Cultivar Specific Response of CO2 Fertilization on Two Tropical Mung Bean (Vigna radiata L.) Cultivars: ROS Generation,Antioxidant Status,Physiology, Growth,Yield and Seed Quality

Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration (CO₂) is an important component of global climate change that will have a significant impact on the productivity of crop plants. In recent years, growth and yield of agricultural crop plants have been shown to increase with elevated CO₂ (EC) and have enticed considerable interest due to variation in the response of crop plants. In this study, comparative response of two mung bean cultivars (HUM‐2 and HUM‐6) was evaluated against EC at different growth stages under near‐natural conditions for two consecutive years. The plants were grown in ambient as well as EC (700 ppm) in specially designed open‐top chambers. Under elevated CO₂, marked down‐regulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, membrane disruption and activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase were noticed in both the cultivars, but the extent of reduction was more in HUM‐6. As compared to ambient CO₂, EC increased total chlorophyll, photosynthetic rate, growth and yield parameters. Cultivar‐specific response was noticed as HUM‐6 showed higher increase in yield attributes than HUM‐2. Under CO₂ treatment, soluble protein and reducing sugars decreased while total soluble sugars and starch showed an opposite trend. Principal component analysis showed that both the cultivars responded more or less similarly to EC in their respective groupings of physiological and growth parameters, but the magnitude of ROS and antioxidative enzymes was variable. The experimental findings depict that both the cultivars of mung bean showed contrasting response against EC and paved the way for selecting the suitable cultivar having higher productivity in a future high‐CO₂ environment.     

Development of SCAR markers linked to the Ns locus in potato

A random amplified polymorphic DNA marker OPG17₄₅₀ linked to the Ns gene that confers resistance of potato to potato virus S (PVS), was used to develop sequence‐characterized amplified region (SCAR) markers. After cloning and sequencing of OPG17₄₅₀ new polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers were designed to generate dominant (SCG17₃₂₁) and codominant (SCG17₄₄₈) markers. For SCG17₄₄₈, polymorphism between susceptible and resistant genotypes was recovered after digestion of the marker with the restriction enzyme Muni. In addition to the band corresponding to ‘susceptible’ allele that does not contain the Muni cleavage site, two bands of approximately 251 bp and 197 bp were observed in the resistant genotypes. The usefulness of these SCAR markers was verified in diploid potatoes possessing the Ns locus from clone G‐LKS 678147/60, and in tetraploid potatoes derived from G‐LKS 678147/60 and from clone MPI 65118/3.     

Inheritance of seedling and adult plant resistance to leaf rust of selected Australian spring and English winter wheat varieties

Genetic studies were conducted to gain an understanding of the inheritance of adult plant resistance (APR) to leaf rust in six common wheat varieties. The Australian varieties ‘Cranbrook’ and ‘Harrier’ each carry two genes for APR to leaf rust. These genes are genetically independent of the seedling resistance genes Lr23 and Lrl7b, carried by the respective varieties. Adult plant resistance in ‘Suneca’ was conferred by at least two genes, in addition to the seedling genes Lr1 and Lrli. It is likely that the APRs in ‘Cranbrook’, ‘Harrier’ and ‘Suneca’ are conferred by uncharacterized gene(s). Tests of allelism confirmed that seedling resistances in the varieties ‘Avocet R’, ‘Hereward’, ‘Moulin’ and ‘Pastiche’ are conferred by Lrli. Adult plant resistance in the variety ‘Hereward’ was inherited monogenically, whereas varieties ‘Moulin’ and ‘Pastiche’ each carried two dominant genes. On the basis of rust specificity and pedigree analysis, it would seem likely that the APR genes in ‘Hereward’, ‘Moulin’ and ‘Pastiche’ are also currently uncharacterized.     

Maize Hybrid Variability for Transpiration Decrease with Progressive Soil Drying

Drought is ubiquitous in rainfed cropping systems and often limits maize yields. The sensitivity of transpiration response early in progressive soil drying is a trait with potential to improve crop drought resistance. Simulation studies demonstrated that increased sensitivity to drying soil leading to restricted transpiration rates results in conservation of soil water during vegetative stages for possible use during grain filling. In contrast to other crops, there have been no studies characterizing genotypic variability for this trait in maize. Experiments in controlled environments were conducted to characterize the fraction of transpirable soil water (FTSW) threshold on drying soil for 36 hybrids selected for variation in the field for drought resistance, regions of adaptation and stay green. While FTSW thresholds varied among hybrids from 0.60 to 0.33, these thresholds were not uniformly associated with level of drought resistance in the field. Nevertheless, this study demonstrated a high FTSW threshold corresponded with drought resistance observed in some modern maize germplasm (hybrids #7, 17, 24, 27 and 32). This knowledge can enable breeding work seeking to exploit this adaptive trait to improved drought tolerance in low threshold FTSW germplasm.     

Potential use of doubled haploid lines for the screening of resistance to yellow rust (Puccinia striiformis) in hexaploid wheat

Doubled haploid lines derived from anther culture of two Iranian spring wheat genotypes‘Ghods’susceptible and‘9106’resistant to yellow rust in Iranian field conditions, and their F₁ hybrids were used in this study. Seedlings of 36 doubled haploid lines, selected out of 96 according to their agronomic traits and the two parental genotypes were inoculated with eight races of yellow rust. The parental genotypes (‘Ghods’and‘9106’) were segregating for some of the races but their doubled haploid lines were either resistant or susceptible to them.‘Ghods’was susceptible to three of the races studied but three doubled haploid lines derived from it were resistant to them. Five selected doubled haploids from the‘9106’genotype and six from F₁ hybrid plants were resistant to all eight races tested. After further investigations in Iranian field conditions it was found that some of these lines can be used as donor genotypes for resistance to yellow rust in wheat breeding programmes. Use of these genotypes should be possible if the French yellow rust races used for selection also represent the dominant races in Iran. It can be concluded that anther culture provides an efficient method for fixing genes of resistance to yellow rust and desirable doubled haploids from F₁ plants can be derived.     

Potential of marker-assisted selection in hemp genetic improvement

Summary The development and applications of molecular markers to hemp breeding are recent, dating back only to the mid-1990s. The main achievements in this field are reviewed. The analysis of Cannabis germplasm by RAPD, AFLP and microsatellites is discussed, with its consequence for the still debated species concept in Cannabis. DNA-based markers have also been exploited in the field of forensic science, in an attempt to discriminate licit from illicit crop. The main applications of the molecular markers to the breeding, however, have been achieved with the development of markers closely linked to the male sex and to some of the most relevant chemotypes. Active research is carried out by several groups in the field of identification and characterization of the genes involved in fiber quality and quantity, and in the determination of monoecy, another very important target of hemp breeding. Besides, markers associated to new, potentially useful chemotypes are being developed, for the marker-assisted breeding of pharmaceutical Cannabis.     

Breeding research in sweet potato,Ipomoea batatas Poir

As the sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas Poir, is propagated vegetatively its selection is comparatively simple. Choice of parents and selection procedures were carried out on the basis of yield capacity, resistance or tolerance to a fungus and virus disease, resistance to Cylas formicarius F. and the shape and size of tubers. Because insufficient data were available the protein content played no important role in the choice of parents. In the selection procedures, also this character could not yet be taken into account because the laboratory equipment was insufficient. This might have changed in the future.In the selection fields the new clones were planted by the side of a well-known test-clone, in such a way, that every new clone had a test on either side. At every selection cycle 25% of the new clones was kept for further research while the rest was rejected. On two generations the visible disease symptoms of new clones increased considerably while their production capacity decreased. For various characters a clear relation could be demonstrated between the phenotype of the parents and their offspring.     

Education and Household Location in Chicago

This paper examines the choice of residential location in the city of Chicago versus its suburban areas. Data from the 5 percent Public Use Microdata Sample from the 1990 and 2000 Census of Population and Housing are used. Particular attention is given to the effects of educational attainment. Place of work continues to dominate the residential location decision. However, conditioning on place of work, demographics, and income, educational attainment is found to be statistically significant in residential choice of the city versus the suburbs in 2000 for non‐Hispanic whites, especially those with graduate degrees. In contrast, more educated African‐Americans and Hispanics tend to locate in suburban areas.