Search

Landraces and indigenous varieties comprise valuable sources of crop species diversity. Their utilization in plant breeding may lead to increased yield and enhanced quality traits, as well as resilience to various abiotic and biotic stresses. Recently, new approaches based on the rapid advancement of genomic technologies such as deciphering of pangenomes, multi-omics tools, marker-assisted selection (MAS), genome-wide association studies (GWAS), and CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing greatly facilitated the exploitation of landraces in modern plant breeding. In this paper, we present a comprehensive overview of the implementation of new genomic technologies and highlight their importance in pinpointing the genetic basis of desirable traits in landraces and indigenous varieties of annual, perennial herbaceous, and woody crop species cultivated in the Mediterranean region. The need for further employment of advanced -omic technologies to unravel the full potential of landraces and indigenous varieties underutilized genetic diversity is also indicated. Ultimately, the large amount of genomic data emerging from the investigation of landraces and indigenous varieties reveals their potential as a source of valuable genes and traits for breeding. The role of landraces and indigenous varieties in mitigating the ongoing risks posed by climate change in agriculture and food security is also highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the framework of preserving and valorizing the rich grapevine germplasm of the Epirus region of Greece, indigenous grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) cultivars were characterized and assessed for their resilience to abiotic stresses in the context of climate change. The cultivars 'Debina' and 'Dichali' displayed significant differences in their response to drought stress as judged by morpho-physiological analysis, indicating higher drought tolerance for Dichali. Hence, they were selected for further study aiming to identify genetic and epigenetic mechanisms possibly regulating drought adaptability. Specifically, self-rooted and heterografted on 'Richter 110' rootstock plants were subjected to two phases of drought with a recovery period in between. Gene expression analysis was performed for two stress-related miRNAs and their target genes: (a) miRNA159 and putative targets, VvMYB101, VvGATA-26-like, VvTOPLESS-4-like and (b) miRNA156 and putative target gene VvCONSTANS-5. Overall, grafted plants exhibited a higher drought tolerance than self-rooted plants, suggesting beneficial rootstock–scion interactions. Comparative analysis revealed differential gene expression under repetitive drought stresses between the two cultivars as well as between the self-rooted and grafted plants. 'Dichali' exhibited an up-regulation of most of the genes examined, which may be associated with increased tolerance. Nevertheless, the profound down-regulation of VvTOPLESS-4-like (a transcriptional co-repressor of transcription factors) upon drought and the concomitant up-regulation of miRNA159 highlights the importance of this 'miRNA-target' module in drought responsiveness. DNA methylation profiling using MSAP analysis revealed differential methylation patterns between the two genotypes in response to drought. Further investigations of gene expression and DNA methylation will contribute to our understanding of the epigenetic mechanisms underlying grapevine tolerance to drought stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assumption of homoscedasticity is one of the most crucial assumptions for many parametric tests used in the biological sciences. The aim of this paper is to compare the empirical probability of type I error and the power of ten parametric and two non-parametric tests for homoscedasticity with simulations under different types of distributions, number of groups, number of samples per group, variance ratio and significance levels, as well as through empirical data from an agricultural experiment. According to the findings of the simulation study, when there is no violation of the assumption of normality and the groups have equal variances and equal number of samples, the Bhandary-Dai, Cochran’s C, Hartley’s Fmax, Levene (trimmed mean) and Bartlett tests are considered robust. The Levene (absolute and square deviations) tests show a high probability of type I error in a small number of samples, which increases as the number of groups rises. When data groups display a nonnormal distribution, researchers should utilize the Levene (trimmed mean), O’Brien and Brown-Forsythe tests. On the other hand, if the assumption of normality is not violated but diagnostic plots indicate unequal variances between groups, researchers are advised to use the Bartlett, Z-variance, Bhandary-Dai and Levene (trimmed mean) tests. Assessing the tests being considered, the test that stands out as the most well-rounded choice is the Levene’s test (trimmed mean), which provides satisfactory type I error control and relatively high power. According to the findings of the study and for the scenarios considered, the two non-parametric tests are not recommended. In conclusion, it is suggested to initially check for normality and consider the number of samples per group before choosing the most appropriate test for homoscedasticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little progress has been made in translating the increased awareness of neglected and underutilized crops into a viable tool for advancing not just sustainable development in rural areas but also sustainable agricultural and secured food systems. This is caused, in part, by a lack of understanding the importance of several underutilized crops that are currently in cultivation. Among underutilized crops, grasspea (Lathyrus sativus) is an orphan legume crop with great agronomic potential due to its suitability for a variety of sustainable food and feed production systems throughout the world's semi-arid and arid regions and its high protein content. The current study presents a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis to unravel the following: What are the strengths and weaknesses of Lathyrus spp. cultivation, what factors are opportunities or initiatives that encourage the adoption of the crop by growers, and what factors are disincentives or threats that prevent its adoption? What strategies could help expand cultivation? We use data from a questionnaire survey of farmers in Central Greece (Thessaly) to examine their attitudes and perceptions with regards to the above questions. The outcome of this study strongly suggests that farmers are willing to adopt the new Lathyrus spp. cultivation if they are assisted via contractualization, training, and new financial tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]