Identification of a Stable Maintainer Line for 'Polima' Cytoplasmic Male Sterility in Rapeseed (B. napus L.)

‘Polima’ cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) was transferred to three different genotypes of B. napus i.e. GSL-1, ISN706 and HNS-8 by repeated backcrossing and was found to be completely stable in the nuclear background of synthetic B. napus genotype, ISN706, derived from a cross B. campestris ssp. oleifera var. brown sarson ×B. oleracea var. botrytis cv. Tusa Katki'. The BC₅ and BC₆ generation lines of ISN706, GSL-1 and HNS-8 with ‘Polima’ CMS were grown under a range of temperature and photo-period conditions to test their stability. No breakdown in sterility was observed in ‘Polima’ ISN706 and, therefore, this genotype can be used as a maintainer for hybrid seed production.     

Genetic Diversity for Morphological and Quality Traits in Quinoa(<Emphasis Type="Italic">Chenopodium quinoa</Emphasis> Willd.) Germplasm

Twenty nine germplasm lines of Chenopodium quinoa and two of Chenopodium berlandieri subsp. nuttalliae were evaluated for 12 morphological and 7 quality traits for two test seasons. The 19 traits were analyzed for cluster and principal component analysis. The first four PCs contributed 78.70 % of the variability among the germplasm lines. The first PC accounted for 39.5% of the variation and had inflorescence/plant, plant height and stem diameter as the traits with largest coefficients, all with positive sign. The characters with greatest positive weight on PC₂ were days to maturity (0.309), inflorescence length (0.260) and branches/plant. All the germplasm lines were grouped into six clusters based on average linkage method. Cluster III had high values for seed yield and most of the quality traits but showed a small seed size. The dendrogram separated the two lines of C. berlandieri subsp. nuttalliae from the quinoa lines.     

Optimal rate and schedule of nitrogen fertilizer application for enhanced yield and nitrogen use efficiency in dry-seeded rice in north-western India

Dry direct-seeded aerobic rice (DSR) is an emerging attractive alternative to traditional puddled transplanted rice (PTR) production system for reducing labour and irrigation water requirements in the Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP) of India. The fertilizer N requirement of DSR grown with alternate wetting and drying water management may differ from that of PTR grown under continuous flooding due to differences in N dynamics in the soil/water system and crop growth patterns. Limited studies have been conducted on optimizing N management and application schedule for enhanced N use efficiency in DSR. Therefore, field experiments were conducted over 3 years in NW India to evaluate the effects of N rate and timing of its application on crop performance and N use efficiency. Interaction effects of four N rates (0, 120, 150, and 180 kg ha^?1) as urea and four schedules of N application on yield and N use efficiency were evaluated in DSR. The N schedules included N application in three equal split doses (0, 35 and 63, and 14, 35 and 63 days after sowing, DAS) and four equal split doses (0, 28, 49 and 70; 14, 28, 49 and 70 DAS). There was no significant interaction between N rate and schedules on grain yield. Significant response to fertilizer N was observed at 120 kg N ha^?1 and economic optimum dose for three equal split doses and skipping N at sowing was 130 kg N ha^?1. Highest mean grain yield of 6.60 t ha^?1 was obtained when N was applied in three equal split doses at 14, 35 and 63 DAS which was about 8.5% higher compared with N applied in four equal split doses at 14, 28, 49 and 70 DAS. Under the best N application schedule, agronomic N use efficiency (26 kg grain kg^?1), recovery efficiency (49%) and physiological efficiency (53 kg kg^?1) were comparable to the values reported in Asia for PTR. Results from our study will help to achieve high yields and N use efficiency in DSR to replace resource intensive PTR.     

Isolation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Penicillium hirsutum</Emphasis> from spoiled,packaged asparagus spears in Japan

During storage studies on asparagus spears packed in plastic film and held at 15°C, a Penicillium fungus was associated with subsequent spoilage. On the basis of colony characteristics, the isolate was identified as Penicillium hirsutum Diercks. This report is the first of Penicillium hirsutum causing spoilage of asparagus spears in Japan. Inoculation tests showed that among all the Penicillium species tested in this study only the identified fungus was able to infect asparagus spears.     

Transcriptomic analysis of changes in Citrus × microcarpa gene expression post Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri infection

European Journal of Plant Pathology - Citrus canker (CC) is an economically important bacterial disease caused by Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (Xcc). There is variability in resistance to CC...     

Screening new <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arachis</Emphasis> amphidiploids,and autotetraploids for resistance to late leaf spot by detached leaf technique

Cultivated groundnut is susceptible to late leaf spot (LLS) caused by Phaeoisariopsis personata [(Berk. & M.A. Curtis) Aex] and resistance is low to moderate in the primary gene pool of groundnut. Closely related wild species in the secondary gene pool are highly resistant to the disease. All the closely related Arachis species are diploid and cultivated groundnut is a tetraploid. Utilization of diploid Arachis species to transfer LLS resistance is time consuming and cumbersome. New sources of Arachis hypogaea (also called synthetic groundnut) were developed at ICRISAT. These are tetraploids and the present investigation has shown that they are resistant to LLS.     

Phylogenetic relationships of Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp. (pigeonpea) and its wild relatives based on seed protein profiles

Total seed storage protein of 9 accessions of cultivated C. cajan and 10 wild Cajanus species was reported and compared by sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. A considerable variation was detected among the protein profiles of different accessions of C. cajan while those of wild species were very specific and distinctly different from each other. Relative similarities between various taxa were estimated by Jaccard's similarity index and cluster analysis was performed to produce a UPGMA dendrogram. The clustering of 10 wild species and C. cajan more or less agrees with their sectional classification and available data based on morphological characteristics, crossability, genome pairing in hybrids and nuclear RFLPs. The species closest to C. cajan is C. cajanifolia although the accessions of C. cajan also share some bands present in the profiles of C. scarabaeoides, C. goensis, C. lineatus, C. acutifolius and C. volubilis. This points towards polyphyletic origin of the cultigen which has been discussed in this paper.     

Karyotypic Studies on Some Cultivated and Wild Species of Chenopodium (Chenopodiaceae)

Detailed karyotypic studies have been done in 20 wild and cultivated taxa of Chenopodium, which belong to three ploidy levels 2x, 4x and 6x. C. quinoa (4x) shows minor but consistent differences in the arm ratio of various chromosomes within the complements of different accessions. The chromosomes can be arranged in 18 pairs that suggest allotetraploid nature. The karyotype of C. berlandieri subsp. nuttalliae (4x) is basically similar to that of C. quinoa. C. bushianum (6x) is distinctly different from the above two species in showing highest ratio between longest and shortest chromosomes. C. album complex is characterized by consisting of 2x, 4x and 6x cytotypes. Marked karyotypic differentiation is seen even among various 2x accessions. The 4x cytotype has a more asymmetrical karyotype as compared with 2x and 6x cytotypes. The karyotypic differences are also apparent between two 6x cytotypes studied. C. strictum (6x) and C. giganteum (6x) show close similarity to 6x types of C. album.