Seed trait

Genomic selection (GS) is a marker-based selection method used to improve the genetic gain of quantitative traits in plant breeding. A large number of breeding datasets are available in the soybean database, and the application of these public datasets in GS will improve breeding efficiency and reduce time and cost. However, the most important problem to be solved is how to improve the ability of across-population prediction. The objectives of this study were to perform genomic prediction (GP) and estimate the prediction ability (PA) for seed oil and protein contents in soybean using available public datasets to predict breeding populations in current, ongoing breeding programs...

Rice is a major food crop for more than half of the world's population, while its production is seriously threatened by flooding, a common environmental stress worldwide. Flooding leads to oxygen deficiency, which is a major problem for submerged plants. Over the past three decades, significant progress has been made in understanding rice adaptation and molecular regulatory mechanisms in response to flooding. At the seed germination and seedling establishment stages, the CIPK15-SnRK1A-MYBS1 signaling cascade plays a central role in determining rice submergence tolerance...

Tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum ) breeding for improved fruit quality emphasizes selecting for desirable taste and characteristics, as well as enhancing disease resistance and yield. Seed germination is the initial step in the plant life cycle and directly affects crop productivity and yield. ERECTA (ER) is a receptor-like kinase (RLK) family protein known for its involvement in diverse developmental processes. We characterized a Micro-Tom EMS mutant designated as a knock-out mutant of sler . Our research reveals that SlER plays a central role in controlling critical traits such as inflorescence development, seed number, and seed germination...

Quinoa ( Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) seeds are rich in nutrition, superior to other grains, and have a high market value. However, the biosynthesis mechanisms of protein, starch, and lipid in quinoa grain are still unclear. The objective of this study was to ascertain the nutritional constituents of white, yellow, red, and black quinoa seeds and to employ a multi-omics approach to analyze the synthesis mechanisms of these nutrients. The findings are intended to furnish a theoretical foundation and technical support for the biological breeding of quinoa in China...

Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is essential to global food systems and the brewing industry. Its physiological traits and microbial communities determine malt quality. Although microbes influence barley from seed health to fermentation, there is a gap in metagenomic insights during seed storage. Crucially, elucidating the changes in microbial composition associated with barley seeds is imperative for understanding how these fluctuations can impact seed health and ultimately, influence both agricultural yield and quality of barley-derived products...

Ruderal plants are an important component of plant communities that develop on the range of anthropogenically degraded lands. Yet they were highly neglected and not recognised as desirable for restoration purposes. The aim of this study was to analyse the potential for using ruderal species in restoration processes and to identify preliminary criteria for species selection that could be included in ecological restoration of degraded man-made habitats under future conditions of increased human disturbance and climate changes...

Water stress can adversely affect seed germination and plant growth. Seed osmopriming is a pre-sowing treatment in which seeds are soaked in osmotic solutions to undergo the first stage of germination prior to radicle protrusion. Seed osmopriming enhances germination performance under stressful environmental conditions, making it an effective method to improve plant resistance and yield. This study analyzed the effect of seed osmopriming with polyethylene glycol (PEG) on seed germination and physiological parameters of Coronilla varia L...

BACKGROUND: The lack of stable-high yielding and direct-seeded adapted varieties with better germination ability from deeper soil depth and availability of molecular markers are major limitation in achieving the maximum yield potential of rice under water and resource limited conditions. Development of high-throughput and trait-linked markers are of great interest in genomics-assisted breeding. The aim of present study was to develop and validate novel KASP (Kompetitive Allele-Specific PCR) markers associated with traits improving germination and seedling vigor of deep sown direct seeded rice (DSR)...

The multi-environmental trials aid breeders in selecting the best genotypes for specific or general adaptability to different environments before commercial release. This study aimed to assess the stability of 13 new soybean pure lines, along with two controls, in terms of seed yield and important agronomic traits. The assessment was based on a completely randomized block design with three replications across four areas during 2020-2022. Various adaptability methods, including parametric, AMMI, GGE biplot, PCA, and SIIG were employed...

BACKGROUND: The production of high-oil-yielding hybrid varieties is a primary objective in oilseed rape ( Brassica napus L.) breeding programs. Biometric genetic experiments such as line × tester provide valuable insights into the genetic structure of traits associated with high oil yield. METHODS: In this study, 21 winter hybrids of oilseed rape were evaluated, which were generated by crossing three restorers with seven CMS lines. The experiment was conducted using a line × tester experiment based on a completely randomized block design...

UNLABELLED: Members of the permease gene family are responsible for important biological functions in the growth and development of rice. Here, we show that OsAAP8 is a constitutive expression gene, and its translated protein is localized on the cell membrane. Mutation of the OsAAP8 can promote the expression of genes related to protein and amylopectin synthesis, and also promote the enlargement of protein bodies in its endosperm, leading to an increase in the protein, amylopectin, and total amino acid content of grains in OsAAP8 mutants...

Species traits may determine plant interactions along with soil microbiome, further shaping plant-soil feedbacks (PSFs). However, how plant traits modulate PSFs and, consequently, the dominance of plant functional groups remains unclear. We used a combination of field surveys and a two-phase PSF experiment to investigate whether forbs and graminoids differed in PSFs and in their trait-PSF associations. When grown in forb-conditioned soils, forbs experienced stronger negative feedbacks, while graminoids experienced positive feedbacks...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: There are intrinsic conflicts between signalling to mutualists and concealing (camouflaging) from antagonists. Like animals, plants also use camouflage as a defence against herbivores. However, this can potentially reduce their attractiveness to pollinators. METHODS: Using Fritillaria delavayi, an alpine camouflaged plant with inter-population floral colour divergence, we tested the influence of floral trait differences on reproduction. We conducted pollination experiments, measured floral morphological characteristics, estimated floral colours perceived by pollinators, analysed floral scent, and investigated the reproductive successes in five populations...

BACKGROUND: Rice bean (Vigna umbellata), an underrated legume, adapts to diverse climatic conditions with the potential to support food and nutritional security worldwide. It is used as a vegetable, minor food crop and a fodder crop, being a rich source of proteins, minerals, and essential fatty acids. However, little effort has been made to decipher the genetic and molecular basis of various useful traits in this crop. Therefore, we considered three economically important traits i.e...

Habitat loss and degradation are key drivers of the current biodiversity crisis. Most research focuses on the question of which traits allow species to persist in degraded habitats. We asked whether a species' trophic position or niche width influences the resilience of species in degraded habitats and to what extent habitat degradation affects trophic interactions between species. We used nitrogen isotope ratios (15 N:14 N, expressed as δ15 N value) to quantify and compare trophic positions and niche widths of understory birds inhabiting old-growth and young secondary forests in the Pacific lowlands of Costa Rica...

Chilli peppers are widely consumed for their pungency, as used in flavoring the food and has many pharmaceutical and medicinal properties. Based on these properties an experiment was held using 83 varieties of chilli (Hot pepper and sweet pepper) were grown in suitable environment using Augment Block design and evaluated for fruit pungency and phytochemical contents using high proficiency liquid chromatography. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of traits showed highly significant for all traits except for fruit length and capsaicin contents...

Cowpea is a highly drought-adapted leguminous crop with great promise for improving agricultural sustainability and food security. Here, we report analyses derived from array-based genotyping of 2,021 accessions constituting a core subset of the world's largest cowpea collection, held at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria. We used this dataset to examine genetic variation and population structure in worldwide cowpea. We confirm that the primary pattern of population structure is two geographically defined subpopulations originating in West and East Africa, respectively, and that population structure is associated with shifts in phenotypic distribution...

Carrot ( Daucus carota L.) is a high value, nutritious, and colorful crop, but delivering carrots from seed to table can be a struggle for carrot growers. Weed competitive ability is a critical trait for crop success that carrot and its apiaceous relatives often lack owing to their characteristic slow shoot growth and erratic seedling emergence, even among genetically uniform lines. This study is the first field-based, multi-year experiment to evaluate shoot-growth trait variation over a 100-day growing season in a carrot diversity panel (N=695) that includes genetically diverse carrot accessions from the United States Department of Agriculture National Plant Germplasm System...

Bacillus proteolyticus MITWPUB1 is a potential producer of biosurfactants (BSs), and the organism is also found to be a producer of plant growth promoting traits, such as hydrogen cyanide and indole acetic acid (IAA), and a solubilizer of phosphate. The BSs were reportedly a blend of two classes, namely glycolipids and lipopeptides, as found by thin layer chromatography and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis. Furthermore, semi-targeted metabolite profiling via liquid chromatography mass spectroscopy revealed the presence of phospholipids, lipopeptides, polyamines, IAA derivatives, and carotenoids...

Broomrape (Orobanche cumana) negatively affects sunflower, causing severe yield losses, and thus, there is a need to control O. cumana infestation. Brassinosteroids (BRs) play key roles in plant growth and provide resilience to weed infection. This study aims to evaluate the mechanisms by which BRs ameliorate O. cumana infection in sunflower (Helianthus annuus). Seeds were pretreated with BRs (1, 10, and 100 nM) and O. cumana inoculation for 4 weeks under soil conditions. O. cumana infection significantly reduced plant growth traits, photosynthesis, endogenous BRs and regulated the plant defence (POX, GST), BRs signalling (BAK1, BSK1 to BSK4) and synthesis (BRI1, BR6OX2) genes...