The true characterization of elite germplasm is of utmost importance for accelerating the crop breeding programme. The Indian dolichos bean [Lablab purpureus (L.) var. typicus Prain] has the potential to improve nutritional and food security. In the present investigation, a total of 21 genotypes of dolichos bean, comprising local collections mainly, along with one standard check (Kashi Sheetal) were evaluated in a complete randomized block design with three replications for two consecutive years, 2021–22 to 2022–23 for the perusal of the genetic variability. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among all the genotypes for all the characters. PCV and GCV estimates revealed very little influence of environment on the expression of traits under study. High heritability (>90%) estimates coupled with high genetic advance as a percent of the mean were observed for flower attributes, pod length, average weight of 10 pods, pod yield and protein content. The principal component analysis revealed that the first two components cumulatively accounted for more than 50% of total variability. The present investigation revealed that the genotypes, RLBDL-S-8, RLBDL-S-14 and RLBDL-S-4-5 were stable across the years and genotype RLBDL-S-8 exhibited the highest yield potential, which can be used effectively in the development of high yielding varieties of dolichos bean in the Bundelkhand region. The study also revealed the presence of wide genetic variability in the studied local accessions which is a prerequisite for the genetic improvement of crop plants. High heritability and genetic advancement indicated the scope of selection in the crop improvement.

Low phosphorus use efficiency (PUE) is one of the abiotic factors that hamper yield and production potential in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). Higher yield coupled with improved PUE can make this crop more adaptive and competitive to wide cropland area, especially on marginal soils having low-level phosphorus (P). To identify chickpea germplasm lines that assimilate phosphorus more efficiently under P-deficient soils, 288 diverse genotypes of chickpea belonging to reference set were evaluated for yield component traits and PUE under field conditions for two consecutive years at two phosphorus levels (low P – no phosphorus application and high P – phosphorus application at 40 kg/ha). Based on 2-year evaluation of data under high and low P soil conditions, we identified strong correlations for traits like number of primary and secondary branches, number of pods, biological yield and seed yield indicating that these traits can be used as proxy traits for PUE. ICC 6571 was the best performing genotype under low P conditions while ICC 6579 yielded maximum under high P regime. We report 16 genotypes namely ICC 1052, ICC 1083, ICC 1098, ICC 1161, ICC 2072, ICC 4418, ICC 4567, ICC 4991, ICC 5504, ICC 5639, ICC 7413, ICC 8350, ICC 9590, ICC 9702, ICC 11584 and ICC 13357 as phosphorus use efficient genotypes based on their better performance for yield and yield-contributing traits under low P compared to high P conditions. These genotypes can be exploited in future as potential donors for development of phosphorus use efficient chickpea cultivars.

The limited genetic resource of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the most critical issue impeding its improvement and production. Collection and characterization of chickpea for agronomic traits is prerequisite to build a successful breeding programme through expanding chickpea's genepool to fulfil the needs of farmers and breeders, such as grain size and yield which supply food to a world rising population. To reach such an objective, numerous collection missions were carried out in Algeria, covering the northern agro-ecological environments, this allows us to gather 56 national and international genotypes that report a phenotypic variability and may provide a valuable diversity of useful features. Characterization experiments of 19 agro-morphological traits were set up at the Technical Institute of Field Crops over two successive seasons 2020 and 2021. All traits were statistically significant and the cluster analysis classified the genotypes into three major group, where local and improved accessions revealed an interesting outcome in terms of seed yield and resistance to Ascochyta blight. In general, the current study's findings clearly demonstrated that plant and seed morphological characteristics could be used to distinguish and identify chickpea genotypes. More often, it might participate as a source of variation in breeding programmes to meet the desirable improvement targets.

Projected increases in human population suggest that 70% more food will be needed in the near future, this makes it imperative to search for alternative food and feed sources for human and animal nutrition to feed the exponentially growing human population. According to the FAO 2019 report, the immense challenge of achieving the Zero Hunger target by 2030 is persistent. Exploring the unexplored, refining unrefined traits, cultivating the uncultivated, and popularizing the unpopular remain the most adequate steps proposed by researchers to achieve the domestication of the undomesticated for food and nutrition security. In that line of thought, this study explored the proximate composition of 87 accessions of four wild unexplored Vigna species (V. racemosa, V. ambacensis, V. reticulata, V. vexillata) in order to reveal information leading to their future domestication and utilization. Standard procedures and methods approved by the Association of Official Analytical Chemists were used in carrying out the proximate composition (%protein, %lipid, %fibre, %ash and % moisture and % carbohydrate) of the wild Vigna legumes. The study revealed that the wild Vigna species possess a large variation range of nutrient characteristics which could be exploited in the improvement of domesticated species or guide their domestication. It was also found that some individual wild accessions have higher nutrient, content as compared with domesticated ones which could be advantageous for bio-fortification or domestication. Indications relating to the candidate accessions favourable for domestication, based on the nutrient characteristics were revealed.

Efficient conservation and sustainable use of crop diversity is critical to support global food and nutritional security with ex situ collections stored in over 800 genebanks in 115 countries. The challenge is to manage those collections for long-term conservation of crop diversity and sustainable use to respond to global challenges of food security and climate change. The Genebank Standards for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agricutlure (Genebank Standards) form the overall framework for curation of ex situ crop collections, allowing considerable flexibility to develop customized approaches to conserving different crops. Stratified curation involves strategically tailoring curation to specific genebank goals, crops, priorities and resources for each accession based on all available information to prioritize accessions for long-term conservation. It implies using scarce resources where they are most needed and recognizes that accessions can be (a) fully curated to international standards; (b) partially curated for storage for a limited time; (c) archived and stored but no longer curated and available from the genebank; or (d) historical and removed entirely from the genebank. The stratified approach is consistent with the Genebank Standards and the policy framework of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Stratified curation encourages curators to make difficult decisions on accession management to better respond to challenges of curating large collections of crop diversity.

The Ethiopian core collection of the USDA-Agriculture Research Service, National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) includes 376 accessions and a genomic characterization that revealed 151,210 single nucleotide polymorphisms. This collection, however, lacks phenotypic characterization for several important agriculture traits. A total of 330 accessions from this NPGS Ethiopian core set were evaluated for grain mould resistance response across four tropical environments. Most of the accessions in the NPGS Ethiopian collection showed susceptibility to grain mould based on the low emergence rate and high seed deterioration observed in the seeds. The population structure of the collection was not related to grain mould resistance response suggesting this germplasm originated in regions with low disease pressure. The analysis identified two accessions with high emergence (PI 457867 and PI 454221) and three (PI 455036, PI 455213 and PI 330821) with low seed degradation. Genome-wide association analysis found genomic regions in chromosome 1, 3 and 8 associated with the observed grain mould resistance variation. Candidate gene analysis within these three loci identified diseases resistance genes involved in pathogen recognition and signalling cascades of the plant immunity system. These five NPGS Ethiopian accessions are candidates for use in a pre-breeding germplasm programme to develop improved germplasm with grain mould resistance.

Tetraploid wheat species from Ethiopia hold ample genetic variation, which could provide a source for improvement of wheat. A total of 196 Ethiopian tetraploid wheat (Triticum turgidum spp.) accessions, including 174 landraces and 22 improved cultivars, were evaluated at Sinana and Debrezeit to assess morphological variation, genetic advance, heritability and correlation based on 11 phenotypic traits. Except for spike length, highly significant variation (P < 0.001) among genotypes for all traits was observed. The observed mean and range values of the phenotypic traits revealed high variability in the accessions. Phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) and genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) values were high for grain yield, biomass yield and harvest index. Seed yield showed highly significant (P < 0.001) negative correlation with days to booting and days to maturity and positive correlation with all traits. The estimates of heritability (H2) for grain yield and the number of spikelets per spike respectively ranged from 41.78 to 84.62%. The genetic advance as a percentage of mean was low for the number of seeds per spikelet, days to booting and days to maturity; intermediate for plant height, thousand kernel weight and spike length and high for the number of spikelets per spike, the number of effective tillers per plant, grain yield, biomass yield and harvest index, respectively. The number of spikelets per spike gave a high value of genetic advance and heritability implying high genetic gain from its selection.

Pi-d2, which encodes a potential serine-threonine receptor-like kinase (RLK) membrane-spanning protein consisting of 825 amino acids, confers resistance to Magnaporthe oryzae strain ZB15 via an unidentified recognition mechanism. In this study, the Pid2 alleles of 303 rice (O. sativa) varieties from China's Yunnan region were amplified and sequenced in order to produce 24 haplotypes and 16 translation variants. Six of twenty-four alleles possessing the resistant site at the 441st amino acid were chosen for evaluating blast resistance by transforming into the blast-vulnerable rice variety Nipponbare. After being infected with 11 strains of M. oryzae, all transgenic lines exhibited resistance to ZB-15, whereas resistance to other strains varied. Notably, Pi-d2_H23 and Pi-d2_H24 exhibited resistance to all M. oryzae strains tested, indicating that these two alleles may have a broader resistance spectrum to M. oryzae. Alignment of these alleles’ amino acid sequences revealed that the differences in blast resistance spectra were primarily related to the amino acids present in the PAN domain at position 363 (valine/alanine). These findings suggested that the two extracellular signal recognition domains of PI-D2, B-lectin and PAN, may play a role in the identification of M. oryzae effectors. The present results provide insight into the mechanism of interaction between RLKs and M. oryzae.

Terminalia chebula Retz. is a multipurpose tree but the primary purpose of cultivating and raising this tree species is its fruits. Large sized fruits easily fetch higher prices in the national and global markets. The availability of superior germplasm is, however, restricted by its very low natural regeneration, poor germination capacity of the seeds, very little knowledge about its propagation techniques, long juvenile period for fruits production which is almost 15–20 years. The availability of superior germplasm and shortening of long juvenile period can be resolved by the adoption of various vegetative propagation techniques. In the present study, scions of T. chebula Retz. were grafted on three different rootstocks; T. chebula Retz., Terminalia bellirica Roxb. and Terminalia arjuna Bedd to standardize vegetative propagation techniques in T. chebula. The grafting and budding methods used were cleft grafting, side-veneer grafting and patch budding. The results revealed that out of all the propagation techniques evaluated under nursery conditions, cleft grafting was most promising. It showed better results on principal parameters like graft survival ratio (46.67) and graft take ratio (60.00). In case of rootstocks, T. arjuna performed well on most of the growth parameters. Hence, it is concluded that T. arjuna as a rootstock can be cleft grafted with T. chebula Retz. scion not only to obtain healthy plants with desired characteristics in a short time but also to conserve its germplasm.

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.

The patterns and extent of genetic variation among 56 cashew germplasm with respect to 32 qualitative and 33 quantitative traits were evaluated for two successive years in the present study. Additionally, maturase K gene-based genetic diversity among those breeding materials was also assessed. The cashew hybrids were developed from five crosses (local parent × 2/9 Dicherla; H-2/15 × red hazari; WBDC-V × JGM-1; BLA-39-4 × H-2/15 and H-2/15 × yellow hazari) involving eight parents of Indian cashew. Different genotype groups (parents and their hybrids) showed significant variation in both the years of assessment based on quantitative characters. The highest Shannon–Weaver diversity (H′) was obtained for the colour of the young leaf (0.96), possibly indicating differential exposure to sunlight, mixing of various pigments and another set of chemicals such as phenolics, carotenoids, etc. in trees. From correlation studies, canopy spread, tree spread, nuts/m2 and nuts/panicle were found to be significantly and positively correlated with nut yield. In the year 2021, nuts/m2, area and tree height were the significant explanatory variables that explained 80% of the variation in the yield, whereas in 2022, nuts/m2, tree area, nuts/panicle, kernel weight, shell thickness, inflorescence breadth and sex ratio explained 86% of the variation. Principal component analysis indicated that the genotypes under study are diverse enough to be exploited for the future cashew improvement programmes.

Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important row crop rich in oil, protein, vitamins and other micro-nutrients. The intensive selection of the cultigen, a cultivated plant deliberately altered by humans through cultivation, has resulted in favourable changes in yield and biochemical composition. Nevertheless, it has generated a narrow genetic basis that limits the development of new varieties with resistance to pests, diseases and environmental stresses. In this study, we address this limitation by characterizing the proximate and fatty acid composition of a multi-disease-resistant interspecific recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from three wild Arachis species and a cultivated elite peanut line that is being used to widen the genetic basis of the crop. The population was also genotyped with the Axiom Arachis 48K SNP array and used to detect quantitative trait loci (QTL) for oil, protein content and oleic and linoleic fatty acid percentages. A wide range of proximate composition was found in the RIL population. Eighteen and 11 individuals had high oil and protein content, respectively, and no undesirable traits related to oil quality had been introduced into the population from wild species. The fatty acid composition of oleic and linoleic acids was found to be regulated by two major QTL. The discovery of markers within the major effect QTL for the most significant chemical traits provides new opportunities for the creation of resistant and extremely nutrient-dense peanut cultivars.

Bitter gourd is a highly nutritious vegetable and important medicinal plant of economic importance. The present study is focused on cytogenetical characterization of 12 accessions of bitter gourd from different parts of India, aiming to differentiate their karyotypes and outline diagnostic features of the chromosomes within each accession's haploid complement. All the accessions possess 2n = 22 numbers of chromosomes. The chromosomes mainly were metacentric (16‒22 chromosomes), and the presence or absence of sub-metacentric (0‒6 chromosomes) chromosomes. The length of the chromosomes varied from 0.83 to 1.93 μm among the accessions studied. Significant differences were obtained for the seven intra-chromosomal indices and four inter-chromosomal indices among the accessions. Principal component analysis and unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean study revealed relatively distant positioning of individuals that advocated intraspecific phylogenetic relationships and higher karyoevolutionary affinity in bitter gourd accessions. In the meiotic study, regular meiotic behaviour indicates genetic stability and a stable sexual cycle in different accessions. The percentage of pollen viability of all the studied accessions was very high (89.41–94.11%), and these accessions can be considered to be good pollinators. The results obtained will guide characterizing the elite genotypes, genotypes management and designing effective breeding programmes and crop improvement programmes.

This study aimed to understand the genetics of tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV) in the identified novel source of resistance from Indian melon germplasm DSM-19 (Cucumis melo var. momordica) as viral diseases in muskmelon cause significant economic yield loss. To achieve this, a cross was made between the highly susceptible genotype Pusa Sarda (C. melo var. inodorus), known for its desirable fruit characters, and the resistant source DSM-19 to generate the suitable populations for inheritance study. These populations were screened under natural epiphytotic conditions and further validated through challenge inoculation with viruliferous whiteflies. The inheritance of ToLCNDV resistance in snapmelon germplasm DSM-19 was identified as monogenic recessive in both the screening methods. Moreover, a cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) marker named ‘CAPS 16 (2)’ was designed near to SNP marker D16 located on chromosome 11 of melon, and it was found to be linked to the ToLCNDV resistance gene in DSM-19. This is the first report on genetics of ToLCNDV resistance in snapmelon germplasm from India. Snapmelon line DSM-19 can be used as a source for fine mapping and introgression of the ToLCNDV resistance into susceptible muskmelon cultivars.

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.

Lack of water at limiting levels results in drought stress, which may have an impact on the various stages of a crop's life cycle. Four different genotypes of snapmelon (Cucumis melo L. var. momordica) responded differently to 0, 7 and 21 d of simulated drought stress. Information was collected on a range of morpho-physiological, biochemical and molecular characteristics. Each genotype had longer roots, though BAM-VR-312 had the longest roots overall. As the severity of the drought grew, the net photosynthetic rate (Pn) and stomatal conductance (Gs) dropped. In BAM-VR-312, a smaller decline in relative water content (RWC) was recorded, despite the fact that drought stress caused a significant fall in RWC. BAM-VR-312 had smaller accumulations of electrolyte leakage, hydrogen peroxide, phenol and malondialdehyde, although proline content was greater. A decrease in photosynthetic pigments was noted, though BAM-VR-312 had the least reduction. Antioxidant enzyme activity increased in BAM-VR-312, as evidenced by records of ascorbate peroxidase, catalase, guaiacol peroxidase, glutathione reductase and superoxide dismutase. Similarly, expression level of their respective genes was recorded highest in BAM-VR-312. Overall, the study clearly identified distinct genotype based on morpho-physiological, biochemical and molecular properties under drought stress and revealed that the genotype BAM-VR-312 had more efficient drought tolerance mechanisms than the other genotypes under the drought stress condition.

Melon is one of the important cucurbitaceous crops being cultivated widely in India and known for its delicious fruits. Crop is threatened by different biotic stresses including nematodes, fungi and viruses. The use of host resistance is the most economical, eco-compatible and long-lasting strategy to combat plant diseases. Keeping in mind this objective, 64 melon genotypes were screened against the prevalent Meloidogyne incognita, Fusarium oxysporum and tomato leaf curl Palampur virus (ToLCPalV) individually as well as with combined inoculations under artificial conditions. Out of 64 genotypes, three genotypes, MCPS, SM2012-1 and WM11 were found moderately resistant to M. incognita, nine genotypes (MM-KP15103, MM327, MM121103, KP4HM15, MM Sel.-103, SM2013-2, SM2012-1, SM2013-9 and WM11) recorded a resistant reaction against Fusarium wilt while four genotypes, WM11, SM2012-1, SM2013-9 and SM2013-2 exhibited a highly resistant reaction against ToLCPalV. A dendrogram constructed based on the resistance response of all the genotypes divided the genotypes into two groups and all resistant genotypes (MM1804, MM120103, SM2012-1, MM121103, SM2013-2, SM2013-9, WM11 and MM Sel.103) clustered in group II. The resistant genotypes when subjected to simultaneous inoculations of all three pathogens showed an increase in disease severity for each pathogen which negatively altered the resistance response of different genotypes. However, the genotypes SM2012-1, SM2013-9, SM2013-2 and WM-11 showing multiple disease resistance exhibited a good level of resistance even after combined inoculations of three pathogens. This study is the first to our knowledge identifying multiple disease resistance against root-knot nematode, Fusarium wilt and tomato leaf curl Palampur virus in muskmelon.

Oat being a rabi/winter crop in Kashmir, experiences extremely low temperatures which has detrimental effects on its growth and development. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate a set of 130 oat genotypes in multi-location trials across temperate conditions of Kashmir valley from 2018 to 2022. From the preliminary data of 56 genotypes, including five checks, were selected and evaluated for nutritional and yield attributing traits under cold stress conditions at two locations. The results demonstrated significant genetic variation and high heritability for majority of traits, except for days to 50% flowering, days to maturity and dry fodder. Positive correlations were observed between green fodder yield and other traits, indicating their potential for enhancing yield. Principal component analysis identified four principal components that accounted for 69.87% of the total variation. Cluster analysis categorized the genotypes into two main clusters and six sub-clusters. Frost damage assessment was conducted at tillering stage after the snow melted in late January 2021 and 2022 using cold tolerance rating scale and subsequently tested for chilling injury through an electrolyte leakage test. From field and lab data analysis, five most promising cold tolerant, nutritious and high-yielding genotypes were identified. These genotypes have significant potential for utilization in future breeding programmes to improve cold tolerance in cultivated oats within the Kashmir valley thus promoting agricultural productivity and sustainability. The outcomes also provide valuable insights into the genetic variation, heritability, genotype-by-environment interactions, correlations and cold tolerance of oat genotypes in Kashmir.

The North East Hill Region (NEHR) of India is home to diverse maize landraces including pigmented accessions rich in antioxidants and nutritional properties. The present study attempted to characterize a representative collection of this mostly unexplored diversity. Altogether eighty-three local maize landraces from the seven hill states of the NEHR were studied with special emphasis on pigmentation diversity. For the morphological traits, a significant ANOVA indicated the presence of substantial genetic variability for which selection would be fruitful. A number of these accessions were found to have traits that help cope with moisture stress, improve stalk strength and optimize photosynthesis. Principal component analysis studies for the yield attributing traits indicated that ear weight was most variable. The bleaching/histological studies confirmed that anthocyanin pigment when present was always restricted to the aleurone layer of the kernels, typical of blue maize. Quantitative analysis for kernel anthocyanin/phlobaphene content also revealed genetic differences among the accessions. Genetic analysis using the model-based STRUCTURE indicated significant population structuring among the accessions. Specifically, for the pigmentation diversity studies both principal coordinate analysis and neighbour joining methods revealed near concurrent population structuring due in part to the high differentiation of seven of the twenty-one pigmentation specific loci studied. The results obtained provide comprehensive evidence of a significant amount of genetic differentiation among the landraces under study. Landraces are valuable reservoirs of favourable alleles for which selection can be made and, as in this study, identify accessions for breeding maize with enhanced levels of beneficial secondary metabolites.

Improvement in genetic gains of crops could be achieved by phenomics' characterization of agronomic, physiological and stress-related traits. Molecular and strategic breeding programmes require broad range of foreground and background phenotypic information for crop improvement. The current experiment was performed on 123 advanced soybean (Glycine max L.) genotypes including seven local lines belongs to four different maturity groups (000-lV) to estimate the endogenous potential of various yield-related traits. The experimental trial was repeated for two cropping seasons. Four traits out of six, yield per plant (YPP), number of seeds per plant, number of pods per plant and plant height (PH), showed maximum variation (CV%) that directly correlate with variability in the subjected population. PH, number of pods, 100-seed weight and YPP showed strong positive correlation in both years. Among the principal components, factors 1 and 2 showed maximum contribution in phenotypic variability ranges from 19 to 48.5% and 26 to 47.7% in the first and second years, respectively. Number of pods showed significant positive correlation with genotypes in both years. Dendrogram showed two distinct groups of soybean genotypes. Genetic variation and association among the accessions is indispensable for effective conservation and utilization of germplasm. Principal component analysis helps to identify the diverse genotypes that will be used as a parent for various breeding programmes. These phenotypic data will be used for detection of heat stress-related quantitative trait loci with genotypic data in genome-wide association studies experiments.