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Article Open Access

Cloning and analysis of the NBS-LRR gene family in finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.) (Gaertn.)

Dipnarayan Saha*, Rajeev Singh Rana

Division of Genomic Resources, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Pusa Campus, New Delhi 110012 INDIA
Present address: Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibres, Barrackpore, Kolkata 700120, INDIA

Abstract
Nucleotide binding site leucine rich repeat protein (NBS-LRR) is a multi-member gene family in plants encoding important disease resistance proteins to fend against various pathogen infections. Recent advances in genetics and genomics facilitated discovery and functional analysis of NBS-LRR genes or resistance gene homologs (RGHs) in various plant species. In the present work, we have cloned 57 non-identical NBS-LRR sequences from a blast disease resistant finger millet genotype IE1012. We assembled the 57 NBS-LRR sequences to the existing finger millet NBS-LRRs from NCBI Genbank through CAP3 program to obtain a total of 28 sequences. The hidden Markov models (HMMs) analysis further identified 16 NBS-LRRs as EcRGHs with uninterrupted open reading frames (ORFs), of which nine EcRGHs was added from the present work. The secondary structure analysis of protein sequences revealed characteristic conserved motifs, P-loop, Kinase2 and GLPL and other motifs with significant variations. The phylogenetic classification clustered the 16 EcRGH proteins, mostly in the non-TIR group. BLAST-P analysis showed homology of the 16 EcRGHs to NBS-LRR proteins reported across other grass species. The EcRGHs analysed here providing a useful genomic resource for genetic studies of resistance genes in finger millet and exploit them in resistance breeding programs.

Pages 1-8 | Full Text PDF
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Research Article
Open Access

Effects of supplemental irrigation and source limitation on grain quality of Iranian bread wheat genotypes

Saeid Jalali-Honarmand*, Mohsen Saeidi, Ali Rasaei
, Elaheh Peik

Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Campus of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran

Abstract
The wheat’s bread is one of the main foods to supply daily diet that its quality is affected by different stress and environmental conditions. This study was carried out to investigate the effects of different irrigation treatments (supplemental irrigation at anthesis and grain filling stages and non
-irrigation as control) and source limitation (current photosynthetic limitation) at 14 days after anthesis on traits related to baking quality of bread wheat genotypes (Karim, Cross Albourz, Sivand and Pishtaz). The results showed that the effects of irrigation, source limitation and genotypes were significant on the gluten index, total gluten, wet gluten and strong gluten. Also the falling number was affected by treatments except genotypes. The supplementary irrigation had positive effect on bread wheat traits and between the genotypes Sivand and Cross Albors had highest amount of gluten index and strong gluten. The most appropriate falling number was related to Karim genotype and without source limitation condition.

Pages 9-12 | Full Text PDF

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Review Article
Open Access

Overview of hybrid pigeonpea seed production technology and its on-farm validation

Shrikant L. Sawargaonkar*, Kulbhushan Saxena, Rachit K. Saxena

Pigeonpea Breeding, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, 502 324 Telangana, India
College of Agriculture, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, India
Genomic Laboratory, Grain Legumes, ICRISAT, Telangana, India

Abstract
Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.] is known for its high protein grains and it occupies an important place in subsistence agriculture of tropics and sub-tropics. The major constraint of the crop has been its low productivity. The recent emergence of hybrid technology in this crop has provided a platform for breaking its decades-old low yield plateau. In the last four years three CMS-based pigeonpea hybrids with 30-50% on-farm yield advantage were released in India. To increase the national pigeonpea production, now efforts are being made to take this technology to the door steps of farmers in a big way. To achieve this, an easy and economically viable seed production technology was successfully developed. This paper, besides describing the salient features of this technology, discusses results of its on-farm seed production program. On average, hybrid yields of over 1000 kg/ha were recorded with a seed-to-seed ratio of 1: 200. In the last two seasons the adoption of hybrid technology has shown very positive response from the cultivators with its planted area stands beyond 150,000 ha mark in 2015.

Pages 13-17 | Full Text PDF
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Research Article
Open Access

Variability and comparative analysis among advanced generations of Brassica rapa L.

Taiaba Afrin, Md. Shahidur Rashid Bhuiyan, Md. Harun-Ur-Rashid*, Shahanaz Parveen

Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Abstract
Variability and comparison analysis among the fifteen F4 population considering different morphological attributes of Brassica rapa obtained through inter-varietal crosses were evaluated in randomized complete block design with three replications in the experimental farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh during October 2012-March 2013 to find out the best genotype as well as trait for improving the yield in future. Highly significant variation was observed among the genotypes for almost all of the characters studied. The cross combination SAU sarisha 1 x SAU sarisha 3 performed the best for highest yield per plant along with most of the traits. So it can be used for developing superior genotypes. The number of secondary branches per plant exhibits the highest value for heritability while the primary branches per plant shows lowest value. Yield per plant, thousand seed weight, siliquae length, days to 50% flowering, days to 50% maturity and plant height showed moderate heritability. Hence selection based on this character will be judicious and effective for future B. rapa breeding program.

Pages 18-26 | Full Text PDF | Supplementary Data PDF
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Review Article
Open Access

Cocoyam (taro and tannia): Staples with untapped enormous potentials-A Review

Alfred O. Ubalua

Biotechnology Research and Development Center, National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) Umudike, PMB 7006 Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria.

Abstract
Within the past seven decades, taro and tannia were a household food in Nigeria. They were consumed and cherished for their rich taste, and their nutritional values. They were then an important most frequently eaten dish of the rural southern Nigerians. Apart from the established nutritional advantages of the crops in medical nutrition therapy, they offer distinct advantages as potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of eczema, rheumatism, and bone fracture. Moreover, applications of taro extracts over snake bites and septic wounds accelerate healing and purifying processes. Furthermore, their anthelmintic, antihypoallergic, anticancerous and antioxidative properties has been profiled by many authors, in addition to their now evolving roles in industrial products formulations. The paper now reviews the evolution of cocoyam as an orphan crop, their potentials as an evolving industrial crop, their various food forms and the nutritive and medicinal benefits of the crops.

Pages 27-35 | Full Text PDF | DOI: 10.21475/pkj.05.01.16.p7058

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Research Article
Open Access

Breeding for an ideal plant type in Brassica rapa L.

Md. Akkas Ali, Md. Shahidur Rashid Bhuiyan, Md. Harun-Ur-Rashid*
, Shahanaz Parveen, Md. Golam Robbani, Monika Sonom

Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Abstract
The investigation was set out to study the mean performance, heritability and genetic gain of yield and its components of Brassica rapa genotypes. Six genotypes of B. rapa were chosen for one or more several important traits for genetic improvement and were crossed in a half diallel design and genetic analyses were conducted based on different generations. The inherent genetic differences among the genotypes were found which might be exploited through selection. The life span of the parent SAU 3 was the lowest but its yield was moderate compared to other parents. The highest yield and 1000-seed weight were noticed in TORI 7 and its 80% maturity was achieved in 81 days. In case of hybrids, the lowest life time of 79.33 days was found in SAU 3 X TORI 7. The highest yield per plant and 1000-seed weight was observed in BARI 6 X SAU 2 and BARI 6 X SAU 1, respectively. The highest heritability was recorded by days to maturity (99.99%) in the hybrid P1ΧP3 followed by plant height (99.93%) in P2ΧP6 and length of siliqua (99.83%) in P1ΧP4. In the cross P1ΧP2, length of siliqua showed high (58.06%) narrow sense heritability with very low genetic gain (0.65). Considering the yield contributing traits in connection with the heritability and genetic gain, it might be concluded that TORI 7 was the ideal parent and the hybrid combination BARI 6 X SAU1 was the ideal hybrid for B. rapa
.

Pages 36-43 | Full Text PDF | Supplementary Data PDF | DOI: 10.21475/pkj.05.01.16.p7791