Nigeria produces most of the world’s yam, yet uptake of improved cultivars released since 2003 remains low. We documented the yam materials grown by 28 purposively selected, cooperative-affiliated farmers in nine groups across five locations of Oyo State, Nigeria, and their reasons for choosing planting material, using a questionnaire, focus group discussions and in situ morphological description. Thirty-five farmer-named accessions were recorded; using a limited set of qualitative descriptors, 24 were assigned to Dioscorea rotundata Poir., 9 to D. alata L. and 2 to D. cayenensis Lam. Within D. rotundata, 24 differently named accessions shared the same state for twelve of thirteen characters, which may reflect limited descriptor resolution, synonymy or both. Accession richness ranged from 5 to 15 per group; the first two principal components of the group × accession incidence matrix explained 70.9
The state of Pará contains cotton populations (Gossypium spp.) maintained primarily in household environments for medicinal purposes. The coexistence of these materials with the commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) cotton raises concerns regarding the potential impacts of gene flow on the conservation of Gossypium genetic resources. This study evaluated the morphological variability of cotton plants maintained outside commercial cultivation in the state of Pará and assessed evidence of potential transgenic introgression under current field conditions. Field expeditions were conducted in 2025 and complemented by documentary analyses, morphological characterization, and tests for the detection of transgenic proteins. A total of 686 Gossypium occurrence sites were recorded, all associated with anthropogenic environments. Populations of Gossypium barbadense L. and Gossypium hirsutum L., including the “Verdão” cotton type, were identified, as well as rare individuals with intermediate morphological characteristics consistent with putative interspecific hybridization. No G. barbadense or “Verdão” cotton plant tested positive for transgenic proteins. Likewise, no transgenic proteins were detected in seeds collected from plants located near GM cotton fields. Under the conditions evaluated, the findings did not indicate widespread transgenic introgression and establish an important baseline for monitoring future changes in these traditional cotton populations, including those potentially associated with the expansion of commercial GM cotton cultivation and the long-term effects of cultural erosion.
Salinity stress is a major constraint to rice productivity, particularly at the seedling stage. In this investigation, 27 rice genotypes were screened under hydroponic salinity stress using the Standard Evaluation System (SES). Cheriviruppu showed high salinity tolerance (SES score = 1), comparable to FL478, while BPT5204 was highly susceptible (SES score = 9). A biparental population (BPT5204 x Cheriviruppu) was developed and advanced to the F4 generation. Linkage mapping using 77 polymorphic markers and composite interval mapping identified 14 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with Na+ content, K+ content, Na+/K+ ratio, shoot length, plant height and biomass across chromosomes 1, 4, 5, 8, 11 and 12. Whole-genome resequencing of BPT5204, Cheriviruppu and the selected RIL B46-R23 enabled the identification of sequence variants within the QTL interval and the prioritization of candidate genes potentially involved in ion homeostasis, osmotic adjustment, stress signalling and protein protection. B46-R23 carried favourable alleles contributed by both parental genotypes and exhibited strong salinity tolerance along with desirable agronomic traits. The line may therefore serve as a useful genetic resource for salinity tolerance breeding. These findings highlight the usefulness of combining QTL mapping and whole-genome resequencing to identify genomic regions and prioritizing candidate genes associated with salinity tolerance in rice.
Triticum araraticum Jakubz., one of the two wild tetraploid wheat species (2n = 4x = 28), was divided into two subspecies by Dorofeev et al. (), namely, T. araraticum subsp. kurdistanicum Dorof. et Migusch. and subsp. araraticum. Recently, a thorough study on T. araraticum showed that this species is indeed differentiated into two genetically and karyotypically clearly distinct groups. However, their differentiation was inconsistent with the current taxonomic classification. Therefore, here we evaluate morphological data and genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) data for the inferred genetic and karyological groupings to revise the taxonomy of T. araraticum and its subspecies. As a result of our analysis, we present a new circumscription of T. araraticum subsp. araraticum and describe a new subspecies T. araraticum subsp. hammeri.
Durian (Durio zibethinus L.) is an economically important tropical fruit and an important component of Indonesia’s plant genetic resources. The limited availability of molecular markers constrains genetic diversity assessment, germplasm characterization, and breeding. This study developed and validated expressed sequence tag–simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR) markers for D. zibethinus and evaluated their transferability across Durio taxa. Mining of 473,960 transcript sequences from five tissues identified 13,002 SSR loci, with an average density of 35 loci per Mb. Trinucleotide (54.48
