Physiological characterization of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) under abiotic stresses for breeding purposes.

In the Brazilian wet and dry seasons, common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) are grown under rainfed conditions with unexpected episodes of drought and high temperatures. The objective of this study was to evaluate the physiological mechanisms associated with drought adaptation traits in landraces and line/cultivars of beans from the Andean and Mesoamerican gene pools.

Overexpression of a phospholipase (OsPLDα1) for drought tolerance in upland rice (Oryza sativa L.).

This work aimed to evaluate the drought tolerance of transformed plants of the cultivar BRSMG Curinga that overexpress the rice phospholipase D α1 (OsPLDα1) gene. The productivity of independent transformation event plants of the OsPLDα1 gene was evaluated in an experiment where 19 days of water deficit were applied at the reproductive stage, a very strict growing condition for upland rice. The non-genetically modified cultivar (NGM) under drought treatment reduced productivity by 89% compared with that under irrigated treatment, whereas transformed plants (PLDα1_E2) reduced productivity by only 41%.

Association mapping for yield and grain quality traits in rice (Oryza sativa L.).

Association analysis was applied to a panel of accessions of Embrapa Rice Core Collection (ERiCC) with 86 SSR and field data from two experiments. A clear subdivision between lowland and upland accessions was apparent, thereby indicating the presence of population structure. Thirty-two accessions with admixed ancestry were identified through structure analysis, these being discarded from association analysis, thus leaving 210 accessions subdivided into two panels.