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Future rice (Oryza sativa) crops will likely experience a range of growth conditions, and root architectural plasticity will be an important characteristic to confer adaptability across variable environments. In this study, the relationship between root architectural plasticity and adaptability (i.e. yield stability) was evaluated in two traditional × improved rice populations (Aus 276 × MTU1010 and Kali Aus × MTU1010). Forty contrasting genotypes were grown in direct-seeded upland and transplanted lowland conditions with drought and drought + rewatered stress treatments in lysimeter and field studies and a low-phosphorus stress treatment in a Rhizoscope study. Relationships among root architectural plasticity for root dry weight, root length density, and percentage lateral roots with yield stability were identified. Selected genotypes that showed high yield stability also showed a high degree of root plasticity in response to both drought and low phosphorus. The two populations varied in the soil depth effect on root architectural plasticity traits, none of which resulted in reduced grain yield. Root architectural plasticity traits were related to 13 (Aus 276 population) and 21 (Kali Aus population) genetic loci, which were contributed by both the traditional donor parents and MTU1010. Three genomic loci were identified as hot spots with multiple root architectural plasticity traits in both populations, and one locus for both root architectural plasticity and grain yield was detected. These results suggest an important role of root architectural plasticity across future rice crop conditions and provide a starting point for marker-assisted selection for plasticity.

Dry direct-seeded rice (DSR) is an alternative crop establishment method with less water and labor requirement through mechanization. It provides better opportunities for a second crop during the cropping season and therefore, a feasible alternative system to transplanted lowland rice. However, lodging is one of the major constraints in attaining high yield in DSR. Identification of QTLs for lodging resistance and their subsequent use in improving varieties under DSR will be an efficient breeding strategy to address the problem. In order to map the QTLs associated with lodging resistance, a set of 253 BC F lines derived from a backcross between Swarna and Moroberekan were evaluated in two consecutive years. A total of 12 QTLs associated with lodging resistance traits [culm length ( ), culm diameter ( ), and culm strength ( )] were mapped on chromosomes 1, 2, 6, and 7 using 193 polymorphic SNP markers. Two major and consistent effect QTLs, namely (with of 10%) and (with of 14%) on chromosome 1 with id1003559 being the peak SNP marker (flanking markers; id1001973-id1006772) were identified as a common genomic region associated with important lodging resistance traits. analysis revealed the presence of Gibberellic Acid 3 beta-hydroxylase along with 34 other putative candidate genes in the marker interval region of id1001973-id1006772. The positive alleles for culm length, culm diameter, and culm strength were contributed by the upland adaptive parent Moroberekan. Our results identified significant positive correlation between lodging related traits (culm length diameter and strength) and grain yield under DSR, indicating the role of lodging resistant traits in grain yield improvement under DSR. Deployment of the identified alleles influencing the culm strength and culm diameter in marker assisted introgression program may facilitate the lodging resistance under DSR.

A community-level nutritional intervention was implemented among tribal children (3 to 6 years of age) in Telangana, India. The one-year intervention involved six nutrient-rich formulations of millet–pulse–groundnut-based products suited to local taste preferences. Anthropometric measurements of height, weight, and mid-upper-arm circumference (MUAC) along with haemoglobin (Hb) levels were monitored at baseline and endline. The treatment group showed considerable gains in height (3.2 cm), weight (1.68 kg), and MUAC (0.33 cm) over the control group. The paired t-test indicated significant differences (p < 0.01) between the pre- and post-intervention anthropometric measurements. Positive shifts were observed in terms of wasting (WHZ; −1.2 ± 1.3 to −0.9 ± 1), stunting (HAZ; −1.8 ± 1.6 to −0.3 ± 1.3), and underweight (WAZ; −1.9 ± 1.2 to −0.7 ± 1) in the treatment group. The Hb levels in the treatment group also improved significantly from 9.70 ± 0.14 g/dL (moderately anaemic) to 11.08 ± 0.13 g/dL (non-anaemic). Post-intervention focus group discussions (FGDs) involving mothers and teachers confirmed these positive impacts. Thus, a nutritional intervention formulated using climate-resilient millets, pulses, and groundnuts promotes dietary diversity and improves the nutrition and health statuses of children.

Reducing water requirements and lowering environmental footprints require attention to minimize risks to food security. The present study was conducted with the aim to identify appropriate root traits enhancing rice grain yield under alternate wetting and drying conditions (AWD) and identify stable, high-yielding genotypes better suited to the AWD across variable ecosystems. Advanced breeding lines, popular rice varieties and drought-tolerant lines were evaluated in a series of 23 experiments conducted in the Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Cambodia in 2015 and 2016. A large variation in grain yield under AWD conditions enabled the selection of high-yielding and stable genotypes across locations, seasons and years. Water savings of 5.7-23.4% were achieved without significant yield penalty across different ecosystems. The mean grain yield of genotypes across locations ranged from 3.5 to 5.6 t/ha and the mean environment grain yields ranged from 3.7 (Cambodia) to 6.6 (India) t/ha. The best-fitting Finlay-Wilkinson regression model identified eight stable genotypes with mean grain yield of more than 5.0 t/ha across locations. Multidimensional preference analysis represented the strong association of root traits (nodal root number, root dry weight at 22 and 30 days after transplanting) with grain yield. The genotype IR14L253 outperformed in terms of root traits and high mean grain yield across seasons and six locations. The 1.0 t/ha yield advantage of IR14L253 over the popular cultivar IR64 under AWD shall encourage farmers to cultivate IR14L253 and also adopt AWD. The results suggest an important role of root architectural traits in term of more number of nodal roots and root dry weight at 10-20 cm depth on 22-30 days after transplanting (DAT) in providing yield stability and preventing yield reduction under AWD compared to continuous flooded conditions. Genotypes possessing increased number of nodal roots provided higher yield over IR64 as well as no yield reduction under AWD compared to flooded irrigation. The identification of appropriate root architecture traits at specific depth and specific growth stage shall help breeding programs develop better rice varieties for AWD conditions.

With the changing climatic conditions and reducing labor-water availability, the potential contribution of aerobic rice varieties and cultivation system to develop a sustainable rice based agri-food system has never been more important than today. Keeping in mind the goal of identifying high-yielding aerobic rice varieties for wider adaptation, a set of aerobic rice breeding lines were developed and evaluated for grain yield, plant height, and days to 50% flowering in 23 experiments conducted across different location in Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Lao-PDR between 2014 and 2017 in both wet and dry seasons. The heritability for grain yield ranged from 0.52 to 0.90. The season-wise two-stage analysis indicated significant genotype x location interaction for yield under aerobic conditions in both wet and dry seasons. The genotype × season × location interaction for yield was non-significant in both seasons indicating that across seasons the genotypes at each location did not show variability in the grain yield performance. Mean grain yield of the studied genotypes across different locations/seasons ranged from 2,085 to 6,433 Kg ha . The best-fit model for yield stability with low AIC value (542.6) was AMMI(1) model. The identified stable genotypes; IR 92521-143-2-2-1, IR 97048-10-1-1-3, IR 91326-7-13-1-1, IR 91326-20-2-1-4, and IR 91328-43-6-2-1 may serve as novel breeding material for varietal development under aerobic system of rice cultivation. High yield and stable performance of promising breeding lines may be due to presence of the earlier identified QTLs including grain yield under drought, grain yield under aerobic conditions, nutrient uptake, anaerobic germination, adaptability under direct seeded conditions, and tolerance to biotic stress resistance such as , . The frequency of gene was highest followed by , , and .

Background With the objective of improving the grain yield (GY) of the Malaysian high quality rice cultivar MRQ74 under reproductive stage drought stress (RS), three drought yield QTLs, viz. qDTY 2.2 , qDTY 3.1 , and qDTY 12.1 were pyramided by marker assisted breeding (MAB). Foreground selection using QTL specific markers, recombinant selection using flanking markers, and background selections were performed in every generation. BC 1 F 3 derived pyramided lines (PLs) with different combinations of qDTY 2.2 , qDTY 3.1 , and qDTY 12.1 were evaluated under both RS and non-stress (NS) during the dry season (DS) of 2013 and 2014 at IRRI. Results The GY reductions in RS trials compared to NS trials ranged from 79 to 99 %. Plant height (PH) was reduced and days to flowering (DTF) was delayed under RS. Eleven BC 1 F 5 MRQ74 PLs with yield advantages of 1009 to 3473 kg ha −1 under RS and with yields equivalent to MRQ74 under NS trials were identified as promising drought tolerance PLs. Five best PLs, IR 98010-126-708-1-4, IR 98010-126-708-1-3, IR 98010-126-708-1-5, IR 99616-44-94-1-1, and IR 99616-44-94-1-2 with a yield advantage of more than 1000 kg ha −1 under RS and with yield potential equivalent to that of MRQ74 under NS were selected. The effect of three drought grain yield QTLs under RS in MRQ74 was validated. Under NS, PLs with two qDTY combinations ( qDTY 2.2 + qDTY 12.1 ) performed better than PLs with other qDTY combinations, indicating the presence of a positive interaction between qDTY 2.2 and qDTY 12.1 in the MRQ74 background. Conclusion Drought tolerant MRQ74 PLs with a yield advantage of more than 1000 kg ha −1 under RS were developed. Differential yield advantages of different combinations of the qDTYs indicate a differential synergistic relationship among qDTYs .

Aims Drought is the major constraint to rainfed rice productivity in South Asia, but few reports provide detailed characterization of the soil properties related to drought stress severity in the region. The aim of the study was to provide a compilation of drought breeding network sites and their respective levels of drought stress, and to relate soil parameters with yield reduction by drought. Methods This study characterized levels of drought stress and soil nutrient and physical properties at 18 geographically distributed research station sites involved in rice varietal screening in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal, as well as at farmers' fields located near the research stations. Results Based on soil resistance to penetration profiles, a hardpan was surprisingly absent at about half of the sites characterized. Significant relationships of depth of compaction and yield reduction by drought indicated the effects of soil puddling on susceptibility to cracking, rather than water retention by hardpans, on plant water availability in this region. The main difference between research stations and nearby farmers' fields was in terms of soil compaction. Conclusions These results present an initiative for understanding the range of severities of reproductive-stage drought stress in drought-prone rainfed lowland rice-growing areas in South Asia.

BackgroundClimate extremes such as drought and flood have become major constraints to the sustainable rice crop productivity in rainfed environments. Availability of suitable climate-resilient varieties could help farmers to reduce the grain yield losses resulting from the climatic extremities. The present study was undertaken with an aim to develop high-yielding drought and submergence tolerant rice varieties using marker assisted introgression of qDTY1.1, qDTY2.1, qDTY3.1 and Sub1. Performance of near isogenic lines (NILs) developed in the background of Swarna was evaluated across 60 multi-locations trials (MLTs). The selected promising lines from MLTs were nominated and evaluated in national trials across 18 locations in India and 6 locations in Nepal.ResultsGrain yield advantage of the NILs with qDTY1.1 + qDTY2.1 + qDTY3.1 + Sub1 and qDTY2.1 + qDTY3.1 + Sub1 ranged from 76 to 2479 kg ha− 1 and 396 to 2376 kg ha− 1 under non-stress (NS) respectively and 292 to 1118 kg ha− 1 and 284 to 2086 kg ha− 1 under reproductive drought stress (RS), respectively. The NIL, IR96322–34-223-B-1-1-1-1 having qDTY1.1 + qDTY2.1 + qDTY3.1 + Sub1 has been released as variety CR dhan 801 in India. IR 96321–1447-651-B-1-1-2 having qDTY1.1 + qDTY3.1 + Sub 1 and IR 94391–131–358-19-B-1-1-1 having qDTY3.1 + Sub1 have been released as varieties Bahuguni dhan-1′ and ‘Bahuguni dhan-2’ respectively in Nepal. Background recovery of 94%, 93% and 98% was observed for IR 96322–34-223-B-1-1-1-1, IR 96321–1447-651-B-1-1-2 and IR 94391–131–358-19-B-1-1-1 respectively on 6 K SNP Infinium chip.ConclusionThe drought and submergence tolerant rice varieties with pyramided multiple QTLs can ensure 0.2 to 1.7 t ha− 1 under reproductive stage drought stress and 0.1 to 1.0 t ha− 1 under submergence conditions with no yield penalty under non-stress to farmers irrespective of occurrence of drought and/or flood in the same or different seasons.

Introduction: Groundnut or peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important food and oilseed crop with a global production of >50 m t from ~34 m ha. The ICRISAT groundnut breeding program, established in 1976, has significantly contributed to varietal development, resulting in the release of >240 varieties in 39 countries. Estimating realized genetic gain (RGG) in a breeding program helps to measure the progress made for agronomic traits and identify gaps to guide the breeding strategy. Materials and methods: This study was conducted to estimate realized genetic gain using an Elite Replicated Agronomic (ERA) trial, with five ERA trials representing three product concepts across market types and maturity durations. These trials included improved germplasm developed over a span of 15–20 years at ICRISAT and were evaluated for three key traits: pod yield (PY), 100 seed weight (HSW), and shelling outturn (SP). Results and discussion: Among these, PY and HSW exhibited high repeatability and genetic advance as the percentage of mean, whereas SP showed lower values. Realized genetic gain varied from 8.37 kg ha-¹ year−1 (0.48%) to 54.85 kg ha-¹ year−1 (3.91%) for PY. The Spanish Bunch germplasm recorded a higher realized GG of 46.45 kg ha-¹ year−1 (2.95%) for pod yield, compared to the Virginia Bunch germplasm with a marginal gain of 5.97 kg ha-¹ year−1 (0.23%). Higher RGG is realized in medium-duration and late-maturing germplasm with 27.1 kg ha-¹ year−1 (1.62%) and 25.32 kg ha-¹ year−1 (1.52%), respectively, while realized GG in early-maturing germplasm was 8.37 kg ha-¹ year−1 (0.5%). Among the traits, RGG was the highest for PY across all the trials. Higher RGG for PY and HSW was observed during the rainy season as compared to the post-rainy season, while SP showed a decline. This study helps breeders to optimize selection methods and design breeding strategies to enhance realized genetic gain for SP across two market types and three maturity durations. The study suggests a need for breeding strategies to enhance the rate of RGG for PY in early-maturing germplasm.

Climate change significantly aggravates the quality of soil and water, especially in desert regions such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt concluding in an alarming increase in salinity in the reservoirs of the natural resources. Saline farming rises as a promising solution, utilizing low-quality water and land resources to grow salt-tolerant varieties of conventional crops and halophytes. Samphire (Salicornia spp.) is among the most popular multi-purpose halophytes that are locally consumed in several countries around the world as a vegetable. Six Salicornia bigelovii genotypes (ICBA-2, ICBA-3, ICBA-4, ICBA-8, ICBA-9, ICBA-10) were evaluated for their agronomic performance and nutritional composition in Dubai in UAE and, for the first time, at the Red Sea Governorate in Egypt in the 2019–2020 season using saline groundwater for irrigation (ECw = 26 and 6.6 dS/m, respectively). ICBA-10 performed well in both locations with high green biomass and seed yield (10.9 kgm-2 and 116.3 gm-2, respectively, in UAE; 7.7 kgm-2 and 82.9 gm-2, respectively, in Egypt). ICBA-10 was, overall, also good in ion accumulation, total amino acids and unsaturated fatty acids content in both locations for shoots and seeds. Our results indicated that a lack of a drainage system and leaching fraction, the silt loam texture and the drip irrigation system might have contributed in the gradual accumulation of salts in the soil at Mubarak Valley at the end of the experiment at a higher level than ICBA. Apart from the agronomic parameters, higher salinity levels also affected ion accumulation, the amino acids and the fatty acids content for both shoots and seeds, whereas the proximate composition was affected to a lesser extent. Our findings on the high unsaturated fatty acids content under higher salinity corroborate the nutritional value of S. bigelovii oil. Due to its euhalophyte nature, S. bigelovii is a valuable source of minerals, amino acids and antioxidants that render it the most promising salt-loving plant for food use.