Meta-analysis of biodynamic (BD) preparations reveal the bacterial population involved in improving soil health, crop yield and quality.

Background: Bacterial community found in biodynamic preparations (BD500-BD507) can help improve soil health, plant development, yield, and quality. The current work describes a metagenomic investigation of these preparations to identify the bacterial communities along with the functional diversity present within them.

Results: Metagenome sequencing was performed using the Illumina MiSeq platform, which employs next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology, to provide an understanding of the bacterial communities and their functional diversity in BD preparations.

Biological Management of Banana Fusarium Wilt Caused by f. sp. Tropical Race 4 Using Antagonistic Fungal Isolate CSR-T-3 ().

wilt in bananas is one of the most devastating diseases that poses a serious threat to the banana industry globally. With no effective control measures available to date, biological control has been explored to restrict the spread and manage the outbreak. We studied the effective biological control potential of different spp.

Is early morning flowering an effective trait to minimize heat stress damage during flowering in rice?

Higher spikelet sterility due to heat stress exposure during flowering in rice is becoming a major threat for sustaining productivity in tropical and sub-tropical regions. Therefore, exploiting and incorporating early morning flowering (EMF) trait into ongoing breeding pipelines could be an effective strategy to minimize the damage. In this study, we have focused on quantifying the time of day of flowering traits such as first spikelet opening time (FSOT) and peak spikelet opening time (PSOT) in a diverse set of cultivars (n = 289) representing major rice growing regions (13 tropical and 20 subtropical countries) over three years (wet season; WS-2012, dry season; DS-2013 and 2014), under field conditions.