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India has always been on the top spot in terms of tourism and has attracted domestic and foreign tourists throughout the year. India is the land of farmers, has a rich and diverse culture and is best known for its hospitality. Tourism has become a source of income for many people, therefore it’s time to connect tourism along with agriculture to enhance the income of Indian farmers. Indian farmers generally face a lot of issues related to their income; hence numerous suicide cases have been registered in the past. The objective of this research paper is to provide a solution for the farmers by introducing Agri- tourism Technology Park. Agri-tourism offers the domestic and foreign tourists an opportunity to connect with the heritage, providing a hands-on-experience, showcasing the rich biodiversity, local food products, handicrafts and culture. On the other hand, the amalgamation of technology can provide smooth and secure tourism experience for the visitors. This Park includes an agricultural patch of about 5 acres, earmarked to cater the needs of Rabi and Kharif crops. Latest agricultural crop growing techniques like vertical farming using 70% less water than traditional farming. Hydroponic system for demonstrating these techniques to Agri- tech park visitors to acquaint them with futuristic farming operations. Aquaponic solar greenhouse will be established for growing vegetables and medicinal plants. A space of about 1 acre shall be delineated for a cattle farm that would be used to rear different breeds of cows like Sahiwal and Hariana and buffalo breeds like Murrah and Nili Ravi. Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence techniques will be employed for monitoring cattle feed, nutrition and milk processing and general well-being of animals. Re – circulatory Aqua culture system will be used for high density stocking of fish in a smaller space. Interactive virtual field trips and activities will be offered in a variety of themes that would give information on the importance of plants, various cropping techniques, role of insects and the feeding and living pattern of animals, fish bees etc. The establishment of an Agri-tourism technology park at Amritsar district of Punjab has been planned with a focus on the sustainable development of human environment in and around the region.

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum infects host plant tissues by inducing necrosis to source nutrients needed for its establishment. Tissue necrosis results from an enhanced generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) at the site of infection and apoptosis. Pathogens have evolved ROS scavenging mechanisms to withstand host‐induced oxidative damage. However, the genes associated with ROS scavenging pathways are yet to be fully investigated in S. sclerotiorum. We selected the S. sclerotiorum Thioredoxin1 gene (SsTrx1) for our investigations as its expression is significantly induced during S. sclerotiorum infection. RNA interference‐induced silencing of SsTrx1 in S. sclerotiorum affected the hyphal growth rate, mycelial morphology, and sclerotial development under in vitro conditions. These outcomes confirmed the involvement of SsTrx1 in promoting pathogenicity and oxidative stress tolerance of S. sclerotiorum. We next constructed an SsTrx1‐based host‐induced gene silencing (HIGS) vector and mobilized it into Arabidopsis thaliana (HIGS‐A) and Nicotiana benthamiana (HIGS‐N). The disease resistance analysis revealed significantly reduced pathogenicity and disease progression in the transformed genotypes as compared to the nontransformed and empty vector controls. The relative gene expression of SsTrx1 increased under oxidative stress. Taken together, our results show that normal expression of SsTrx1 is crucial for pathogenicity and oxidative stress tolerance of S. sclerotiorum., Normal expression of SsTrx1 is crucial for pathogenicity, sclerotial development, and oxidative stress tolerance of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum.

Datura, a genus of medicinal herb from the Solanaceae family, is credited with toxic as well as medicinal properties. The different plant parts of Datura sp., mainly D. stramonium L., commonly known as Datura or Jimson Weed, exhibit potent analgesic, antiviral, anti-diarrheal, and anti-inflammatory activities, owing to the wide range of bioactive constituents. With these pharmacological activities, D. stramonium is potentially used to treat numerous human diseases, including ulcers, inflammation, wounds, rheumatism, gout, bruises and swellings, sciatica, fever, toothache, asthma, and bronchitis. The primary phytochemicals investigation on plant extract of Datura showed alkaloids, carbohydrates, cardiac glycosides, tannins, flavonoids, amino acids, and phenolic compounds. It also contains toxic tropane alkaloids, including atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscamine. Although some studies on D. stramonium have reported potential pharmacological effects, information about the toxicity remains almost uncertain. Moreover, the frequent abuse of D. stramonium for recreational purposes has led to toxic syndromes. Therefore, it becomes necessary to be aware of the toxic aspects and the potential risks accompanying its use. The present review aims to summarize the phytochemical composition and pharmacological and toxicological aspects of the plant Datura.

Stem rot, caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum has emerged as one of the major fungal pathogens of oilseed Brassica across the world. The pathogenic development is exquisitely dependent on reactive oxygen species (ROS) modulation. Cox17 is a crucial factor that shuttles copper ions from the cytosol to the mitochondria for the cytochrome c oxidase (CCO) assembly. Currently, no data is available regarding the impact of Cox17 in fungal pathogenesis. The present research was carried out to functionally characterize the role of Cox17 in S. sclerotiorum pathogenesis. SsCox17 transcripts showed high expression levels during inoculation on rapeseed. Intramitochondrial copper content and CCO activity were decreased in SsCox17 gene-silenced strains. The SsCox17 gene expression was up-regulated in the hyphae under oxidative stress and a deficiency response to oxidative stress was detected in SsCox17 gene-silenced strains. Compared to the S. sclerotiorum wild-type strain, there was a concomitant reduction in the virulence of SsCox17 gene-silenced strains. The SsCox17 overexpression strain was further found to increase copper content, CCO activity, tolerance to oxidative stress and virulence. We also observed a certain correlation of appressoria formation and SsCox17. These results provide evidence that SsCox17 is positively associated with fungal virulence and oxidative detoxification.

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, the causal agent of Sclerotinia stem rot, is a devastating necrotrophic pathogen which causes severe yield losses to oilseed production worldwide. Most of efforts at the genetic mitigation of the disease have not been successful. Present investigation was conducted to functionally characterize the effect of down-regulating Ssoah1 during host infection and explore the possibility of boosting host resistance by silencing this gene. We utilized host-induced gene silencing (HIGS) to silence Ssoah1 gene in the S. sclerotiorum fungus. A HIGS based vector was constructed and transformed into Arabidopsis thaliana. The pathogenicity assays in the transgenic A. thaliana lines revealed three T

Brassica juncea is an important economic crop of the world; however, the narrow genetic base of this crop has tremendously decreased its crop productivity. As an ancestral species of B. juncea, B. nigra is of great importance in widening the genetic diversity of B. juncea. In the present study, 42 SSR markers were employed to screen the genetic diversity among 83 B. nigra, 16 B. juncea, and other Brassica accessions. The molecular characteristics of 498 virtual B. juncea lines were deduced based on the bands of B. nigra and B. rapa via a virtual allopolyploid strategy, and then compared with natural B. juncea accessions. It was found that B. nigra had rich genetic diversity and could be classified into four subgroups, of which subgroup B-III and subgroup B-IV exhibited the closest and the most distant genetic relationship with B. juncea, respectively. To verify this, a hexaploidy strategy was applied to generated synthetic B. juncea from 20 B. nigra accessions, resulting in 45 new-type B. juncea genotypes. The genetic analyses detected that synthetic B. juncea derived from B. nigra in subgroup B-III was close to natural B. juncea, while B. juncea synthesized with B. nigra from subgroup B-IV exhibited wide genetic diversity and was most distant with current B. juncea. This study revealed a great potential of B. nigra in widening genetic diversity of B. juncea particularly using B. nigra in subgroup B-IV, and is helpful in better understanding of the genetic relationship between B. nigra and B. juncea. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11032-020-01197-7.

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum induces host reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, which leads to necrosis in the host, allowing the pathogen to absorb nutrients from the dead tissues. Here, we found that three S. sclerotiorum genes involved in copper ion import/transport, SsCTR1, SsCCS and SsATX1, were significantly up-regulated during infection of Brassica oleracea. Function analysis revealed that these genes involved in fungal ROS detoxification, oxalic acid production, pathogen establishment and virulence. On the host side, four genes putatively involved in copper ion homeostasis, BolCCS, BolCCH, BolMT2A and BolDRT112, were significantly down-regulated in susceptible B. oleracea, but stably expressed in resistant B. oleracea during infection. Their homologs were found to promote resistance to necrotrophic pathogens and increase antioxidant activity in Arabidopsis thaliana. Furthermore, copper concentration analysis indicated that copper is transported into the necrotic area from healthy area during infection. Collectively, our data suggest that S. sclerotiorum hijacks host copper to detoxify ROS, whereas the resistant hosts restrict the supply of essential copper nutrients to S. sclerotiorum by maintaining copper ion homeostasis during infection.

Sclerotinia stem rot caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a major disease of crop brassicas, with inadequate variation for resistance in primary gene pools. We utilized a wild Brassicaceae species with excellent resistance against stem rot to develop a set of B. juncea - B. fruticulosa introgression lines (ILs). These were assessed for resistance using a highly reproducible stem inoculation technique against a virulent pathogen isolate. Over 40% of ILs showed higher levels of resistance. IL-43, IL-175, IL-215, IL-223 and IL-277 were most resistant ILs over three crop seasons. Sequence reads (21x) from the three most diverse ILs were then used to create B. juncea pseudomolecules, by replacing SNPs of reference B. juncea with those of re-sequenced ILs. Genotyping by sequencing (GBS) was also carried out for 88 ILs. Resultant sequence tags were then mapped on to the B. juncea pseudomolecules, and SNP genotypes prepared for each IL. Genome wide association studies helped to map resistance responses to stem rot. A total of 13 significant loci were identified on seven B. juncea chromosomes (A01, A03, A04, A05, A08, A09 and B05). Annotation of the genomic region around identified SNPs allowed identification of 20 candidate genes belonging to major disease resistance protein families, including TIR-NBS-LRR class, Chitinase, Malectin/receptor-like protein kinase, defensin-like (DEFL), desulfoglucosinolate sulfotransferase protein and lipoxygenase. A majority of the significant SNPs could be validated using whole genome sequences (21x) from five advanced generation lines being bred for Sclerotinia resistance as compared to three susceptible B. juncea germplasm lines. Our findings not only provide critical new understanding of the defensive pathway of B. fruticulosa resistance, but will also enable development of marker candidates for assisted transfer of introgressed resistant loci in to agronomically superior cultivars of crop Brassica.

A set of 96 Brassica juncea–Erucastrum cardaminoides introgression lines (ILs) were developed with genomic regions associated with Sclerotinia stem rot (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) resistance from a wild Brassicaceous species E. cardaminoides. ILs were assessed for their resistance responses to stem inoculation with S. sclerotiorum, over three crop seasons (season I, 2011/2012; II, 2014/2015; III, 2016–2017). Initially, ILs were genotyped with transferable SSR markers and subsequently through genotyping by sequencing. SSR based association mapping identified six marker loci associated to resistance in both A and B genomes. Subsequent genome-wide association analysis (GWAS) of 84 ILs recognized a large number of SNPs associated to resistance, in chromosomes A03, A06, and B03. Chromosomes A03 and A06 harbored the maximum number of resistance related SNPs. Annotation of linked genomic regions highlighted an array of resistance mechanisms in terms of signal transduction pathways, hypersensitive responses and production of anti-fungal proteins and metabolites. Of major importance was the clustering of SNPs, encoding multiple resistance genes on small regions spanning approximately 885 kb region on chromosome A03 and 74 kb on B03. Five SNPs on chromosome A03 (6,390,210-381) were associated with LRR-RLK (receptor like kinases) genes that encode LRR-protein kinase family proteins. Genetic factors associated with pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and effector-triggered immunity (ETI) were predicted on chromosome A03, exhibiting 11 SNPs (6,274,763-994). These belonged to three R-Genes encoding TIR-NBS-LRR proteins. Marker trait associations (MTAs) identified will facilitate marker assisted introgression of these critical resistances, into new cultivars of B. juncea initially and, subsequently, into other crop Brassica species.

Polyploidization causes ‘genomic shock’ at the genetic and epigenetic levels relative to the parental species. However, few studies have compared the genetic and epigenetic alterations during the process of polyploidization by interspecific hybridization in Brassica species. In the present study, the early generations of hexaploid derived from a triploid hybrid between Brassica napus cv. ‘Zhongshuang 9’ and B. oleracea cv. ‘SWU01’ were developed, and used to detect genetic and epigenetic alterations together with triploid and two parental lines using simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and methylation-sensitive amplified polymorphisms (MSAPs). The derived hexaploids had relatively stable karyotype (69.84% euploid chromosome segregation in S0, 100% and 72.7% hexaploid karyotype in S1 and S2, respectively) and good fertility (88.75% ± 5.43% for pollen fertility, 4.68 ± 3.25 seeds/pod for self pollination and 13.55 ± 3.66 seeds/pod for open pollination), but wide morphologic characters. Compared with the parental lines, the triploid exhibited 13.08% new SSR alleles (17 of 130) and up to 26.45% new MSAP alleles (65 of 246), indicating that interspecific hybridization caused genetic and epigenetic alterations. No change in SSRs and 33.74% alterations in MSAP alleles (83/246) was observed between the triploid and hexaploid S0, suggesting chromosome doubling only caused epigenetic alteration. On average of 39.23% ± 5.78% of DNA methylation alterations and 6.35% ± 3.69% of SSR alterations occurred among the S2, S1, and S0 generations. It indicated that genetic alteration was caused by interspecific hybridization and generation descent of hexaploid, whereas epigenetic alteration resulted from interspecific hybridization, chromosome doubling and generation descent. It is interesting to find stronger epigenetic changes than genetic changes brought on during the processes of hexaploidization between B. napus and B. oleracea. It also found the average genetic distance between hexaploid S2 and hexaploid S1 (SSR 0.056 ± 0.029, MSAP 0.337 ± 0.201) was further than that between hexaploid S1 and hexaploid S0 (SSR 0.023 ± 0.009, MSAP 0.178 ± 0.126), suggesting more genetic variance in the hexaploid S2 generations than hexaploid S1.

Necrotrophic plant pathogen induces host reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, which leads to necrosis in the host, allowing the pathogen to absorb nutrients from the dead tissues. Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a typical necrotrophic pathogen that causes Sclerotinia stem rot in more than 400 species, resulting in serious economic losses. Here, we found that three S. sclerotiorum genes involved in copper ion import/transport, SsCTR1, SsCCS and SsATX1, were significantly up-regulated during infection of Brassica oleracea. Function analysis revealed that these genes involved in fungal ROS detoxification and virulence. On the host side, four genes putatively involved in copper ion homeostasis, BolCCS, BolCCH, BolMT2A and BolDRT112, were significantly down-regulated in susceptible B. oleracea, but stably expressed in resistant B. oleracea during infection. Their homologs were found to promote resistance to S. sclerotiorum and increase antioxidant activity in Arabidopsis thaliana. Furthermore, copper concentration analysis indicated that copper flow from healthy area into the necrotic area during infection. A model was proposed that S. sclerotiorum utilizes host copper to detoxify ROS in its cells, whereas the resistant hosts may restrict the supply of essential copper nutrients to S. sclerotiorum by maintaining copper ion homeostasis during infection., Author summary Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a devastating necrotrophic fungal pathogen and has a substantial economic impact on crop production worldwide. S. sclerotiorum successfully infect the host plants by promote ROS production in host and induce plant necrosis. This raises an interesting question of how this pathogen survive from high level of host-derived ROS. Copper is an essential nutrient for microbial pathogens and serves as an important cofactor for enzymes of scavenging ROS. In our previous study, we simultaneously analyzed the transcriptome changes of Brassica oleracea and S. sclerotiorum during inoculation. The results in present study show that S. sclerotiorum induces the genes involved in ‘copper ion import’ and ‘copper ion transport’ during infection to promote the ROS detoxification and fungal virulence. While, the resistance host maintains the genes involved in ‘copper ion homeostasis’, which promote the resistance to S. sclerotiorum and antioxidant activity. Furthermore, copper concentration is higher in the necrotic area than the margin and healthy area, which may indicate that copper flow from healthy area into the necrotic area during infection. In summary, our results highlight a more subtle and complex role of copper during the interaction of S. sclerotiorum and its host plants.

A set of 96 Brassica juncea–Erucastrum cardaminoides introgression lines (ILs) were developed with genomic regions associated with Sclerotinia stem rot (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) resistance from a wild Brassicaceous species E. cardaminoides. ILs were assessed for their resistance responses to stem inoculation with S. sclerotiorum, over three crop seasons (season I, 2011/2012; II, 2014/2015; III, 2016–2017). Initially, ILs were genotyped with transferable SSR markers and subsequently through genotyping by sequencing. SSR based association mapping identified six marker loci associated to resistance in both A and B genomes. Subsequent genome-wide association analysis (GWAS) of 84 ILs recognized a large number of SNPs associated to resistance, in chromosomes A03, A06, and B03. Chromosomes A03 and A06 harbored the maximum number of resistance related SNPs. Annotation of linked genomic regions highlighted an array of resistance mechanisms in terms of signal transduction pathways, hypersensitive responses and production of anti-fungal proteins and metabolites. Of major importance was the clustering of SNPs, encoding multiple resistance genes on small regions spanning approximately 885 kb region on chromosome A03 and 74 kb on B03. Five SNPs on chromosome A03 (6,390,210-381) were associated with LRR-RLK (receptor like kinases) genes that encode LRR-protein kinase family proteins. Genetic factors associated with pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and effector-triggered immunity (ETI) were predicted on chromosome A03, exhibiting 11 SNPs (6,274,763-994). These belonged to three R-Genes encoding TIR-NBS-LRR proteins. Marker trait associations (MTAs) identified will facilitate marker assisted introgression of these critical resistances, into new cultivars of B. juncea initially and, subsequently, into other crop Brassica species.

Brassica crops are of global importance with oilseed rape (Brassica napus) accounting for 13% of edible oil production. All Brassica are susceptible to Sclerotinia stem rot, caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, a generalist fungal pathogen causing disease in over 400 plant species. Generally, sources of plant resistance result in partial control of the pathogen although some studies have identified wild Brassica species that are highly resistant. The related pathogen S. subarctica has also been reported on Brassica but its aggressiveness in relation to S. sclerotiorum is unknown. In this study, detached leaf and petiole assays were used to identify new sources of resistance to S. sclerotiorum within a wild Brassica C genome diversity set. High level resistance was observed in B. incana and B. cretica in petiole assays, while wild B. oleracea and B. incana lines were the most resistant in leaf assays. A B. bourgeai line showed both partial petiole and leaf resistance. Although there was no correlation between the two assays, resistance in the detached petiole assay was correlated with stem resistance in mature plants. When tested on commercial cultivars of B. napus, B. oleracea and B. rapa, selected isolates of S. subarctica exhibited comparable aggressiveness to S. sclerotiorum indicating it can be a significant pathogen of Brassica. This is the first study to identify B. cretica as a source of resistance to S. sclerotiorum and to report resistance in other wild Brassica species to a UK isolate, hence providing resources for breeding of resistant cultivars suitable for Europe. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

The study was undertaken to determine the drudgery of women with the objective of assessing biomechanical and physiological stress while performing wheat harvesting. The field experiment was carried out on 20 women falling in two age groups, viz. 25-35 and 35-45 years. Average heart rate of the women of both age groups increased as the activity proceeded towards the evening. Average heart rate of women of lower age group was 115.9 bpm in the morning and 120.8 bpm in the evening. For the older age group, corresponding figures were 127.2 bpm and 132.7 bpm respectively. The classification of workload on the basis of average and peak heart rate, wheat harvesting activity was graded as moderately heavy to heavy period after activity Almost all the women reported severe to moderate discomfort in lower back (mean score 4.7), knees (3.8), buttocks (2.3) upper back (1.8), ankle knees (3.8), feet (1.7) and neck (1.5).

The significance of training and education for improving the standard of living of the family, especially through homemakers, has been recognized long back but has gained impetus in the recent past. The present study was undertaken on 100 women of Hisar district of Haryana state who participated in a 3-day vocational training programme on bakery. The data indicated that majority of women (87.00%) had not participated in such a training programme in the past. An overwhelming majority liked the training (97%) and felt that the duration of training should have been 5 days or more. Participants came to know about training through newspaper advertisement (75.00%) and were self-motivated (79%) to attend the training. The training on bakery brought about significant gain in knowledge and attitudinal change among women. About two-third respondents were confident and motivated to start their own professional venture.