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.     

Induction of resistance against downy mildew pathogen in pearl millet by a synthetic jasmonate analogon

The synthetic 1-oxo-indanoyl-l-isoleucine methyl ester (Ind-Ile-Me) represents a highly active mimic of octadecanoic phytohormones, which are involved in plant defenses against pathogens and pests. Seed treatments and foliar spray with Ind-Ile-Me were tested for induced resistance against downy mildew disease caused by the phytopathogenic oomycete Sclerospora graminicola in pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) under greenhouse and field conditions. Under greenhouse conditions, a 50% protection level was achieved after seed treatment. Seed treatment in combination with foliar spray resulted in 60% protection. The induction of resistance was correlated with the enhanced activities of defense-related proteins such as phenylalanine-ammonia-lyase, peroxidase, and enhanced level of hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins. Under field conditions, a maximum protection of 62% was recorded upon seed treatment along with foliar spray. Hence, it infers that Ind-Ile-Me can be used as a valuable protection compound at least in downy mildew disease management.     

Identification of the Putative Cytoplasmic Donor of a CMS System in Brassica juncea

Chloroplast (cp) and mitochondrial (mt) DNA restriction profiles of a cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) line of Brassica juncea and its maintainer line were compared and found to be markedly different. Comparison of cpDNA restriction profiles of fifty different species of genus Brassica and some allied genera showed that the cpDNA profiles of CMS lines were similar to that of B. tournefortii for twenty different restriction endonucleases. This CMS system is thus not of spontaneous origin as reported earlier, but is alloplasmic in nature. Comparison of restriction profiles of mtDNA of B. tournefortii and CMS lines revealed some differences which might either be due to changes in DNA pattern during the transfer, or, due to the cytoplasm coming from a B. tournefortii line different from the one used in this study.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.