Fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum, Schlecht. emend. Snyd. & Hans. f. sp. ciceri is prevalent in most chickpea-growing countries and is a major devastating disease. Host plant resistance is the most practical method of disease management. Indigenous chickpea germplasm reveals a heterogeneous genetic make-up and the response of resistance to wilt is an unexplored potential source for disease resistance. There are 70 indigenous germplasm lines selected on the basis of their agronomic performance and diverse areas of collections in the country. Of these, four accessions had a highly resistant score of 1 and six had a score of 3 using a 1–9 rating scale, indicating their level of resistance to Fusarium wilt (race 4). Other germplasm accessions of chickpea were found to be moderately resistant to highly susceptible disease reaction. Likewise, the same set of germplasm was also screened for Meloidogyne incognita (race 1) using pot culture under controlled condition. Only one accession was found to be resistant to this pest. These resistant gene sources can be utilised effectively for race-specific chickpea wilt and root-knot resistance breeding programmes.

Drought is the major abiotic constraint to the rice production in the rain-fed areas across Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Wild species of Oryza offer a wide spectrum of adaptive traits and can serve as potential donors of biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. At the Punjab Agricultural University, we are maintaining an active collection of 1630 accessions of wild species germplasm (AA, CC, BBCC and CCDD) of rice. These accessions were screened to assess genetic variation for drought tolerance under field conditions. Severe water stress was imposed at the late vegetative stage by withholding water initially for 25 d and then extended further to 35 d during kharif season in the years 2013–14 and 2015–16. The tolerance score for drought stress was based on the extent of leaf rolling and leaf drying. Based on the 2 years’ data, seven accessions from Oryza rufipogon, four from Oryza longistaminata and one each from Oryza officinalis and Oryza latifolia were found tolerant to drought stress. These selected accessions were further phenotype for root morphology. The average root length among the selected accessions ranges between 36 and 80 cm and the number of primary roots vary from 30 to 87 cm. The O. rufipogon accession IRGC 106433, O. longistaminata accession IRGC 92656A, O. officinalis accession IRGC 101152 and O. latifolia accession IRGC 80769 showed approximately 2–2.5 times longer root length and number than the indica rice elite cultivar PR121. The results indicated potentiality of selected wild species germplasm for conferring drought tolerance to the elite cultivars.

A collection of 120 Ethiopian tetraploid wheat accessions was analysed for high-molecular weight (HMW) glutenin subunit, low-molecular weight (LMW) glutenin subunit and omega gliadin composition by SDS–PAGE. For the HMW glutenin subunits, a new allelic variant, 2****, was detected which has not been previously described at the Glu-A1 locus. A high proportion of Glu-A1x banding pattern was observed in durum wheat. For the Glu-B1 locus four different banding patterns were detected. Among those HMW glutenin subunits, 7+8 were the most common, while subunits 14+15 and 6+8 were found to be rare. A high degree of variation was evident for the LMW glutenin subunits and D-zone omega gliadins. The association of the composition of the gluten with quality has been discussed. This wide variation can be used in improving the quality of wheat and to widen its genetic base.

Crop wild relatives (CWR) are a vital source of traits for crop improvement – therefore, conserving CWR diversity is critical to ensure food, nutrition and economic security. Efficient CWR conservation planning is a critical first step to maintain this natural resource for future use. The development of National Strategic Action Plans (NSAPs) for the conservation and sustainable use of CWR is an effective means of conservation planning and also plays an important role in sensitizing policy makers and other stakeholders to the importance of CWR. Tools to guide and facilitate countries in CWR national conservation planning and NSAP development have been prepared, namely: an ‘Interactive Toolkit for CWR Conservation Planning’, a ‘Template for the Preparation of a NSAP for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of CWR’, a ‘Template for the Preparation of a Technical Background Document for a NSAP for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of CWR’, a ‘CWR Checklist and Inventory Data Template’ and an ‘Occurrence Data Collation Template’. In this short communication, we briefly explain what these tools are, how they were developed, how they can be used and where they can be found.

Wheat, a major food crop, faces significant yield constraints due to losses caused by various diseases, especially rusts and powdery mildew. Since the causal organisms are always evolving, there is a never-ending hunt for new genes/quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for resistance to control the damage. For this purpose, Triticum durum–Aegilops speltoides backcross introgression lines (DS-BILs) developed in our wide hybridization programme were screened against stripe rust and powdery mildew at both seedling and adult plant stages. DS-BILs showed complete to moderate resistance at the adult plant stage while varying resistance and susceptibility at the seedling stage. A total of 1095 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) identified on 14 chromosomes of T. durum, using genotyping by sequencing, were used for QTL mapping. Eleven unique QTLs, across six chromosomes (chr1B, chr2A, chr2B, chr3B, chr6B and chr7B) were identified for resistance, four QTLs for field mixture of stripe rust pathotypes, two QTLs for stripe rust pathotype 78S84 and five QTLs for field mixture of powdery mildew pathotypes using stepwise regression-based likelihood ratio test for additive effect of markers and single-marker analysis. Eleven DS-BILs carrying multiple QTLs were identified which will serve as a useful resource to transfer the respective resistance to susceptible cultivars to develop all stage resistant elite cultivars where QTL for stripe rust resistance QYrAs.pau-2A.1 (LOD 3.8, PVE 24.51 linked to SNP S2A_16016633) and QTL for powdery mildew resistance QPmAs.pau-6B (logarithm of the odds (LOD) 3.2, phenotypic variation explained (PVE) 17.75 linked to SNP S6B_26793381) are major targets of the transfer.

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (1CRISAT) genebank in India holds the world's largest collection of 21,594 pearl millet germplasm accessions from 50 countries including 6529 landraces from ten Asian countries. Gap analysis using passport and characterization data and geographical information system tools revealed 134 distinct districts of 14 provinces in India and 12 districts of Punjab province in Pakistan as the major geographical gaps. Different methods of identifying geographical gaps used in the study indicated Chittoor, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Prakasam and Warangal in Andhra Pradesh; Raigarh in Chattisgarh; Dewas and Rewa in Madhya Pradesh; Buldana and Hingoli in Maharashtra; Malkangiri, Nabarangapur, Naupada and Sundergarh in Orissa; Bhilwara, Chittaurgarh and Kota in Rajasthan; Thiruvallur and Vellore in Tamil Nadu; and Auraiya, Chandauli, Chitrakoot, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Hamirpur, Kushinagar, Mau, Shrawasti and Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh as common geographical gaps in India. A total of 208 distinct districts in 12 provinces were identified as gaps in diversity for one or more traits. Among all districts, Beed, Latur and Osmanabad in Maharashtra, India, for all traits; Rajanpur, Muzaffargarh, Multan and Lodhran for panicle length and Chakwal and Sargodha for panicle width in Pakistan; and southern parts of North Yemen and Lahiz provinces in Yemen were identified as gaps in the diversity. In India, Warangal in Andhra Pradesh; Rewa in Madhya Pradesh; Hingoli in Maharashtra; Vellore in Tamil Nadu; and Auraiya, Chandauli, Chitrakut, Gorakhpur and Mau in Uttar Pradesh were identified as gaps in diversity for one or more traits and found common to geographical gaps identified. In Pakistan, Lodhran, Multan and Muzaffargarh were identified as gaps common to probability and diversity methods. Area for exploration should be decided prior to launch of the collection mission in consultation with local government officials and extension officers, who are known to have knowledge in pearl millet cultivation in the identified districts. It is suggested to collect the complete passport data including georeference information while collecting the germplasm.

Ex situ seed banks provide an effective conservation and utilization system for crops and their wild relatives. Efforts are made to reduce genetic drift in conservation, where regeneration is a critical step. In the present study, we examined eight wild populations of red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) according to 13 morphological and phenological traits. Samples of original collected seed were grown and compared with plants from first and second ex situ generation, with commercial cultivars and landraces being included for purposes of comparison. Variance analysis and Tukey multiple comparisons of means showed that the commercial cultivars and landraces were clearly distinct from the wild populations and were excluded from the further analysis. Despite the fact that the wild accessions were collected from a geographically delimited region in Norway, they exhibited significant differences in several of the measured traits. The main phenotypic patterns remain after ex situ regenerations. However, the mean values for four of the examined traits (across accessions) did change significantly from one generation to the next. Two of the eight accessions had significantly changed from one generation to the next, a tendency was observed across all the studied traits. The results were discussed in terms of regeneration circumstances. Observed changes appeared to be directional, going from populations with predominantly wild morphological types towards plants more closely resembling the commercial cultivars. Such a directional change implies that selection or gene flow has been acting on the accessions during regeneration, rather than random changes owing to genetic drift.

Isozyme data were used to assess genetic diversity within and among a subdivided population of the salt-tolerant Batini barley landrace. Population diversity and its components were estimated on the basis of 12 isozymes scored on 450 single plants representing seven subpopulations. Two principal components, based on mean gene diversity, Shannon's diversity index, percentage polymorphic loci, genetic identity and genetic distance among subpopulations accounted for 91.7% of total variation and separated the subpopulations into four distinct groups. Contributions to total diversity by individual subpopulations were partitioned into intra- and inter-population components. The level of population differentiation indicates that a large percentage of total genetic diversity was apportioned within subpopulations. The presence of valuable genetic diversity in this landrace was confirmed.

Thirty-one accessions of Oryza glaberrima were evaluated to study the genetic variability, correlation, path, principal component analysis (PCA) and D2 analysis. Box plots depicted high estimates of variability for days to 50% flowering and grain yield per plant in Kharif 2016, plant height, productive tillers, panicle length and 1000 seed weight in Kharif 2017. Correlation studies revealed days to 50% flowering, plant height, panicle length, number of productive tillers, spikelets per panicle having a high direct positive association with grain yield, while path analysis identified the number of productive tillers having the maximum direct positive effect on grain yield. Days to 50% flowering via spikelets per panicle, productive tillers and plant height via spikelets per panicle exhibited high positive indirect effects on grain yield per plant. PCA showed that a cumulative variance of 54.752% from yield per plant, days to 50% flowering, spikelets per panicle and panicle length, contributing almost all the variation of traits while D2 analysis identified days to 50% flowering and grain yield per plant contributing maximum to the genetic diversity. Therefore, selection of accessions with more number of productive tillers and early maturity would be most suitable for yield improvement programme. The study has revealed the utility of African rice germplasm and its potential to utilize in the genetic improvement of indica rice varieties.

Botrytis grey mould (BGM), caused by the fungus Botrytis cinerea Pers. ex Fr., is an important disease of chickpea causing economic losses across the world in chickpea-growing regions. There are no available resistance sources in cultivated chickpea against this disease. Cicer echinospermum and C. reticulatum, the only two compatible annual wild species, have been reported to have resistance to BGM. Hence, interspecific populations were developed with susceptible cultivars as female parents and C. echinospermum accession IG 73 074 and C. reticulatum accession IG 72 937 as the pollen donors to transfer and assess the nature of genetic control for BGM. Screening the progeny indicated that resistance to BGM was controlled by a single additive gene/allele (bgmr1cr and bgmr1ce), which can be introgressed through a backcross breeding programme.

In this study an evaluation was made of changes in the genetic variation of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) of Nordic and Baltic origin, from the end of the 19th century until today. A comparison of Nordic and Baltic material with exotic material that has not been subjected to intense selection was also made. A total of 293 accessions, including 160 Nordic and 80 Baltic landraces, cultivars and breeding lines, and another 53 landraces of exotic origin (Central Asia), were surveyed using isozyme starch gel electrophoresis. For the four isozymes studied, 28 alleles at 11 loci were observed. The average total genetic diversity value (HT) for individual loci ranged between 0 and 0.519. In the exotic material nine loci were polymorphic and two monomorphic, compared to seven polymorphic and four monomorphic loci in the Nordic and Baltic material. Some of the rare alleles were detected only in the exotic material. The studied isozyme loci of Nordic and Baltic material indicated that modern cultivars have a lower average genetic diversity value compared to the landraces, old and exotic material.

Given the increasing importance of data quality for the ex situ conservation and utilization of plant genetic resources (PGR), an indicator was created that quantifies the level of completeness of passport data. This passport data completeness index (PDCI) uses the presence or absence of data points in the documentation of a genebank accession, taking into account the presence or value of other data points. For example, a wild accession should have a well-defined collection site but no variety name. Any type of accession, wild, landrace, breeding material or modern variety, can attain a maximal score of ten for this index. The applicability of this index was tested on the complete contents of EURISCO, the European catalogue of ex situ maintained PGR containing over one million records. Analysis of the PDCI of the material in EURISCO provided valuable insight in the data quality of European collections. The PDCI can be used to identify datasets that might need additional attention and improvement or datasets that need more careful interpretation than others.

The world collection of pearl millet at ICRISAT genebank includes 19,696 landraces. Passport and characterization data of 2,929 accessions belonging to 89 named landraces originating in 15 countries of Africa was used to study the adoption pattern and genetic potential. Out of 89 named landraces under study, 71 were grown in one country, 11 in two countries, six in three countries and one in four countries. Latitude and prevailing climate at collection sites were found as the important determinants of cultivation pattern of landraces. A hierarchical cluster analysis using 12 agronomic traits resulted in five clusters. Cluster 1 for late flowering, short height in rainy season, high tillering and thin panicles; cluster 2 for early flowering; cluster 3 for stout panicles in both the seasons and larger seeds and cluster 5 for longer panicles in both seasons, were found as promising sources. IP 8957, IP 8958, IP 8964 of Iniadi landrace for short height, downy mildew and rust resistance and high seed iron and zinc contents; IP 17521 of Gnali (106.9 ppm) and IP 11523 of Idiyouwe (106.5 ppm) for high seed iron content; IP 17518 of Gnali (79.1 ppm) and IP 11535 of Iniadi (78.4 ppm) for high seed zinc content were the important sources. All accessions of Raa for high seed protein content (>15%) and those of Enele for drought tolerance, were found to be promising sources. Further evaluation of promising sources identified in this study is needed for enhanced utilization of germplasm in pearl millet improvement.

Low temperature is a major constraint for crop productivity. To cope with this challenge, plants have developed several mechanisms to adapt to low temperature. Developing breeding strategies to enhance cold stress tolerance in crops requires an understanding of the mechanisms by which plants perceive and transmit cold stress-related signals to their cellular machinery, thereby activating adaptive responses. Only one quantitative trait locus for tolerance to low-temperature germination, qLTG3-1, has been narrowed down to the gene level in rice. A 71 bp indel that can be used to distinguish between tolerant and susceptible parents has been identified. We tested the 71 bp indel on 65 diverse rice genotypes including those adapted to colder climates of North and Northeastern India to find evidence of the tolerant allele (insertion) and to see whether it is associated with low-temperature germinability in these genotypes. Our results show that 48% of the rice genotypes tested carried the tolerant allele. The insertion was found to be significantly associated with cold tolerance during germination. Moreover, several landraces/improved varieties known for their superior performance in other abiotic stress conditions such as drought and high salinity conditions, and which were previously never exposed to low temperature, carry the beneficial allele for qLTG3-1, suggesting an additional role of this allele in adverse climatic conditions. This study enhances current understanding of the distribution of the tolerant allele qLTG3-1 in rice germplasm, which could help in the identification of suitable donors for potential marker-assisted breeding programmes.

Momordica charantia L. (Cucurbitaceae) is a commonly cultivated functional food plant. In the present study, karyological variation among 34 accessions of M. charantia originating from the Indian subcontinent (Bangladesh, India and Pakistan) and Thailand was evaluated. Ploidy levels ranging from diploid (2n= 22) to hexaploid (2n= 66) were observed. Hexaploidy in M. charantia is reported herein for the first time. Chromosome length ranged from 0.8 to 2.9 μm. The hexaploid accessions had submetacentric and subtelocentric chromosomes. All accessions harboured median and submedian chromosomes. Only one hexaploid accession (TOT1140) had chromosomes with subterminal centromeres. There was considerable variation in chromosome length and chromosome arm ratio.

Miscanthus is a promising bioenergy crop due to its high productivity and broad environmental adaptability to tropical and temperate climates. As important Miscanthus species such as M. sinensis and M. sacchariflorus are native to East Asia, implying more diverse Miscanthus genetic resources in this region, in this study, we collected about 300 Miscanthus accessions from East Asia, mainly in Korea. From the whole collections, 66 Miscanthus accessions representing geographical location and latitude were selected and tested through a 3-year field trial to investigate genetic diversity in their agronomic traits. Five agronomic traits associated with biomass production were assessed to investigate the relationships of agronomic traits with biomass yield and latitudes of locations where Miscanthus accessions were collected. Plant height, stem diameter, stem dry weight and heading date exhibited a significantly positive correlation with biomass yield with r= 0.465, 0.780, 0.817 and 0.450, respectively. Stem diameter (r= − 0.495), stem dry weight (r= − 0.393), heading date (r= − 0.914) and estimated yield (r= − 0.425) exhibited a significantly negative correlation with latitudes of the collection sites. The results of the study revealed the existence of considerable genetic diversity in agronomic traits in the Miscanthus accessions collected. The presence of a significant relationship between latitudes and agronomic traits suggests that accessions collected from different geographical latitudes will provide more genetically diverse materials for breeding. Therefore, the results of the present study can provide useful information and materials for Miscanthus breeding programmes.

Seeds of 15 diverse rice accessions, representing aus, indica, temperate japonica and tropical japonica subpopulations, were produced under temperate climate conditions in Korea and used for vitamin E analysis and seed storage experiments at 45°C and 10.9% seed moisture content. High γ-tocotrienol was significantly positively correlated with seed longevity. In addition, a high β-tocopherol proportion relative to δ-tocopherol was significantly negatively correlated with seed longevity. Using high-density single-nucleotide polymorphism marker data, DNA haplotype analysis showed clear allelic variations in the region of two S-adenosylmethionine synthetase genes: LOC_Os04g42095 and LOC_Os11g15410, which regulate the conversion of δ-tocopherol into β-tocopherol. Four indica accessions with rare and subpopulation-specific alleles showed a 2.3-fold lower β-/δ-tocopherol ratio compared with accessions from other subpopulations.

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is an important fruit crop with a long cultivation history in Myanmar. This study evaluated the genetic variation within two economically important traditional varieties, ‘Yin Kwe’ and ‘Sein Ta Lone’, and the relationship between genetic variation and propagation practices. Genetic variation was estimated by genotyping 94 individuals with 12 single sequence repeat markers. ‘Yin Kwe’ (n = 53) showed higher levels of observed heterozygosity (Ho = 0.59) and average genetic distance among individuals (Da = 0.29) than did ‘Sein Ta Lone’ (n = 41; Ho = 0.45; Da = 0.09). The differences between the two varieties at the DNA level were significant (Fst = 0.44). The broader genetic background in ‘Yin Kwe’ compared with ‘Sein Ta Lone’ was also demonstrated by neighbour-joining and principal coordinates analyses. Differences in variety uses and propagation practices were determined by interviewing local specialists in Lower Myanmar (southern Myanmar). ‘Yin Kwe’ was often used as a rootstock for ‘Sein Ta Lone’. Clonal propagation by grafting was observed frequently for ‘Sein Ta Lone’ but never for ‘Yin Kwe’. The differences in genetic variation between these two varieties might have been caused by the propagation practices for each variety, which result from their respective uses.

Advances in genomics have provided technologies for high throughput analysis of plant genomes with potential for use in gene discovery in germplasm collections. The establishment of DNA banks facilitates this screening by making DNA from large numbers of plant accessions widely available. DNA banks require the development of appropriate policies for access and benefit sharing. Tools for automating sample and data handling are essential. Standard molecular methods for fingerprinting DNA accessions for international comparisons need to be determined. New screening technologies are required to take advantage of the emerging availability of large DNA collections. The Australian Plant DNA Bank aims to collect DNA from all Australian plant species and to sample the diversity within each species. DNA from all individuals of the species is being stored for rare species. Domesticated or economically important species from all countries are also being collected and stored. International networking of DNA banks will be a key step in linking genomics tools to global plant diversity.

Apple cultivars are an integral part of the Latvian State Program for Preservation and Sustainable Use of Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Latvian apple (n = 109) cultivars of local origin, nominated as National Plant Genetic Resources, were analyzed with eight simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers recommended by the European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR) Malus/Pyrus working group and a marker for scab resistance gene (Vf). All SSR loci exhibited a high level of polymorphism – 12 to 39 alleles, 18.75 in average, with high observed heterozygosity (Ho) ranging from 0.64 to 0.89 and a mean of 0.78. The gene diversity (polymorphism information content value) varied from 0.79 to 0.90, with an average of 0.86. All cultivars could be distinguished with the tested set of SSR loci, with a high frequency of rare (38%) or unique (26%) alleles. For the Vf gene, all three possible genotypes (VfVf, Vfvf and vfvf) were detected for 1, 6 and 102 varieties, respectively. The analyzed germplasm showed high genetic diversity, particularly landraces, while the modern cultivars clustered mainly into two groups. Cluster analysis did not reveal a clear pattern with well-defined groups, but confirmed some relationships based on known or putative pedigrees, as well as suggesting the possible parentage of some cultivars.