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Peanut is one of the most important oilseed crops grown worldwide. In this study, the mutant ahFAD2alleles conferring high oleic (HO) content are introgressed into an elite Indian cultivar GPBD4 which is also resistant to the foliar fungal diseases like rust and late leaf spot (LLS). The allele-specific PCR (AS-PCR) and cleaved amplified polymorphic sequences (CAPS) assays were used for the marker-assisted backcross (MABC) approach and 64 HO introgression lines (ILs) were generated. These ILs were tested for the FA compositions under the glasshouse and field conditions. The oleic acid and linoleic acid contents in the ILs were recorded to be between 68.94–82.33% and 1.74–10.87%, respectively, under glasshouse and 67.04–81.71% and 2.00–15.66%, respectively, under field conditions. The increase in the oleic acid content of the ILs over its recurrent parent (RP) was recorded to the tune of 28.78–53.80% and 33.70–62.96% under glasshouse and field conditions, respectively, indicating the stable expression of ahFAD2Bgene in two different environments. On the contrary, linoleic acid showed 56.47–93.03% and 40.02–92.34% reduction in the ILs over its RP under glasshouse and field conditions, respectively. These ILs with a healthy FA profile can meet not only the nutritional requirements of a health-conscious society but also the industrial demands for better shelf life of oil and its products.

Soil salinity is major abiotic stresses affecting morphological, biochemical and physiological processes of plant growth. Chryseobacterium gleumsp. SUK isolated from salt-stressed soil exhibited ACC (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate) deaminase activity with IAA (indole acetic acid), siderophore, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide production, 2% salt tolerance and fungal cell wall degrading enzyme production (cellulase, protease). The isolate also showed a poultry feather degrading activity which is the main waste material of poultry industry and opulent source of proteins, amino acids, nitrogen, phosphorous, calcium, potassium, manganese, zinc and copper. Application of feather-degraded lysate with the degrading isolate, C. gleumsp. SUK denotes triple role of bioformulation to surmount salinity stress, management of poultry waste disposal and utilization of feathers degraded products as a biostimulant for better growth of plants as well as strain SUK having multifarious plant growth promoting traits. Wheat crops exposed to salt stressor were inoculated with studied bioformulation. Results of plant analysis showed improvement in root and shoot length, fresh and dry weight, chlorophyll, proteins, amino acids, phenolics, flavonoids content and decreased level of proline. In addition, Na+uptake was decreased and K+uptake was increased. Therefore, application of novel bioformulation could increase the yield of crops by ameliorating growth of plants and alleviating the salinity stress.

Response surface methodology was used to enhance the production of α-galactosidase from Fusarium moniliformeNCIM 1099 in solid-state fermentation. Plackett–Burman design was employed for selection of critical media constituents which were optimized by central composite rotatable design. Wheat bran, peptone and FeSO4·7H2O were identified as significant medium components using PB design. Further CCRD optimized medium components as wheat bran; 4.62 μg, peptone; 315.42 μg, FeSO4·7H2O; 9.04 μg. RSM methodological optimization increased the enzyme production from 13.17 to 207.33 U/g showing 15.74-fold enhancement. The α-galactosidase was purified by 70% fractionation followed by DEAE anion exchange column chromatography which yields 23.33% with 28.68-fold purification. The molecular weight of α-galactosidase was 57 kDa which was determined by SDS-PAGE analysis. Purified enzyme has optimum pH of 4.0 and was found to be stable in wide pH range of 3.0–9.0. Its optimum temperature was 50 °C, whereas its activity remains above 50% up to 2 h at 75 °C. Hg2+was found to be a potent inhibitor and Mg2+acted as an activator of enzyme. No significant change was observed in enzyme activity for galactose concentration, ranging from 1 to 100 mM. The Kmvalues of enzyme for substrates p-nitrophenyl-α-d-galactopyranoside, melibiose and raffinose were 0.20, 1.36, and 3.66 mM, respectively. Low Kmand stability to various physiological conditions of enzyme represents its potential which can be exploited in various industrial applications.