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The pandemic of Corona Virus (COVID-19) hit India recently; and the associated uncertainty is increasingly testing psychological resilience of the masses. When the global focus has mostly been on testing, finding a cure and preventing transmission; people are going through a myriad of psychological problems in adjusting to the current lifestyles and fear of the disease. Since there is a severe dearth of researches on this issue, we decided to conduct an online survey to evaluate its psychological impact. From 26th to 29th March an online survey (FEEL-COVID) was conducted using principles of snowballing, and by invitation through text messages to participate. The survey collected data on socio-demographic and clinical variables related to COVID-19 (based on the current knowledge); along with measuring psychological impact with the help of Impact of Event-revised (IES-R) scale. There were a total of 1106 responses from around 64 cities in the country. Out of these 453 responses had at least one item missing; and were excluded from the analysis. The mean age of the respondents was around 41 years with a male female ratio of 3:1 and around 22% respondents were health care professionals. Overall approximately one third of respondents had significant psychological impact (IES-R score > 24). Higher psychological impact was predicted with younger age, female gender and comorbid physical illness. Presence of physical symptoms and contact history predicted higher psychological impact, but did not reach statistical significance. During the initial stages of COVID-19 in India, almost one-third respondents had a significant psychological impact. This indicates a need for more systematic and longitudinal assessment of psychological needs of the population, which can help the government in formulating holistic interventions for affected individuals.

Food legumes are important for defeating malnutrition and sustaining agri-food systems globally. Breeding efforts in legume crops have been largely confined to the exploitation of genetic variation available within the primary genepool, resulting in narrow genetic base. Introgression as a breeding scheme has been remarkably successful for an array of inheritance and molecular studies in food legumes. Crop wild relatives (CWRs), landraces, and exotic germplasm offer great potential for introgression of novel variation not only to widen the genetic base of the elite genepool for continuous incremental gains over breeding cycles but also to discover the cryptic genetic variation hitherto unexpressed. CWRs also harbor positive quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for improving agronomic traits. However, for transferring polygenic traits, “specialized population concept” has been advocated for transferring QTLs from CWR into elite backgrounds. Recently, introgression breeding has been successful in developing improved cultivars in chickpea (Cicer arietinum), pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan), peanut (Arachis hypogaea), lentil (Lens culinaris), mungbean (Vigna radiata), urdbean (Vigna mungo), and common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). Successful examples indicated that the usable genetic variation could be exploited by unleashing new gene recombination and hidden variability even in late filial generations. In mungbean alone, distant hybridization has been deployed to develop seven improved commercial cultivars, whereas in urdbean, three such cultivars have been reported. Similarly, in chickpea, three superior cultivars have been developed from crosses between C. arietinum and Cicer reticulatum. Pigeonpea has benefited the most where different cytoplasmic male sterility genes have been transferred from CWRs, whereas a number of disease-resistant germplasm have also been developed in Phaseolus. As vertical gene transfer has resulted in most of the useful gene introgressions of practical importance in food legumes, the horizontal gene transfer through transgenic technology, somatic hybridization, and, more recently, intragenesis also offer promise. The gains through introgression breeding are significant and underline the need of bringing it in the purview of mainstream breeding while deploying tools and techniques to increase the recombination rate in wide crosses and reduce the linkage drag. The resurgence of interest in introgression breeding needs to be capitalized for development of commercial food legume cultivars.

Acute-on-chronic liver failure is an acute deterioration of liver function manifesting as jaundice and coagulopathy with the development of ascites, with a high probability of extrahepatic organ involvement and high 28-day mortality. The pathogenesis involves extensive hepatic necrosis, which is associated with severe systemic inflammation and subsequently causes the cytokine storm, leading to portal hypertension, organ dysfunction, and organ failure. These patients have increased gut permeability, releasing lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPS) in the blood, leading to hyper-immune activation and the secretion of cytokines, followed by immune paralysis, causing the development of infections and organ failure in a proportion of patients. Early detection and the institution of treatment, especially in the \"Golden Window\" period of 7 days, gives an opportunity for reversal of the syndrome. Scores like the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL) ACLF research consortium (AARC) score, a model for end stage liver disease (MELD), and the CLIF Consortium acute-on-chronic liver failure (CLIF-C ACLF) score can help in the prediction of mortality. Treatment strategy includes treatment of acute insult. Patients should be considered for early transplant with MELD score >28, AARC score >10, high-grade hepatic encephalopathy, and in the absence of >2 organ failure or overt sepsis to improve survival of up to 80% at five years. Patients, with no option of transplant, can be treated with emerging therapies like faecal microbial transplant, plasma exchange, etc., which need further evaluation.

Grain legumes are an important component of sustainable agri-food systems. They establish symbiotic association with rhizobia and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, thus reducing the use of chemical fertilizers. Several other free-living microbial communities (PGPR—plant growth promoting rhizobacteria) residing in the soil-root interface are also known to influence biogeochemical cycles and improve legume productivity. The growth and function of these microorganisms are a ected by root exudate molecules secreted in the rhizosphere region. PGPRs produce the chemicals which stimulate growth and functions of leguminous crops at di erent growth stages. They promote plant growth by nitrogen fixation, solubilization as well as mineralization of phosphorus, and production of phytohormone(s). The co-inoculation of PGPRs along with rhizobia has shown to enhance nodulation and symbiotic interaction. The recent molecular tools are helpful to understand and predict the establishment and function of PGPRs and plant response. In this review, we provide an overview of various growth promoting mechanisms of PGPR inoculations in the production of leguminous crops.

Rapid advances in the fields of genetics and genomics after the discovery of Mendel’s laws of inheritance have led to map many genes/QTL controlling qualitative and quantitative traits in plant species. Mapping of genomic regions controlling the variation of quantitatively inherited traits has become routine with the abundance of polymorphic molecular markers. Recently, the next generation sequencing methods have accelerated research on QTL mapping using both linkage and association mapping approaches. These efforts have led to identification of closely linked markers with gene/QTLs and identified markers even within the gene/QTL controlling the trait of interest. Some of the notable successes of utilizing major QTL in cultivar development include Fhb1 for Fusarium head vlight ressitance in wheat, Sub1 for submergence tolereance in rice and major QTL for resistance to cyst nematode in soybean. Efforts have also directed towards cloning of gene/QTLs for identification of potential candidate genes responsible for a trait. New concepts such as crop QTLome and QTL prioritization hold promise to accelerate the precise application of QTL for genetic improvement of complex traits in crop plants. In the present article, we reviewed QTL mapping approaches from identification to exploitation in plant breeding programs, and introgression of favourable QTL alleles through marker assisted breeding for improving productivity in major crops.

Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) is a nutritionally dense crop with significant quantities of protein, low-digestible carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins. The amino acid composition of lentil protein can impact human health by maintaining amino acid balance for physiological functions and preventing protein-energy malnutrition and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Thus, enhancing lentil protein quality through genetic biofortification, i.e., conventional plant breeding and molecular technologies, is vital for the nutritional improvement of lentil crops across the globe. This review highlights variation in protein concentration and quality across Lens species, genetic mechanisms controlling amino acid synthesis in plants, functions of amino acids, and the effect of antinutrients on the absorption of amino acids into the human body. Successful breeding strategies in lentils and other pulses are reviewed to demonstrate robust breeding approaches for protein biofortification. Future lentil breeding approaches will include rapid germplasm selection, phenotypic evaluation, genome-wide association studies, genetic engineering, and genome editing to select sequences that improve protein concentration and quality

Rising temperatures and drought stress limit the growth and production potential of lentil ( Medikus), particularly during reproductive growth and seed filling. The present study aimed to (i) investigate the individual and combined effects of heat and drought stress during seed filling, (ii) determine the response of lentil genotypes with contrasting heat and drought sensitivity, and (iii) assess any cross tolerance in contrasting genotypes. For this purpose, eight lentil genotypes (two drought-tolerant, two drought-sensitive, two heat-tolerant, two heat-sensitive) were either sown at the normal time (second week of November 2014), when the temperatures at the time of seed filling were below 30/20°C (day/night), or sown late (second week of February 2015) to impose heat stress (temperatures > 30/20°C (day/night) during reproducive growth and seed filling. Half of the pots in each sowing environment were fully watered throughout (100% field capacity) while the others had water withheld (50% of field capacity) from the start of seed filling to maturity. Both heat and drought, individually or in combination, damaged cell membranes, photosynthetic traits and water relations; the effects were more severe with the combined stress. RuBisCo and stomatal conductance increased with heat stress but decreased with drought and the combined stress. Leaf and seed sucrose decreased with each stress in conjunction with its biosynthetic enzyme, while its (sucrose) hydrolysis increased under heat and drought stress, but was inhibited due to combination of stresses. Starch increased under heat stress in leaves but decreased in seeds, but drastically declined in seeds under drought alone or in combination with heat stress. At the same time, starch hydrolysis in leaves and seeds increased resulting in an accumulation of reducing sugars. Heat stress inhibited yield traits (seed number and seed weight per plant) more than drought stress, while drought stress reduced individual seed weights more than heat stress. The combined stress severely inhibited yield traits with less effect on the drought- and heat-tolerant genotypes. Drought stress inhibited the biochemical processes of seed filling more than heat stress, and the combined stress had a highly detrimental effect. A partial cross tolerance was noticed in drought and heat-tolerant lentil genotypes against the two stresses.

Rising temperatures are proving detrimental for various agricultural crops. Cool-season legumes such as lentil (Lens culunaris Medik.) are sensitive to even small increases in temperature during the reproductive stage, hence the need to explore the available germplasm for heat tolerance as well as its underlying mechanisms. In the present study, a set of 38 core lentil accessions were screened for heat stress tolerance by sowing 2 months later (first week of January; max/min temperature >32/20°C during the reproductive stage) than the recommended date of sowing (first week of November; max/min temperature <32/20°C during the reproductive stage). Screening revealed some promising heat-tolerant genotypes (IG2507, IG3263, IG3297, IG3312, IG3327, IG3546, IG3330, IG3745, IG4258, and FLIP2009) which can be used in a breeding program. Five heat-tolerant (HT) genotypes (IG2507, IG3263, IG3745, IG4258, and FLIP2009) and five heat-sensitive (HS) genotypes (IG2821, IG2849, IG4242, IG3973, IG3964) were selected from the screened germplasm and subjected to further analysis by growing them the following year under similar conditions to probe the mechanisms associated with heat tolerance. Comparative studies on reproductive function revealed significantly higher pollen germination, pollen viability, stigmatic function, ovular viability, pollen tube growth through the style, and pod set in HT genotypes under heat stress. Nodulation was remarkably higher (1.8–22-fold) in HT genotypes. Moreover, HT genotypes produced more sucrose in their leaves (65–73%) and anthers (35–78%) that HS genotypes, which was associated with superior reproductive function and nodulation. Exogenous supplementation of sucrose to in vitro-grown pollen grains, collected from heat-stressed plants, enhanced their germination ability. Assessment of the leaves of HT genotypes suggested significantly less damage to membranes (1.3–1.4-fold), photosynthetic function (1.14–1.17-fold) and cellular oxidizing ability (1.1–1.5-fold) than HS genotypes, which was linked to higher relative leaf water content (RLWC) and stomatal conductance (gS). Consequently, HT genotypes had less oxidative damage (measured as malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide concentration), coupled with a higher expression of antioxidants, especially those of the ascorbate–glutathione pathway. Controlled environment studies on contrasting genotypes further supported the impact of heat stress and differentiated the response of HT and HS genotypes to varying temperatures. Our studies indicated that temperatures >35/25°C were highly detrimental for growth and yield in lentil. While HT genotypes tolerated temperatures up to 40/30°C by producing fewer pods, the HS genotypes failed to do so even at 38/28°C. The findings attributed heat tolerance to superior pollen function and higher expression of leaf antioxidants.

Ambient temperatures are predicted to rise in the future owing to several reasons associated with global climate changes. These temperature increases can result in heat stress- a severe threat to crop production in most countries. Legumes are wellknown for their impact on agricultural sustainability as well as their nutritional and health benefits. Heat stress imposes challenges for legume crops and has deleterious effects on the morphology, physiology, and reproductive growth of plants. High-temperature stress at the time of the reproductive stage is becoming a severe limitation for production of grain legumes as their cultivation expands to warmer environments and temperature variability increases due to climate change. The reproductive period is vital in the life cycle of all plants and is susceptible to high-temperature stress as various metabolic processes are adversely impacted during this phase, which reduces crop yield. Food legumes exposed to high-temperature stress during reproduction show flower abortion, pollen and ovule infertility, impaired fertilization, and reduced seed filling, leading to smaller seeds and poor yields. Through various breeding techniques, heat tolerance in major legumes can be enhanced to improve performance in the field. Omics approaches unravel different mechanisms underlying thermotolerance, which is imperative to understand the processes of molecular responses toward high-temperature stress.

Soil stresses such as drought, salinity, nutrient deficiencies, and heavy metal toxicity severely constrain plant growth by disrupting root function, nutrient uptake, and beneficial soil interactions. In response, plants depend on stress-responsive hormones—particularly abscisic acid (ABA), jasmonic acid (JA), ethylene, strigolactones, and auxins—to adapt and survive. These hormones remodel root architecture, regulate stomatal closure to conserve water, and fine-tune internal signaling to sustain growth under adverse conditions. JA plays a key role in phosphorus uptake and cell wall repair, while ABA modulates root development and water use under drought and salt stress. Strigolactones enhance nutrient foraging efficiency, and hormonal crosstalk mitigates ammonium toxicity. Increasingly, soil microbes are recognised as active partners in stress mitigation, producing or modulating phytohormones such as indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and ABA, improving nutrient availability, and inducing systemic tolerance. Beneficial rhizobacteria and mycorrhizal fungi also enhance root plasticity, water use efficiency, and soil health. While exogenous hormone applications show potential, concerns about cost, environmental safety, and soil health underscore the need for sustainable approaches. Microbial inoculants, natural hormone analogues, and precision delivery systems are emerging as integrated solutions. This review synthesizes current understanding of the interplay between soil stresses, phytohormones, and plant–microbe interactions, offering a comprehensive perspective for developing resilient and sustainable crop production systems.