diclorofenoxiacético (2,4-D) a 0; 0,01; 0,1; 0,2 e 0,5 mg L-1. A concentração de 0,01 mg L-1 de 2,4-D proporcionou a maior qualidade de mudas derivada da organogênese direta. Concentrações mais elevadas de 2,4-D promoveram a proliferação de calos. A menor concentração de 0,01 mg L-1 de TDZ induziu brotações mais curtas, enquanto concentrações maiores resultaram em maior calogênese e inibiram a produção de raízes. Após o cultivo in vitro, as plântulas do tratamento ótimo foram aclimatadas por exposição ao crescimento em areia, areia com casca de coco (2:1), areia com solo para envasamento (2:1) e areia com perlita (2:1). A maior porcentagem de sobrevivência (100%) foi encontrada em mudas cultivadas em solo arenoso, o material mais bem drenado dos materiais selecionados. Os resultados demonstraram um método alternativo de produção de mudas de panda usando técnicas de cultura de tecidos de plantas.

Soil cadmium (Cd) causes toxicity and oxidative stress, alters biochemical processes and root knot formation in rice. Irrigation of exogenous peroxidase (POX) together with its co-substrate H2O2 (POXRice + H2O2), is likely to have protective effect upon the biochemical and nodular changes in rice grown in Cd-rich soil. Exposure to Cd concentration of 1.00 mg/L increased oxidative stress, loss of cell viability, electrolyte leakage and root knot formation, whereas it significantly lowered the chlorophyll level and rhizobium growth in rice. Irrigation of exogenous POXRice + H2O2 to Cd-stressed rice seedlings reversed the Cd-induced alterations in rice to levels similar in control (non-stressed) seedlings. Results provided strong evidence of exogenous POXRice + H2O2-mediated reversal and restoration of physiological and biochemical processes as well as increased resistance of rice seedlings to root knot formation. Irrigation with POXRice + H2O2 appeared to contribute towards bringing normoxic conditions in the otherwise hypoxic soil environment by enhancing the O2 in pot-experiments due to reduced Cd uptake, enhanced mineral homeostasis of essential elements viz. P, Fe, Mo, Mg and Mn for maintenance of root architecture damaged by lipid peroxidation and reduction in oxidative stress by reducing Cd-induced reactive oxygen species generation. Therefore, the mitigation of Cd-toxicity in rice through this novel approach appeared to be a promising mode to limit Cd-uptake, modulate protective and tolerance mechanisms for sustainable rice yield in Cd-contaminated rice-croplands and prevent nematode attack in rice, however, more detailed studies are needed prior to large scale applications.

Gummy stem blight (GSB), a major disease caused by Stagonosporopsis cucurbitacearum (syn. Didymella bryoniae), has caused significant losses of watermelon in the United States. The lack of progress in the development of resistant cultivars is the result of complex inheritance of resistance and breeding strategies that rely on single-plant selection. Because the sources of resistance are wild watermelon relatives, good fruit quality has been difficult to maintain during the selection process. Three hundred recombinant inbred line (RILs) in a population that carries resistance genes to GSB as well as good fruit quality were produced. This was accomplished by crossing and intercrossing resistant plant introductions, crossing the resulting progenies with elite cultivars, intercrossing those progenies, and, finally, self-pollinating to the S3 generation. The 300 RILs were evaluated for disease severity and fruit morphological and quality traits under greenhouse and field conditions in a randomized complete block design with 10 replications and 3 years. The means and correlations for disease severity ratings and fruit quality traits were estimated. Approximately 186 RILs had disease severity ratings below the mean value of the disease assessment scale (4.5), indicating that they possibly carry one or more genes for resistance to GSB. All disease severity ratings were correlated to each other (r = 0.67–0.98; P < 0.001), but they were not correlated with fruit quality traits. Most importantly, several resistant RILs showed good to excellent fruit quality. Our results provide evidence of improved germplasm with high resistance and good fruit quality.

Brassica taxa occur naturally and are also cultivated in Turkey. Due to their economic importance, several cultivars have been extensively cultivated in certain regions of the country. Alongside extensive cultivation for vegetable production of the other species of the genus, Brassica juncea has very limited cultivation. Five native species of Brassica are known from restricted locations in Turkey with only a few collections. Among them, Brassica elongata is distributed all over the Central and Eastern parts of the country and it prefers unfertile soils on hillsides. Highlighting the current data about the Brassica taxa would lead to new initiatives for Brassica research dealing with both the genetic structure and the origin of the taxa. Diagnostic characters of the genera closely related to Brassica have been discussed under the relevant genera. Additionally, an overview for the Turkish Brassiceae tribe, both native and cultivated, has been presented and the relevant identification keys have been supplied for updating.

In order to support a better understanding of the current scenario of the crisis installed by the New Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2: COVID-19) in the flower retail trade, it is presented a descriptive exploratory research carried out between April and May 2020 with 30 flower shop managers located in the Southern region of Brazil. The results showed that the most significant impacts were the drop in the number of customers, which reduced the company’s income when compared to the values sold before the pandemic, and that the pandemic scenario generated a 45.3% reduction in financial transactions on average. Among the flower shops in this survey, 70% of flower shops were closed for an average of 21.4 days, when they were reopened with restrictions on attendance related to hours or the number of people inside the stores. The e-commerce and social media were the main tools to confront this situation, and the most used Apps were WhatsApp and Instagram. But other actions such as discounting on purchases by quantity, free delivery and marketing in the surrounding were also registered. Among the possible complementary actions in order to face this crisis and which can have positive effects, it is highlighted the online courses directed to the trade of gardening kits, the adoption of the Just In Time (JIT) methodology that can result in partnerships with local producers in order to reduce inventory costs and purchase prices, and the organization of collective purchasing groups to bargain prices with wholesalers, as well as the reduction of transportation and operational costs at Veiling in Holambra.

Sixteen parents and 28 F1 (14×2) genetic male sterility based cross combinations were evaluated in a line x tester mating design in Asiatic cotton (Gossypium arboreum). The statistical analysis was performed using the method developed by Kempthorne (1957) with the help of an OPSTAT computer program (developed by CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar). Sufficient variability among hybrids and their parents was found as the mean squares of genotypes for all the traits including fibre quality investigated were significant. The total genetic variability was partitioned to general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA). The variance due to GCA was higher than SCA for fibre strength (g/tex) only. For other traits viz., seed cotton yield, plant height (cm), bolls per plant, boll weight (g), 2.5 % span length and micronaire value, the SCA was higher which reflects the role of both additive and non-additive types of gene action (dominant or epistatic). In the present study, additive variances were significant for a 2.5% span length, fineness and fibre strength and non-additive as well as additive gene effects for seed cotton yield, plant height, boll number, boll weight and ginning percentage. GCA was significant for male parents, G-27, DLSA-17, DLSA-8, PA-496, LD-713, LD-853 and LD-733 for seed cotton yield; G-27, DLSA-17, DLSA-8, PA-255, PA-304, PA-405, PA-496 and LD-713 for plant height; G-27, DLSA-202, PAIG-8/1, PA-464 and PA-496 for bolls per plant; G-27, DLSA-202, PAIG-8/1, PA-464 and PA-496 for boll weight; DLSA-202, DLSA-17, PAIG-8/1, PA-405, PA-464, LD-733 for ginning out turn (GOT%); DLSA-202, DLSA-17, DLSA-8, PA-255, PA-464, PA-496, LD-713 and LD-733 for 2.5% span length (mm); DLSA-17, DLSA-8, PA-255, PA-464, PA-496 and LD-713 for lower micronaire value having fineness and DLSA-17, PAIG-8/1, DLSA-8, PA-255, PA-304, PA-496 and LD-713 for fibre strength (g/tex) which were considered as good general combiners. Similarly among 28 cross combinations, SCA was positively significant for 9 crosses for seed cotton yield, 11 crosses for plant height, 7 crosses for boll number, 10 crosses for boll wt, 9 crosses for GOT(%), 15 crosses for 2.5% span length, 8 crosses for micronaire and 8 crosses for fibre strength.

The experiment was carried out at the Research Area of Cotton Section and Biochemistry Laboratory, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, CCSHAU, Hisar (Haryana, India) during kharif 2017-18. The observations were recorded for different morphological and biochemical characters to assess the association among the traits and to estimate the direct-indirect effects through path analysis. Seed cotton yield was found positively correlated with various traits; strongest among them were lint yield (0.954, 0.956), boll weight (0.742, 0.768), and the number of bolls per plant (0.771, 0.799) at both phenotypic and genotypic levels. Path coefficient analysis revealed that the highest direct effect is contributed by boll weight (1.198) followed by the number of bolls per plant (1.181) to the seed cotton yield. Thus these two traits play a major role in the selection of high yielding seed cotton genotypes.

A high yielding Cumbu Napier hybrid clone TNCN 1280 was evolved from an inter specific cross between fodder Cumbu CO 7 and Napier grass FD 459 at the Department of Forage Crops, Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore and identified for release as CO 6 for the states of Central and North Western Zone of India during 2019. The clone TNCN 1280 had registered a mean green fodder yield of 385.3t/ha than the check CO (BN) 5 (343 t/ha) in station trials conducted from 2013 to 2015 and the per cent increase over the check was 12.3. Under Multi Location Trial (2015 to 2018), TNCN 1280 recorded the green fodder yield of 386.4 t/ha with a yield advantage of 6.03 per over the check CO (BN) 5. Simultaneously the clone was evaluated under AICRP on FC&U trials from 2016-2018 and the clone TNCN 1280 recorded 13.6, 11.4 and 8.2 per cent higher green fodder yield than the national checks CO (BN) 5, CO 3 and NB 21, respectively in North Western Zone. Similarly in Central Zone also, TNCN 1280 registered a superior green fodder yield than the national checks namely CO (BN) 5 (18.8%), CO 3 (12.0%) and NB 21 (43.3%). For dry matter yield, TNCN 1280 out yielded the national checks CO (BN) 5 (11.7%), CO 3 (11.5%) and NB 21 (14.9%) in North Western Zone. The clone TNCN 1280 exhibited its superiority for crude protein yield against two national checks CO (BN) 5 (20.6%) and NB 21 (27.2%) in North Western Zone, and in Central Zone, it recorded 14.7, 9.3 and 19.4 per cent superiority over the national checks CO (BN) 5, CO 3 and NB 21, respectively. It is resistant to leaf blight and moderately resistant to leaf spot disease. It ranked first in North Western Zone and Central Zone for green fodder yield. Based on the overall performance of TNCN 1280, it was identified for release as Cumbu Napier hybrid grass CO 6 for the states of North Western Zone and Central Zone of India.

The new sorghum variety GDJ 1 (Banas Surya) breed through pedigree selection method from the cross between SPV 2113 × GFS 5 at Sorghum Research Station, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Deesa, Gujarat. The variety GDJ 1 was tested in a preliminary evaluation trial (PET) in kharif 2016. It was found promising and further it was tested in state multilocation trials from kharif 2017 to 2019. It was also tested under the AICRP-sorghum IVT trial in kharif 2018 as SPV 2565 at fifteen locations (Zone-I, II and III) across the nation. The sorghum variety GDJ 1 was tested under a total of 20 state trials against various check varieties viz., CSV 20, GJ 39, GJ 42, GDJ 1 and GJ 43. The mean performance of GDJ 1 for grain yield over 21 locations, including the preliminary trial was 2506 kg/ha. In the case of dry fodder yield, the mean performance over 22 location, including the preliminary trial was 167.0 q/ha. In North Gujarat, based on seven testing trials GDJ 1 exhibited high grain yield (2576 kg/ha) with an increment of 50.0, 50.7 19.6, 21.5 and 41.8 per cent, respectively and dry fodder (228.7 q/ha) with an increment of 49.8, 52.3, 10.9, 49.6 and 34.2 per cent over the years and locations against checks GJ 39, GJ 42, GJ 43, GNJ 1 and CSV 20, respectively. It matures within 100-105 days, tall in nature, very long and broad leaves, the long symmetric semi-loose panicle have a medium neck with long branches and medium glume length. The grain is medium bold and yellow-white. From the quality point of view the released variety have a fair amount of protein in grain (10.1%) and dry fodder (9.20%) and low tannin (0.215 mg/g) in grain indicated the good quality of grain and dry fodder. It is moderately resistant to diseases like leaf blight, anthracnose, grain mold, ergot and lower infestation of shoot fly and stem borer.