Bulbophyllum versicolor (Orchidaceae, Malaxideae), a new species from Yunnan, China: evidence from morphology and molecular analyses

A new orchid species, Bulbophyllum versicolor (Malaxideae, Epidendroideae, Orchidaceae), from Malipo, Yunnan, China, is described and illustrated here. Detailed morphological study indicates that B. versicolor is similar to B. japonicum, but it differs in the shape and size of leaf and flower and flower colour. Molecular analyses based on the nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrITS) and plastid DNA (matK, atpI-atpH and trnL-F) reveal that B. versicolor is a new species and genetically similar to B. japonicum.

Sub-lethal pesticide exposure erases colour vision memory and affects flower constancy in foraging honey bees

Neonicotinoid pesticide use has increased around the world despite accumulating evidence of their potential detrimental sub-lethal effects on the behaviour and physiology of bees, and its contribution to the global decline in bee health. Whilst flower colour is considered as one of the most important signals for foraging honey bees, the effects of pesticides on colour vision and memory retention remain unknown. We trained free flying foragers to an unscented artificial flower patch presenting yellow flower stimuli to investigate if sub-lethal levels of imidacloprid would disrupt the acquired association made between flower colour and food reward. We found that for concentrations higher than 4% of LD50 foraging honey bees no longer preferentially visited the yellow flowers and bees reverted back to baseline foraging preferences for blue flowers, with a complete loss of flower constancy. Higher pesticide dosages also resulted in a significant decrease in CaMKII and CREB gene expression, revealing a plausible mechanism to explain the disruption of bee foraging performance. Within important bee pollinators, colour vision is highly conserved and essential for efficient nutrition collection and survival. We thus show that to maintain efficient pollination services bees require environments free from neonicotinoid pesticides.

Mechanisms generating the numerous hues of chrysanthemum petals can be traced to in vitro γ-ray-induced mutagenesis.

In terms of global cut flower production, chrysanthemum (Dendranthemum grandiflorum kitam.) ranks among the top ten. When a plant species possesses colour characteristics associated with those of ancestral species, that colour is described as being white, yellow, or pink, with white coloration representing an absence of pigments, and yellow and pink coloration each represents the presence of carotenoids and anthocyanins, respectively. Pigments, or a combination of pigments, have been improved upon to provide an expansive rainbow of floral colours like orange, dark red, purplish-red, and red. Recent green-flowered varieties have developed a reputation for containing chlorophylls in their ray petals. Additionally, transgenic interventions have been used to breed violet/blue flowers. Flower colour is a highly regarded characteristic of any flower cultivar, particularly chrysanthemum. Breeders' ultimate goal is to create newer chrysanthemum cultivars with innovative characteristics, such as new flower colours, using a time and input-efficient approach. Investigating the molecular mechanisms that regulate flower pigmentation may yield critical insights into the rational manipulation of floral colour. To generate a diverse array of flower colour mutants in chrysanthemum cv. “Candid” through mutagenesis, in vitro grown micro shoots were exposed to 10, 20, 30, and 40 Gy gamma irradiation at 100 Gy per minute and were evaluated for different parameters. The rhizogenesis parameters declined with the increase in irradiation dose from 0 Gy to 40 Gy, while as, 10 Gy dose proved to record minimum decline in contrast to the control. Survival, leaf size, and the number of leaves plant-1 after the 8th-week interval exhibited a downward trend with the increasing trend of gamma irradiation dose but recorded a least drop in plants raised from shoots irradiated with 10 Gy gamma irradiation dose with respect to the control. Apparently, the minimum delay in the number of days to floral bud appearance took under 10 Gy compared to control. The highest number of flower colour mutants was recorded under 10 Gy (light pink, orange-pink, white and yellow). Demountable mutation frequency based on flower colour was desirable in plants irradiated with the slightest dose of 10 Gy.

COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW ON TINOSPORA CORDIFOLIA UNVEILING ITS HEALTH BENEFITS AND BIOLOGICAL POTENTIAL

This study was undertaken to evaluate the performance of cut Dendrobium pink sunshine under various holding solutions at post graduate lab Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, India, during February 2016. The treatments with three replications were carried out in completely randomized design with 3 spikes in each replication. Nine chemical preservative solutions were used for extending the vase life and the treatments are T1 8-HQC (200-ppm), T2 Citric Acid (200-ppm), T3 STS (200-ppm), T4 GA (200-ppm), T5 Al2 (SO4)3 (10-ppm), T6 8-HQC (200-ppm) + 5% sucrose, T7 Citric Acid (200- ppm + 5% sucrose, T8 STS (200-ppm) + 5% sucrose, T9 GA (200-ppm) + 5% sucrose,T10 Al2(SO4)3 (200-ppm) + 5% sucrose and T11 Distilled water. Postharvest observations including bud open (%), flower drop (%), flower colour retention (days), flower diameter (cm), vase life and water uptake (ml). Among the treatments (T10) Al2(SO4)3 (200-ppm) + 5% sucrose recorded maximum performances in the postharvest studies followed by (T8) STS (200-ppm) + 5% sucrose. Tinospra cordifolia is a deciduous climbing shrub. It is also known as Gulvel or Guduchi and has a substantial usage because of varied properties. In Ayurvedic regime this plant is designated as Rasayana drug because of its significant therapeutic importance. The plant Tinospora cordifolia in the world of medicine helps in healing of many diseases. This climber plant grows in warm climate and with support of fast growing breed i.e. Moringa (Moringa oleifera), Neem (Azadirachta indica) and Jatropha (Jatropha curcas). Neem Giloy shows more therapeutic properties. This plant Tinospora cordifolia has such active compounds i.e. alkaloids, diterpenes, steroids, Diterpenoid lactones, glycosides, aliphatic compounds that plays an important role in curing many diseases. The present review focuses on health benefits of the plant as it has been used traditionally by tribal and ayurvedic regime as it has vario

Anthocyanin Genes Involved in the Flower Coloration Mechanisms of Cymbidium kanran

The Orchidaceae, otherwise known as orchids, is one of the largest plant families and is renowned for its spectacular flowers and ecological adaptations. Various polymorphisms of orchid flower colour can attract pollinators and be recognised as valuable horticultural ornamentals. As one of the longest historic cultured orchids, Cymbidium kanran has been domesticated for more than 2,500 years and is an ideal species to study coloration mechanisms because of plentiful variations in floral coloration and abundant traditional varieties. In this study, we used two distinct colour-type flowers of C. kanran as experimental materials to elucidate the mechanism of flower coloration. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis revealed that anthocyanins in purple-red-type flowers include three types of anthocyanidin aglycones, peonidin, malvidin, and cyanidin, whereas anthocyanins are lacking in white-type flowers. Through comparative transcriptome sequencing, 102 candidate genes were identified as putative homologues of colour-related genes. Based on comprehensive correlation analysis between colour-related compounds and gene expression profiles, four candidates from 102 captured genes showed a positive correlation with anthocyanidin biosynthesis. Furthermore, transient expression of CkCHS-1, CkDFR, and CkANS by particle bombardment confirmed that recovery of their expression completed the anthocyanin pathway and produced anthocyanin compounds in white-type flowers. Collectively, this study provided a comprehensive transcriptomic dataset for Cymbidium, which significantly facilitate our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of regulating floral pigment accumulation in orchids.

Major Flower Pigments Originate Different Colour Signals to Pollinators

Flower colour is mainly due to the presence and type of pigments. Pollinator preferences impose selection on flower colour that ultimately acts on flower pigments. Knowing how pollinators perceive flowers with different pigments becomes crucial for a comprehensive understanding of plant-pollinator communication and flower colour evolution. Based on colour space models, we studied whether main groups of pollinators, specifically hymenopterans, dipterans, lepidopterans and birds, differentially perceive flower colours generated by major pigment groups. We obtain reflectance data and conspicuousness to pollinators of flowers containing one of the pigment groups more frequent in flowers: chlorophylls, carotenoids and flavonoids. Flavonoids were subsequently classified in UV-absorbing flavonoids, aurones-chalcones and the anthocyanins cyanidin, pelargonidin, delphinidin, and malvidin derivatives. We found that flower colour loci of chlorophylls, carotenoids, UV-absorbing flavonoids, aurones-chalcones, and anthocyanins occupied different regions of the colour space models of these pollinators. The four groups of anthocyanins produced a unique cluster of colour loci. Interestingly, differences in colour conspicuousness among the pigment groups were almost similar in the bee, fly, butterfly, and bird visual space models. Aurones-chalcones showed the highest chromatic contrast values, carotenoids displayed intermediate values, and chlorophylls, UV-absorbing flavonoids and anthocyanins presented the lowest values. In the visual model of bees, flowers with UV-absorbing flavonoids (i.e., white flowers) generated the highest achromatic contrasts. Ours findings suggest that in spite of the almost omnipresence of floral anthocyanins in angiosperms, carotenoids and aurones-chalcones generates higher colour conspicuousness for main functional groups of pollinators.

Characterization of Effect of Gamma Ray Induced Mutations on Morpho-Agronomic Traits of Dolichos Lablab (Lablab purpureus l.) Sweet

Lablab purpureus (L.) Synonym Dolichos lablab (L.) Sweet; is a minor and an important multipurpose legume. Despite this it classified as an orphaned crop hence few studies on its improvement have been undertaken. Limited studies have been carried out on use of mutation on dolichos improvement. Four elite Lablab genotypes coded G1, B1, M5 and W7 were mutagenized with two doses of gamma radiation 300Gy and 400 Gy with objective to study the effect of mutation on various agronomical traits at M2 generation. Data on effect of irradiation on lablab was collected 10 randomly selected plants of on each plot .The traits evaluated were leaf length, leaf width, number of raceme per plant, raceme length, pod length, pod width, plant height, dry seed yield per plant and seed length and seed width. For these traits mean of mutant plants was significantly different from mean of control plants at P≤0.05. Mutant accessions of B1, M5 and W7 genotypes exhibited wide mutation spectra after mutagenesis of albino, leafiness, upright single stem, seedless pod, short dwarf pod, variegated leaf, variation in flower colour, variation in growth habit, leaf shape, seed colour. Gamma irradiation doses of 300 Gy and 400 Gy were potent in mutagenesis of the studied dolichos lablab. The agronomically diverse mutants are an important resource for dolichos improvement through breeding and genetic studies. Mutants with variegated leafs and flower colour can be used in the landscaping while those different seed colour could be used in the improvement of sensory and cooking qualities of other native dolichos lablab beans.

DArT-based evaluation of soybean germplasm from Polish Gene Bank

Objective Soybean is an important plant used for food, feed and many industrial purposes. Interest in soybean breeding is growing in Central Europe, including Poland. A very large number of soybean accessions are stored in gene banks, but less than 1% of them have been used for breeding. Here, we present genotypic data as well as phenotypic data on plant and seed performance, including seed chlorophyll fluorescence traits, and on yield components within a collection of soybean accessions that are conserved in the Polish Gene Bank at the Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute-National Research Institute. Results The materials used consisted of sub-collections: 79 Polish genotypes, including old traditional cultivars, 24 Canadian, 21 American, 21 Swedish and 31 from Central and Eastern European Countries, 9 from France and 6 from Japan. In total, 9602 high quality SNPs were derived from DArTseq, a method utilising GBS technology. GWAS, performed with the BLINK model, revealed that a total of 41 significant SNPs were mapped for days to flowering, flower colour, plant height, days to pod formation, 100 seed weight, pod colour, seeds and hilum colour and steady-state chlorophyll fluorescence under light (Ft_Lss). This is the first report about the diversity of traditional old Polish soybean cultivars.

Breeding Aspects of Selected Ornamental Bulbous Crops

This article provides an overview of the origin, genetic diversity and methods and trends in breeding of selected ornamental geophytes (Lilium, Tulipa, Narcissus and Hippeastrum). The role of interspecific hybridisation and polyploidisation in assortment development is reviewed. A great variety of cultivars with traits of interest have been generated over the last century by using classical breeding. Geophyte breeders have been interested in a diversity of traits, including resistance to diseases, flower colour and shape, long lasting flowering and a long vase life. Shortening the long breeding process of many geophytes by reducing the juvenile phase and using in vitro techniques are reviewed. Currently, the breeding process has been enhanced by using modern molecular cytogenetic techniques. Genomic in situ hybridisation is frequently used, among other techniques, for genome differentiation in interspecific hybrids, and for assessment of the extent of intergenomic recombination in backcross progenies. Furthermore, several molecular marker techniques are used for verification of hybrid status, identification of genetic diversity, confirmation of the genetic fidelity of in vitro propagated plants and construction of high-density linkage maps. Recently, a myriad of new plant breeding technologies, such as cisgenetics and genome editing technologies have been used to improve the traits of ornamental geophytes, an endeavour that is discussed here. Breeding trends, cultivar novelties as well a new cultivars registered by international authorities during the last five years are presented in detail.