Fonio (Digitaria exilis (Kippist) Stapf) and Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.) are native crops grown at a small scale in Mali that have potential to support agricultural productivity under climate change. A community biodiversity management approach was explored in this study as a means to reinforce the cultivation of these crops by increasing farmers' access to intraspecific diversity and developing capacities of community institutions for their management. The research involved six communities in Ségou and Sikasso regions. Multiple varieties of fonio (10–12) and Bambara groundnut (8–12) were established in diversity fields in each site over 2 years where farmers engaged in experiential learning over the crop cycle. Significant adoption of fonio and Bambara groundnut was detected in several study sites. The precise drivers of adoption cannot be definitively determined but likely include increased seed access and awareness gained through the diversity field fora, seed fairs and community seed banks. No significant yield advantage was detected for any of the varieties in the diversity fields, which showed variable performance by site and year. The number of varieties registered and managed by community seed banks in each site increased from 1–5 varieties of each crop to 11–12 varieties following the interventions. The number of Bambara groundnut varieties cultivated in farmers' fields also increased, while there was evidence of a slight decline in fonio diversity in some communities. The results of this study can inform efforts to strengthen seed systems and cultivation of neglected and underutilized species in Africa.

The aims of the current study were to investigate the effect of drought stress on phenological and morphological traits of sunflower genotypes and to determine the important traits for identifying drought-tolerant and drought-sensitive cultivars. For this purpose, a lattice square-design experiment was conducted with 64 sunflower genotypes in an 8 × 8 pattern with two replications under non-stress and moisture-stress conditions (irrigation holding at the flowering stage) during 2 years 2016 and 2017. Measured and recorded traits were included the some phenological and morphological traits seeds. Sil-96 genotype showed the highest yield under both non-stress and moisture-stress conditions. Among the morphological traits, the head and stem diameters were highly significant to determine the final yield. In comparing the genotypes, it was concluded that the number of seeds per head was the most influential component affecting the yield. Furthermore, 1000-seed weight was the most important factor affecting grain yield under moisture-stress conditions. The result of association analysis study shows that 45 of inter-simple sequence repeat markers in a general linear model are associated with yield and yield component traits and 23 of them were verified in a mixed linear model (MLM) association approach. Also, 32 markers were informative for morpho-physiological traits and 24 of them verified using the MLM. Finally, 19 informative markers were identified for phenological traits and 10 of them were verified by the MLM.

Occurrence of drought under rainfed conditions is the foremost factor responsible for yield reduction in soybean. Developing soybean cultivars with an inherent ability to withstand drought would immensely benefit the soybean production in rainfed areas. In the present study, F2 derived mapping populations were developed by crossing drought tolerant (PK 1180, SL 46) and susceptible (UPSL 298, PK 1169) genotypes to investigate the inheritance of seedling survival drought mechanisms and to identify simple-sequence repeat (SSR) markers associated with them, using bulked segregant analysis. Parents as well as a F2 derived mapping population were screened for drought tolerance based on seedling survivability under controlled conditions. Segregation analysis of F2 population derived from a cross between PK 1180 × UPSL 298 was previously shown to have a 3:1 tolerant to susceptible ratio and a probability of 0.61 at a χ2(3:1) value of 0.258. This was confirmed in another F2 population derived from a cross between PK 1169 × SL 46 with a χ2(3:1) value of 0.145 obtained at a probability of 0.70. One SSR marker Satt277 showed polymorphism between contracting bulks (tolerant and susceptible) out of 50 polymorphic markers identified during parental polymorphism. Single marker analysis suggested that the marker, Satt277 is linked to seedling survival drought tolerance and is located on chromosome linkage group C2 (chr 6) with a map distance of 3.40 cM. The tolerant genotypes identified could be used as a donor in soybean improvement programs. The marker identified can be used in marker-assisted selection while screening large collection of germplasm.

Badh2 of rice is considered to be the major gene responsible for the fragrance in rice. The wild type badh2 allele encodes betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (BADH2) enzyme while the mutated version of badh2 gene encodes non-functional BADH2 enzyme that leads to the accumulation of 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2AP), the principal fragrant compound in rice. There are many mutated recessive alleles causing fragrance in global rice germplasm, although the badh2.1 allele present in Basmati type rice is the most well-known among breeders. In this study, we attempted to reveal potential fragrance causing mutations, and the respective varieties carrying them, through in silico analysis based on the sequences available in the Rice SNP-Seek-Database of International Rice Research Institute. The sequences of 1878 rice accessions from 22 countries were analysed to identify mutations in each exon of badh2 comparatively with the non-fragrant ‘wildtype’ GenBank sequence in Nanjing11, Oryza sativa indica (EU770319.1). Results revealed that 63 varieties from 12 countries possessed the most prevalent allele, badh2.1 having an 8 bp deletion and three single nucleotide polymorphisms in the 7th exon. The second most prevalent allele in genotypes from Asia was badh2.7 having a ‘G’ insertion in the 14th exon. A novel allele with a T deletion in 9th exon was detected in a Thai rice accession. Rice varieties containing either badh2.1 or badh2.7 alleles could be identified with DNA markers for badh2.1 (frg) and badh2.7 (Bad2.7CAPS). The marker, Bad2.7CAPS, co-segregated with the fragrance phenotype in two crosses, confirming the possibility of employing it in marker assisted breeding.

Anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum lentis is an important fungal disease of lentil in western Canada. Two known pathogenic C. lentis races, race 0 and race 1 have been identified and current cultivars of lentil have little or no resistance to the virulent race 0. Seven Lens culinaris subsp. culinaris landrace accessions were previously reported to have resistance to C. lentis race 0. In this study, accession VIR-2633, with reported resistance to both races of C. lentis, and seven accessions were assessed for race 0 resistance relative to LR-59-81, an interspecific line derived from a L. culinaris subsp. culinaris × Lens ervoides cross. The results showed a lack of effective resistance to race 0 among the tested L. culinaris accessions when compared to that of LR-59-81. A few sublines displayed modest improvements in resistance compared to the susceptible check ‘Eston’, but were significantly more susceptible than LR-59-81. Moreover, screening of the sublines of accession VIR-2633 identified 12 sublines with resistance to race 1, but all VIR-2633 sublines were susceptible to race 0. The study underlined the importance of wild lentil germplasm for broadening the genetic base of cultivated lentil and their usefulness in disease screening experiments as positive checks.

A selection of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) genotypes with diverse origin and breeding history including 33 landraces, eight modern varieties and two commercial hybrids has been characterized using a set of 25 qualitative descriptors and six quantitative traits. A wide range of variation was evident for the majority of traits, highlighting their utility for characterizing tomato germplasm collections. A plethora of qualitative traits including type of leaf blade, depression and ribbing at peduncle end, fruit shape at blossom end, number of locules and flowering time, as well as measured traits with economic importance such as fruit fresh weight, firmness and total yield per plant, were found to be highly variable within the collection, with a diversity index greater than 0.8. Strong correlations were detected among several traits related to fruit yield and quality. Two-dimensional principal component analysis as well as the unsupervised hierarchical clustering grouped genotypes according to their phenotypic resemblance and morphological characteristics to a great extent. Landraces from different origins were scattered across the whole variation spectrum of PC1 and PC2. A set of six qualitative traits could efficiently discriminate cultivars in PCA (explaining 75% of total variation), suggesting that it can serve as a valuable breeding tool for the germplasm characterization. The evaluation of the phenotypic diversity in the collection as well as the identification of traits that contribute most to heterogeneity have important implications for establishing core collections with high diversity, as well as designing breeding schemes across the Mediterranean basin.

Castor is a prime industrial crop belonging to a monotypic genus and its genetic improvement depends on creating desired variability in the primary gene pool. This study reports the development of tetraploid castor plants through colchicine treatment. Seeds of three castor genotypes were soaked in aqueous solutions of colchicine with variable concentrations, and the LD50 value was determined. Of 1010 treated field-raised plants, three were identified as potential polyploids based on increases in a guard cell size and reductions in the number of stomata. The putative polyploid plants were selfed and the progeny were subjected to meiotic analysis. All the progeny were found to be tetraploid. The pairing of chromosomes was abnormal with univalent to octavalent configurations during meiosis-I, but the later parts of meiosis were normal. Seasonal variations in pollen fertility indicated the possible role of temperature-sensitive male sterility in causing the sterility in tetraploid plants. The tetraploid plants were phenotypically comparable with their diploid counterparts, but produced substantially bigger seeds. Thus, these tetraploid plants are valuable resources for basic and applied research in castor.

The development of crop varieties with enhanced economic value requires considerable resources, time and intellectual input. The individual/agencies/institutions other than the originator/developers can easily multiply and commercialize pure-line varieties which are the only cultivar option in predominantly self-pollinated crops like dolichos bean and derive economic benefits from them. Seeking legal rights on crop varieties is the best and the only way to protect them from unlawful claim of their origin/development and deriving economic benefits from them. Seeking legal protection from unauthorized commercialization of crop varieties under Indian PPV & FR Act requires establishment of their distinctness (D), uniformity (U) and stability (S). DUS of crop varieties are established predominantly using morphological descriptors. Five genotypes which include two released varieties (HA 3 and HA 4) (referred to as reference varieties) and one advanced breeding line, HA 11–3 and two elite germplasm accessions, Kadalavare and GL 66 (referred to as candidate varieties) were characterized for 25 morphological descriptors to establish their DUS. All the candidate varieties differed from reference varieties for at least one characterization descriptors, indicating their distinctness. The absence of off-types indicated the uniformity of reference and candidate varieties and hence was deemed stable. Thus, the study demonstrated the utility of morphological descriptors for establishing DUS dolichos bean genotypes.