Seed Priming Influence on Early Crop Growth,Phenological Development and Yield Performance of Linola (Linum usitatissimum L.)

Reduced early crop growth and limited branching are amongst yield limiting factors of linola. Field response of seed priming treatments viz. 50 mmol L⁻¹ salicylic acid (SA), 2.2% CaCl₂ and 3.3% moringa leaf extract (MLE) including untreated dry and hydropriming controls was evaluated on early crop growth and yield performance of linola. Osmopriming with CaCl₂ reduced emergence time and produced the highest seedling fresh and dry weights including Chl. a contents. Osmopriming with CaCl₂ reduced crop branching and flowering and maturity times and had the maximum plant height, number of branches, tillers, pods and seeds per pod followed by MLE. Increase in seed weight, biological and seed yields was 9.30, 34.16 and 39.49%, harvest index (4.12%) and oil contents (13.39%) for CaCl₂ osmopriming. Positive relationship between emergence and seedling vigor traits, 100-seed weight, seed yield with maturity time, 100-seed weight and seed yield were found. The study concludes that seed osmopriming with CaCl₂ or MLE can play significant role to improve early crop growth and seed yields of linola.     

Inducing waterlogging tolerance in cotton via an anti-ethylene agent aminoethoxyvinylglycine application

Increased ethylene biosynthesis in cotton tissues have been associated with accelerated fruit abscission and yield losses in waterlogged cotton. In a series of glasshouse and field experiments, we investigated the effect of various application rates (0, 50, 100 and 150 [active ingredient, ai] ha^?1) and time (pre- and post-waterlogging) of an anti-ethylene agent, aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG) on the growth and yield of cotton. The glasshouse study suggested that AVG (100–150 g [ai] ha^?1) applied 24 h prior to waterlogging can increase growth and fruit retention (FR) of waterlogged (WL) and non-waterlogged (NWL) cotton. The positive effects of AVG were further validated in two years of field studies, suggesting that AVG (125 g [ai] ha^?1) applied at an early reproductive phase of cotton can significantly increase cotton yield under WL (13%, averaged over two years) and NWL (9%, averaged over two years) environments. Yield increase in AVG-treated cotton was associated with increased number of bolls, boll weight and FR. On the other hand, no further improvement in cotton yield under higher AVG concentration (150 g [ai] ha^?1) indicated the saturation of AVG on ethylene inhibition. Thus, appropriate AVG concentration and application timing may help overcome waterlogging-induced yield losses in cotton production systems.     

Study of heritable variation and genetics of earliness in mungbean (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Vigna radiata</Emphasis> L. Wilczek)

Fifty-five mungbean lines were evaluated for days to maturity and grain yield per plant. This material showed considerable range of variability for the target traits. Eight genetically diverse parents were selected and used for a full diallel set of crosses to study the mode of inheritance for earliness related parameters (days to flowering, days to maturity and length of reproductive phase) during summer 2005. The F₁ generation of these crosses was sown during the spring of 2006 and the selfed seeds were used to raise the F₂ generation during kharif season. The data recorded from two generations were subjected to genetic analysis. The formal ANOVA showed the significance of both additive and dominance effects for all the traits in both generations. Significance of D, H₁ and H₂ components also confirmed the contribution of both additive and dominance effects in controlling the inheritance of these traits. The estimates of narrow sense heritability were low to moderate except higher estimates for days to maturity in F₂ generation, while the broad sense heritability estimates were relatively higher. Seasonal and environmental effects were also found to be significant. In view of the complex nature of gene action for earliness, it is suggested that breeders should look for transgressive recombinants of earliness and other desirable attributes in later segregating generations to gain higher genetic advance. The variety NM92 was found to be the best source of earliness in mungbean breeding.     

Alphaherpesvirus-vectored vaccines against animal diseases: Current progress

Recombinant virus-vectored vaccines are novel agents that can effectively activate specific and nonspecific immunity, are multivalent and multieffective, and have high safety ratings. Animal alphaherpesviruses have a large genome, contain multiple nonessential regions that do not affect viral replication and are capable of accepting the insertion of an exogenous gene and expressing the antigen protein. Furthermore, animal alphaherpesviruses have a wide host spectrum, can replicate in the host and continuously stimulate the animal to produce immunity to the corresponding pathogen, thus making them ideal carriers for recombinant virus-vectored vaccines. With the development of gene-editing technology, recombinant viruses capable of expressing foreign genes can be constructed by various methods. Currently, studies on recombinant virusvectored vaccines constructed based on animal alphaherpesviruses have involved poultry, pigs, cattle, sheep, and companion animals. Studies have shown that the construction of recombinant animal alphaherpesviruses enables the acquisition of immunity to multiple diseases. This article mainly summarizes the current progress on animal alphaherpesvirus-vectored vaccines, aiming to provide reference for the development of new animal alphaherpesvirus-vectored vaccines.     

Detection of major weather patterns reduces number of simulations in climate impact studies

With climate change posing a serious threat to food security, there has been an increased interest in simulating its impact on cropping systems. Crop models are useful tools to evaluate strategies for adaptation to future climate; however, the simulation process may be infeasible when dealing with a large number of G × E × M combinations. We proposed that the number of simulations could significantly be reduced by clustering weather data and detecting major weather patterns. Using 5, 10 and 15 clusters (i.e., years representative of each weather pattern), we simulated phenology, cumulative transpiration, heat-shock-induced yield loss (heat loss) and grain yield of four Australian cultivars across the Australian wheatbelt over a 30-year period under current and future climates. A strong correlation (r²≈1) between the proposed method and the benchmark (i.e., simulation of all 30 years without clustering) for phenology suggested that average duration of crop growth phases could be predicted with substantially fewer simulations as accurately as when simulating all 30 seasons. With mean absolute error of 0.64 days for phenology when only five clusters were identified, this method had a deviation considerably lower than the reported deviations of calibrated crop models. Although the proposed method showed higher deviations for traits highly sensitive to temporal climatic variability such as cumulative transpiration, heat loss and grain yield when five clusters were used, significantly strong correlations were achieved when 10 or 15 clusters were identified. Furthermore, this method was highly accurate in reproducing site-level impact of climate change. Less than 7% of site × general circulation model (GCM) combinations (zero for phenology) showed incorrect predication of the direction (+/−) of climate change impact when only five clusters were identified while the accuracy further increased at the regional level and with more clusters. The proposed method proved promising in predicting selected traits of wheat crops and can reduce number of simulations required to predict crop responses to climate/management scenarios in model-aided ideotyping and climate impact studies.     

Acceptance and competitiveness of new improved wheat varieties by smallholder farmers

We conducted this research because earlier research revealed that Pakistani farmers were growing 8–10-year-old wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties and hence not benefitting from the recent advances in wheat breeding. Participatory varietal selection (PVS) trials were conducted to have farmers validate and include newly released wheat varieties into seed-production stream to speed up replacement of old and obsolete wheat varieties by farmer-preferred new high-yielding varieties. Fourteen new varieties recommended for irrigated and eight for rainfed environments were evaluated in this research involving smallholder farmers in food-deficit districts of Pakistan. Collaborating farmers preferred 10 varieties from the PVS trials, eight of which were germplasm from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) that yielded on average 5–17% more grain than local checks. Local checks used in the PVS trials in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were old improved varieties. Greater yield advantage from new varieties over local checks was reported from rainfed environments and areas where old local checks were used. The PVS research showed the possibility of ensuring food security of smallholder farmers as new high-yielding varieties gave an additional 0.3 –0.5 tons of grain per ha, sufficient to feed two to three persons per year. Research also revealed that innovative farmers in rainfed regions grew wheat varieties recommended for irrigated regions to identify high-yielding wheat varieties with stable performance. Feedback by farmers to wheat breeding research system was to develop even higher yielding new wheat varieties with diseases resistance to replace old and obsolete varieties to boost food security.     

Report of Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae) from the high-altitude and cold arid region of Ladakh,India

Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura, 1931) is here reported for the first time from the high-altitude and cold arid region of Ladakh, which is a Northwestern Himalayan region of India and is the second coldest inhabited place in the world. The species is emerging in the Ladakh region as a serious apricot pest, causing a considerable amount of economic loss.     

Hydrogen peroxide reduces heat‐induced yield losses in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) by protecting cellular membrane damage

We investigated the effect of various growth substances such as hydrogen peroxide, salicylic acid (SA), moringa leaf‐extract (MLE) and ascorbic acid (ASA) on leaf physiology and seed cotton yield (SCY) of heat‐stressed cotton. Cotton plants were exposed to elevated temperatures at three reproductive stages, either by staggering planting time in the field or by increasing growth cabinet temperatures (38/24°C and 45/30°C) in glasshouse. Elevated temperature at any reproductive phase significantly damaged cellular membrane and reduced SCY. Plants exposed to 38/24°C and 45/30°C in glasshouse produced 63% and 22% lower SCY, respectively, compared with plants under optimal temperature ((32/20°C). In response to high temperature, cotton plants up‐regulated activities of anti‐oxidative enzymes e.g. peroxidase and ascorbic acid. However, this defensive system could not protect cellular membrane of stressed plants from extreme temperature (38 and 45°C). In contrast, growth substances such as H2O2, ASA and MLE significantly increased anti‐oxidative enzymes activity to an extent, which reduced heat‐induced damage to cellular membrane. No significant effect of any regulator was observed on SCY under optimum temperatures; although H2O2, MLE and ASA significantly increased SCY of heat‐stressed cotton. Hydrogen peroxide increased SCY of April and May thermal regimes crops by 16% (averaged across both sowing dates) under field, while it caused 14% and 20% increase in SCY of plants exposed to sub (38/24°C) and supra optimal (45/30°C) thermal regimes under glasshouse. We concluded that growth regulators, specifically, H2O2 can protect cotton crops from heat‐induced cellular membrane damage by up‐regulating antioxidant defense system.