Casuarina equisetifolia L. commonly called whistling pine is an economically and industrially important tree species with global significance. Although species possess versatile importance worldwide, efforts imparted for selection and designing a robust model of selection index are inadequate. The selection process, based on quantitative and qualitative traits, identified 15 superior trees from the eastern coastal plain of Odisha. These superior trees showcased exceptional qualitative and quantitative attributes. Correlation analysis highlighted key similarities among various traits like volume and above ground biomass (AGB), volume and diameter at breast height (DBH), DBH and AGB, DBH and Tree Height (TH), crown length (CL), height, AGB and height. Principal component analysis emphasized substantial contributions of traits like DBH, height, CL, crown width, AGB and volume across different clusters. Furthermore, culmination resulted in a comprehensive selection index, integrating both qualitative and quantitative characters, reaching 52.04, signifying superior performance among specific accessions. The current study provides valuable insights into selection and designing optimal selection index of C. equisetifolia, guiding future decisions concerning optimal wood production and resource management.

Tree architecture is an important factor in increasing performance and better garden management of pistachios. In a pistachio breeding programme, the genotypes obtained from five open pollinated populations were evaluated in terms of growth characteristics. Among the evaluated genotypes, ‘Apatiye’ was identified. This genotype has shoots with crouch angle more than 90° and a height of 110 cm. In previous year's shoots, the terminal buds abort and fall in early spring, stimulating more lateral buds to grow (6–7) than other genotypes (3–4). The growth characteristics of ‘Apatiye’ create a valuable potential resource for breeding pistachio cultivars with low alternate bearing, suitable for manual harvesting and pruning management. In addition, ‘Apatiye’ can be used as a suitable genetic marker in the study of heritability of growth habit in pistachio trees for future studies.

Discriminatory morpho-metric features are obvious on legume seeds. This study utilized seven quantitative and 11 qualitative seed traits to characterize 139 African yam bean (AYB) breeding lines which were developed through single seed descent procedure. The seven quantitative data were subjected to analysis of variance, their means were combined with qualitative scores for genetic distance, principal component (PC) and clustering analyses. Significant (P ≤ 0.001) variation existed among the breeding lines for the seven traits. Mean ranges of seed length (SL), width (SW), thickness (ST) and a single seed weight (SSW) among the 139 breeding lines were respectively: 6.77–10.22 mm, 5.70–7.86 mm, 4.96–7.45 mm and 0.15–0.42 g. Positive and significant (P ≤ 0.05) genotypic correlation existed among SSW, SL, SW and ST. Seed colours, pattern, shapes, sizes, surface texture, brilliance varied among the breeding lines. Ranges of phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation and broadsense heritability were: 5.49–23.84%, 2.95–19.88% and 28.91–69.54% respectively. Fourteen (quantitative and qualitative) traits contributed higher (≥ 0.30) eigenvector loadings to the first three PC axes which explained 57.9% of the total variation among the breeding lines. Similarity among the lines was 0.75. Four clusters ensued in the dendrograph and each group had genetic similarities of: 0.85 (I), 0.82 (II), 0.78 (III) and 0.80 (IV). This research unveiled significant variation among AYB breeding lines with promising reliability for breeding opportunities of the qualitative and quantitative seed traits, which could contribute to higher grain yield and acceptability.

Pummelo is the largest citrus species in the Rutaceae family and is important for human health and nutrition. This fruit is underutilized and threatened by human activities in its natural habitat. The present research was conducted in the Devanahalli region of Karnataka, which has a vast diversity of pummelo. This study aimed to evaluate 40 pummelo genotypes, selected through a preliminary survey, using morphological, biochemical and sensory assessments. Fruit and pulp weights ranged from 344.03 to 1746.23 g and 194.39 to 1073.07 g, with mean values of 939.67 and 522.81 g, respectively. Traits such as fruit length, diameter, fruit axis diameter, fruit volume, number of segments, rind thickness, fruit, pulp, peel weight, seed weight and seeds per fruit showed highly significant differences. Biochemical analysis revealed that ascorbic acid content varied from 28.53 to 60 mg/100 g, titratable acidity from 0.73 to 2.07% and total soluble solids from 7.63 to 11.07°Brix. High phenol (55.08–166.17 mg GAE/g FW) and flavonoid (39.26–137.78 mg CE/g FW) content were observed in fruit pulp, indicating significant antioxidant potential. Several morphological and biochemical traits exhibited significant positive correlations. A slightly higher phenotypic coefficient of variation was found for all the characters compared to the corresponding genotypic coefficient of variation. The principal component analysis indicated that the first nine components contributed 94.24% of the total variation. Hierarchical cluster analysis divided the populations into two distinct clusters. Sensory analysis indicated that genotypes, DVP-1 and DVP-2 had higher acceptability rates. The significant variations in plant traits among the genotypes offer great chances to select the best ones for genetic improvement programmes.

Wild species of rice possess tremendous genetic variations and harbour resistance genes for biotic stresses. Bacterial blight (BB), caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), is a major disease affecting rice production globally. The current study characterized 116 accessions from 17 species of Oryza for BB disease during three seasons viz., kharif 2020, rabi 2020–21, kharif 2021 using an isolate of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) strain IX-020. A total of 40 accessions including Oryza rufipogon, O. nivara, O. officinalis and O. australiensis showed consistence resistance to the bacterial blight disease across the seasons. These accessions were further subjected to molecular characterization using 11 Xa genes viz., Xa4, xa5, xa13, Xa21, Xa23, Xa27(t), Xa32(t), Xa33, Xa35(t), Xa38 and xa41 with gene-specific markers to ascertain the novelty. Some key resistance genes such as Xa4, Xa23, Xa27(t), Xa32(t), Xa33, Xa35(t) and xa41 were detected in multiple accessions, with O. rufipogon and O. eichingeri harbouring particularly complex combinations of these genes. Notably, several accessions viz., IC521672 (O. nivara), EC861665 (O. officinalis), EC861677 (O. latifolia), EC861711 (O. punctata) and EC861738 (O. eichingeri) did not show the presence of any known genes indicating the possibility of novel genetic loci conferring BB resistance in these wild species. These promising accessions identified in the study are potential novel sources for bacterial leaf blight resistance in rice and will be useful for the development of durable bacterial blight resistance rice cultivars.

This study examines the morphological and chemical characteristics of seeds from five Fritillaria species: Fritillaria pinardii, Fritillaria pontica, Fritillaria kittaniae, Fritillaria imperialis and Fritillaria alfredae Post subsp. glaucoviridis (Turrill) Rix. Morphological measurements included total length, total width, embryo length, embryo width, seed left-wing coverage width, seed right-wing coverage width and the distance between crossing points. These measurements revealed significant differences among the species. For example, F. imperialis exhibited the longest seeds and the largest embryos, while F. alfredae Post subsp. glaucoviridis had the smallest dimensions. Chemical analyses were conducted using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, identifying various significant compounds across the species. High proportions of 2,2-dimethoxybutane were found in the seed samples. In F. pontica, compounds such as 2,2-dimethoxybutane (66.33%) and 1,1-dipropoxypropane (13.24%) were prevalent. Fritillaria kittaniae seeds showed high levels of benzene, 1,1′-(3,3-dimethyl-1-butenylidene) bis- (25.57%) and cyclohexene, 3-methyl-6-(1-methylethylidene)- (6.89%). In F. imperialis, significant compounds included 1,3-dioxolane-4-methanol, 2-ethyl-2-methyl (9.73%) and dodecane (5.73%). Fritillaria pinardii had notable amounts of 3,6-dimethyloctane (4.81%), while F. alfredae subsp. glaucoviridis contained 2-methoxyethyl(trimethyl)silane (13.21%). Principal component analysis and cluster analysis revealed clear groupings based on morphological and chemical similarities. Fritillaria pinardii, F. pontica and F. kittaniae formed a cluster due to their similar morphological and chemical characteristics, whereas F. imperialis and F. alfredae subsp. glaucoviridis formed a distinct group. These findings provide valuable insights into the identification and classification of Fritillaria species. Integrating morphological and chemical data can enhance the accurate identification of these species. This study contributes to understanding the natural diversity of Fritillaria species and has implications for ecological studies.