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Drought restricts plant growth and productivity. Silicon has beneficial effects on imparting drought tolerance in plants. Present work was intended to evaluate the effect of Si on polyethylene glycol-6000 (PEG) induced osmotic stress in local landraces of finger millet. The seeds of stress-tolerant and stress-sensitive landraces of finger millet were treated with distilled water, 15% PEG, and PEG+Si (5-25 ppm). The ameliorative effect of Si was evaluated in terms of percentage seed germination, seedling growth, accumulation of osmolyte and activity of antioxidative enzymes. PEG-induced osmotic stress reduced seed germination, seedling growth, and augmented osmolyte accumulation. It also elevated the levels of antioxidant enzymes. The exogenous supplementation of silicon significantly improved seed germination as well as early seeding growth. Positive effects of Si were reflected in decline in malondialdehyde (MDA) content and improved glycine betaine content and antioxidant enzymes in PEG-induced stress tolerant as well as susceptible landraces. The Si-induced ameliorated effects on all the parameters studied were more pronounced in the stress-tolerant landrace (FM/ST/01) than the stress-sensitive landrace (FM/RT/01). These results clearly indicate advantageous effects of Si in relieving PEG-induced stress during seed germination and early seeding growth and suggest a possibility of better stand establishment by application of silicon containing fertilizer during seed sowing.

Achyranthes aspera L. (Amaranthaceae), an herbaceous roadside weed in various parts of India, has several therapeutic uses, including the treatment against cancer. This investigation was undertaken to identify the bioactive compounds conferring cytotoxicity to the extracts from its biomass. The powdered leaf, stem, and root biomass was extracted separately in ethyl acetate, acetone, ethanol, and methanol. Each extract was tested against the HeLa cell line for the cytotoxicity, but the root-acetone extract was the most cytotoxic. This extract revealed eleven bands. The solution obtained from the ninth band (Rf = 0.87±0.06) exhibited more than 90% inhibition of HeLa cells. The LCMS analysis of this solution showed the presence of 37 compounds, out of which few compounds had been reported from different plants to possess cytotoxicity in various systems.

Seventeen mungbean varieties [Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek] were subjected to 100-400 mM salinity stress at the germination stage, and the indices of seed germination and early seedling growth were analysed. With the increasing salinity, seed germination and seedling growth attributes were affected in all varieties. Principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis of varietal responses on the germination and seeding growth attributes at 400 mM NaCl separated seventeen varieties into four distinct clusters. Principal component analysis at lower salt stress levels indicated that the attributes of germination and early seedling growth are reliable to identify salt-tolerant mungbean varieties. In contrast, only germination attributes are reliable at higher salinity levels. Two salt-susceptible and salt-tolerant varieties were further assessed for NaCl-induced physiological and biochemical changes. Levels of proteins, secondary metabolites, osmolyte, and antioxidants were increased at lower salt concentrations but reduced at higher salt concentrations. Photosynthetic pigments decreased and membrane damage increased under salinity. Varieties that showed tolerance to salt stress can be used in salinity-affected agriculture fields after validating their salt tolerance in field experiments.

Crop wild relatives (CWR) are inherently more resilient to adverse environmental conditions than commercial crops. Understanding the tolerance mechanisms present in their wild counterparts can help increase crop stress tolerance. This study investigated the effects of PEG-6000-induced osmotic stress (0 to 25%) on tolerance traits in forty-two accessions of Vigna species from the section Aconitifoliae. Stress tolerance was evaluated based on germination percentage, growth of seedling, biomass production, chlorophyll content, rate of damamge to the membranes, and accumulation of osmolytes. Multivariate trait analyses revealed that species in the section Aconitifoliae of the genus Vigna were more tolerant to osmotic stress than domesticated lines, exhibiting significant natural variation in their responses to PEG-induced osmotic stress. Discriminant function analysis (DF) identified groups of highly resistant (HR), intermediate resistant (IR), and highly susceptible (HS) accessions. The substantial differences between these groups were validated using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Although wild Vigna species exhibited better tolerance to osmotic stress than the cultivated Vigna aconitifolia accessions tested, the accession IC-550525 of Vigna stipulacea showed remarkably high tolerance based on growth maintenance under stress. To increase the osmotic stress tolerance of domesticated Vigna species, wild species should be further investigated through forward genetic studies to discover and analyze the genes responsible for their high tolerance.

Changes were estimated in the morphology, physiology, photosynthesis, nodulation, and yield in two mungbean varieties ‘PKV AKM 12-28’ and ‘VBN (Gg)3’ under salt stress (0, 75, 100, and 125 mM NaCl) for 15, 30, and 45 days. Multivariate modelling was used to analyse results to explore complex data and to visualize time and concentration-dependent modulations. Principal component analysis showed modulations in morpho-physiological attributes such as shoot length, root length, the number of secondary branches, shoot fresh weight, root fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root dry weight and leaf area; photosynthetic attributes such as chlorophyll ‘a’, chlorophyll ‘b’, total chlorophyll, total carotene and total anthocyanine content; nodulation attributes such as nodules per plant, size of the nodule, and fresh weight per nodule, and yield attributes such as number of pods per plant, fresh weight per pod, and seed characteristics such as the number of seeds per pod and fresh weight per 1000 seeds are key traits affected by salt stress and can be used as indicators. Discriminant analysis identified modulations in morpho-physiological attributes such as root length, leaf area, root fresh weight, shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight, shoot length and photosynthetic attributes such as chlorophyll-a content, and mean nodule weight as discriminating variables at different salt concentrations. Besides, it identified modulations in morpho-physiological attributes such as root length, root fresh weight, photosynthetic attributes such as total anthocyanin content and total chlorophyll content, nodulation attribute such nodule size and nodule weight, and yield attributes such as pod number and number of seeds per pod are discriminating variables at various durations of salt stress. Principal component analysis and discriminant analysis identified ‘PKV-AKM 12-28’ as salt-tolerant and ‘VBN (Gg)3’ as salt-susceptible varieties. Multiple correlation analysis identified significant correlations among morphological, physiological, photosynthetic, nodulation and yield parameters.

The current investigation examines responses of different fenugreek varieties to salt stress during seed germination and early seedling stage to identify salt-tolerant varieties. Screening for salt tolerance can be achieved through a rapid, cost-effective, and reliable approach using seed germination and early seedling growth attributes. Fenugreek, a globally important crop, encounters challenges from salt stress, which notably diminishes its production by reducing growth and productivity. Salinity negatively impacted studied parameters, and deferential tolerance patterns were observed under different NaCl stress conditions. Multivariate analysis methods, such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA), and Multiple Correlation Analysis (MCA), can be applied to identify salt-responsive attributes of tolerant varieties and to categorize varieties based on their salt tolerance levels. The findings of PCA analysis indicate that parameters like Final Germination Percentage (FGP), t Total Germination Index (TGI), Germination Index (GI), Shoot Length (SL), Root Length (RL), Fresh Weight (FW), and Seedling Vigour (SV) could serve as alternative or supplementary indicators for assessing salt tolerance at the varietal level. AFG1 was identified as the most salt-susceptible among the varieties studied, while RMT303 demonstrated the highest salt tolerance.These salt-tolerant and susceptible varieties can be explored for their biochemical, physiological, and molecular mechanisms underlying fenugreek's salt tolerance, which could enhance breeding programs for improved resilience and benefit agriculture.