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Durum wheat production is highly unpredictable throughout the year because of uncertain rainfall and frequent dry spells and it is absolutely necessary to characterize the impact of drought on grain yield. The objective in this research is to carry out a comparative analysis of biochemical and physiological responses and production parameters of durum wheat (Triticum durum) in semi-arid zone with rainfall in Morocco's climates. Thirteen durum wheat genotypes selected at INRA-Morocco and three control varieties were evaluated under Moroccan rainfed conditions for two growing seasons (2019/20 and 2020/21). The INRA-Morocco-Douyet Fez experimental field site was where the trials were conducted (34°2 N, 5°W, 416 m). Different parameters were studied. Five physiological, four agronomical and one biochemical trait are measured in this study: leaf area, leaf temperature, relative water content, chlorophyll content, proline, yield and yield components. Decreased rainfall significantly increased proline content, leaf temperature and decreased leaf area, grain yield, chlorophyll and relative water content (P

Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) crop can be a lever for the development of oilseed sector in Morocco due to its adaptation to local conditions and its major economic and food importance. Genetic diversity and selection of valuable crossing parents are the key to successful breeding and improvement of this crop. In this regard, genetic variation within the existing germplasm must be explored and characterized. Therefore, the present study was carried out to investigate the genetic diversity among 22 varieties from Morocco as well as other origins, using twenty ISSR primers. The selected primers have generated a total of 319 markers. Polymorphic amplified bands varied from 8 to18, with an average of 13 per primer. The diversity index (PIC value) ranged from 0.295 to 0.509, with a mean value of 0.37 per primer, indicating a good genetic diversity level for the primers used. The average similarity coefficient was 0.31, fluctuating between 0.176 and 0.456, and the pairwise comparison of the studied varieties showed a great discriminating power of primers and a large genetic diversity among accessions. A total of eight ISSR primers could be identified as key to rapeseed varietal determination. Hierarchical classification allowed identifying three groups with some phylogeographic structuring. This is the first report of molecular characterization of rapeseed germplasm in Morocco and Africa. The obtained results have important implications for management of this germplasm to conserve the existing genetic diversity and use it properly in breeding programs in Morocco as well as in other Mediterranean and African countries.

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is one of the most recommended oil crops due to its nutritional and medicinal properties. It is a tropical and subtropical plant; however, it is also cultivated in arid and semi-arid regions, including Morocco. Nevertheless, the sesame crop in this country faces many constraints and challenges that restrict its production potential. The objective of this study is to present the situation of sesame production in Morocco during the last twenty years by describing and discussing the seed production, the harvested area, the value of imports, and the most important challenges. Also, some relevant strategies and measures to counteract these constraints and, thus, improve sesame production have been proposed and discussed. To make a fair diagnosis, a survey was carried out among 33 sesame producers in the Tadla area, in addition to the national and international databases that were consulted. The results showed that sesame area and production dropped markedly between 2000 and 2020. As a result, the import quantities and values have been significantly and gradually increased during the same period. The observed decline in both the area and the production may be due to several constraints including recurrent drought, restricted supply in irrigation water, poor cultural practices, low-yielding cultivars, and pests and diseases. Therefore, there is an urgent need for scientific research in terms of breeding to develop and release high-performing and adapted varieties and crop management to find and adopt the best cultural practices. Besides, sesame producers should organize themselves in associations or cooperatives to ensure an added value of their production and improve their profit margin and income. All these actions and measures would be able to promote and develop the sesame sector in Morocco to meet and satisfy the high domestic and global demand for this precious and valuable seed.

Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) crop has a high yield potential in Morocco, particularly in the Gharb region. However, this area is subjected to relatively frequent water floods usually accompanied with soil waterlogging, which is harmful for the crop. This study aimed to assess the behavior and productivity of four Moroccan varieties under waterlogging stress conditions at four plant growth stages, against the control (absence of waterlogging). A field trial was carried out at the INRA experiment station of Allal Tazi during 2013/2014, and a pot experiment was conducted under shelter at the National School of Agriculture of Meknes during 2014/2015. The results obtained show that waterlogging stress significantly affected most of the studied parameters for all varieties and that germination and post-emergence seedling stages were the most sensitive to waterlogging stress conditions. Particularly, seed yield was drastically reduced for all varieties, and the reduction rate ranged from 19% for “INRA-CZH3” to 73% for “Narjisse” when waterlogging happened under rosette and young seedling stages, respectively. Overall, the variety “INRA-CZH3” presented the best agronomic performance and was the most tolerant to waterlogging occurring at different plant growth stages. Therefore, we recommend cultivation of this variety in the Gharb area. Its tolerance to such stress conditions is certainly attributed to its developed root system, its high seedling vigor and its large collar diameter. The two latter traits presented a high correlation with seed yield components and, thus, we recommend their use as selection criteria to breed for waterlogging rapeseed tolerance.

Genetic variability is a prerequisite for any plant breeding program, and mutagenesis is a proven way of creating new variation within a crop germplasm. Novel genetic variability in rapeseed was induced by gamma rays, Ethyl Methane Sulphonate (EMS) and combined mutagen treatment, using various doses and concentrations. The objective was to evaluate and compare the obtained M2 mutants for important quantitative traits in two contrasted environments. Data on phenological, morphological and agronomic parameters were recorded. A large variability was observed and mutagenic treatments had a significant effect on all traits studied. Compared to control plants, mutant genotypes derived from seeds treated with low EMS concentrations during moderate time were earlier and characterized by a higher number of pods per plant. For high concentration of EMS during long time and for combinations of physical and chemical mutagens, a significant decrease in plant height and stature was noticed, as compared to control. Besides, plants derived from gamma rays-treated seeds exhibited the highest 1000-seed weight. The novel induced variability may be integrated in rapeseed breeding program as a new germplasm with improved agronomic traits. Particularly, EMS1-7-stable mutant may be exploited to develop efficiently and quickly a new rapeseed cultivar with some desirable traits. The present study highlights once more the possibility to bring novel genetic diversity for rapeseed desirable traits improvement through mutation breeding.

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is a tropical oilseed crop that is also cultivated in arid and semi-arid environments, where drought occurs frequently. The objective of this study was to assess the performance of some sesame mutants, developed by our team through EMS-mutagenesis in 2020, under well-watered conditions and restricted irrigation by analyzing certain morphological, physiological, and agronomic attributes. The experiment was conducted in pots under field conditions according to a completely randomized design with three replications. The stress was simulated by suspending and reducing irrigation to 50% of the control, from the beginning of flowering until the appearance of the first capsule. The results showed variation attributable to genotypes, water regimes and their interaction was significant for all parameters studied, except the number of seeds per capsule. The mutants "ML2-5", "ML2-72" and "ML2-37" were found to be the most tolerant to drought, exhibiting lowest stress sensitivity index and highest seed yield were associated with higher proline content in the leaves, more developed root system, higher chlorophyll content, and higher stomatal conductance than the rest of the mutants studied. This is the first report of sesame mutant lines with such high tolerance to drought during flowering. They could be used for developing high-performing cultivars with tolerance to drought during the flowering stage. The number of capsules per plant and stomatal conductance can be considered selection criteria to improve water-stress tolerance in sesame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is an ancient oilseed, aromatic, and medicinal crop widely used for its high-quality oil and seeds. The available genetic diversity in Morocco is too limited; thus, a mutagenesis breeding program was adopted. This study was carried out to evaluate the novel variability induced and observed in 11 M4 mutant lines and to estimate some valuable genetic parameters. The experiment was conducted in two different environments using a randomized complete block design with three replications. Phenological, morphological, and agronomic traits were recorded. To estimate the effect of genotype, environment, and their interaction, ANOVA and planned contrast analyses were performed. To examine relatedness among genotypes, cluster analysis was performed. Significant differences among mutants and between parent cultivars and their respective mutant lines were observed. Genetic parameters such as genotypic (GCV) and phenotypic (PCV) coefficients of variation, broad-sense heritability (H² b.s), genetic advance (GA), and genetic advance over the mean (GAM) were high in most traits. Highly productive mutants, ‘US2-1’ and ‘US1-2’, were observed, exhibiting the highest number of capsules per plant and seed yield ever reported. Additionally, there are other promising mutants with early flowering, early maturity, and a reduced height of the first capsule. This suggests that mutagenesis can be successfully applied to develop high-yielding sesame varieties along with other improved phenological and agromorphological traits. All these mutant lines can be used as promising germplasm to develop competitive sesame cultivars to meet the increasing demand for sesame oil and seeds in the actual context of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is an ancient oilseed crop with important agronomic, therapeutic, and industrial properties. However, in Morocco, the existing genetic diversity is quite limited. Thus, chemical mutagenesis, using ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS), was applied to induce novel genetic variability. Seeds of two sesame genotypes were treated using two EMS concentrations, 0.5% and 1%. The treated and untreated seeds (control) were planted according to a completely randomized design. Some mutant plants (M1) were identified and characterized for growth habit, root length, number of carpels per capsule, number of capsules per leaf axil, seed yield per plant, and seed color. Specifically, mutants with a tetra-carpellate capsule, three capsules per leaf axil, determinate growth, diverse seed colors, and a highly developed root system were found to be promising and useful for sesame breeding program aimed at developing productive and high-quality cultivars, particularly for stressful environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) is an oilseed crop with high quality vegetable seed oil. A set of 55 accessions from different geographical origins were introduced to constitute a breeding program germplasm. These materials were characterized by inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) as a simple method to reveal polymorphism among them. ISSR analysis was carried out with 13 primers. After agarose gels analysis, ISSR banding patterns were converted into binary data of presence-non presence and matrices were processed. Genetic distances between all pairwise combinations of the accessions were calculated using similarity of simple coefficient matching (SCM). Dendrogram of studied accessions was constructed using the UPGMA (unweighted pair group method arithmetic average) method. A high number of reproducible ISSR bands exhibited a high percentage of polymorphism (69.64%), indicating a high genetic diversity among the material studied. The lowest similarity coefficient was 0.462, observed between accessions 109 and 135, whilst the highest one was 0.962, observed between accessions 68 and 126, with an average of 0.726. Dendrogram similarity relationships revealed some clusters according to different genetic pools. The ISSR markers were very informative and exhibited a high level of polymorphism. The findings of this study would be useful for safflower breeding program in Morocco as well as in other countries of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]