The characterization of Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) was carried out in different cherry tomato (Solanumlycopersicum var. cerasiforme ) accessions along with their hybrids developed through a half-diallel mating design. DUS testing is a mandatory requirement for the registration of new plant varieties and for granting Plant Breeder’s Rights (PBR). The main objective of this evaluation is to confirm that a candidate variety is clearly distinguishable from all other existing varieties and exhibits sufficient uniformity and stability in its morphological characters. Furthermore, such characterization helps in identifying appropriate reference varieties that can be used for the protection and identification of new cultivars under the provisions of the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act.The results indicated that all cherry tomato accessions and their hybrids could be effectively classified on the basis of twenty one morphological descriptors. These descriptors provide reliable criteria for distinguishing different genotypes and may serve as standard reference traits for variety identification. In India, the activities related to plant variety testing, registration of new cultivars, and protection of breeders’ rights are coordinated by the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi. The DUS testing procedures adopted in the present investigation were based on the minimal descriptor guidelines developed for tomato crops as suggested by Srivastava et al. (2001).

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.) is a nutritionally rich but underutilized crop found in semi-arid regions and drylands worldwide. To identify their genetically diverse and well-adapted genotypes to local conditions, a total of 162 germplasm lines, along with eight check varieties, were assessed during the rainy seasons of 2023 and 2024. The morphological characterization adhered to the Distinctiveness, Uniformity, and Stability (DUS) guidelines established by the PPV & FR Authority. The data collection concentrated on 14 qualitative traits and 13 quantitative traits. Significant variation was observed across all the traits. Specific traits such as earhead length, finger length, number of productive tillers, stover yield, and grain yield exhibited high heritability and significant genetic advance. The diversity index ranged from 0.162 for seed shape to 1.436 for ear shape. Grain yield demonstrated the most significant positive correlations with flag leaf width (0.503) and finger number (0.320). Cluster analysis classified the genotypes into six distinct clusters, with cluster 6 being highly diverse and possessing early maturing genotypes. PCA identified five principal components with eigenvalues greater than 1, collectively accounting for 70.1% of the total variation. The study identified genetically diverse and promising genotypes, establishing a solid foundation for targeted selection and breeding. The enhanced integration of molecular tools like genome-wide association studies may facilitate the precise selection of genotypes. The findings offer critical insights for selecting high-performing genotypes appropriate for cultivation and for improving breeding programs in this region.

Understanding long-term changes in weather variables and their impact on crop productivity is essential for climate resilient agriculture in semi-arid regions of India. This study assessed the district wise long-term trends in temperature and rainfall and examined their linkages with sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) yield across Bundelkhand region of India. Long-term monthly temperature and seasonal rainfall trends were analyzed using simple linear regression, Mann-Kendall, modified Mann-Kendall and Sen's slope methods. District-wise crop weather relations between sesame yield and weather variables were evaluated using correlation analysis and stepwise linear regression models. The long-term trends revealed a consistent warming across the region (0.9-2.2 °C/100 years), particularly during the late monsoon and post-monsoon months, whereas monsoon as well as annual rainfall showed a declining trend at the rate of -1.03 to -1.51 mm/year. Correlation results indicated that sesame yield was positively associated with temperature and heat accumulation indices (r = 0.28 to 0.48) especially during August-September, reflecting favourable thermal conditions for crop growth. In contrast, rainfall-related variables, including rainfall amount, number of rainy days, heavy rainfall events, and prolonged wet spells showed negative correlations with sesame yield (r = -0.26 to -0.47), with August rainfall exerting the strongest adverse influence. Regression models (R2 = 0.29 to 0.78) identified monthly temperature indices (Tmin, Tmax, Tavg, DTR, and GDD) and rainfall distribution and intensity indices (RainyDays, R10_days, R20_days, CWD, SDII, and CDD) as more important predictors than seasonal averages. The findings revealed that moderate warming may benefit sesame production, whereas excess and poorly distributed rainfall remains an important climatic constraint. Overall, this biometeorological assessment offers a strong scientific basis for formulating climate-resilient sesame production strategies that effectively address long-term climate trends as well as short-term weather variability.

Spine gourd (Momordica dioica Roxb.), a dioecious and underutilized cucurbit, is increasingly recognized for its nutritional richness, medicinal potential, and adaptability to marginal agroecosystems. Traditionally cultivated in South Asia, particularly by tribal communities, spine gourd has gained scientific attention due to its high content of carotenoids, vitamins, minerals, and bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, saponins, and triterpenoids. These constituents contribute to its anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antimicrobial properties. Despite its promise, spine gourd remains an orphan crop with limited systematic breeding, largely due to its constraints in compiling reproductive biology, propagation problems, and poor genetic characterization. Challenges such as asynchronous flowering, seed dormancy, low commercial awareness, and inadequate conservation efforts continue to hinder large-scale adoption. Recent advances, including mutation breeding for inducing hermaphroditism, identification of sex-linked molecular markers, and emerging genome-enabled approaches, are mitigating these barriers and accelerating cultivar development. The review examines its taxonomy, phylogeny, botanical traits, genetic resources, and historical breeding efforts, highlighting its potential for improvement through selection, hybridization, and molecular tools. Nevertheless, integration of wild relatives, next-generation phenotyping, and participatory breeding offer strategic opportunities for enhancing yield, fruit quality, and stress resilience. The paper also discusses future prospects in nutraceuticals, sustainable agriculture, emphasizing the need for multidisciplinary efforts to unlock the full potential of spine gourd.

The study investigates the genetic basis of key traits in Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) using the additive-dominance model, with a focus on genotype × environment interactions. Conducted over two Rabi seasons (2021-22 and 2022-23) at Sri Karan Narendra College of Agriculture, Rajasthan, the research involved ten genetically diverse mustard genotypes crossed in a 10 × 10 half-diallel mating design. The parents and F 1 hybrids were evaluated under three sowing conditions to simulate different environmental scenarios. Significant genotypic, environmental, and genotype × environment interactions were observed for various traits, including days to flowering, plant height, siliquae per plant, and seed yield per plant. Diallel analysis revealed the suitability of the additive-dominance model for several traits, with both additive and dominant genetic effects playing substantial roles. Dominance gene action predominated for most traits, with overdominance observed for plant height, seed yield, and siliqua length. Genetic diversity among parents was evident, with specific genotypes showing dominance for traits like early flowering, plant height, and seed yield. These findings provide valuable insights into the genetic architecture of mustard traits and offer strategies for improving yield, stress tolerance, and adaptability in mustard breeding programs, ensuring better productivity in varying environmental conditions.

In the current era of continuously shifting environmental conditions, drought remains a major abiotic constraint, significantly impacting crop growth and productivity. This study assessed genetic variability and trait associations and effects in 65 Indian mustard genotypes under normal and drought stress conditions to identify key traits for drought tolerance. These genotypes were analyzed in randomized block design with three replications under irrigated and drought stress conditions for two consecutive years Rabi 2020-21 and 2021-22 at the Instructional research farm, SKRAU, Bikaner. Analysis of variance were found to be highly significant for all the traits analyzed over years and environments, suggesting the existence of significant genetic variation for these traits in the present germplasm. High heritability along with high genetic advance were observed for number of primary branches, number of secondary branches, number of siliqua per plant, test weight, harvest index, seed yield per plant, root diameter, membrane stability index, leaf water potential and proline content under both the conditions, suggesting the predominance of additive gene effects, hence these traits can be efficiently improved through direct selection. Seed yield per plant showed significant positive associations with most traits, except plant height and root diameter and a negative association with leaf water potential under drought stress, suggesting these traits as key targets for selection to enhance yield under limited moisture. Path analysis indicated that HI and BYPP were the most critical determinants of SYPP under drought stress, while other traits contributed mainly through indirect effects, underscoring the pivotal role of HI-mediated pathways in yield enhancement.

Amaranth, a gluten-free pseudo-cereal, is grown, cultivated, and adapted in diverse ecological zones all over the world. In recent years, increased attention has been paid on its nutritional eminence, particularly in terms of its seed protein, which specifically contains high levels of the essential amino acids. This important food and nutritional security crop's gene pool, which is diverse, needs to be characterized and genotyped in order to broaden its genetic base and to boost production. Genotyping by sequencing data of diverse germplasm serve useful tool for identification of important candidate genes associated with important traits of plants. In the present study, genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) approach was used to characterize a genetically diverse collection of 192 Amaranth accessions. This resulted in an estimated 41,931 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) segregating across the entire collection and several thousand SNPs segregating within every accession. A model-based population structure analysis reveals the presence of three subpopulations among the Amaranth accessions, which are in parallel with the results of phylogenetic analysis. A total of 1796 gene ontology (GO) terms were assigned to SNP-carrying genes for three main categories: biological process, cellular component, and molecular function. High-throughput genotyping and sequencing data generated, will be very useful not only for breeders for further enhancement of Amaranth but also for molecular biologists for isolation and identification of nutritionally important genes from Amaranth, which can be used for biofortification programs.

Plants have both fought and cooperated with microbes for as long as they have existed,so their ability to distinguish friends from foes is an important evolutionary adaptation(Delaux and Schornack,2021).The soil microbiome includes both pathogens and mutualistic symbiotic partners like rhizobia and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi(AMFs).How do plants fine-tune their molecular responses to accommodate beneficial microbes while defending against invaders?Three recent publications have begun to unravel this complex puzzle(Zhang et al.,2024;Tan et al.,2025;Wang et al.,2025).Collectively,these studies present a molecular framework involving the lysin-motif-receptor-like kinases(LysM-RLKs)and cytoplasmic kinases that allow plants to precisely decode microbial messages(Figure 1).

Plants rely heavily on a complex innate immune system to repel microbial attacks, and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) play a crucial role as central immune modulators of their immune response. These small, structurally diverse molecules exhibit broad-spectrum activities against bacteria, fungi, viruses, and nematodes through direct membrane disruption, interference with intracellular targets, and modulation of host signaling networks. Recent progress in multi-omics technologies, including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, combined with synthetic biology, has led to a significant increase in our understanding of classification, biosynthetic pathways, structure-function relationships, and the regulatory integration of AMPs within pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) and effector-triggered immunity (ETI). Some of these latter tools accelerate rational peptide design and enable applications in agriculture: among others, transgenic crops possessing constitutive or pathogen-inducible AMP expression, as well as peptide-based agrochemicals, represent eco-friendly alternatives to classical pesticides. Despite such breakthroughs, major challenges persist that currently limit large-scale deployment: rapid pathogen evolution of resistance, insufficient target specificity, peptide instability under field conditions, potential phytotoxicity, and complex regulatory approval pathways. Such barriers will require integrated systems-biology approaches, improved delivery platforms, for example, nanotechnology or bioencapsulation, and precise engineering of AMP-host interactions. This review consolidates current information on plant AMPs, highlighting transformative multi-omics insights and critically assessing the remaining hurdles to be overcome for the full utilization of AMPs in next-generation sustainable crop protection and global food security.

Understanding metal transport in plants has always been critical. Several gene families have been identified in the last two decades that have aided in the understanding of channelized metal transport, including their uptake, distribution, and storage in plants. Identifying Yellow Stripe-like (YSL) genes has contributed to an improved understanding of metal homeostasis in plants, especially monocots. Several studies have demonstrated that these genes play a role in transporting metals complexed with phytosiderophores (PS) and/or nicotianamine (NA). In the current review, we have discussed and opinionated the signalling role of YSL protein in maintaining inter and intracellular metal homeostasis in plants. Although the genes are known to have a broader range of metal substrate specificity, these are primary iron (Fe) transporters, and a detailed Fe transport in plants is discussed. Furthermore, based on recent findings, alternative functions of these genes are also discussed. Overall, we provide a broader overview of YSL protein in modulating the Fe mobilization and provides evidence of the expanding functions in plants.

A study was carried out to assess genetic variability and divergence for 12 traits across 80 diverse genotypes, including three checks of bread wheat, under normal sowing conditions. The analysis of variance demonstrated highly significant differences in mean squares attributed to the genotypes across all studied features. The grain yield per plot exhibited the highest coefficients of variation at both the genotypic and phenotypic levels. Peduncle length followed by awn length exhibited the highest heritability. The highest genetic advance was seen for grain yield per plot followed by plant height. Significant heritability along with a notable genetic advance as a percentage of the mean was noted for grain yield per plot, spike length, awn length, grain weight per spike, peduncle length, grains per spike and spikelets per spike. The eighty germplasm accessions exhibited significant variability for the traits examined, and they were categorized into four distinct clusters through Hierarchical Euclidean cluster analysis. The greatest inter-cluster distance was noted between clusters III and IV, followed by the distance between clusters II and IV. The intra-cluster distance exhibited its minimum value in cluster IV, while cluster I demonstrated the maximum distance. Cluster III demonstrated the most advantageous genotypes such as IC 634028 and EC 182958, demonstrating the highest cluster mean values for the majority of the studied characters. Consequently, it holds potential for wheat hybridization programs focused on.