The limited genetic resource of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the most critical issue impeding its improvement and production. Collection and characterization of chickpea for agronomic traits is prerequisite to build a successful breeding programme through expanding chickpea's genepool to fulfil the needs of farmers and breeders, such as grain size and yield which supply food to a world rising population. To reach such an objective, numerous collection missions were carried out in Algeria, covering the northern agro-ecological environments, this allows us to gather 56 national and international genotypes that report a phenotypic variability and may provide a valuable diversity of useful features. Characterization experiments of 19 agro-morphological traits were set up at the Technical Institute of Field Crops over two successive seasons 2020 and 2021. All traits were statistically significant and the cluster analysis classified the genotypes into three major group, where local and improved accessions revealed an interesting outcome in terms of seed yield and resistance to Ascochyta blight. In general, the current study's findings clearly demonstrated that plant and seed morphological characteristics could be used to distinguish and identify chickpea genotypes. More often, it might participate as a source of variation in breeding programmes to meet the desirable improvement targets.

Tetraploid wheat species from Ethiopia hold ample genetic variation, which could provide a source for improvement of wheat. A total of 196 Ethiopian tetraploid wheat (Triticum turgidum spp.) accessions, including 174 landraces and 22 improved cultivars, were evaluated at Sinana and Debrezeit to assess morphological variation, genetic advance, heritability and correlation based on 11 phenotypic traits. Except for spike length, highly significant variation (P < 0.001) among genotypes for all traits was observed. The observed mean and range values of the phenotypic traits revealed high variability in the accessions. Phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) and genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) values were high for grain yield, biomass yield and harvest index. Seed yield showed highly significant (P < 0.001) negative correlation with days to booting and days to maturity and positive correlation with all traits. The estimates of heritability (H2) for grain yield and the number of spikelets per spike respectively ranged from 41.78 to 84.62%. The genetic advance as a percentage of mean was low for the number of seeds per spikelet, days to booting and days to maturity; intermediate for plant height, thousand kernel weight and spike length and high for the number of spikelets per spike, the number of effective tillers per plant, grain yield, biomass yield and harvest index, respectively. The number of spikelets per spike gave a high value of genetic advance and heritability implying high genetic gain from its selection.

The patterns and extent of genetic variation among 56 cashew germplasm with respect to 32 qualitative and 33 quantitative traits were evaluated for two successive years in the present study. Additionally, maturase K gene-based genetic diversity among those breeding materials was also assessed. The cashew hybrids were developed from five crosses (local parent × 2/9 Dicherla; H-2/15 × red hazari; WBDC-V × JGM-1; BLA-39-4 × H-2/15 and H-2/15 × yellow hazari) involving eight parents of Indian cashew. Different genotype groups (parents and their hybrids) showed significant variation in both the years of assessment based on quantitative characters. The highest Shannon–Weaver diversity (H′) was obtained for the colour of the young leaf (0.96), possibly indicating differential exposure to sunlight, mixing of various pigments and another set of chemicals such as phenolics, carotenoids, etc. in trees. From correlation studies, canopy spread, tree spread, nuts/m2 and nuts/panicle were found to be significantly and positively correlated with nut yield. In the year 2021, nuts/m2, area and tree height were the significant explanatory variables that explained 80% of the variation in the yield, whereas in 2022, nuts/m2, tree area, nuts/panicle, kernel weight, shell thickness, inflorescence breadth and sex ratio explained 86% of the variation. Principal component analysis indicated that the genotypes under study are diverse enough to be exploited for the future cashew improvement programmes.

Melon is one of the important cucurbitaceous crops being cultivated widely in India and known for its delicious fruits. Crop is threatened by different biotic stresses including nematodes, fungi and viruses. The use of host resistance is the most economical, eco-compatible and long-lasting strategy to combat plant diseases. Keeping in mind this objective, 64 melon genotypes were screened against the prevalent Meloidogyne incognita, Fusarium oxysporum and tomato leaf curl Palampur virus (ToLCPalV) individually as well as with combined inoculations under artificial conditions. Out of 64 genotypes, three genotypes, MCPS, SM2012-1 and WM11 were found moderately resistant to M. incognita, nine genotypes (MM-KP15103, MM327, MM121103, KP4HM15, MM Sel.-103, SM2013-2, SM2012-1, SM2013-9 and WM11) recorded a resistant reaction against Fusarium wilt while four genotypes, WM11, SM2012-1, SM2013-9 and SM2013-2 exhibited a highly resistant reaction against ToLCPalV. A dendrogram constructed based on the resistance response of all the genotypes divided the genotypes into two groups and all resistant genotypes (MM1804, MM120103, SM2012-1, MM121103, SM2013-2, SM2013-9, WM11 and MM Sel.103) clustered in group II. The resistant genotypes when subjected to simultaneous inoculations of all three pathogens showed an increase in disease severity for each pathogen which negatively altered the resistance response of different genotypes. However, the genotypes SM2012-1, SM2013-9, SM2013-2 and WM-11 showing multiple disease resistance exhibited a good level of resistance even after combined inoculations of three pathogens. This study is the first to our knowledge identifying multiple disease resistance against root-knot nematode, Fusarium wilt and tomato leaf curl Palampur virus in muskmelon.

In an effort to control anthracnose disease, one of the major problems that has been faced by farmers, 14 chilli hybrids and their parents were screened phenotypically using the fruit inoculation method under laboratory conditions. Genotypic screening of 14 chilli hybrids and their parents was done by the identified polymorphic markers, HpmsE 051 and HpmsE 082. Based on the phenotypic and genotypic data, chilli hybrids, H1, H2, H3, H4, H6, H7, H8, H9, H11 and H12 were identified as resistant chilli hybrids against anthracnose disease caused by the C. truncatum. Molecular markers, HpmsE 051 and HpmsE 082 could be utilized as polymorphic markers to isolate resistant genotypes against C. truncatum.

The domestication of rice increases the divergence between cultivated rice and its wild progenitor because of artificial selection. However, it remains unknown whether highly diverged loci in rice can be explained by neutral demographic scenarios alone. In this study, we genotyped 45 InDels (insertion/deletion) in two subspecies of Asian cultivated rice (Oryza sativa ssp. japonica and Oryza sativa ssp. indica) and their wild progenitor (O. rufipogon/O. nivara). Among them, 17 loci are highly diverged (FST > 0.4) between rice cultivars and their ancestor. We performed coalescent-based simulations on neutral demographic scenarios and found that neutral demography alone could explain the polymorphic profiles on those highly diverged loci between cultivated and wild rice. Therefore, more signatures of selection should be considered when detecting artificial selection in rice.

Exploring the nutritional potential of underutilized legumes such as Dolichos bean (Lablab purpureus L.) is of great significance, particularly, in view of accomplishing the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goal number two, which emphasizes on improving food and nutrition security by 2030. A thorough understanding of genetic variability is crucial for developing biofortified cultivars of Dolichos bean. In this study, the Dolichos bean genotypes represented by pole and bush types (28 bush and 19 pole types) were assessed for genetic variability for Cu, Mn, Fe and Zn contents. Pole type genotypes had higher average contents for all micronutrients except manganese. Among micronutrients, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn, content ranged from 10.10–19.95, 77.13–331.93, 22.78–46.40 and 42.03–102.85 mg kg−1 in pole type, and 8.2–18.5, 50.8–99.3, 25.65–53.25 and 37.15–63.25 mg kg−1 in bush type beans, respectively. Strong positive correlations between Cu, Fe and Zn concentrations occurred, which indicates the possibility of simultaneous improvement of these nutrients. Pod pigmentation was positively correlated with contents of Fe and Zn. There was an association of micronutrients with yield. The pole genotypes VRSEM-1000, VRDB-01 and VRSEM 109 and bush type genotypes VRBSEM-3, VRBSEM-35 and VRBSEM- 200 are good source of microelements and high yielders. Gene sources with enhanced nutrients may be used as cultivated forms or as input material for breeding nutritionally rich biofortified varieties of bean.

Despite the increasing demand for diverse Centella asiatica (L.) Urb. species in Korea, studies on related topics are limited, with the majority of studies focusing on functional evaluations, rather than genetic diversity. Therefore, in this study, we explored the genetic diversity of C. asiatica, a valuable medicinal plant collected from six island regions in Korea, using genotyping-by-sequencing analysis. Specifically, we aimed to understand plant genetic variations, population structure and the potential for conservation and genetic improvement. The results indicated relatively high genetic diversity among the samples collected from the six island regions but low genetic differentiation among their populations. Two distinct genetic clusters were identified; however, even within these clusters, genetic differentiation was minimal. The lack of significant isolation-by-distance patterns and evidence of potential clonal spread suggested that some individuals that adapted to colder Korean conditions achieved dominance. This study highlights the importance of assessing the genetic diversity of native C. asiatica in Korea and explores the possibility of conducting follow-up studies to understand the phytochemical content and bioactivity variations among the individuals. This information can aid in the selection of superior resources and effective utilization of plant genetic resources for cultivar development and other applications.