Cattleya walkeriana, one of the most improved Brazilian Cattleyas, is a popular tropical orchid endemic from Brazil and currently endangered. In the present study, for the first time microsatellite markers were developed for C. walkeriana and their transferability was tested for the species C. loddigesii and C. nobilior. The markers were used for genotyping 26 C. walkeriana specimens from different growers and from different levels of improvement. The transferability was successful, with five polymorphic loci transferred to C. loddigesii and six polymorphic loci to C. nobilior. Eight loci were polymorphic, revealing a maximum of two to ten alleles per locus in C. walkeriana and two to four and two to five in C. loddigesii and C. nobilior, respectively. There was no significant linkage disequilibrium in the studied loci. For C. walkeriana, the observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0 to 0.963 and from 0.138 to 0.841, respectively. These markers identified polymorphisms and may be used to study the genetic diversity, gene flow or hybridization of these species.

A total of 60 farmers' cacao accessions (Theobroma cacao L.) from Nicaragua were investigated using microsatellite markers to reveal their genetic composition and to identify potentially resistant genotypes against the black pod disease caused by Phytophthora palmivora. These accessions were compared with 21 breeders' accessions maintained locally, two Criollo accessions from Costa Rica and two accessions from Ecuador. The analyses showed a low level of differentiation among groups of farmers' accessions (FST = 0.06) and that six Nicaraguan accessions were genetically closely related to the two Criollo accessions used as a reference. In addition, seven distinct genotypes were found to have allelic composition that may indicate linkage to resistance alleles, thus being potential parental lines in future breeding programmes.

Here we developed the first set of nuclear microsatellite markers (nSSRs) for Stizophyllum riparium (Bignoniaceae), a widespread species of Neotropical liana. Thirty-two sets of primers were isolated from a genomic dataset obtained with an Illumina HiSeq Platform, and characterized for 57 individuals of S. riparium from three populations. Nine nSSRs were polymorphic and the number of alleles ranged from eight to 29. The unbiased expected heterozygosity per locus ranged from 0.724 to 0.952 and the polymorphic information content values ranged from 0.717 to 0.944. All nine primer pairs also amplified for two closely related species (S. inaequilaterum and S. perforatum). The new set of nuclear markers will be useful for population genetics studies of Stizophyllum as a whole.

Distant hybridization of cereals is often impaired by fertilization barriers. Haploid induction through intergeneric crossing is well developed in wheat but has not been successful in rice due to incompatibility issues. The present study was thus undertaken to identify fertilization barriers that hinder the compatibility of the rice cultivar Punjab Rice 121 with maize and pearl millet lines as pollinators. A total of 37,357 spikelets were pollinated, yielding 494 caryopses upon supplementation with auxins. The resultant caryopses, arising from true intergeneric crosses, lacked embryos. Imaging of the pollinated pistils at different intervals indicated that intense callose depositions block the release of generative nuclei to the ovule in these wide crosses. Rice spikelets pollinated with rice pollen (cis-generic crosses) exhibited positive indicators of fertilization reaction at the micropyle. While the cis-generic crosses initiated true caryopsis formation after 24 h, no comparative reaction was observed in the intergeneric crosses. The current survey underlines that the rice female gametophyte presents a strong pre-fertilization barrier to foreign pollen. This barrier may be modulated in the future by altering genotype and auxin combinations.

It is generally accepted that high-oleic crops have at least 70% oleate. As compared to their normal-oleic counterparts, oil and food products made from high-oleic peanut have better keeping quality and are much healthier. Therefore, high-oleic peanut is well recognized by processors and consumers. However, owing to the limited availability of high-oleic donors, most present-day high-oleic peanut varietal releases merely have F435 type FAD2 mutations. Through screening of a mutagenized peanut population of 15L46, a high-yielding peanut line with desirable elliptical oblong large seeds, using near infrared model for predicting oleate content in individual single seeds, high-oleic peanut mutants were identified. Sequencing FAD2A and FAD2B of the mutants along with the wild type revealed that these mutants possessed G448A FAD2A (F435 type FAD2A mutation) and G558A FAD2B (non-F435 type FAD2B mutation). Expression of the wild and mutated type FAD2B in yeast verified that the functional mutation contributed to the high-oleic phenotype in these mutants. The mutants provided additional high-oleic donors to peanut quality improvement.

To characterize five different morphological forms of Russian olive grown in Ladakh, analysis of morphometric data of different variants was performed. Statistically significant differences among these variants were found for all the fruit and seed characters studied. Results of the study indicate presence of infra-specific differentiation within the species. Morphometric data for these variants conform to the system of nomenclature prevalent in the region for these variants. The ringmo (‘long fruited’ variety) type had the longest fruits, while bee (‘small fruited’ variety) had the smallest fruits.

Valtrate is the major active component of iridoids in Valeriana jatamansi plants, and has been widely used for the treatment of various diseases, giving rise to rapidly increasing market demands. The gene VjG10H from V. jatamansi encoding geraniol 10-hydroxylase (G10H) was introduced into V. jatamansi hairy roots and a transgenic hairy root culture system of V. jatamansi with good valtrate production ability was successfully established for the first time. The valtrate content of VjG10H-transformed lines ranged from 8.12 to 10.77 mg/g, with an average valtrate content (9.52 mg/g) of all the four G lines being higher than the non-transgenic hairy root line. Overexpression of VjG10H significantly improved valtrate production, indicating that G10H played an important role in stimulating valtrate accumulation. MeJA treatment stimulated valtrate accumulation in all of the VjG10H overexpression recombinant lines compared to untreated cultures, indicating that methyl jasmonate treatment was another effective regulation target for metabolic engineering of valtrate biosynthesis in V. jatamansi. Thus, transgenic hairy root technology coupled with elicitor treatments may be a promising strategy to increase valtrate yield in V. jatamansi.

Chickpea is a cool season, photothermal-sensitive crop, that is adversely affected by high temperatures (>35°C) and whose flowering is promoted by long-day conditions (>12 h). This prevents horizontal crop spread under a variety of agro-climatic conditions and the development of insensitive genotypes that perform well in all seasons. Therefore, a study was conducted to identify genotypes that are mature early, insensitive to photoperiod, high temperature and tolerant to drought stress. A set of 74 genotypes was evaluated under rainfed conditions in Kharif 2021 (off-season) to select eight promising early-maturing genotypes with high-yielding capacity. Then further investigations were conducted in five different seasons Late Kharif 2021, rabi 2021, summer 2022, early Kharif 2022 and Kharif 2022 to identify the genotypes with photothermo-insensitivity among the selected eight genotypes. With the exception of rabi 2021, each of these seasons were distinct from the chickpea's typical growing season. Among these eight, the stable genotypes which are performed better in all the seasons, especially in summer were considered, such as IPC 06-11, MNK-1, JG-14 and ICE 15654-A as a photothermo-insensitive, were able to flower and set pods with higher seed yield and, resulting in early maturity in a temperature range of 41.4/9.3°C with photoperiods of 13.1/10.9 h to reach in all seasons throughout the year. The heritability was more than 60%. Hence, these genotypes can be used as donor aids in the development of early maturing, drought stress tolerant and photothermo-insensitive chickpea.

Ancho (width) chile peppers have economic, social, culinary and cultural importance in Mexico and worldwide. This chile type considers divergent subtypes that altogether have not been analysed and therefore their morphological diversity has not been systematically described. The objectives were to describe the morphological diversity of ancho pepper landraces from Mexico, to identify groups of similarity and to define the traits with the higher contribution to the total variation. Eighty-six landraces of ancho chile peppers (red, ‘mulatos’, ‘miahuatecos’, ‘cristalinos’ and ‘huacle’), collected in six states of Mexico, and two commercial controls were evaluated in two localities, in a simple randomized complete block experimental design. We recorded 76 morphological traits. Statistical analysis included a combined ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient, discriminant analysis, principal components and clusters. The morphological diversity in ancho chile peppers was mainly made up of fruit width, fruit wall thickness, stem diameter, corolla length, seed weight per fruit, plant height, stem length and pubescence. We defined four groups, which made it possible to differentiate ancho chile peppers of Puebla and the huacle chile pepper of Oaxaca from populations collected in the north and ‘Bajío’ (midland) parts of Mexico. Ancho chile peppers of Mexico showed wide morphological differences according to the type of chile pepper and seed collection regions. The traits that contributed the greatest morphological diversity were fruit width, fruit wall thickness, stem diameter, corolla length, seed weight per fruit, plant height, stem length and pubescence.

In the face of climate change, developing resilient crops is crucial for global food security in the 21st century to feed a growing population. Lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus) plays a vital role in ensuring global food and nutritional security. Traits like early flowering enable the crop to mature faster, thereby shortening the growing window and reducing yield losses caused by moisture and heat stresses during the reproductive phase. However, issues like limited genetic diversity in this trait remain unaddressed. To address this gap, our study aims to comprehensively assess genetic variability and trait associations in 158 lentil accessions. In the present study, we observed significant variations for days to 50% flowering (67–90 days), days to maturity (109–122 days) and 100 seed weight (1.69–2.68 g) throughout a period of two consecutive years (2020–2021 and 2021–2022). The observed variability in these traits offers a valuable avenue for the improvement of lentil yield through targeted selection and hybridization. Additionally, correlation analysis showed negative correlation between days to 50% flowering and grain yield per plant, while plant height had a significant (P < 0.01) positive correlation with all traits except yield per plant. Furthermore, we identified specific germplasm with exceptional traits that hold significant potential for future breeding programmes. The genotypes EC 223197-A and EC 267696 were identified for early flowering with high yield, and other genotypes that were identified for various traits would serve as breeding material for the introgression of these traits into elite cultivars.

Freezing damage is a major limiting factor to Pistachio cultivation in cold climates. Assessment of pistachio genotypes to freezing stress is important for the selection of tolerance cultivars in these regions. In this study, nine genotypes belong to six Pistacia species (P. terebinthus L., P. atlantica Desf., P. atlantica subsp. kurdica P. atlantica subsp. mutica, P. khinjuk Stocks., P. vera var. Sarakhs, P. vera cv. Badami-Riz-Zarand I, P. vera cv. Badami-Riz-Zarand II) and an interspecies hybrid named UCB1 (P. atlantica × P. integrrima) were evaluated to freezing stress at temperatures of −4, −8, −12 and, −16°C in the months of December, January and February. Results showed that electrolyte leakage (EL) percentage and means of eco-physiological parameters varied among genotypes with the highest soluble carbohydrates and phenolic compounds observed in species of P. atlantica subsp. kurdica and P. vera var. Sarakhs respectively. In February, the highest calcium and potassium concentrations of shoot were observed in P. terebinths and P. vera var. Sarakhs genotypes respectively. The highest EL percentage was observed at −16°C in P. atlantica and P. khinjuk and the lowest in P. terebinthus and P. vera var. Sarakhs.