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Several plant species such as grasses are dominant in many habitats including arid and semi-arid areas. These species survive in these regions by developing exclusive structures, which helps in the collection of atmospheric water. Before the collected water evaporates, these structures have unique canopy structure for water transportation that plays an equivalent share in the fog-harvesting mechanism. In this review, the atmospheric gaseous water harvesting mechanisms and their affinity of measurements were discussed. Morphological adaptations and their role in the capturing of atmospheric gaseous water of various species were also discussed. The key factor for the water collection and its conduction in the wheat plant is the information of contact angle hysteresis. In wheat, leaf rolling and its association with wetting property help the plant in water retention. Morphological adaptations, i.e., leaf erectness, grooves, and prickle hairs, also help in the collection and acquisition of water droplets by stem flows in directional guide toward the base of the plant and allow its rapid uptake. Morphological adaptation strengthens the harvesting mechanism by preventing the loss of water through shattering. Thus, wheat canopy architecture can be modified to harvest the atmospheric water and directional movement of water towards the root zone for self-irrigation. Moreover, these morphological adaptations are also linked with drought avoidance and corresponding physiological processes to resist water stress. The combination of these traits together with water use efficiency in wheat contributes to a highly efficient atmospheric water harvesting system that enables the wheat plants to reduce the cost of production. It also increases the yielding potential of the crop in arid and semi-arid environments. Further investigating the ecophysiology and molecular pathways of these morphological adaptations in wheat may have significant applications in varying climatic scenarios.

Phytic acid (PA) is the most prevalent storage form of grain phosphorus (P) and acts as an anti-nutrient by lowering mineral bioavailability. Genotypic variation of grain PA and its relation to mineral bioavailability, and their nutritional fortification potential with zinc (Zn) supply has not been fully investigated in pigmented rice. Here, we compared the differences in grain PA concentration and mineral bioavailability among 13 pigmented rice (red, yellow, and green rice) and six non-pigmented rice cultivars (three common white rice and their corresponding low-PA (lpa) mutant). Pigmented rice was enriched with micronutrients, especially Zn and Fe, on an average of 39.1 and 44.8 mg kg−1 as compared with 31.9 and 33.1 mg kg−1 in non-pigmented rice respectively. The lpa cultivars showed the highest bioavailability for most of the minerals. However, no significant difference was observed for mineral bioavailability between pigmented and common white rice, owing to higher anti-nutritional PA in pigmented rice (9.25 g kg−1) than in common white rice (8.29 g kg−1). However, a large difference in grain PA was found among green rice (11.19 g kg−1), yellow rice (9.82 g kg−1) and red rice (8.56 g kg−1) cultivars. Therefore, foliar Zn was used to investigate PA concentration and Zn bioavailability. Foliar Zn application increased grain Zn but decreased grain PA concentration, which ultimately increased grain Zn bioavailability. Zn application had a remarkable effect on Zn bioavailability for red rice (an average of 82%) as compared with common white rice (48%). These findings could provide helpful knowledge for pigmented rice fortification.

The present study focuses to determine the combining abilities for 12 wheat genotypes for the physiological and yield traits by using line × tester mating design. Eight lines and four testers, as parents, and resulting 32 cross combinations were evaluated in randomized complete block design during the 2018-19 cropping season. The ANOVA indicated that variability exists for all the traits under study. The parent 14 showed higher GCA effects for the SC and T while parent 19 and 6 have highest GCA effects for the P and WUE. The parent 14 was a good general combiner for the flag leaf area and spike weight while parent 19 for the seed weight and plant height. However, parent 18 showed highest GCA effect for spike length. Overall, parents 14, 18, 19 and 6 were good general combiners for most of the traits. And the cross combination coded 32 was a potential hybrid for all the spike weight, seed weight and yield per row while 29 showed highest SCA estimates for the physiological traits except WUE. The hybrid 28 showed superior SCA effects for spike length and plant height and hybrid 4 was a potential hybrid for FLA. So, these parents and cross combinations can be used in the selection process of varietal improvement for an ideal yield potential. This will also lead to the fixation of additive as well as non-additive genetic components for the improvement of the yield components in wheat.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is an important food crop that is consumed by more than half of the world's population. Soil salinity is a serious problem that reduces rice yield because it is more sensitive to salt stress than other cereal crops. Salinity affects many aspects of the rice plant phases like it has a damaging effect on rice plant growth e.g. germination inhibition, difficulties in the crop establishment, development of the leaf area, decrease in the production of the dry matter, delay in the seed setting and even leading to the sterility. The susceptibility or resistance to high salinity in rice plants is an organized activity of multiple genes which also interact with other components of the different path­ways of stress signals transduction. The salt tolerance genes can be used to produce salinity tolerant rice varieties by using genetic engineering and marker-assisted selection. In this review, we have discussed the effects of salt stress on different growth stages and yield of the rice plant and updated on different stress-responsive genes and salinity tolerance mechanisms which will be helpful to improve the high-yielding rice varieties against the salinity stress. To develop salt-tolerant and high-yielding rice varieties, we have focused on the need to incorporate genomics, phenotyping, and metabolic profiling into breeding and transgenic approaches.

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Background: Extensive Dirigent proteins impart a key role in the development of organic products in plants. They confer conformational influence on processes that lack stereoselectivity and regioselectivity through processes that are mostly understood. Dirrigent proteins are required to produce lignans, a unique and widely distributed family of plant secondary metabolites with intriguing pharmacological characteristics and potential use in plant development as well. The dirigent (DIR) proteins, which are implicated in the process of lignification, also protect plants from environmental stresses including Biotic and Abiotic. Nevertheless, there is no research have been done so far on the DIR proteins in Solanum lycopersicum. This study provides a detailed information of DIRs protein in the in tomato.Results:The Conserved Domain analysis, Phylogeny, Evolutionary Adaptation, cis-acting Elements, Proteomic analysis, Transmembrane Potential Analysis, Sequence Identity and Similarity Analysis, gene assembly, genomic localization, duplication of gene analysis, and evolutionary linkage of all 31 potential dirigent genes (SlDIRs) were revealed in this investigation. Conclusion:This research provides an in - depth and comprehensive explanation of the detailed molecular process and structural characterization of SlDIR genes in the genome of Solanum lycopersicum, laying the groundwork for future plant genetic engineering and crop development exploration. This study will aid future research on the DIR gene family and give helpful information for enabling appropriate DIRs genes in higher plants.

Hyphae of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in soil often form complex mycorrhizal networks among roots of same or different plant species for transfer of nutrients from one plant to another. However, the effect of soil nitrogen (N) availability on nutrient transfer between different plant species via common mycorrhizal networks (CMNs) has not been experimentally examined. In order to quantify CMN-mediated nutrient transfer between Leymus chinensis (LC) and Cleistogene squarrosa (CS), two systems, i.e. the CS–LC system (CS and LC were donor and recipient, respectively) and the LC–CS system (LC and CS were donor and recipient, respectively) were established. Stable isotopic 15N was applied to track N transfer between heterospecific seedlings connected by CMNs under three levels of soil N additions: no N addition control (N0), N addition with 7 mg/kg (N1) and N addition with 14 mg/kg (N2). In the CS–LC system, the highest rate of AMF colonization and hyphal length density (HLD) were found at N1. In contrast, maximum AMF colonization rate and HLD were recorded at N2 in LC–CS system. Consequently, plant biomass was significantly higher under N1 and N2 levels in CS–LC and LC–CS systems, respectively. Moreover, in CS–LC system, 15N transfer rate ranged from 16% to 61%, with maximum transfer rate at N1. For LC–CS system, 15N transfer rate was much lower, with the maximum occurring at N0. These findings suggest that CMNs could potentially regulate N transfer from a donor to recipient plant depending upon the strength of individual plant carbon sink.

In cotton the identification and characterization of natural defense is a cost-effective, sustainable, and environment-friendly strategy to combat cotton pests. The secondary metabolites traits in cotton plant i.e., toxic gossypol glands play significant role for development and self-defense mechanism. To utilize gossypol in breeding implements, the understanding of gossypol initiation biosynthesis genes has vital importance at reproductive organ development stages.Cotton germplasm of 100 genotypes screened visually based on gossypol glandedness and a core set of ten genotypes was developed. Further three genotypes FH-330 (high glanding), F-280 (low glanding) and IRMA-197 (glandless) were used for determining the transcript abundance of twelve gossypol biosynthesis genes.Out of 100, germplasm categorized as (76) high glanding, (22) medium glanding), one genotype for each (low glanding) and (glandless) category. Real-time qPCR analysis revealed varied expression patterns among selected three genotypes. Out of twelve, three genes CYP706B1, CDNC and 2ODD-1 had strong expression levels in all tested tissues in high glanded genotype, while, slight or no expression of these genes was recorded in low glanding and glandless genotype, respectively. The shell of developing boll (10, 20, 30 DPA), and developing embryo (20, 30 DPA) showed substantially medium to maximum expression, respectively while high to medium expression was recorded in sepals and leaf tissue.Our study demonstrated that CYP706B1, CDNC and 2ODD-1 are the most promising genes involved in gossypol biosynthesis. Developing boll shell, developing embryo, leaf and sepal also have significant ability to synthesize gossypol. This will provide scientists a way to manipulate gossypol contents in economically important organs of cotton plant for targeted breeding.

The leaf features like trichome density, gradient grooves, and leaf wettability determine the efficiency to capture air moisture for self-irrigation in the wheat plant. Plants in water-scarce environments evolved to capture air moisture for their water needs either directly or indirectly. Structural features like cones, hairs, and grooves assist water capture. The morphology of crops such as wheat can promote self-irrigation under drought. To examine this further, 34 wheat genotypes were characterized for leaf traits in near optimal conditions in the field using a randomized complete block design with 3 replications. An association was found between morphological and physiological traits and yield using simple correlation plots. A core set of nine genotypes was subsequently evaluated for moisture harvesting ability and leaf wettability. Results showed that variation among genotypes exists for fog harvesting ability attributed to structural leaf features. Physiological traits, especially photosynthesis and water use efficiency, were positively associated with yield, negatively correlated with soil moisture at booting, and positively correlated with soil moisture at anthesis. The genotypes with deep to medium leaf grooves and dense hairs on the edges and adaxial surfaces (genotypes 7 and 18) captured the most moisture. This was a function of higher water drop rolling efficiency resulting from lower contact angle hysteresis. These results can be exploited to develop more heat and drought-tolerant crops.

High-throughput genotyping for functional markers offers an excellent opportunity to effectively practice marker-assisted selection (MAS) while breeding cultivars. We developed kompetitive allele-specific PCR (KASP) assays for genes conferring drought tolerance in common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). In total, 11 KASP assays developed in this study and five already reported assays were used for their application in wheat breeding. We investigated alleles at 16 loci associated with drought tolerance among 153 Pakistani hexaploid wheat cultivars released during 1953–2016; 28 diploid wheat accessions (16 for AA and 12 for BB) and 19 tetraploid wheat (AABB) were used to study the evolutionary history of the studied genes. Superior allelic variations of the studied genes were significantly associated with higher grain yield. Favored haplotypes of TaSnRK2.3-1A, TaSnRK2.3-1B, TaSnRK2.9-5A, TaSAP-7B, and TaLTPs-1A predominated in Pakistani wheat germplasm indicating unconscious pyramiding and selection pressure on favorable haplotypes during selection breeding. TaSnRK2.8-5A, TaDreb-B1, 1-feh w3, TaPPH-7A, TaMOC-7A, and TaPARG-2A had moderate to low frequencies of favorable haplotype among Pakistani wheat germplasm pointing toward introgression of favorable haplotypes by deploying functional markers in marker-assisted breeding. The KASP assays were compared with gel-based markers for reliability and phenotypically validated among 62 Pakistani wheat cultivars. Association analyses showed that the favorable allelic variations were significantly associated with grain yield-contributing traits. The developed molecular marker toolkit of the genes can be instrumental for the wheat breeding in Pakistan.

Harmful effects of climate change, human interference, and environmental stresses have opened new challenges for food security and natural variability. Like other crops, the domestication of barley has led toward a significant reduction in genetic diversity and created hurdles to develop well-adapted cultivars. One of the best solutions toward these challenges is the exploitation of crop wild germplasm that niche in extreme geographical locations. Wild progenitors have potential to transfer adaptation loci in modern cultivars, which will make them fit for changing climate. Wild barley could be the potential source for genetic variability and increasing capability to withstand against biotic and abiotic stress factors and can be collected from its natural area of distribution, especially from the Mediterranean region. In this chapter, we have highlighted the significance of wild germplasm of barley and adaptive genes they have for various biotic and abiotic stress resistance/tolerance.

The use of rice wild progenitors is imperative to provide a robust food security system capable of adapting to environmental stresses. Rice wild species contain important genetic traits, including salinity, drought, heavy metal, submergence, lodging, insect, pest, disease tolerance, and whatnot. Due to domestication syndrome, many of these traits have been lost from modern rice. These missing loci are again in demand to meet the challenges of food security. But the use of wild genotypes for introgression of beneficial loci in cultivated rice is challenging. It is a lengthy process with many hurdles. On-going research in plant breeding, biotechnology and bioinformatics have opened new avenues for the effective use of wild genotypes in rice breeding programs. The breeding informatics through B4R, GOBii, and biotechnology via GWAS, FIGS, CRISPR-Cas have made the use of wild germplasm easier.

The leaf features like trichome density, gradient grooves, and leaf wettability determine the efficiency to capture air moisture for self-irrigation in the wheat plant. Plants in water-scarce environments evolved to capture air moisture for their water needs either directly or indirectly. Structural features like cones, hairs, and grooves assist water capture. The morphology of crops such as wheat can promote self-irrigation under drought. To examine this further, 34 wheat genotypes were characterized for leaf traits in near optimal conditions in the field using a randomized complete block design with 3 replications. An association was found between morphological and physiological traits and yield using simple correlation plots. A core set of nine genotypes was subsequently evaluated for moisture harvesting ability and leaf wettability. Results showed that variation among genotypes exists for fog harvesting ability attributed to structural leaf features. Physiological traits, especially photosynthesis and water use efficiency, were positively associated with yield, negatively correlated with soil moisture at booting, and positively correlated with soil moisture at anthesis. The genotypes with deep to medium leaf grooves and dense hairs on the edges and adaxial surfaces (genotypes 7 and 18) captured the most moisture. This was a function of higher water drop rolling efficiency resulting from lower contact angle hysteresis. These results can be exploited to develop more heat and drought-tolerant crops.

In the wake of the recent global pandemic of COVID-19, there has been increasing concern among the general public to improve their immune system. The causative agent of COVID-19 is SARS CoV-2, similar to its relative viruses SARS Cov-1 and MERS. Although vaccines have been developed now and are in public use, still the role of a healthy immune system is crucial as new strains of the virus are being discovered and along with emergence of new strains, short and long term side effects of vaccine cannot be excluded. Plants have been used in herbal medicines and many chemicals since ancient times and extracts in them are found to boost the immune system. Therefore, a consciously maintained diet consisting of plant-based immunity boosters is the need of the hour. Plants are known to provide many chemicals, natural therapeutics and vitamins which naturally enhance our immune system. Recently, vaccination research is also being carried out in transgenic plants. In this review, main focus has been put on highlighting some of the key players within the Kingdom Plantae, which, when taken up in regular diet, can significantly boost our immune system capacity and thus helps the human body to combat this deadly virus more efficiently.

Background Rice is a drought susceptible crop. A symbiotic association between rice and mycorrhizal fungi could effectively protect the plant against sudden or frequent episodes of drought. Due to its extensive network of hyphae, the endophyte is able to deeply explore the soil and transfer water and minerals to the plant, some of them playing an important role in mitigating the effects of drought stress. Moreover, the endophyte could modify the expression of drought responsive genes and regulate antioxidants. Results Three rice genotypes, WC-297 (drought tolerant), Caawa (moderately drought tolerant) and IR-64 (drought susceptible) were inoculated with Piriformospora indica (P. indica), a dynamic endophyte. After 20 days of co-cultivation with the fungus, rice seedlings were subjected to 15% polyethylene glycol-6000 induced osmotic stress. P. indica improved the growth of rice seedlings. It alleviated the destructive effects of the applied osmotic stress. This symbiotic association increased seedling biomass, the uptake of phosphorus and zinc, which are functional elements for rice growth under drought stress. It boosted the chlorophyll fluorescence, increased the production of proline and improved the total antioxidant capacity in leaves. The association with the endophyte also up regulated the activity of the Pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase (P5CS), which is critical for the synthesis of proline. Conclusion A mycorrhizal association between P. indica and rice seedlings provided a multifaceted protection to rice plants under osmotic stress (− 0.295 MPa). Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12284-018-0226-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The consolidation of numerous novel findings that produce a clear understanding of zinc (Zn) relevance to plant status is significant. The present review elaborates the roles of Zn in plant development and management with an aim to provide an updated picture to the current context of the topic for future studies. The fate of Zn utilization in plants starts with understanding the uptake and movement dynamics of the ion. Its uptake and translocation utilizes the symplastic or apoplastic route which could be influenced by water flow path and advection depending on transpiration rate. Cell membrane transporters can channel Zn ions to epidermal cells. Zinc has ameliorating effects in several plant stresses such as heavy metal toxicity, salinity and drought. Moreover, the transcriptional factors including zinc finger proteins (ZFPs) are involved in plant growth regulation and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Finally, the pivotal strategies aimed at optimizing plant Zn nutritional contents mainly target the improvement of plant Zn efficiency, genetic and agronomic biofortification to combat Zn malnutrition in the world.

This research study was conducted to make wrinkle free fabric by applying formaldehyde free anti-wrinkle finishes like Texicil DC, Knittex RCT, Arkofix NEC, Arkofix ELF. In this effort, various concentrations of these finishes were used by adopting three different finish applying techniques (pad-dry technique, pad-dry-cure technique and pad-flash-cure technique) on pure cotton fabric in order to optimize their application for best manufacturing results in sense of the shrinkage ability of the fabric. After making quality test of the resulting fabric it was depicted that pad dry method of applying finish proved itself better as compared to other techniques adopted in this research, while the finish Arkofix ELF and Arkofix NECat concentration level of 120 g/L gave better results in respect of shrinkage of the fabric.