Genomics Associated Interventions for Heat Stress Tolerance in Cool Season Adapted Grain Legumes

Cool season grain legumes occupy an important place among the agricultural crops and essentially provide multiple benefits including food supply, nutrition security, soil fertility improvement and revenue for farmers all over the world. However, owing to climate change, the average temperature is steadily rising, which negatively affects crop performance and limits their yield. Terminal heat stress that mainly occurred during grain development phases severely harms grain quality and weight in legumes adapted to the cool season, such as lentils, faba beans, chickpeas, field peas, etc. Although, traditional breeding approaches with advanced screening procedures have been employed to identify heat tolerant legume cultivars. Unfortunately, traditional breeding pipelines alone are no longer enough to meet global demands. Genomics-assisted interventions including new-generation sequencing technologies and genotyping platforms have facilitated the development of high-resolution molecular maps, QTL/gene discovery and marker-assisted introgression, thereby improving the efficiency in legumes breeding to develop stress-resilient varieties. Based on the current scenario, we attempted to review the intervention of genomics to decipher different components of tolerance to heat stress and future possibilities of using newly developed genomics-based interventions in cool season adapted grain legumes.

TAXONOMIC COMPOSITION OF FUNGI COMMUNITIES IN THE RHIZOSPHERE OF FABA BEANS

The taxonomic composition of rhizosphere complexes of microscopic fungi was determined under nine varieties of faba beans grown in small-plot experiments on black soil with a pH of 7.6, ob-serving zonal agricultural techniques (Belgorod, Russia). It was revealed that under different vari-eties of faba beans the list of micromycete species is not the same, but their number is lower than in control soil. The number of micromycete propagules in the rhizosphere of beans (34 ± 1.7 thou-sand CFU / g soil) is on average 2 times higher than in the control soil (17 ± 1.2 thousand CFU / g soil). The greatest species diversity was found in the varieties Velena and Akvadul (18 and 16 species, respectively). The mycocomplexes of the Tsarskiy Yield and Leader varieties were dis-tinguished by the greatest similarity with the control. Phytopathogenic fungi Fusarium oxysporum dominated in the rhizosphere complexes of all studied varieties of vegetable beans, and the spe-cies A. fabaе, C. herbarum, and U. botrytis were present only in the rank of random species in my-cocomplexes under some varieties.

Study of Rhizobia Impact on Nutritional Element Concentration in Legumes

The concentration of nitrogen in the Earth’s atmosphere is about 78%, but most plants are not able to acquire it directly from the atmosphere. One of the most common ways for binding atmospheric nitrogen is the development of an efficient symbiotic system between legumes and rhizobia. The aim of this study was to compare how different legumes and rhizobia symbiosis systems affect the concentrations of nutrients and other elements in soya and faba beans. Seeds of plants were inoculated with a preparation of rhizobia just before sowing. Plant samples were collected at the flowering stage (vegetative parts) and during harvest (seeds). Samples were air-dried and analysed with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Total nitrogen and carbon concentrations were determined with an elemental analyser (EA). The obtained results showed that inoculation of legume plants with rhizobia not only affected nitrogen uptake by plants but also uptake of other elements. Inoculation had an effect on mineral element uptake for both faba bean and soybean leaves, where a significant increase in Mg, P, K, and Ca was observed. Treatment of legume plants with rhizobia caused a decrease of P and K concentrations in seeds, and there were changes in Fe and Mn concentrations.

Legume-Based Mobile Green Manure Can Increase Soil Nitrogen Availability and Yield of Organic Greenhouse Tomatoes

Information about the availability of soil mineral nitrogen (N) in organic greenhouse tomatoes after the application of mobile green manure (MGM), and its impact on plant nutrient status and yield is scarce. Considering this knowledge gap, the effects of legume biomass from faba beans that are cultivated outdoors (FAB), or from feed-grade alfalfa pellets at two different doses (AAL = 330 g m−2; AAH = 660 g m−2) that were applied as MGM on the nutrition and yield of an organic greenhouse crop of tomatoes were evaluated. All of the MGM treatments increased the mineral N concentrations in the soil throughout the cropping period, and the total N concentration in tomato leaves when compared to the untreated control. FAB and AAH treatments had a stronger impact than AAL in all of the measured parameters. In addition, AAL, AAH, and FAB treatments increased the yield compared to the control by 19%, 33%, and 36%, respectively. The application of MGM, either as faba bean fresh biomass or as alfalfa dry pellets, in organic greenhouse tomatoes significantly increased the plant available soil N, improved N nutrition, and enhanced the fruit yield. However, the N mineralization rates after the MGM application were excessive during the initial cropping stages, followed by a marked decrease thereafter. This may impose an N deficiency during the late cropping period.

Food legumes breeding program in eastern Mediterranean region and Turkey

Breeding is aimed to breed for varieties that are tolerant against disease, suitable for mechanized cultivation and harvest, and also offer them to the farmers as promising varieties. Since the purpose of legumes production is to obtain grain products of high yield and quality, developing suitable varieties for target regions where they will be grown is an important factor that needs to be considered. This breeding program aimed to develop new variety of recommended legumes varieties for different regions and will stimulate an increase in cultivation area. In Turkey chickpea is traditionally sown in spring and subjected to drought and heat stresses. Chickpea can be sown in autumn with new cultivars but winter-sown chickpea cultivars are not available for highlands. Some abiotic stresses (drought, heat, freezing etc.) and some biotic stresses (ascochyta blight, Fusarium wilt, and weeds) are common and important stresses, whereas nutrient imbalance includ-ing salinity are localized challenges. Lentil is usually traditionally sown in autumn and Central Anatolia green lentil, South Eastern Anatolia red lentil regions in Turkey. As a result of Turkish food legume Program, 48 chickpea, 41lentil, 49 beans, 3 faba beans, 3 pea and 4 cowpea varieties were registered.

The Application of Pulse Flours in the Development of Plant-Based Cheese Analogues: Proximate Composition, Color, and Texture Properties

Despite the many benefits of pulses, their consumption is still very low in many Western countries. One approach to solving this issue is to develop attractive pulse-based foods, e.g., plant-based cheeses. This study aimed to assess the suitability of different types of pulse flour, from boiled and roasted yellow peas and faba beans, to develop plant-based cheese analogues. Different stabilizer combinations (kappa- and iota-carrageenan, kappa-carrageenan, and xanthan gum) were tested. The results showed that firm and sliceable pulse-based cheese analogues could be prepared using all types of pulse flour using a flour-to-water ratio of 1:4 with the addition of 1% (w/w) kappa-carrageenan. The hardness levels of the developed pulse-based cheese analogues were higher (1883–2903 g, p < 0.01) than the reference Gouda cheese (1636 g) but lower than the commercial vegan cheese analogue (5787 g, p < 0.01). Furthermore, the crude protein (4–6% wb) and total dietary fiber (6–8% wb) contents in the developed pulse-based cheese analogues were significantly (p < 0.01) higher than in the commercial vegan cheese analogue, whereas the fat contents were lower. In conclusion, flours from boiled and roasted yellow peas and faba beans have been shown to be suitable as raw materials for developing cheese analogues with nutritional benefits.

Physio-Biochemical and Agronomic Responses of Faba Beans to Exogenously Applied Nano-Silicon Under Drought Stress Conditions

Nano-silicon application is an efficient novel approach to mitigate the deleterious impacts of drought stress on field crops, which is expected to increase owing to climate change, especially in arid regions. Two-season field studies investigated the influence of foliar-applied nano-silicon (0.5, 1, and 1.5 mM) on physiological and biochemical attributes and their impacts on crop water productivity (CWP) and the agronomic traits of faba beans (Vicia faba). The plants were evaluated under two irrigation regimes: well-watered (100% ETc giving 406 mm ha−1) and drought stress (65% ETc giving 264 mm ha−1). It was found that drought stress significantly decreased gas exchange (leaf net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, and rate of transpiration), water relations (relative water content and membrane stability index), nutrient uptake (N, P, K+, and Ca+2), flavonoids, and phenolic content. In contrast, drought stress significantly increased oxidative stress (H2O2 and O2·-) and enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant activities compared with the well-watered treatment. These influences of drought stress were negatively reflected in seed yield-related traits and CWP. However, foliar treatment with nano-silicon, particularly with 1.5 mM, limited the devastating impact of drought stress and markedly enhanced all the aforementioned parameters. Therefore, exogenously applied nano-silicon could be used to improve the CWP and seed and biological yields of faba bean plants under conditions with low water availability in arid environments.