Multi-locus genome wide association study uncovers genetics of fresh seed dormancy in groundnut.

Pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) in groundnut leads to substantial yield losses and reduced seed quality, resulting in reduced market value of groundnuts. Breeding cultivars with 14-21 days of fresh seed dormancy (FSD) holds promise for precisely mitigating the yield and quality deterioration. In view of this, six multi-locus genome-wide association study (ML-GWAS) models alongside a single-locus GWAS (SL-GWAS) model were employed on a groundnut mini-core collection using multi season phenotyping and 58 K "Axiom_Arachis" array genotyping data.

Transect approach for assessing major and trace elemental contamination in agricultural soils of the palamaner division, chittoor district, andhra pradesh, india.

Three soil transects located in the granitic regions of Palamaner mandal, Andhra Pradesh, India, were examined to assess the pollution levels of both primary and secondary metals (Si, Al, Fe, Ca, Mg, Na, K, Cu, Mn, P, and Zn) and to ascertain the degree of soil pollution in agricultural areas. The soils along these transects are slightly acid to neutral, with dark brown to red rubified argillic clay-rich B horizons alongside a moderate cation exchange capacity. The A horizon soils display low organic carbon levels with a moderate variability and contain over 70% SiO, exhibiting low variability due to limited leaching in a semiarid climate.

Validation and identification of promising gene specific markers governing foliar disease resistance in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.).

Background: Groundnut is vulnerable to the major foliar fungal disease viz., late leaf spot (LLS) and rust in kharif season, which results in severe yield losses. Until now, LLS and rust resistance linked markers were developed based on GPBD 4 as a major donor source and were validated in its derivatives only, which restricted their use in marker assisted selection (MAS) involving other donors.

Development of miRNA-SSR and target-SSR markers from yield-associate genes and their applicability in the assessment of genetic diversity and association mapping in rice ( L.).

Unlabelled: The gene-derived functional markers are considered effective to use in marker-assisted breeding and genetic diversity analysis. As of now, no functional markers have been identified from miRNAs regulating yield traits. The miRNAs play a key role as regulators in controlling the candidate genes involved in grain yield improvement in rice.

Development of activation-tagged gain-of-functional mutants in indica rice line (BPT 5204) for sheath blight resistance.

Background: The development of sheath blight (ShB) resistance varieties has been a challenge for scientists for long time in rice. Activation tagging is an efficient gain-of-function mutation approach to create novel phenotypes and to identify their underlying genes. In this study, a mutant population was developed employing activation tagging in the recalcitrant indica rice (Oryza sativa L.

Panicle transcriptome of high-yield mutant indica rice reveals physiological mechanisms and novel candidate regulatory genes for yield under reproductive stage drought stress.

Background: Reproductive stage drought stress (RDS) is a major global threat to rice production. Due to climate change, water scarcity is becoming an increasingly common phenomenon in major rice-growing areas worldwide. Understanding RDS mechanisms will allow candidate gene identification to generate novel rice genotypes tolerant to RDS.

Haplotype analysis of QTLs governing early seedling vigor-related traits under dry-direct-seeded rice (Oryza sativa L.) conditions.

Background: The eventual shifting of cultivation method from puddle transplanted rice to direct-seeded rice (DSR) to save water prompted researchers to develop DSR-suitable varieties. To achieve this, identification of molecular markers associated with must-have traits for DSR, especially early seedling vigour related traits is crucial.

Methods And Results: In the present investigation, the haplotype analysis using flanking markers of three important quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for early seedling vigour-related traits viz.

Nanoparticulate Silica Internalization and Its Effect on the Growth and Yield of Groundnut ( L.).

In recent years, foliar applications of nanoparticles are increasingly being employed in agricultural fields as fertilizers to enhance crop yields. However, limited studies are available on the foliar uptake of nanoscale nutrients and their interaction with plants. In this study, we reported the effects of foliar spray with varied concentrations of nanoscale silica (N-SiO) and bulk tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS at 2000 ppm) on the growth and yield of groundnut.

Identification of genomic regions governing moisture and heat stress tolerance employing association mapping in rice (Oryza sativa L.).

Background: Rice crop is damaged extremely by abiotic stress world-wide. The best approach to enhance drought tolerance in rice varieties is to identify and introgress yield QTLs with major effects. The Association mapping approach helps in the identification of genomic regions governing physiological, yield and yield attributes under moisture and heat stress conditions in diverse collections of crop germplasm, based on historic recombination events and linkage disequilibrium across the genome.

Elucidation of the population structure and genetic diversity of associated with rice brown spot disease using SSR markers.

Unlabelled: Brown spot disease, caused by , is one of the several disastrous diseases affecting rice. The brown spot fungus illustrates substantial pathogenic and genetic variability. To the best of our knowledge, extensive analysis utilizing specific SSR primers for genome is quite inadequate for the population structure and genetic diversity of Indian isolates.

Yield-associated putative gene regulatory networks in Oryza sativa L. subsp. indica and their association with high-yielding genotypes.

Background: With the increase in population and economies of developing countries in Asia and Africa, the research towards securing future food demands is an imminent need. Among japonica and indica genotypes, indica rice varieties are largely cultivated across the globe. However, our present understanding of yield-contributing gene information stems mainly from japonica and studies on the yield potential of indica genotypes are limited.

Duplex PCR assay for detection of chickpea chlorotic dwarf virus and peanut witches' broom phytoplasma in chickpea.

A duplex PCR assay was standardized by optimizing PCR reaction constituents and cycles for the simultaneous detection of chickpea chlorotic dwarf virus (CpCDV) and a peanut witches' broom (PnWB) phytoplasma associated with the chickpea stunt disease. Coat protein gene and gene specific primers for CpCDV and phytoplasmas were used. Different concentrations of the PCR components such as polymerase, primers and PCR annealing temperature were standardized for the identification of the two agents by a duplex PCR assay.

A novel barcode system for rapid identification of rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties using agro-morphological descriptors and molecular markers.

Rice varietal identification is a crucial aspect in breeding, seed production and trade in order to protect the interests of the farmers and consumers. As the number of varieties released is rising every year, the need to identify them unambiguously also increases. Here, we developed a novel barcode system to identify 62 rice genotypes using agro-morphological descriptors and molecular markers.

Molecular characterization of chickpea chlorotic dwarf virus and peanut witches' broom phytoplasma associated with chickpea stunt disease and identification of new host crops and leafhopper vectors in India.

An investigation was carried out to identify and characterize the phytoplasma and viruses associated with the chickpea varieties showing severe stunting, leaf reddening, yellowing and phyllody symptoms during the summer season of 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 in eight states of India. The average disease incidence was recorded from 3 to 32% in different states. The presence of chickpea chlorotic dwarf virus (CpCDV) was confirmed in thirty-seven chickpea samples by amplification of CpCDV coat protein gene and sequence comparison analysis.

Discovery of genomic regions and candidate genes for grain weight employing next generation sequencing based QTL-seq approach in rice (Oryza sativa L.).

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) yield enhancement is one of the prime objectives of plant breeders. Elucidation of the inheritance of grain weight, a key yield component trait, is of paramount importance for raising the yield thresholds in rice.

Identification of differentially expressed genes under heat stress conditions in rice (Oryza sativa L.).

Rice production in recent years is highly affected by rapidly increasing temperatures in the tropical and sub-tropical countries, which threatens the sustainable production in near future. Hence, understanding the heat tolerance mechanism and evolving tolerant varieties is an immense need in the staple crop rice. An experiment has been conducted to identify differentially expressed genes in rice under heat stress conditions by employing a diverse set of 32 rice genotypes that includes reported heat tolerant genotypes Nagina 22 (N22) and Dular.

Uncovering of natural allelic variants of key yield contributing genes by targeted resequencing in rice (Oryza sativa L.).

In rice (Oryza sativa L.), during the course of domestication, numerous beneficial alleles remain untapped in the progenitor wild species and landraces. This study aims at uncovering these promising alleles of six key genes influencing the yield, such as DEP1, Ghd7, Gn1a, GS3, qSW5 and sd1 by targeted resequencing of the 200 rice genotypes.

The use of slow releasing nanoparticle encapsulated Azadirachtin formulations for the management of O. (groundnut bruchid).

Nanobiotechnology is one of the emerging fields and its interventions in agriculture is been attracting the scientific community. Herein, the authors first to report on control of groundnut bruchid ( O.) using nanoscale zinc oxide (ZnONPs) particles and nanoscale chitosan (CNPs) particles-based Azadirachtin formulations.

Size dependent effects of antifungal phytogenic silver nanoparticles on germination, growth and biochemical parameters of rice ( L), maize ( L) and peanut ( L).

Advancement in materials synthesis largely depends up on their diverse applications and commercialisation. Antifungal effects of phytogenic silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were evident, but the reports on the effects of the same on agricultural crops are scant. Herein, we report for the first time, size dependent effects of phytogenic AgNPs (synthesised using leaf extract) on the germination, growth and biochemical parameters of three important agricultural crops viz.

Novel Effects of Nanoparticulate Delivery of Zinc on Growth, Productivity, and Zinc Biofortification in Maize (Zea mays L.).

In the present investigation, nanoscale zinc oxide particulates (ZnO-nanoparticulates) were prepared using a modified oxalate decomposition method. Prepared ZnO-nanoparticulates (mean size = 25 nm) were characterized using techniques such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and zeta potential analyzer. Different concentrations (50, 100, 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, and 2000 ppm) of ZnO-nanoparticulates were examined to reveal their effects on maize crop on overall growth and translocation of zinc along with bulk ZnSO4 and control.

First Report of 16SrII-D Phytoplasma 'Candidatus Phytoplasma aurantifolia' Associated with Mung Bean Phyllody in Andhra Pradesh, India.

Mung bean (Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek) is an important edible legume grown in Asia, particularly in the Indian subcontinent, where it is used for human and animal consumption.

Fertility and Mating Type Frequency in Indian Isolates of Sclerospora graminicola, the Downy Mildew Pathogen of Pearl Millet.

Sclerospora graminicola, the downy mildew pathogen of pearl millet, is an oomycetous obligate parasite which reproduces by both sexual and asexual means. Fertility and mating type frequencies were studied in 70 single-zoospore isolates (SZIs) obtained from seven representative oo-sporic isolates (Sg 021, Sg 048, Sg 110, Sg 139, Sg 149, Sg 152, and Sg 153) of S. graminicola collected from major pearl millet-growing states of India.

First Report of Herbacious Hosts for Citrus yellow mosaic badna virus from India.

Citrus mosaic disease, a potential threat to citrus production throughout India, is currently an important disease in the southern and northeastern states (2). The reported incidence of the disease ranges from 10 to 77% (K. Gopal, G.