Comparative profiling of drought induced root metabolic responses in sugarcane wild relative Erianthus arundinaceus (IND 04-1335) and a commercial variety Co 99004

Aim: To study the metabolic changes in roots of a drought tolerant wild relative of sugarcane Erianthus arundinaceus clone (IND 04-1335) and a commercial sugarcane cultivar Co 99004. Methodology: Setts of Erianthus arundinaceus (IND 04-1335) and a commercial variety Co 99004 were planted in medium size pots in replication. After 45 days of planting, drought stress was imposed by withholding irrigation. The corresponding control pots were maintained under continuous irrigation. On 26th day of drought, stress morphological and physiological traits such as leaf drying, canopy temperature, leaf relative water content and chlorophyll fluorescence were recorded. Root samples were subjected to metabolomic analysis using GC-MS. Results: After 26 days of drought exposure, IND 04-1335 were found to be tolerant without any drought induced morphological symptoms. The comparative metabolite profiling identified a total of 143 metabolites in the control and drought exposed roots. Hierarchical cluster analysis showed that roots of IND04-1335 control and Co 99004 stress had the most similar metabolite profiles, while the profile of IND04-1335 stressed root was distinctive.The metabolomic profile of IND04-1335 under drought stress showed an increased accumulation of sugars (melezitose, trehalose), sugar alcohols (mannitol), amino acid (proline) and carotenoids (rhodopin, carotene) as compared to Co 99004. Interpretation: Differentially accumulated metabolites in IND04-1335 under drought stress may play an important role as osmoregulants, antioxidants and chelating agents thereby imparting better tolerance mechanism to this genotype.

Culinary quality and sensory profile of cassava varieties harvested at different ages

Sweet cassava must be rapidly cooked and meet the sensory and technological requirements of consumers. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the culinary quality of sweet cassava varieties harvested at three ages and obtain the sensory profile of these varieties using the check-all-that-apply method (CATA). Roots of three cassava varieties released or recommended by Embrapa (BRS Aipim Brasil, BRS Dourada and Saracura) and the commercial variety Eucalipto, harvested at nine, 12 and 15 months of age, were evaluated for physical, chemical and sensory aspects. At nine months of age, the Saracura, BRS Aipim Brasil and BRS Dourada varieties did not differ in cooking time, averaging 41.62 min. The Eucalipto variety had similar cooking times at the three harvest ages, averaging 21.83 min. There was a difference between the four varieties at nine months, with Saracura exhibiting the lowest acceptance score (5.0) and differing from the Eucalipto variety, which showed an average score of 6.3. At 12 months of age, there was a significant increase in the acceptance of the Saracura and BRS Aipim Brasil varieties, which did not differ from Eucalipto and had an average score of 6.4. Consumers perceived differences between the sensory characteristics of the cassava varieties using CATA. The sensory terms “creamy”, “soft” and “sticky” can be associated with greater acceptance of cooked cassava roots, whereas terms such as “floury”, “slightly bitter”, “no taste”, “hard” and “fibrous” can be associated with less acceptance and are therefore undesirable from the consumer’s point of view. Principal component analysis showed that the age at which the roots were harvested had a great effect on the culinary quality of cassava, regardless of the evaluated variety. The commercial variety Eucalipto was well-accepted by the consumers irrespective of root age and can be harvested at any of the evaluated ages. For the Saracura, BRS Aipim Brasil and BRS Dourada varieties, harvesting is recommended at 12 or 15 months so that better quality roots are obtained.

Traditional varieties and wild pear from Serbia: A link among antioxidant, antidiabetic and cytotoxic activities of fruit peel and flesh

This study was aimed at evaluating the antioxidant and antidiabetic activities of methanolic extracts of peel, flesh and mixed peel, and flesh, as well as the cytotoxic activity of mixed peel and flesh extracts obtained from fruits of six traditional pear varieties (Vidovaca, Lubenicarka, Karamanka, Jeribasma, Loncara and Takisa), one commercial variety (Williams Bartlett) and a wild pear (Pyrus communis) from Serbia. The tested extracts showed strong antioxidant activity regarding the prevention of ?-carotene bleaching and high ?-glucosidase inhibition, and no significant cytotoxic potential, with the exception of the Williams Bartlett and Pyrus communis extracts. Overall, the most potent fruit part was shown to be the peel. The most active variety in all of the applied antioxidant and antidiabetic assays was Takisa, while the wild pear, P. communis, was the most effective in inhibiting the proliferation of cancer cells. In conclusion, several methanolic extracts of pear fruit are promising candidates for further studies regarding the prevention and treatment of pathological conditions associated with the effects of oxidative stress, such as diabetes and even colorectal cancer.

Popoulu: A Promising Plantain Banana Could Strengthen the Banana Chips Industry in India

Background: Nendran is the commercial variety of banana grown exclusively for preparation of chips but its yield potential is very low (10 to 12 kg/plant). Hence an attempt was made to identify suitable banana varieties for processing along with high yield.Methods: Six banana genotypes, viz., Popoulu and Nendran (Plantain type) and NRCB-8, Monthan, Bhoodibale and Kovvur Bontha (Cooking type) were evaluated for the parameters viz., bunch weight, finger weight, finger length, finger girth, pulp recovery and crop duration apart from processing utility.Result: ‘Popoulu’ was found to be superior for maximum pulp recovery (76.61%) along with higher chips recovery (40.45%). With respect to overall acceptability, chips processed from ‘Popoulu’ recorded higher scores (8.07) followed by Nendran (7.56). Popoulu was also found superior for finger weight, finger girth and attained maturity with lesser duration.

Evaluation of Xa7 Introgressed Lines Against Bacterial Leaf Blight (BLB) Disease and Their Agronomic Performances

Bacterial leaf blight (BLB) is one of the major rice diseases in Malaysia. The disease can potentially cause a 30 to 50% yield loss to the rice crop. Hence, the utilization of resistant rice varieties to BLB is a crucial approach to prevent potential yield loss and to ensure the sustainability of the rice industry in Malaysia. This study aims to incorporate BLB resistant trait into a susceptible, high yielding, popular commercial variety MR219. The identified donor parent is IRBB7, harboring Xa7, a broad-spectrum BLB resistant gene which closely linked to two STS markers, the ID7 and ID15. Backcrossing was initiated, using IRBB7 as the donor and MR219 as the recurrent parents. Marker-assisted selection (MAS) was applied to monitor and confirm the introgression of Xa7 in the progenies of the cross based on alleles produced by the markers. We managed to generate 19 BC3F4 lines harboring homozygous Xa7 gene that were phenotypically resistant when challenged with Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae through an artificial inoculation. The improved lines exhibited similar morphological and yield performance of the recurrent parent. Two lines, PB-2-107 and PB-2-34 were identified for their outstanding performances which are comparable to MR219. This study demonstrates the advantage of MAS application in the improvement of disease resistance traits in the elite rice cultivars.

Selection of Brazilian native turfgrass accessions for establishment by sprigs

Researches with Brazilian native species of Axonopus and Paspalum genus have indicated their lawn-use. Thus, this research aimed to evaluate the use of sprigs, which are rhizomes and/or stolons fragments of plants without substrate and with reduced aerial part, as a propagation method for turfgrass establishment. Two experiments were developed. Experiment 1: turfgrass sods (1026 cm²) from Axonopus parodii (AP 01), Paspalum lepton (PL 01) and P. notatum (PN 01 to PN 06) accessions, were fragmented in a straw crushing machine in order to obtain the sprigs. After cleaning the substrate and organic residues from the sprigs, the following variables were analyzed: total number of sprigs; minimum, maximum and average length of the sprigs; standard deviation; number of sprigs shorter than 2 cm, from 2 to 4 cm, and from 4 to 6 cm long. Experiment 2: sprigs from three different length classes were planted and evaluated at 63 days after planting. The commercial variety Zoysia japonica (ZJ 01) was used as a control treatment. The following characters were analyzed: the survival rate of the sprigs, the number of shoots, expansion, soil coverage rate, dry biomass of aerial part, and dry biomass of the roots. Correlations were made among the data obtained. Higher yields were obtained for sprigs shorter than 2 cm and from 2 to 4 cm. All accessions presented better development when established with sprigs longer than 2 cm. The Paspalum notatum accessions PN 01, PN 02, PN 03 and PN 05 could be selected for turfgrass establishment by sprigs propagation.

Polyphenol content, profile, and distribution in old, traditional apple varieties

Apples are an important source of polyphenols in the human diet. They have also shown many potentially beneficial effects on human health. Old, traditional apple varieties grown in the past could also be valuable varieties but little is known about their polyphenolic compounds and characteristics in general. The aim of this study was to collect 25 old, traditional apple varieties, to determine their polyphenolic profile and the amounts of total polyphenols in the peel and flesh, and to compare them with a commercial variety. To the best of our knowledge, some of those varieties have never been studied before (‘Mašanka’, ‘Bobovac’, ‘Batulenka’, ‘Krastavka’). Total polyphenols were determined by using the Folin-Ciocalteu method and individual polyphenol identification was done by using an RP-HPLC. The flesh contained 170 to 941 mg kg-1 fresh weight (FW) of total polyphenols, and the peel contained 931 to 3791 mg kg-1 FW. In comparison to the commercial variety, the peel of all old varieties had higher polyphenol content, while the flesh of only some old varieties was richer in polyphenols. Principal component analysis showed possible clustering. Eighteen individual polyphenols were distributed in apple peel and flesh. The dominant polyphenol subgroups in the peel were flavonols (18 to 80 %) and flavan-3-ols (6 to 66 %), and in the flesh those subgroups were phenolic acids (41 to 85 %) and flavan-3-ols (3-49 %).

Antioxidant and Anti Nutritional Composition of Germinated Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd)

Aim: To analyse the antioxidant and antinutritional components of germinated quinoa. Sample: Whole (HGQ) and dehulled (DGQ) quinoa grain (Chenopodium quinoa Willd) was procured from Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, PJTS Agricultural University, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad and commercially processed quinoa seed (CGQ) purchased from local market was germinated at 20ºC temperature for 4hrs and analyzed. Study Design: Analysing antioxidants and antinutritional components. Place and Duration of Study: Analysis was conducted in PGRC Laboratory, PJTSAU, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad. Results: The total phenol content and flavonoid content increased upon germination and was high for HGQ and DGQ was high compared to CGQ. IC50 value for antioxidant value of CGQ in methanol and water extract was low compared to HGQ and DGQ. The oxalate content of germinated quinoa ranged from 6.17 ±0.01 to 9.45±0.02mg/100g. The saponin content of germinated quinoa was high for HGQ and DGQ compared to CGQ. When compared to the raw there was 104.16% reduction was seen in HGQ, whereas it reduced to 404.85% in DGQ. But when compared to the commercial variety the saponin contents were 23.07% (DGQ) and 69.35% (HGQ) more. This may be because of processing conditions of commercial variety.

Traditional, Indigenous Apple Varieties, a Fruit with Potential for Beneficial Effects: Their Quality Traits and Bioactive Polyphenol Contents

Earlier studies suggested that traditional apple varieties have quality traits well accepted by consumers and beneficial effects on human health. The aim was to collect 25 traditional apple varieties grown in Croatia and to determine, for the first time in so many details, their external (weight, height, width, shape, color), internal quality traits (firmness, starch decomposition index, maturity index, soluble solid concentration, total acids, soluble solid/total acids ratio, pH), and seed characteristics. In addition, individual polyphenols were determined in the flesh and peel, by using RP-HPLC. All was compared to the commercial variety ‘Idared’. Quality parameters of these varieties were similar to those of the commercial variety. The flesh and peel contained flavan-3-ols, dihydrochalcones, phenolic acids, and flavonols, while anthocyanins were additionally found in the peel. Total polyphenols in the peel (536–3801 mg kg−1 fresh weight (FW)) and in the flesh (79–1294 mg kg−1 FW) of the majority of varieties were higher than in the commercial variety. Principal component analysis showed possible clustering according to polyphenol amounts. According to the observed diversity of quality traits and bioactive polyphenol contents, the traditional varieties have potential for consumer acceptance and increased cultivation.

Response of Ancient and Modern Wheat Varieties to Biochar Application: Effect on Hormone and Gene Expression Involved in Germination and Growth

Agriculture has changed dramatically due to mechanization, new technologies, and the increased use of chemical fertilizers. These factors maximize production and reduce food prices, but may also enhance soil degradation. Sustainable agricultural practices include altering crop varieties and the use of soil amendments to increase production, improve irrigation, and more effectively use fertilizers. Ancient and modern durum wheat varieties have been shown to be tolerant to conditions caused by climate change and increase production. Biochar soil amendments have been reported to increase crop yields, soil fertility, and to promote plant growth. However, results are variable depending on biomass source, application conditions, and crop species. This study evaluates the crop response of two contrasting durum wheat varieties on an Eutric Cambisol amended with beech wood biochar. Wheat varieties used are Saragolla, an ancient variety traditionally used in Southern Italy, and Svevo, a widely used commercial variety. The effect of biochar soil amendment on the expression of genes involved in the germination of these two varieties of wheat was determined using RT-PCR. The content of hormones such as gibberellins (GAs), auxins (IAA), and abscisic acid (ABA) was determined. Results demonstrate that biochar had a stimulatory effect on the growth performances of Svevo and Saragolla cultivars at the molecular level. This correlated to the promoted transcription of genes involved in the control of plant development. Overall, the presence of biochar as soil amendment improved the germination rates of both varieties, but the ancient wheat cultivar was better suited to the Eutric Cambisol than the commercial variety. This trend was also observed in un-amended pots, which may indicate better adaptability of the ancient wheat cultivar to withstand environmental stress than the commercial variety.