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This paper proposes a fast cooling technology called flash evaporation or flashing to overcome cooling problems. Flashing is a pressure-driven phase change phenomenon widely studied because of its complex physics and numerous applications. An experimental system is fabricated to study the efficiency of the proposed process by considering water as a working fluid. A transparent acrylic column is used as the flash chamber, enabled with a high-speed camera to visualize and capture this fast and complex process. Experiments have been carried out with various initial temperatures from 65 °C to 80 °C, initial vacuum tank pressure ranging from 11.32 kPa to 41.32 kPa, and initial water heights of 80 mm and 140 mm. The flashing phenomenon is divided into two stages based on its effectiveness. From the present study, it becomes apparent that the drop in the temperature increases with the initial temperature and decreases with increasing vacuum tank pressure. The cooling rate is improved by 49.1% by increasing the initial pool temperature by 23%. The present study demonstrates an effective application of the flashing process in areas requiring high cooling rates and rapid vapour generation, such as refrigeration and drying.

Inter-specific hybridization is a key strategy in modern crop improvement, aiming to integrate desirable traits from wild species into cultivated backgrounds. This study delves into the evaluation and identification of advanced inter-specific derivatives (IDs) derived from crosses of cultivated chickpea with Cicer reticulatum and C. echinospermum. The primary aim was to incorporate desirable yield enhancement traits, disease resistance, and nutritional quality traits into cultivated chickpea. The IDs were assessed during rabi 2021-22 and 2022-23 in the northern plains zone of India. Significant amount of genetic variability was observed for key agro-morphological traits having high heritability and genetic advance. Superior derivatives were identified for early flowering, high seed yield, and resistance to Ascochyta blight, Botrytis grey mould, and Fusarium wilt. Significant variability for crude protein and total soluble sugar content was also observed among the derivatives. The findings highlight the potential of utilizing wild Cicer species to broaden the genetic base of cultivated chickpea for the development of robust, high-yielding, disease-resistant varieties with improved nutritional traits suitable for diverse environmental conditions. The superior derivatives identified in this study hold promise for future breeding programmes for improving productivity, disease resistance and nutritional quality.

The rising temperatures are seriously impacting the food crops, including urdbean; hence efforts are needed to identify the sources of heat tolerance in such crops to ensure global food security. In the present study, urdbean genotypes were evaluated for heat tolerance under natural outdoor for two consecutive years (2018, 2019) and subsequently in the controlled environment of the growth chamber to identify high temperature tolerant lines. The genotypes were assessed involving few physiological traits (membrane damage, chlorophyll, photosynthetic efficiency, stomatal conductance, lipid peroxidation), reproductive traits (pollen germination % and pollen viability %) and yield related traits (total number of pods plant-1, total seeds plant-1, single seed weight and seed yield plant-1). Based upon these tested traits, PantU31, Mash114, UTTARA and IPU18-04 genotypes were identified as promising genotypes for both years under heat stress condition. Further confirming heat tolerance, all these four tolerant and four sensitive genotypes were tested under controlled environment under growth chamber condition. All these four genotypes PantU31, Mash114, UTTARA and IPU18-04 showed high chlorophyll content, photosynthetic efficiency, stomatal conductance, leaf area, pods plant-1, total seeds plant-1 and low reduction in pollen germination % and pollen viability under stress heat stress condition. Moreover, yield and yield related traits viz., pods plant-1, seeds plant-1, single seed weight and seed yield plant-1 showed very strong positive correlation with pollen germination and pollen viability except electrolyte leakage and malondialdehyde content. Thus, these genotypes could be potentially used as donors for transferring heat tolerance trait to the elite yet heat-sensitive urdbean cultivars.

Chickpea yield is severely affected by drought stress, which is a complex quantitative trait regulated by multiple small-effect genes. Identifying genomic regions associated with drought tolerance component traits may increase our understanding of drought tolerance mechanisms and assist in the development of drought-tolerant varieties. Here, a total of 187 F8 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) developed from an interspecific cross between drought-tolerant genotype GPF 2 (Cicer arietinum) and drought-sensitive accession ILWC 292 (C. reticulatum) were evaluated to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with drought tolerance component traits. A total of 21 traits, including 12 morpho-physiological traits and nine root-related traits, were studied under rainfed and irrigated conditions. Composite interval mapping identified 31 QTLs at Ludhiana and 23 QTLs at Faridkot locations for morphological and physiological traits, and seven QTLs were identified for root-related traits. QTL analysis identified eight consensus QTLs for six traits and five QTL clusters containing QTLs for multiple traits on linkage groups CaLG04 and CaLG06. The identified major QTLs and genomic regions associated with drought tolerance component traits can be introgressed into elite cultivars using genomics-assisted breeding to enhance drought tolerance in chickpea.

The wild Cicer species is well-known for having climate-resilient and productivity-enhancing traits of interest. Therefore, wide hybridization could be used as a realistic strategy for introgressing prospective traits from wild species into the cultivated gene pool. The present study was, thus, undertaken to evaluate F7 chickpea interspecific derivatives derived from Cicer reticulatum Ladiz. and C. echinospermum P. H. Davis wild annual Cicer species. As a result, a set of six interspecific crosses were advanced using the single seed descent (SSD) method of breeding. The F7 generation of these crosses was assessed in two diverse agro-ecological regions of India. The data revealed a wide range of variation with respect to seed yield and its important component traits, which resulted in the identification of the most promising derivatives carrying desirable characters as indicated by range, mean, and coefficient of variation. Further, fruitful heterosis was also estimated as promising selection criteria for identifying superior lines for earliness and high seed yield, including resistance against prevailing stresses (ascochyta blight, botrytis gray mold, dry root rot, and fusarium wilt). The superior derivatives carrying putative characters could be recommended for further breeding and selection of genetic materials for developing suitable genotypes.

Pusa 391, a mega desi chickpea variety with medium maturity duration is extensively cultivated in the Central Zone of India. Of late, this variety has become susceptible to Fusarium wilt (FW), which has drastic impact on its yield. Presence of variability in the wilt causing pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceri (foc) across geographical locations necessitates the role of pyramiding for FW resistance for different races (foc 1,2,3,4 and 5). Subsequently, the introgression lines developed in Pusa 391 genetic background were subjected to foreground selection using three SSR markers (GA16, TA 27 and TA 96) while 48 SSR markers uniformly distributed on all chromosomes, were used for background selection to observe the recovery of recurrent parent genome (RPG). BC1F1 lines with 75–85% RPG recovery were used to generate BC2F1. The plants that showed more than 90% RPG recovery in BC2F1 were used for generating BC3F1. The plants that showed more than 96% RPG recovery were selected and selfed to generate BC3F3. Multi-location evaluation of advanced introgression lines (BC2F3) in six locations for grain yield (kg/ha), days to fifty percent flowering, days to maturity, 100 seed weight and disease incidence was done. In case of disease incidence, the genotype IL1 (BGM 20211) was highly resistant to FW in Junagarh, Indore, New Delhi, Badnapur and moderately resistant at Sehore and Nandyal. GGE biplot analysis revealed that IL1(BGM20211) was the most stable genotype at Junagadh, Sehore and Nandyal. GGE biplot analysis revealed that IL1(BGM 20211) and IL4(BGM 20212) were the top performers in yield and highly stable across six environments and were nominated for Advanced Varietal Trials (AVT) of AICRP (All India Coordinated Research Project on Chickpea) in 2018–19. BGM20211 and BGM 20212 recorded 29 and 28.5% average yield gain over the recurrent parent Pusa 391, in the AVT-1 and AVT-2 over five environments. Thus, BGM20211 was identified for release and notified as Pusa Manav/Pusa Chickpea 20211 for Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra, Southern Rajasthan, Bundhelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh states by the Central Sub-Committees on Crop Standards, Notification and Release of Varieties of Agricultural Crops, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, for commercial cultivation in India (Gazette notification number S.O.500 (E) dt. 29-1-2021).Such pyramided lines give resilience to multiple races of fusarium wilt with added yield advantage.

Arundo donax L. (Giant reed) is a grass species belong to Poaceae family with a myriad of uses such as traditional and ethnomedicinal values, bioenergy, and socio-economic importance. The plant is used in conventional medicine to treat various disorders related to skin, gastrointestinal, skeletal, menstrual problems, respiratory and urinary diseases. The present review summarises the scattered information on socio-economic importance, ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemistry and pharmacological aspects of this plant. We conducted a rigorous literature survey using databases such as Scopus, Science Direct, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and PubMed entering keywords like A. donax, Giant reed, and Spanish reed, etc. Phytochemical investigations have identified several alkaloids, terpenoids, sterols, phenolics, and lignin derivatives. The isolated phytoconstituents are reported to exhibit multiple pharmacological activities such as anti-bacterial, anti-oxidant, anti-proliferative, anti-spasmolytic, and also used to treat helminthic infestations in cattle. However, the scientific validity of traditional practices to cure various diseases has not been correctly evaluated yet. Therefore, it is recommended to further investigate the plant for clinical trials to unleash its therapeutic importance towards chemical characterisation for drug discovery and development in the pharmacological field.

Biotic stress mediated effects on amount of tocopherol, ascorbic acid and nutrients like sodium and potassium ion of Ficus palmata were investigated in the current study. Present study revealed that the amount of tocopherol in healthy leaf was greater than diseased leaf. However, the amount of ascorbic acid in disease leaf (0.406±0.0108) was more as compare to healthy leaf (0.447±0.0386) of F. palmata. The amount of tocopherol in healthy leaf was 2.0915±0.4188 and in diseased leaf it was 1.786±0.1383. On the other hand, the amount of sodium in both healthy and diseased leaf was similar (1.333±0.333).The amount of potassium in healthy leaf was more (42.00±2.081) as compared to the diseased leaf (33.33±10.929). Greater the amount of ascorbic acid and tocopherol in plants more will be radicle scavenging activity and also helpful in pharmacological industry, drug production and health care.

Ascochyta blight (AB), caused by the fungal pathogen Ascochyta rabiei, is a devastating foliar disease of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). The genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS)-based approach was deployed for mapping QTLs associated with AB resistance in chickpea in two recombinant inbred line populations derived from two crosses (AB3279 derived from ILC 1929 × ILC 3279 and AB482 derived from ILC 1929 × ILC 482) and tested in six different environments. Twenty-one different genomic regions linked to AB resistance were identified in regions CalG02 and CalG04 in both populations AB3279 and AB482. These regions contain 1,118 SNPs significantly associated with AB resistance (p ≤ 0.001), which explained 11.2–39.3% of the phenotypic variation (PVE). Nine of the AB resistance-associated genomic regions were newly detected in this study, while twelve regions were known from previous AB studies. The proposed physical map narrows down AB resistance to consistent genomic regions identified across different environments. Gene ontology (GO) assigned these QTLs to 319 genes, many of which were associated with stress and disease resistance, and with most important genes belonging to resistance gene families such as leucine-rich repeat (LRR) and transcription factor families. Our results indicate that the flowering-associated gene GIGANTEA is a possible key factor in AB resistance in chickpea. The results have identified AB resistance-associated regions on the physical genetic map of chickpea and allowed for the identification of associated markers that will help in breeding of AB-resistant varieties.

The gram pod borer Helicoverpa armigera is a major constraint to chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) production worldwide, reducing crop yield by up to 90%. The constraint is difficult to overcome as chickpea germplasm including wild species either lacks pod borer resistance or if possessing resistance is cross-incompatible. This study describes conversion of elite but pod borer-susceptible commercial chickpea cultivars into resistant cultivars through introgression of cry1Ac using marker-assisted backcross breeding. The chickpea cultivars (PBG7 and L552) were crossed with pod borer-resistant transgenic lines (BS 100B and BS 100E) carrying cry1Ac that led to the development of BC1F1, BC1F2, BC1F3, BC2F1, BC2F2, and BC2F3 populations from three cross combinations. The foreground selection revealed that 35.38% BC1F1 and 8.4% BC1F2 plants obtained from Cross A (PBG7 × BS 100B), 50% BC1F1 and 76.5% BC1F2 plants from Cross B (L552 × BS 100E), and 12.05% BC2F2 and 82.81% (average) BC2F3 plants derived from Cross C (PBG7 × BS 100E) carried the cry1Ac gene. The bioassay of backcross populations for toxicity to H. armigera displayed up to 100% larval mortality. BC1F1 and BC1F2 populations derived from Cross B and BC2F3 population from Cross C segregated in the Mendelian ratio for cry1Ac confirmed inheritance of a single copy of transgene, whereas BC1F1 and BC1F2 populations obtained from Cross A and BC2F2 population from Cross C exhibited distorted segregation ratios. BC1F1 plants of Cross A and Cross B accumulated Cry1Ac protein ranging from 11.03 to 11.71 µgg−1 in leaf tissue. Cry1Ac-positive BC2F2 plants from Cross C demonstrated high recurrent parent genome recovery (91.3%) through background selection using SSR markers and phenome recovery of 90.94%, amongst these 30% plants, were homozygous for transgene. The performance of BC2F3 progenies derived from homozygous plants was similar to that of the recurrent parent for main agronomic traits, such as number of pods and seed yield per plant. These progenies are a valuable source for H. armigera resistance in chickpea breeding programs.

There are very limited studies on the QTLs governing Ascochyta blight resistance which is a major problem in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) grown in North West Plain Zone of India in the cooler climates and world over. An interspecific mapping population consisting of 157 F2:3 lines developed by crossing a resistant parent ILWC129 (C. reticulatum) with a susceptible variety GL769 (C. arietinum L.), was evaluated (2019–20) and genotyped (2021) for genetic studies and mapping of resistance to Ascochyta rabiei (syn. Phoma rabiei), isolate 8(3968). The inheritance pattern gave 1R:2H:1S goodness of fit ratio with χ2 value of 0.4 indicating that resistance against isolate 8 of the pathogen governed by a single gene. Out of 831 SSR markers screened, 86 were found polymorphic with 10.3% polymorphism from which only 41 markers segregated in 1:2:1 ratio and could be mapped. Eight linkage groups with a cumulative distance of 1042.31 cM were formed with an average distance of 25.42 cM. This is probably the first report of inheritance studies and tagging of A. rabei race 8 (arr8) resistance gene using molecular markers in an interspecific cross with C. reticulatum.

Heat stress during reproductive stages has been leading to significant yield losses in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). With an aim of identifying the genomic regions or QTLs responsible for heat tolerance, 187 F8 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from the cross GPF 2 (heat tolerant) × ILWC 292 (heat sensitive) were evaluated under late-sown irrigated (January-May) and timely-sown irrigated environments (November-April) at Ludhiana and Faridkot in Punjab, India for 13 heat tolerance related traits. The pooled ANOVA for both locations for the traits namely days to germination (DG), days to flowering initiation (DFI), days to 50% flowering (DFF), days to 100% flowering (DHF), plant height (PH), pods per plant (NPP), biomass (BIO), grain yield (YLD), 100-seed weight (HSW), harvest index (HI), membrane permeability index (MPI), relative leaf water content (RLWC) and pollen viability (PV)) showed a highly significant difference in RILs. The phenotyping data coupled with the genetic map comprising of 1365 ddRAD-Seq based SNP markers were used for identifying the QTLs for heat tolerance. Composite interval mapping provided a total of 28 and 23 QTLs, respectively at Ludhiana and Faridkot locations. Of these, 13 consensus QTLs for DG, DFI, DFF, DHF, PH, YLD, and MPI have been identified at both locations. Four QTL clusters containing QTLs for multiple traits were identified on the same genomic region at both locations. Stable QTLs for days to flowering can be one of the major factors for providing heat tolerance as early flowering has an advantage of more seed setting due to a comparatively longer reproductive period. Identified QTLs can be used in genomics-assisted breeding to develop heat stress-tolerant high yielding chickpea cultivars.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an economically important food legume grown in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Chickpea is cultivated mainly in the rainfed, residual moisture, and restricted irrigation condition. The crop is always prone to drought stress which is resulting in flower drop, unfilled pods, and is a major yield reducer in many parts of the world. The present study elucidates the association between candidate gene and morpho-physiological traits for the screening of drought tolerance in chickpea. Abiotic stress-responsive gene Dehydrin (DHN) was identified in some of the chickpea genotypes based on the sequence similarity approach to play a major role in drought tolerance. Analysis of variance revealed a significant effect of drought on relative water content, membrane stability index, plant height, and yield traits. The genotypes Pusa1103, Pusa362, and ICC4958 were found most promising genotypes for drought tolerance as they maintained the higher value of osmotic regulations and yield characters. The results were further supported by a sequence similarity approach for the dehydrin gene when analyzed for the presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and indels. Homozygous indels and single nucleotide polymorphisms were found after the sequencing in some of the selected genotypes.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the second largest pulse crop grown worldwide and ascochyta blight caused by Ascochyta rabiei (Pass.) Labr. is the most devastating disease of the crop in all chickpea growing areas across the continents. The pathogen A. rabiei is highly variable. The resistant sources available are not sufficient and new sources needs to be identified from time to time as resistance breakdown in existing chickpea varieties is very frequent due to fast evolution of new pathotypes of the pathogen. Therefore, this work was undertaken to evaluate the existing chickpea germplasm diversity conserved in Indian National Genebank against the disease under artificial epiphytotic conditions. An artificial standard inoculation procedure was followed for uniform spread of the pathogen. During the last five winter seasons from 2014-15 to 2018-19, a total of 1,970 accessions have been screened against the disease and promising accessions were identified and validated. Screening has resulted in identification of some promising chickpea accessions such as IC275447, IC117744, EC267301, IC248147 and EC220109 which have shown the disease resistance (disease severity score ≤3) in multiple seasons and locations. Promising accessions can serve as the potential donors in chickpea improvement programs. The frequency of resistant and moderately resistant type accessions was comparatively higher in accessions originated from Southwest Asian countries particularly Iran and Syria than the accessions originated from Indian sub-continent. Further large scale screening of chickpea germplasm originated from Southwest Asia may result in identifying new resistant sources for the disease.

Botrytis grey mould (BGM), caused by Botrytis cinerea, is emerging as an important disease of chickpea in the northern and eastern parts of the Indian Subcontinent, including Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and in Australia. This fungus has a very broad host range, and sources of complete resistance to the disease have not been found in Cicer arietinum L. germplasm. Resistance to this pathogen has been identified in some wild Cicer species. A set of 371 lines, including 164 landraces and 207 interspecific derivative lines (derived from crosses of cultivated chickpea with C. pinnatifidum, C. judaicum or C. reticulatum) have been screened against Botrytis grey mould under field conditions, and using the cut twig method at the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, in 2015-16 and 2016–17. Strong correlations between the two screening methods were indicated by paired-t tests. The Bulked Sample Analysis (BSA) approach was used to screen DNA of the five most resistant and five most susceptible host lines using 300 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Eighty-eight markers were polymorphic. Chi-square statistic values showed strong correlations of TA144, GA102, TA194, TA140 and TR2 with the resistant bulks, signifying their usability as putative markers linked to BGM resistance, and for development of BGM tolerant genotypes in chickpea. Future studies should rapidly ascertain marker trait associations, and identify and develop diagnostic markers that provide an accurate method of molecular tagging BGM resistant genes in chickpea.

Genetic diversity among 40 chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes was investigated using 125 microsatellite (SSR, simple sequence repeat) markers. Twenty five polymorphic markers with average genetic diversity and PIC (Polymorphic Information Content) value of 0.489 and 0.437, respectively, generated a total of 90 alleles. High PIC and gene diversity (HE) values indicated good variability amongst the chickpea genotypes. Sequential Agglomerative Hierarchical Non-overlapping (SAHN) grouping revealed two main clusters with 29 genotypes in cluster I and 11 genotypes in cluster II. The Cluster analysis did not follow geographical diversity rather it was in agreement for genetic diversity with respect to seed type and parentage/pedigree. Grouping clearly delineated the diverse kabuli and desi genotypes. Molecular variance analysis also indicated 97% variation within the populations and 3% variation among the populations. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) divided all the 40 genotypes into three populations based on their seed type and pedigree. The 2D plot largely supported the dendrogram with similar pattern of clustering. It also indicated that the material used was diverse. Thus, the study proved that SSR markers are informative tools for assessing genetic diversity and can be recommended for characterization studies in chickpea.

The field study was conducted on six wild chickpea accessions to evaluate the influence of agroclimatic indices viz., accumulated growing degree days (GDD), photo-thermal unit (PTU) and heliothermal unit (PTU) at various phenophases of chickpea under irrigated and rainfed conditions on yield of the plant. C pinnatifidum 212 witnessed highest accumulation of heat units at all stages of phenophasic development under irrigated and rainfed conditions. Agroclimatic indices depicted positive correlation with yield under rainfed conditions.Path coefficient analysis revealed that under irrigated conditions, yield attributes and agroclimatic indices showed strong positive correlation towards the final grain yield, though HTU at maturity indirectly affected yield via pods per plant (PPP) to the final yield in rainfed treatment. Among all the accessions, C pinnatifidum 212 performed better than other accessions by possessing high heat use efficiency (HUE) values, thus displaying their capacity of utilizing GDD and incorporating final yield.

Rising temperatures and drought stress limit the growth and production potential of lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus), particularly during reproductive growth and seed filling. The present study aimed to (i) investigate the individual and combined effects of heat and drought stress during seed filling, (ii) determine the response of lentil genotypes with contrasting heat and drought sensitivity, and (iii) assess any cross tolerance in contrasting genotypes. For this purpose, eight lentil genotypes (two drought-tolerant, two drought-sensitive, two heat-tolerant, two heat-sensitive) were either sown at the normal time (second week of November 2014), when the temperatures at the time of seed filling were below 30/20°C (day/night), or sown late (second week of February 2015) to impose heat stress (temperatures > 30/20°C (day/night) during reproducive growth and seed filling. Half of the pots in each sowing environment were fully watered throughout (100% field capacity) while the others had water withheld (50% of field capacity) from the start of seed filling to maturity. Both heat and drought, individually or in combination, damaged cell membranes, photosynthetic traits and water relations; the effects were more severe with the combined stress. RuBisCo and stomatal conductance increased with heat stress but decreased with drought and the combined stress. Leaf and seed sucrose decreased with each stress in conjunction with its biosynthetic enzyme, while its (sucrose) hydrolysis increased under heat and drought stress, but was inhibited due to combination of stresses. Starch increased under heat stress in leaves but decreased in seeds, but drastically declined in seeds under drought alone or in combination with heat stress. At the same time, starch hydrolysis in leaves and seeds increased resulting in an accumulation of reducing sugars. Heat stress inhibited yield traits (seed number and seed weight per plant) more than drought stress, while drought stress reduced individual seed weights more than heat stress. The combined stress severely inhibited yield traits with less effect on the drought- and heat-tolerant genotypes. Drought stress inhibited the biochemical processes of seed filling more than heat stress, and the combined stress had a highly detrimental effect. A partial cross tolerance was noticed in drought and heat-tolerant lentil genotypes against the two stresses.

Rising temperatures are proving detrimental for various agricultural crops. Cool-season legumes such as lentil (Lens culunaris Medik.) are sensitive to even small increases in temperature during the reproductive stage, hence the need to explore the available germplasm for heat tolerance as well as its underlying mechanisms. In the present study, a set of 38 core lentil accessions were screened for heat stress tolerance by sowing 2 months later (first week of January; max/min temperature >32/20°C during the reproductive stage) than the recommended date of sowing (first week of November; max/min temperature 35/25°C were highly detrimental for growth and yield in lentil. While HT genotypes tolerated temperatures up to 40/30°C by producing fewer pods, the HS genotypes failed to do so even at 38/28°C. The findings attributed heat tolerance to superior pollen function and higher expression of leaf antioxidants.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is known to be sensitive to many herbicides and, therefore, choices for using post-emergence herbicides for weed control are limited. The present study was aimed at identifying sources of tolerance to two herbicides with different modes of action (imazethapyr—amino acid synthesis inhibitor; and metribuzin—photosynthesis inhibitor) for use in breeding herbicide tolerant cultivars. Screening of 300 diverse chickpea genotypes (278 accessions from the reference set and 22 breeding lines) revealed large genetic variations for tolerance to herbicides imazethapyr and metribuzin. In general, the sensitivity of the genotypes to metribuzin was higher compared to that for imazethapyr. Several genotypes tolerant to metribuzin (ICC 1205, ICC 1164, ICC 1161, ICC 8195, ICC 11498, ICC 9586, ICC 14402 ICC 283) and imazethapyr (ICC 3239, ICC 7867, ICC 1710, ICC 13441, ICC 13461, ICC 13357, ICC 7668, ICC 13187) were identified, based on average herbicide tolerance scores from two experimental locations each. The herbicide tolerant lines identified in this study will be useful resources for development of herbicide tolerant cultivars and for undertaking genetic and physiological studies on herbicide tolerance in chickpea.

Oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria is responsible for 90% of ATP synthesis in most cells. This essential housekeeping function is mediated by nuclear and mitochondrial genes encoding subunits of complex I to V of the respiratory chain. Although complex IV is the best studied of these complexes, the exact function of the striated muscle-specific subunit COX6A2 is still poorly understood. In this study, we show that Cox6a2-deficient mice are protected against high-fat diet-induced obesity, insulin resistance and glucose intolerance. This phenotype results from elevated energy expenditure and a skeletal muscle fiber type switch towards more oxidative fibers. At the molecular level we observe increased formation of reactive oxygen species, constitutive activation of AMP-activated protein kinase, and enhanced expression of uncoupling proteins. Our data indicate that COX6A2 is a regulator of respiratory uncoupling in muscle and we demonstrate that a novel and direct link exists between muscle respiratory chain activity and diet-induced obesity/insulin resistance.

Ascochyta blight (AB) caused by Ascochyta rabiei (Pass.) Labr. and Botrytis grey mould (BGM) caused by Botrytis cinerea (Pers. ex Fr.) are important diseases of the aerial plant parts of chickpea in most chickpea growing areas of the world. Although conventional approaches have contributed to reducing disease, the use of new technologies is expected to further reduce losses through these biotic stresses. Reliable screening techniques were developed: ‘field screening technique’ for adult plant screening, ‘cloth chamber technique’ and ‘growth chamber technique’ for the study of races of the pathogen and for segregating generations. Furthermore, the ‘cut twig technique’ for interspecific population for AB and BGM resistance was developed. For introgression of high levels of AB and BGM resistance in cultivated chickpea from wild relatives, accessions of seven annual wild Cicer spp. were evaluated and identified: C. judaicum accessions 185, ILWC 95 and ILWC 61, C. pinnatifidum accessions 188, 199 and ILWC 212 as potential donors. C. pinnatifidum accession188 was crossed with ICCV 96030 and 62 F9 lines resistant to AB and BGM were derived. Of the derived lines, several are being evaluated for agronomic traits and yield parameters while four lines, GL 29029, GL29206, GL29212, GL29081 possessing high degree of resistance were crossed with susceptible high yielding cultivars BG 256 to improve resistance and to undertake molecular studies. Genotyping of F2 populations with SSR markers from the chickpea genome was done to identify markers potentially linked with AB and BGM resistance genes. In preliminary studies, of 120 SSR markers used, six (Ta 2, Ta 110, Ta 139, CaSTMS 7, CaSTMS 24 and Tr 29) were identified with polymorphic bands between resistant derivative lines and the susceptible parent. The study shows that wild species of Cicer are the valuable gene pools of resistance to AB and BGM. The resistant derivative lines generated here can serve as good pre-breeding material and markers identified can assist in marker assisted selection for resistance breeding.