Diversity in agronomically important traits of wild emmer wheat, Triticum dicoccoides, the progenitor of most cultivated wheats, was examined in l60 genotypes representing 16 populations derived from a wide ecogeographical spectrum of climate, soil and water availability in Israel and Turkey. The analysis included 14 quantitative economic characters including heading date, culm length, biomass, grain yield and its components, and grain protein percentage.

The results led to two major conclusions: (i) agronomically important traits varied genetically: ecogeographic diversity in these traits is dramatically displayed when populations are grown in a relatively standardized environment; and (ii) genetic diversity is revealed not only between, but also within populations. Thus, genotypes excelling in some of these characters were found in several populations.

The lack of excellent wheat germplasm resources on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has led to a gradual decrease in genetic diversity and an increasingly narrow genetic background in wheat grown in this region. Rational use of excellent genes from wheat relatives is important to increase genetic diversity, broaden the genetic base and achieve high yield and quality in common wheat. The objective of this study was to use principal component and cluster analyses of 13 important agronomic traits of 44 Polish wheat varieties over 3 years and comprehensively evaluate them to screen for excellent germplasm resources, thus providing the basic material for broadening the genetic base of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau wheat germplasm resources.

In the present study, we investigated the influence of different mid-stage N compensation timings on agronomic and physiological traits associated with grain yield and quality in field experiments. Two japonica rice cultivars with a good tasting quality (Nangeng 9108 and Nangeng 5055) were examined under eight N compensation timings (N1–N6: one-time N compensation at 7-2 weeks before heading; N7: split N compensation at 5 and 3 weeks before heading; N8: split N compensation at 4 and 2 weeks before heading) and a control with no N compensation. The highest yield was obtained with N7, followed by N3. The yield advantage is mainly attributable to the improved population structure (higher productive tiller rate with a stable number of effective panicles), higher total number of spikelets per unit area (large panicles with more grains per panicle), larger leaf area index in the late period and higher photosynthetic production capacity (more dry matter accumulation and transportation in the middle and late periods). Delaying N compensation timing improved the processing and nutritional quality of rice, but decreased the quality of appearance and cooking/eating traits. Our results suggest that, from the perspective of achieving relative coordination between high yield and high quality of japonica rice, the optimal N compensation should be divided equally at 5 and 3 weeks before heading. However, if simplifying the number of operations and the pursuit of eating quality were considered, one-time N compensation should be conducted at 5 weeks before heading.

A highly diverse range of plantain varieties are cropped in West and Central Africa, and it is essential to enhance knowledge on this diversity to support farmers in their varietal choices. This study aims at proposing a new way to describe a panel of plantain varieties, based on their agronomic and usage potential. The agronomic trait values of nine plantain varieties, including five traditional varieties (Batard, Big Ebanga, Essong, French Clair and Mbouroukou n°3) representative of the diversity of the plantain group, and four plantain-like hybrids (CRBP39, D248, D535 and FHIA21) were recorded at flowering and harvest. The findings revealed very marked inter-varietal variations, in line with the features of plantain morphotaxonomic subgroups, as well as very high intra-varietal variations, especially for the Essong variety. This extent of intra-varietal variation suggests that traditional plantain multiplication methods could favour the emergence of mutations in plantain varieties and hence of high intra-varietal variability. Finally, the monitored agronomic traits were integrated as agronomic and usage potential indicators per variety and morphotaxonomic subgroup, which could support decision-making on plantain varieties.

Assessing genetic diversity and identifying trait-specific germplasm within germplasm collections is necessary for a varietal development programme. Agronomic features were investigated in 318 diverse dry bean germplasm accessions, including check varieties. We observed a lot of genetic variability for the traits studied. A wide range of variations was noticed for days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, pod length, the number of seeds per pod and 100-seed weight (HSW). For eight of the agronomic features evaluated, the analysis of variance revealed substantial differences among the accessions. For all characters, phenotypic coefficient of variation estimations were more significant than genotypic coefficient of variation. Plant height, days to 50% flowering, seed yield (q/ha) and HSW had high heritability and genetic advance as a per cent of the mean. Association analysis revealed a significant positive relationship between HSW, plant height, pod length and seed yield (q/ha). According to a hierarchical clustering analysis based on agronomic features, the diversity of dry bean germplasm has no significant association with their geographical origin. The number of pods per plant, plant height, days to maturity, days to 50% flowering and seed yield had relatively long vectors based on principal components 1 and 2, indicating that genotypes differ significantly. Additionally, the trait-specific donors and bean common mosaic virus disease-resistant accessions, IC360831, ET4515, EC150250, IC340947, IC564797B, EC565693 and ET8409 could be of value for dry bean improvement.

The yield of durum wheat extremely reduces in response to salinity stress because of several variations in biochemical, physiological and molecular traits in this unfavorable condition. According to the agro-physiological traits under salinity stress, the most resistant and sensitive cultivars were selected from 10 genotypes of durum wheat over a period of 2 years. Afterwards, the molecular, biochemical, and physiological traits in these two genotypes were evaluated. The seedlings (3–4 leaves) were exposed to salinity through irrigating with 0.5 × Hoagland solution containing 200 mM NaCl until physiological maturity. Principal components analysis for the agronomic characteristics and stress resistance index led to identifying Behrang and Arya as the most tolerant and sensitive genotypes, respectively. In these two genotypes in response to salinity stress, osmolyte contents (proline, total soluble carbohydrates and total soluble proteins) and enzymatic antioxidant defence system activities (ascorbate peroxidase, catalase and guaiacol peroxidase) were much higher in the most tolerant genotype than those of the sensitive cultivar. Moreover, the most tolerant genotype showed less amount of oxidative stress parameters (hydrogen peroxide, electrolyte leakage, malondialdehyde and other aldehydes) than the sensitive one. Pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase (P5CR) and delta-1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase (P5CS) genes expression increased under salinity stress (considering much higher increase in the most tolerant cultivar). Also, proline content was shown to have a significant positive correlation with P5CS and P5CR genes expression levels. Our result not only identified Behrang cultivar as a superior genotype for durum wheat breeding programs, but also represented several efficient mechanisms involved in salt tolerance.

Plant ecotypes represent heterogeneous, local adaptation of domesticated species and thereby provide genetic resources that meet current and new challenges for farming in drought-prone environments. A total of 536 Sardari bread wheat ecotypes, assembled from different geographical regions of Iran, were studied under rainfed cold conditions for three cropping seasons (2009–12). The main objectives were to (i) quantify the performance of the Sardari wheat ecotypes under cold rainfed conditions and (ii) provide information that would enable germplasm management and utilization in wheat breeding programmes to enhance the development of better adapted varieties for the rainfed cold conditions of Iran. All the ecotypes were evaluated for grain yield and several drought-adaptive traits. Combined analysis of variance indicated significant differences between years, ecotypes and their interaction effects for each studied trait. The Sardari wheat ecotypes showed considerable variability for the phenotypic traits and stability performance that could be utilized for wheat improvement in cold rainfed areas. Many of the Sardari wheat ecotypes exhibited a high combination of yield and stability for both drought and cold stresses, comparable to control cultivars. Multivariate analyses indicated several significant patterns among ecotypes from different geographical regions. In conclusion, selection from current Sardari wheat ecotypes may lead to yield stability and specific adaptation, which provides opportunities for this collection to be useful for genetic improvement of drought tolerance in bread wheat.

Landraces are an important resource for crop breeding, due to their resilience and content of quality traits. However, genetic and phenotypic variability needs to be carefully characterized for proper direct and indirect use. In the present study, a multidisciplinary approach was carried out to assess the Italian sweet pepper landrace ‘Friariello’. A total of 18 traditional accessions were compared with five hybrids and two ecotypes with similar fruit typology. Genetic and morpho-agronomic characterization allowed us to distinguish five different group types of ‘Friariello’. Accessions showing two/three lobes at the blossom end of the fruit were found to be the most productive, whereas the genotypes showing one/two lobes at the blossom end were the most homogeneous. A total of 167 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were identified in the collection analysed. Moreover, of the 37 targeted VOCs, 29 showed significant differences in content among the pepper genotypes studied. Of such VOCs related to main flavours described for pepper in the literature, ten were found to be the major determinants of variability among the derived ‘Friariello’ groups. A slightly negative, albeit not significant, correlation was observed between ascorbic acid (AsA) content and agronomic traits, suggesting a better quality for less productive accessions, but also the possibility to improve yield without significantly reducing the AsA levels. The approach used allowed us to define how the different typologies can be used for different breeding purposes, integrating the peculiar properties in order to establish a desirable landrace ideotype. Furthermore, valuable sources for improving quality traits in pepper breeding were identified.

Miscanthus is a promising bioenergy crop due to its high productivity and broad environmental adaptability to tropical and temperate climates. As important Miscanthus species such as M. sinensis and M. sacchariflorus are native to East Asia, implying more diverse Miscanthus genetic resources in this region, in this study, we collected about 300 Miscanthus accessions from East Asia, mainly in Korea. From the whole collections, 66 Miscanthus accessions representing geographical location and latitude were selected and tested through a 3-year field trial to investigate genetic diversity in their agronomic traits. Five agronomic traits associated with biomass production were assessed to investigate the relationships of agronomic traits with biomass yield and latitudes of locations where Miscanthus accessions were collected. Plant height, stem diameter, stem dry weight and heading date exhibited a significantly positive correlation with biomass yield with r= 0.465, 0.780, 0.817 and 0.450, respectively. Stem diameter (r= − 0.495), stem dry weight (r= − 0.393), heading date (r= − 0.914) and estimated yield (r= − 0.425) exhibited a significantly negative correlation with latitudes of the collection sites. The results of the study revealed the existence of considerable genetic diversity in agronomic traits in the Miscanthus accessions collected. The presence of a significant relationship between latitudes and agronomic traits suggests that accessions collected from different geographical latitudes will provide more genetically diverse materials for breeding. Therefore, the results of the present study can provide useful information and materials for Miscanthus breeding programmes.

Old germplasm is an important genetic resource for enhancing modern crops with new alleles. In the present study, the genetic diversity of 52 historic varieties and landraces of bread wheat originated from the Western (Bulgaria) and Northeastern (Ukraine, Russia and Georgia) regions of the Black Sea basin was assessed based on microsatellite markers and agronomic characteristics. A set of 24 markers detected a total of 263 alleles at 25 microsatellite loci, with an average number of 10.5 alleles per locus and an average polymorphic information content (PIC) of 0.74. A total of 63 alleles at 22 loci were unique, being specific to a particular accession. Half of the alleles (132) were regionally specific, and the rest were common between the Western and Northeastern accessions. The latter group was characterized with greater total and private allelic richness, a higher number of unique alleles and a higher average PIC. The population was found to be very heterogeneous (average heterogeneity 41%), with the Northeastern pool (52.8%) being more diverse than the Western pool (30.9%). Most of the accessions of the Western group clustered together, and the rest were distributed among the subclusters of the Northeastern germplasm. Large inter-group differences in the frequencies of alleles ranging from 3.1 at Xgwm294-2A to 16.7 at Xgwm333-7B were observed. This variation might partly account for the differences in certain yield-related traits. The Northeastern accessions had significantly longer spikes with more number of spikelets. Some issues related to germplasm preservation in seed genebanks are discussed herein. The large molecular variation observed could be utilized by breeders for the selection of diverse parents, or by researchers for the production of mapping populations.

After seven generations of self-crossing assisted by β-glucuronidase (GUS) detection, 26 homozygous transgenic rice lines were obtained. Transgene effects on iron content, agronomic traits, rice quality and stress tolerance were studied. The results indicated that the average iron content in the milled grain of the transgenic (pea ferritin, Fer) rice (Oryza sativa) was 10.37 μg/g among all the homozygous lines, and only four lines (Fer34, Fer36, Fer39 and Fer65) had significantly higher iron contents than that of the control, Xiushui11 (6.46 μg/g). Significant differences in main agronomic traits, such as days from sowing to heading, plant height, main panicle length, total grains of main panicle, seed setting rate, 1000-grain weight, and yield per plant were observed among some homozygous lines, but similar flag leaf length and number of panicles per plant were found. This showed that insertion of the foreign gene (Fer) had a slight impact on the main agronomic traits, but that the transgene had no negative effects. The quality traits of homozygous rice lines, such as the percentage of brown rice, milled rice and full milled rice, grain length, grain width, ratio of grain length and width, and amylose content were all similar to those of the control. However, variations were noticed in chalkiness, translucency, alkali spreading value and gel consistency among partial homozygous lines. Responses of homozygous lines to low and high temperatures were not significantly correlated with the iron contents, and resistance to rice blast (Pyricularia oryzae), bacterial blight (Xanthomonas oryzae) and brown planthopper (Niaparvata lugens) were enhanced with increased iron contents.