Chickpea commercial value and end-use quality depends on the seed quality traits. Seed size, shape, colour, seed coat appearance and texture etc., contribute for market value. Most chickpea breeding programmes have focused primarily on improving grain yield, resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, and nutritional quality, whereas comparatively limited attention has been given to understanding the inheritance and genetic basis of seed surface characteristics. Therefore, the present study aimed to elucidate the inheritance pattern and identify genomic regions associated with seed testa-texture in chickpea using F2 and a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population comprising 166 F₈ lines derived from a cross between ICC 14395 (tuberculated) and Pusa 212 (rough). The distribution of seed testa-texture in F2 seeds revealed high percentage of tuberculated seeds followed by intermediate and rough types. The RILs deviated significantly from the expected 1:1 ratio (χ2 = 35.65, df = 1, P < 0.0001).The RIL population was genotyped using the DArTseq platform, and a linkage map was constructed using 62 highly polymorphic SNP markers distributed across the eight chickpea chromosomes. QTL analysis identified a single minor-effect QTL, designated qST-Ca1.1, on chromosome Ca1, with a LOD score of 2.83 and explaining 6.98
JG 16, a popularly grown cultivar in Central Zone of India, has become susceptible to terminal drought, leading to significant yield losses. To improve its drought tolerance while retaining its superior agronomic traits, marker-assisted backcross breeding (MABB) was utilized to incorporate a well-characterized QTL-hotspot region containing the CaTIFY4b-H2 haplotype from the drought-tolerant accession ICC 4958 into the genetic background of JG 16. The markers that were tagged to drought tolerance QTL hotspot (TAA 170, ICCMO 249, and NCPGR 21) were used in identification of DTILs (Drought tolerant introgression lines) in conjunction with background recovery through 48 genome wide SSR markers for recovering JG -16 genetic background. A total of 24 BC₃F₃ introgression lines (ILs) with 95–97
Terminal drought stress severely reduces wheat productivity in arid and semi-arid regions by limiting water availability during critical reproductive stages of flowering, grain setting, and grain filling. Understanding the genetic basis of drought tolerance is therefore essential for developing effective wheat breeding strategies. We evaluated six generations (P1, P2, F1, F2, BC1, and BC2) derived from the Barat × Nogal cross under normal irrigation and terminal drought-stress field conditions. Generation mean analysis was used to estimate additive, dominance, and digenic epistatic gene effects for agronomic and physiological traits. Water regime significantly affected peduncle length, days to maturity, 100 grain weight, grain yield per plant, flag leaf area, SPAD chlorophyll index, total chlorophyll, and proline concentration, whereas generation effects were significant for all evaluated traits. Significant joint scaling tests under both water regimes showed that the additive–dominance model was inadequate, indicating the involvement of epistatic interactions in trait inheritance. Dominance effects were broadly important, and dominance × dominance epistasis contributed substantially to yield-related traits. Under terminal drought stress, additive effects were significant for several morphological and physiological traits, whereas grain yield and grain number were predominantly controlled by non-additive effects. Peduncle length, flag leaf area, plant height, days to maturity, and carotenoid concentration exhibited high narrow-sense heritability under terminal drought stress, suggesting their potential for effective selection.
Enhancing oil quality and disease resistance in Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.) is critical for ensuring nutritional safety and stable productivity. Marker-assisted backcross breeding was implemented to transfer the low-erucic acid trait from the donor genotype PDZ-1 into the elite but high-erucic cultivar NRCDR-601, followed by simultaneous selection for white rust resistance. Trait-linked markers FAE1.1 and FAE1.2 were evaluated for polymorphism and utilized for foreground selection, while background recovery was assessed using 77 polymorphic SSR markers. Recurrent parent genome recovery increased progressively from 79.87
St. Augustinegrass (Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt.) Kuntze) is a widely used warm-season turfgrass valued for its adaptability and persistence in warm and subtropical climates. However, many cultivars exhibit relatively coarse leaf texture, which limits turf quality and reduces their acceptance for landscape use. Mutation breeding offers a promising approach for generating novel genetic variation and improving turf quality traits. In this study, gamma irradiation–derived mutant lines of St. Augustinegrass were evaluated over multiple years under Mediterranean field conditions to assess turf performance, stolon morphology, and environmental adaptation. Several mutant genotypes exhibited improved visual turf performance compared with the parental control, including darker canopy color, finer leaf texture, increased turf density, higher turf quality, and improved winter color retention. Many mutants also displayed compact stolon architecture characterized by shorter internodes (up to 35
