As a crucial staple for millions, climate-resilient wheat genotypes are vital for safeguarding livelihoods and ensuring food security. The study encompassed 80 genotypes and was conducted during the Rabi seasons of 2019–2020 and 2020–2021. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of various stress indices to determine their effectiveness in predicting wheat genotypes performance under diverse environmental conditions. Based on strong positive correlation of indices with grain yield per plot along with insights from principal component analysis, our findings showed that the Stress Tolerance Index (STI), Mean Productivity (MP), Geometric Mean Productivity (GMP), Harmonic Mean (HM), and Yield Index (YI) are the most reliable indicators of yield performance under drought, heat, and combined stress conditions. This confirms their effectiveness in selecting resilient genotypes. Additionally, while these indices are robust in predicting performance, it is important to consider their trade-offs with yield stability under stress conditions to ensure a balanced approach in genotype selection. A negative correlation between yield stability index (YSI) and grain yield in favorable conditions suggests that genotypes with high yield stability prioritize consistency over maximum yield potential. The genotypes C-306, HD-2888, GW-477, RW-5, WH-1142, PBW-773 and HD-30 are identified as the best performers under these environmental conditions. The findings highlight the consistent and significant relevance of stress tolerance, stress susceptibility indices, reduction and relative stress index in both PC1 and PC2 explaining the majority of variance within all stress contexts. These revelations offer valuable insights for devising crop enhancement strategies aimed at elevating yield and productivity under diverse stress conditions. Moreover, this knowledge can guide the selection of parental lines for crafting new cultivars with heightened stress tolerance.

BACKGROUND:The increasing impacts of heat stress on wheat production due to climate change has entailed the development of heat-resilient crop varieties. To address this, two hundred recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from a cross between WH711/WH1021 were evaluated in a randomized block design (RBD) with two replications at CCSHAU, Hisar, during 2018-19 under heat stress and non-stress conditions. Heat stress was induced by altering the date of sowing so that the grain filling stage coincide with heat stress.RESULTS:Heat stress adversely affects RILs performance, as illustrated by alterations in phenotypic traits. Highest coefficients of variations were recorded for TAA, CTD 1, WUE, CTD 2, Cc and A under non-stress and heat stress conditions whereas gs, WUEi and GY under non-stress and SPAD 1, SPAD 2, GY and NDVI 2 under heat-stress conditions recorded moderate estimates of coefficient of variations. CTD 2, TAA, E, WUE and A displayed a significant occurrence of both high heritability and substantial genetic advance under non-stress. Similarly, CTD 2, NDVI 2, A, WUEi, SPAD 2, gs, E, Ci, MDA and WUE exhibited high heritability with high genetic advance under heat-stress conditions.CONCLUSIONS:Complementary and duplicate types of interactions with number of controlling genes were observed for different parameters depending on the traits and environments. RILs 41, 42, 59, 74, 75, 180 and 194 were categorized as heat tolerant RILs. Selection preferably for NDVI 1, RWC, TAA, A, E and WUEi to accumulate heat tolerance favorable alleles in the selected RILs is suggested for development of heat resilient genotypes for sustainable crop improvement. The results showed that traits such as such as NDVI, RWC, TAA, A, E, and WUEi, can be effective for developing heat-resilient wheat genotypes and ensuring sustainable crop improvement.

Environmental health is a major concern around the world due to the exponential increase in pollutant discharges into the environment from industrial and agricultural activities. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are a broad category of natural or synthetic substances with properties that may cause endocrine disruption in an intact organism, its progeny, or (sub)populations. Everyday products such as plastics, personal care products, and cleaning agents, as well as pesticides, herbicides, and industrial chemicals, may contain EDCs. These chemicals can enter the environment through air and water pollution and can accumulate in the food chain, leading to widespread exposure in both humans and wildlife. EDCs can disturb the normal functioning of plants, humans, and animals. These compounds can enter in plant through roots and atmospheric air and hinder the activity of several enzymes and hormones. Several studies showed that EDCs have negatively affected the various physiological processes of plants such as photosynthesis, which are discussed in this chapter. To tackle the challenges posed by EDCs, numerous organizations and governments have urged for enhanced research, regulation, and public awareness of these chemicals. Certain countries have implemented legislation to limit the use of EDCs in specific products, and several manufacturers have voluntarily removed EDCs from their products. Nonetheless, further action is required to minimize exposure to EDCs and safeguard human and environmental health. In summary, EDCs are a complex and prevalent group of environmental pollutants that pose significant risks to human and wildlife health. Thus this chapter will focus on how EDCs exposure induces alteration in the plant's germination, growth, and physiological trait.

Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum), one of the nutria-cereals which is renowned for its hardiness, ability to withstand drought, and short growing season. It is a water efficient crop and is enriched with nutrients. Due to its relative aversion to pests and diseases, it has an immense potential to be an exemplary crop for global climate change. Despite this, there are few prevalent diseases of which head smut, bacterial stripe disease, kernel smut, and leaf spot are important, causing substantial reduction in grain yield. Among the pests, shoot fly is the most serious. Proso millet is similarly subjected to annual and perennial weed competition. Crop rotation and adjusting sowing times are often used techniques in millet to prevent disease and insect pressure. Different traditional and advanced breeding techniques are used by plant breeders to develop disease and pest tolerant varieties. However, in spite of the impeccable benefits, development of agricultural improvement in this millet remains under explored due to extreme scarcity of research fundings leading to lack of sufficient genomic resources. Although, there are few reports on molecular markers for identifying pathotypes by screening genotypes that were discovered to be possible differential hosts. Recent advancements in identification of novel molecular markers and development of first linkage map has paved the way for accelerating proso millet breeding for biotic stress resistance with further availability of next-generation sequencing, together with high-throughput phenotyping.

Extreme environmental conditions are the key constraints in agricultural production and productivity. Environmental stresses due to salt and water play a cardinal role as they influence photosynthesis directly or indirectly, hence reducing the crop productivity significantly. Various molecular mechanisms play pivotal role in combating these stresses by the plants. Also, the extent of stress tolerance depends upon genetic makeup of the plant and its interactions with the external environment at different developmental stages. Comprehensive studies on drought and salt tolerance have helped in designing strategies to improve plant architecture through conventional and modern techniques, thereby enhancing crop yields. Conventional breeding tools have scope for successful transfer of stress tolerant genes only when there is presence of ample genetic variability for the same and no barrier to crossing. However, the genetic variability for drought and salt stress is very limited in the germplasm for most of the crops, and it is further hindered by reproductive barriers. Advance breeding techniques like marker-assisted selection, quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping, genetic engineering, genome editing, etc. have enormous potential to develop stress tolerant crop cultivars. The role of conventional as well as advance approaches in breeding for the development of drought and salt stress tolerant crop varieties and their future scope has been described in this chapter.

Wheat is a vital crop, providing calories, nutrients and versatility in the food industry. However, the combination of heat and drought stress, exacerbated by climate change, poses a significant threat to wheat production, leading to potential yield losses. To ensure the sustainability of wheat production it is crucial to prioritize research on developing stress-tolerant wheat genotypes. The current study focused on identifying the traits that are important for developing stress-tolerant wheat varieties under timely sown irrigated, drought stress, heat stress, and combined stress conditions. It addresses the knowledge gap regarding the combined effects of heat and drought stress on wheat physiology and yield, aiming to shed light on the intricate interactions between these stresses. The experiment was conducted at CCS HAU, Hisar, during the Rabi seasons of 2019–2020 and 2020–2021. By evaluating variability parameters, conducting correlation analysis, and path coefficient analysis among 80 diverse wheat genotypes, this research identifies genetic factors contributing to stress tolerance and helps select plants with desirable characteristics. The results showed that traits i.e., malendialdehyde, wax covering on blade, wax covering on sheath and wax covering on spike had high potential for improvement through selection among genotypes for grain yield and its component traits. The study also highlighted the importance of selecting wheat varieties with early maturity to mitigate the risk of yield loss under combined stress conditions. Moreover, the interaction between drought and heat stress can increase oxidative stress, leading to elevated malondialdehyde levels. Selecting varieties with lower malondialdehyde and optimal canopy temperature is important. Understanding the complex response of wheat to heat, drought, and their combined stress is essential for improving crop quality and production potential. Overall, this research contributes to the field of plant breeding by facilitating the development of wheat varieties with high and stable yields in challenging environments.

An experiment was conducted during winter (rabi) seasons of 2019–20 and 2020–21 at the research farm of CCS Haryana Agricultural University to study the genetic diversity of 80 bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes, using 43 polymorphic SSR markers. A total of 84 alleles were discovered, with an average of 3 alleles amplified per locus. The average value of the allelic PIC varied from 0.26 to 0.82. Primers, viz. Xgwm 129, Xgwm 131, TaGST, CFA2147, Xwmc48, Xbarc 1165 and Xwmc169 may be deemed particularly informative given their high PIC values. Indices of dissimilarity varied from 0.14 to 0.42. Eighty wheat genotypes were clustered into two main groups with 35 and 45 genotypes each using the dendrogram constructed on the basis of molecular data of polymorphic markers. Using STRUCTURE, genotypes were classified into 4 major sub-populations having Fst values 0.351, 0.363, 0.508 and 0.313, respectively. Future breeding operations in wheat cultivars for tolerance to abiotic stress should consider genotypes clustering into different groups. Assessing the molecular genetic diversity is a reliable approach to identify cultivars by analyzing of specific regions of the cultivars DNA based on their unique genetic profiles.

Crop improvement programmes began with traditional breeding practices since the inception of agriculture. Farmers and plant breeders continue to use these strategies for crop improvement due to their broad application in modifying crop genetic compositions. Nonetheless, conventional breeding has significant downsides in regard to effort and time. Crop productivity seems to be hitting a plateau as a consequence of environmental issues and the scarcity of agricultural land. Therefore, continuous pursuit of advancement in crop improvement is essential. Recent technical innovations have resulted in a revolutionary shift in the pattern of breeding methods, leaning further towards molecular approaches. Among the promising approaches, marker-assisted selection, QTL mapping, omics-assisted breeding, genome-wide association studies and genome editing have lately gained prominence. Several governments have progressively relaxed their restrictions relating to genome editing. The present review highlights the evolutionary and revolutionary approaches that have been utilized for crop improvement in a bid to produce climate-resilient crops observing the consequence of climate change. Additionally, it will contribute to the comprehension of plant breeding succession so far. Investing in advanced sequencing technologies and bioinformatics will deepen our understanding of genetic variations and their functional implications, contributing to breakthroughs in crop improvement and biodiversity conservation.

Oat (Avena sativa L.) is a unique multifaceted crop used for fodder and grain purpose. It’s grain has tremendous potential to offer health benefits, especially with the heightened emphasis on nutrition and food security. With this aim, quality traits were investigated among 62 oat genotypes, demonstrating significant variation. The biochemical analysis was conducted in laboratory of department of Genetics and Plant Breeding of CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during 2019–21. Quality parameters depicted a wide range for seed crude protein (8.16–19.18%), forage crude protein (5.17–11.42%), phenol (0.61–1.22%), beta-glucan content (0.32–7.55%), total soluble sugar (4.90–8.49%), reducing sugar (1.07–4.28%) and non-reducing sugar (2.02–6.38%). The current research covered wide and powerful analytical approaches that helped to underpin the selection of the most promising genotypes and evaluated the contribution of different traits to heterogeneity. Furthermore, non-reducing sugar, reducing sugar and seed crude protein were emerged to be the major contributors of PC1, PC2 and PC3, respectively. The genotypes GP 492, HFO 1107, HFO 1003, HFO 1016, OS 403, HFO1105 and HFO 806 were the best performing based on quality parameters. Promiscuous genotypes can serve as pioneers in oat improvement programs, enabling the enhancement of nutritional value. These insights expand the prospects for the food industry and hence appraise the significance of oats among other cereals.

Food security and public health are becoming major concerns for the global leaders due to climate change. The uneven distribution of rainfall and temperature has increased the global food demand with quality food. The current study was carried out for analysis of genetic diversity among 64 bread wheat genotypes for heat tolerance based on 21 morpho-physiological traits. The sixty four genotypes were grouped into five different clusters. Maximum number of genotypes was in cluster V (17) with lowest intra cluster distance (3.866) followed by cluster II (15), I (14), III and IV (each having 9 genotypes). Genotypes of cluster IV and I were more genetically diverse due to maximum inter cluster distance between them (8.873). The cluster II was designated as “highly tolerant” while cluster I and V as “moderately tolerant” and “highly sensitive” respectively, to heat stress on the basis of comparison of cluster mean values for yield and its major contributing traits like, peduncle length, flag leaf length, grain filling duration and so on. By collating their mean performance, the genotypes P-13348, P-13676, P-13820 and P- 14114 were found to be more heat tolerant in cluster II. Similarly, genotypes P-13808, P-13638 and P-14050 were found more moderately tolerant among cluster I genotypes and genotypes P-14106, P-14112 and P-14121 were most sensitive among the cluster V genotypes to terminal heat stress.

The escalating impact of heat stress on agriculture due to climate change has necessitated the development of heat- tolerant crop varieties. To address this, a study was carried out at research farm of CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana during winter (rabi) seasons of 2018–19 and 2019–20 under two different environments (normal and late sown). Evaluation of multiple stress indices and their relationship with grain yield per plot was done using 200 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Positive correlation was observed between grain yield and stress tolerance index, mean productivity, geometric mean productivity, harmonic mean and mean relative performance, while negative correlations existed with heat susceptibility index, tolerance, stress susceptibility index and reduction under stress conditions. Stepwise regression analysis revealed the importance of mean productivity, yield index, geometric mean productivity, stress tolerance index, and reduction in predicting grain yield. Principal Component Analysis highlighted the significance of tolerance and reduction in explaining the variance, with PC-1 labeled as the resilience and stress tolerance component and PC-2 as the yield stability and performance component. These findings were able to select 13 most heat tolerant RILs, performing better than national level check genotype WH730 and emphasized the role of stress indices especially HSI and TOL in characterizing genotypic responses to heat stress and guiding the selection of heat-tolerant genotypes for sustainable crop improvement. In the context of heat stress tolerance, understanding and harnessing transgressive segregants could lead to the development of crop varieties that not only tolerate, but thrive in challenging environments, ensuring sustainable food production under changing climatic conditions.

With increasing population and health-related problems, more emphasis is given to substitutes for generally grown cereal crops. It is widely cultivated for forage purposes because of its high regenerating capability. Oat grain has tremendous health benefits. Therefore the study of variability and correlation among yield contributing traits becomes important. Keeping this in view, in the present research sixteen morphological traits were studied for fifty six diverse oat genotypes. The experiment was conducted in RCBD design during Rabi 2017-2018. Significant variation was seen for all the traits under study. High GCV and PCV were seen for most of the most of traits except plant height, days to 50% flowering, days to maturity. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was observed for most of the characters viz., flag leaf length, leaf length, leaf width, leaf stem ratio, internode length, number of tillers plant-1, peduncle length, axis length, number of spikelets plant-1, seed yield plant-1, 100-seed weight, green fodder plant-1 and dry fodder plant-1. Genotypes namely HFO878, HFO-614, HFO-879 and HFO-707 showed good performance for both seed yield as well as green fodder yield. A study of variability, genetic advance, heritability and correlation will provide an opportunity for fruitful selection of the genotypes based on traits with high genetic advance and heritability and showing positive significant correlation with economic yield. Among the different traits which showed positive significant correlation with seed yield and green fodder yield, interestingly tillers plant-1 showed positive significant correlation both.

Oat (Avena sativa L.) is an important multi-purpose crop, cultivated for fodder, feed and grain purpose. Earlier oat was used for forage purpose but now with increasing health related issues as well as food security under changing climatic conditions; this crop has been emerged as sustainable dual purpose crop. Oat has emerged as a beneficial grain cereal for human consumption. Generally diverse individuals are likely to produce more heterotic effects during the crossing programme and desirable segregants are also produced. Therefore, in this present research, a total of 56 genotypes were evaluated for sixteen yield and yield contributing traits. K-means clustering and principal component analysis was done using R studio software. From clustering the genotypes were grouped in 4 cluster. Out of which cluster 1 and cluster 3 were most diverse. Highest cluster mean value for maximum traits was observed for cluster 3 as well. Principal component analysis showed that PF-1 and PF-2 was regarded as most important for yield factors. It was seen that PF-1 was loaded on seed yield, axis length and days to 50% flowering while PF-2 on green fodder yield, dry matter yield and plant height. Biplot depicted that variation in traits dry matter yield, green fodder yield, days to 50% flowering, seed yield and plant height was contributed by both principal component. Genotypes selected from diverse clusters can be incorporated in hybridization crop improvement programme.