Sorghum in dryland: morphological, physiological, and molecular responses of sorghum under drought stress

Main conclusion Droughts negatively affect sorghum’s productivity and nutritional quality. Across its diversity centers, however, there exist resilient genotypes that function differently under drought stress at various levels, including molecular and physiological. Abstract Sorghum is an economically important and a staple food crop for over half a billion people in developing countries, mostly in arid and semi-arid regions where drought stress is a major limiting factor. Although sorghum is generally considered tolerant, drought stress still significantly hampers its productivity and nutritional quality across its major cultivation areas. Hence, understanding both the effects of the stress and plant response is indispensable for improving drought tolerance of the crop. This review aimed at enhancing our understanding and provide more insights on drought tolerance in sorghum as a contribution to the development of climate resilient sorghum cultivars. We summarized findings on the effects of drought on the growth and development of sorghum including osmotic potential that impedes germination process and embryonic structures, photosynthetic rates, and imbalance in source-sink relations that in turn affect seed filling often manifested in the form of substantial reduction in grain yield and quality. Mechanisms of sorghum response to drought-stress involving morphological, physiological, and molecular alterations are presented. We highlighted the current understanding about the genetic basis of drought tolerance in sorghum, which is important for maximizing utilization of its germplasm for development of improved cultivars. Furthermore, we discussed interactions of drought with other abiotic stresses and biotic factors, which may increase the vulnerability of the crop or enhance its tolerance to drought stress. Based on the research reviewed in this article, it appears possible to develop locally adapted cultivars of sorghum that are drought tolerant and nutrient rich using modern plant breeding techniques.

Field estimate with NDVI of grain yield and quality of wheat flour

ABSTRACT Nitrogen fertilization is essential for wheat yield and quality but needs more accuracy, and the use of proximal optical sensors in the field can assist in this goal. This study aimed to verify if it is possible to use the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) obtained throughout the wheat growth phase to estimate the grain yield and the technological quality of the flour from cultivars submitted to nitrogen doses. The experiment was conducted at field conditions in Ponta Grossa, PR, Southern Brazil. The experimental design was randomized blocks in a 4 × 6 factorial scheme with four replicates. The cultivars Quartzo, Gralha Azul, Sinuelo, and Toruk, combined with six doses of N (0, 40, 80, 120, 160, and 200 kg ha-1 of N), were evaluated. The NDVI values were sensitive to both nitrogen doses and the different cultivars. There was a relationship between NDVI and grain yield, protein, and gluten concentration of flour. The NDVI estimated the gluten strength, stability, tenacity, extensibility of the mass, and tenacity/extensibility ratio of the flour obtained at the beginning of the cycle, but not for all cultivars. The determinations of NDVI with active optical sensor GreenSeeker in wheat are efficient to estimate the grain yield and the flour quality under field conditions, allowing to generate models for estimation of these variables separately for each cultivar.

A Rice Ancestral Genetic Resource Conferring Ideal Plant Shapes for Vegetative Growth and Weed Suppression

To maximize crop growth, crops need to capture sunlight efficiently. This property is primarily influenced by the shape of the crops such as the angle, area, and arrangement of leaves. We constructed a rice (Oryza sativa L.) inbred line that displayed an ideal transition of plant shapes in terms of sunlight receiving efficiency. During vegetative growth, this line exhibited tiller spreading with increased tiller number, which formed a parabolic antenna-like structure. The architecture probably improved light reception efficiency of individuals compared with the recurrent parent. The line achieved not only acceleration of the vegetative growth, but also significant suppression of weed growth under the canopy. The increased light reception efficiency of the line has consequently reduced the amount of incident light to the ground and supplied significant competitiveness against weeds. The spread tillers became erect from the entry of the reproductive growth phase, adaptively sustaining light reception efficiency in thicker stands. The line carries a small chromosomal segment from Oryza rufipogon Griff., a putative progenitor of Asian cultivated rice. The introduced chromosome segment had little effect on grain yield and quality. Our results shed light on potentials hidden in the wild rice chromosome segment to achieve the valuable traits.

Evaluation Genetic Variation and Diversity of Grain Yield and Quality Traits in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Genotypes for Low Input NPK Fertilizers

Determination of genetic variance in a large number of rice genotypes is an effective strategy for increasing yield. The goal of this research was to determine the genetic variability, phenotypic (PCV) and genotypic (GCV) coefficients of variation, broad-sense heritability, expected genetic advance and multivariate analysis for eight rice grain quality and yield traits, in twenty Egyptian and exotic genotypes under low NPK fertilizer input levels at RRTC, Sakha, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt and evaluated across two successive seasons. Results revealed highly significant mean squares for all traits. High estimates of both PCV and GCV were detected for grain elongation followed by gelatinization temperature and head rice. High estimates of heritability were noted for grain length, grain shape, hulling, milling, head rice, amylose content, grain elongation and grain yield. Results revealed that highly significant differences among different genotypes were observed for studied characteristics under different NPK levels. Cluster results revealed that genotypes from the same origin or taxonomy type were clustered together. Diversity analysis showed four clusters. Cluster I and III had maximum genotypes (70%) and Cluster IV showed the highest mean values for studied traits. The results revealed that PC1 and PC2 accounted for 65.6% of the diversity between genotypes investigated. These findings show that some genotypes have a lot of diversity, indicating an opportunity to breed for low-input genotypes without sacrificing grain production and quality. GZ10590-1-3-3-2 and IET1444, both of which have high grain yield, can be employed as hybrid parents and could help with further genetic research for reduced NPK input.

Study The Effect of Water Quality, Bio Booster (Zytonic F) and Nano NPK fertilizer on Tomato Growth and Yield

Bio stimulants are natural or synthetic substances that can be applied to seeds, plants, and soil. These substances cause changes in vital and structural processes in order to influence plant growth through improved tolerance to abiotic stresses and increase grain yield and quality. In addition, bio stimulants reduce the need for fertilizers so an experiment was carried to investigate the influence of water qualities with three levels (1.2, 8, and 10 ds.m-1 ) as a first factor and the bio stimulants combinations were used of the poultry litter, Bio–booster (Zytonic F), and nano NPK fertilizer as a second factor, to study the level of tomato sensitivity to salt stress due to the scarcity of salinity studies on a tomato plant in Iraq, the experiment was conducted based on Spilt - Plot system within the RCBD design, The results confirmed that the saline water caused a drop in the vegetative growth and yield. The fertilizer combinations had been producing significant differences compared to control, The treatments, F5 (poultry manure 30 tons. ha-1 + nano fertilizer) 2g.liter and F6 (Poultry manure 30ton. ha-1 + Zytonic-F 0.2g+10g of peat moos plant-1) obtained the best rates, in most of the traits of vegetative growth and yield, and it has been decreasing the harmful effect of saline water on tomato growth.

Seed Dormancy and Pre-Harvest Sprouting in Rice—An Updated Overview

Pre-harvest sprouting is a critical phenomenon involving the germination of seeds in the mother plant before harvest under relative humid conditions and reduced dormancy. As it results in reduced grain yield and quality, it is a common problem for the farmers who have cultivated the rice and wheat across the globe. Crop yields need to be steadily increased to improve the people’s ability to adapt to risks as the world’s population grows and natural disasters become more frequent. To improve the quality of grain and to avoid pre-harvest sprouting, a clear understanding of the crops should be known with the use of molecular omics approaches. Meanwhile, pre-harvest sprouting is a complicated phenomenon, especially in rice, and physiological, hormonal, and genetic changes should be monitored, which can be modified by high-throughput metabolic engineering techniques. The integration of these data allows the creation of tailored breeding lines suitable for various demands and regions, and it is crucial for increasing the crop yields and economic benefits. In this review, we have provided an overview of seed dormancy and its regulation, the major causes of pre-harvest sprouting, and also unraveled the novel avenues to battle pre-harvest sprouting in cereals with special reference to rice using genomics and transcriptomic approaches.

Harmonizing sowing dates with onset of rains to guarantee nutri-millets grain yield and quality under rain dependent farming

Nutri-millets offer copious micronutrients like vitamins, beta-carotene etc. In this present day, all the millets are amazingly superior and are therefore, the result for the malnutrition and obesity that affects a vast majority of the Indian population. They have numerous beneficial properties like drought resistant, good yielding in areas where water is limited and they possess good nutritive values. The prospective water scarcity in semi-arid regions disturbs both normal as well as managed environments, which limits the cultivation of crops, fodder, and other plants. The issues faced by the rain-dependent farming of these semi-arid regions are primarily the unpredictability of the monsoon. Probability analysis of rainfall events are believed to contribute in deciding sowing dates for the current season and for successful crop production in semi-arid environments. The present study was carried out in semi-arid condition to quantify the performance of nutri-millets in the rain dependent farming. The experiment was laid out under factorial randomized block design with 3 replications. The treatments comprises of crop factor viz., Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] (C1) and, little millet [Panicum sumatrense Roth ex Roem. & Schult] (C2) and sowing window factor viz., sowing based farmer’s practice (M1) i.e. on 31st standard meteorological week (SMW); Sowing at 33rd SMW based on 50% rainfall probability (M2); Sowing at 38th SMW based on 75% rainfall probability (M3), Sowing window as per the current weather forecast, for this season on 35th SMW (M4).It is evident from the study that Sowing sorghum at 38th standard meteorological week based on 75% rainfall probability recorded higher grain yield, rain water use efficiency with elevated iron and calcium content. This shows that different sowing dates have significant influence on grain yield and quality of nutri-millets.