Identification of novel candidate genes for Ascochyta blight resistance in chickpea.

Ascochyta blight, caused by the necrotrophic fungus Ascochyta rabiei, is a major threat to chickpea production worldwide. Resistance genes with broad-spectrum protection against virulent A. rabiei strains are required to secure chickpea yield in the US Northern Great Plains.

Exploring the potential of flour, starch concentrate, and protein concentrate from Richlea lentils in the development of lentil based extruded puffs.

Lentil puffs were developed from a mixed design of varying weight fractions of lentil flour (x1), lentil starch concentrate (x2), and lentil protein concentrate (x3) using a twin-screw pilot scale extruder at a dry feed rate of 20 kg/h (d.b.), a water feed rate of 2 kg/h, and an extruder screw speed of 350 rpm.

Multi-trait multi-environment genomic prediction of preliminary yield trial in pulse crop.

Phenotypic selection of complex traits such as seed yield and protein in the preliminary yield trial (PYT) is often constrained by limited seed availability, resulting in trials with few environments and minimal to no replications. Multi-trait multi-environment enabled genomic prediction (MTME-GP) offers a valuable alternative to predict missing phenotypes of selection candidates for multiple traits and diverse environments. In this study, we assessed the efficiency of MTME-GP for improving seed protein and seed yield in field pea, the top two breeding targets but highly antagonistic traits in pulse crop.

Effective population size in field pea.

Background: Effective population size (N) is a pivotal parameter in population genetics as it can provide information on the rate of inbreeding and the contemporary status of genetic diversity in breeding populations. The population with smaller N can lead to faster inbreeding, with little potential for genetic gain making selections ineffective. The importance of N has become increasingly recognized in plant breeding, which can help breeders monitor and enhance the genetic variability or redesign their selection protocols.