Papers by Journal of Cereal Research (JCR)
Journal of Cereal Research, 2021
The editorial team greatly acknowledge the assistance of reviewers who have dedicated their preci... more The editorial team greatly acknowledge the assistance of reviewers who have dedicated their precious time and expertise
to the journal’s grueling editorial process over the past four months, regardless of whether the articles are finally published
or not. In this issue a total of 12 articles were published. The editors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the
following reviewers for their unstinting contribution for this issue of Journal of Cereal Research, Volume 13, issue 1 in 2021.
Journal of Cereal Research, 2021
The mean yield of the released and pre-released irrigated bread wheat varieties was examined for ... more The mean yield of the released and pre-released irrigated bread wheat varieties was examined for the period 1990-2020 to study progress in yield enhancement under ten diverse production environments of India. Productivity growth was examined in two production conditions i.e. timely and late-sown, prevalent in five mega zones of the country. Progression in the timely-sown wheat was prominent in all five zones as the growth rate was highly significant. In the late-sown category, growth was highly significant only in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) and central India. Yield enhancement in western IGP was continuous and many impactful varieties had been developed the other hand, On quite varietal development was slow in central India. In comparison, varieties released in eastern IGP were large in number but the yield level was not high. Growth in grain number was eminent in most of the environments. Improvement in grain weight was also visible in timely-sown wheat of eastern IGP and peninsular India. Reduction in grain weight had been observed in timely-sown wheat of northern hills. Varietal expression of wheat genotypes had changed a lot in the peninsular region as plant height was reduced in both categories of wheat and maturity duration was reduced in the timely-sown wheat. High deviations and low productivity has made the late-sown wheat vulnerable and non-remunerative in hills and peninsular India.
Journal of Cereal Research, 2021
A high yielding durum wheat variety HI 8805 (Pusa Wheat 8805) has been released and notified by t... more A high yielding durum wheat variety HI 8805 (Pusa Wheat 8805) has been released and notified by the Central SubCommittee on Crop Standards, Notification and Release of Varieties for Agricultural Crops, Government of India for commercial cultivation under timely sown, restricted irrigation conditions of Peninsular Zone (PZ) of the country. HI 8805 has an average yield of 30.4 q/ha over the zone and showed significant superiority over the checks; with a potential yield of 35.4 q/ha. It has shown an excellent and wider adaptation and significantly superior performance across different irrigation regimes over the checks with an average yield of 30.7 q/ha. It showed high levels of field resistance to black and brown rusts. It has high protein content (12.8%), yellow pigment content (4.9 ppm), test weight (83.7 kg/ha), sedimentation value (42 ml), iron content (40.4 ppm), zinc content (33.9 ppm) with an overall pasta acceptability (5.7). It can be used as a "dual quality" durum suitable both for "chapati making" as well as for pasta preparations. This variety has been found promising for timely sown, restricted irrigation areas of PZ; and thus, it will contribute to increase wheat production and will improve the socioeconomic status of farmers.
Journal of Cereal Research, 2021
A high yielding bread wheat variety HI 1628 (Pusa Wheat 1628) has been released and notified by t... more A high yielding bread wheat variety HI 1628 (Pusa Wheat 1628) has been released and notified by the Central SubCommittee on Crop Standards, Notification and Release of Varieties for Agricultural Crops, Government of India for commercial cultivation under timely sown, restricted irrigated conditions of North Western Plains Zone (NWPZ) of the country. HI 1628 has an average yield of 50.4 q/ha over the zone and showed significant superiority over the checks; with a potential yield of 65.1 q/ha. It has shown an excellent and wider adaptation and significantly superior performance across different irrigation regimes over the checks with an average yield of 45.5 q/ha. It showed high levels of field resistance to stripe and leaf rusts. It is a good quality bread wheat genotype with excellent chapati quality (7.56), bread quality (7.64), biscuit spread factor (8.27) and high sedimentation value (56.6 ml). It has high protein content (~11 %) and protein quality (Glu score of 8/10) for high molecular weight subunits and presence of 5+10 subunit of Glu-D1 reflecting higher gluten strength in the genotype. It has good levels of essential micronutrients like iron and zinc making it rich in nutritional qualities. This variety has promise for timely sown, restricted irrigation planting areas and thus will contribute to increase wheat production and will alleviate the socioeconomic status of farmers of NWPZ of India.
Journal of Cereal Research, 2021
Wheat is attacked by a large number of fungal diseases
in India, but only some of them are usual... more Wheat is attacked by a large number of fungal diseases
in India, but only some of them are usually responsible
for major economic losses. The important fungal diseases
occurring in Uttar Pradesh are loose smut, flag smut, karnal
bunt, rusts and powdery mildew. The powdery mildew
fungi (Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici) continues to rank among
the most harmful pathogens on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
in the world (Opalski et. al., 2006). It is becoming a disease
of concern in the North Western Plains Zone, Northern
Hills Zone and Southern Hills Zone of the country. In subtropical regions, powdery mildew damage ranges from 13%
to 35% when low infection while 50% to 100% damage
under severe infection of disease could be recorded in field
(Alam et. al. 2013; Li et. al., 2011) when chemical control is
neglected. In Uttar Pradesh, it regularly appears on wheat
crop resulting in losses in isolated fields. Indeed, powdery
mildew has a number of characteristics, which support rapid
adaptation, such as its relatively short generation time with
potential sexual recombination throughout the year, and
the nature of its air-borne spread. Indian germplasms lack
variability for powdery mildew resistance as evident from
the susceptibility of wheat varieties developed recently in
India (Singh et. al. 2009). However, sporadic incidence
of powdery mildew has been reported from Rajasthan,
Maharashtra and Karnataka (Arya and Ghemawat, 1953;
Gadore and Patwardhan, 1965; Patil et. al., 1969). Not
much work on powdery mildew resistance has been done
so far, therefore identification and evaluation of wheat
varieties for powdery mildew resistance should be done.
Hence, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the
effect of powdery mildew severity and to identify the
powdery mildew resistant varieties for direct use in breeding
programmes.
Journal of Cereal Research, 2021
Estimation of genetic diversity in a crop species provides a basis for devising future strategies... more Estimation of genetic diversity in a crop species provides a basis for devising future strategies for their conservation and sustainable use in crop improvement. Genotypic variation in 72 barley genotypes was studied for ten morphological traits during two consecutive cropping years (2015-16 and 2016-17) at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar. Coefficient of variation attributed to genotypic diversity was recorded highest for grain yield (26.16 %) followed by inclination angle (20.0 %), internode length (13.11 %) and tillers per meter (13.07 %). However, days to maturity (2.69 %) contributed less to diversity with lower coefficient of variation. The principal component analysis revealed that first four most informative components could explain about 71.0 % of total variation present in the studied genotypes. Hierarchical cluster analysis clubbed all the barley genotypes into eight clusters. Clusters III and V being the largest one with 14 genotypes each and with one genotype. Cluster I was the smallest. Among all, maximum distance was displayed by clusters I and VI, however, highest diversity was exhibited by cluster V. The genotypes namely MGL 21 (early heading), MGL 38 (early maturing), MGL 47 (short plant height with high tillering), MGL 12 (high culm thickness), MGL 117 (long internodes), MGL 15 (long spikes) and MBGSN 145 (high grain weight, high yield, lodging resistant) were identified as most diverse genotypes. Cluster I, IV and VII portrayed better performance for most of the traits studied. Genotypes from these groups could be utilized as donors in breeding programs for different agro-ecologies.
Journal of Cereal Research, 2021
Wheat is the staple food and main source of calories in
Indian diet and has been under cultivati... more Wheat is the staple food and main source of calories in
Indian diet and has been under cultivation in the Indian
subcontinent since Harrapan civilization. It is a cosmopolitan
grain consumed by nearly 2.5 billion people in more than 90
countries and provides ~20% of the total calories in the human
diet (Anonymous, 2020). The ever-increasing population,
rapid urbanization, reduction in cultivable area, increased
domestic consumption, demands well-planned efforts to face
the future challenges of food security of India. Worldwide
wheat production is threatened by various biotic and abiotic
stresses. Among wheat diseases, three rusts (yellow, brown and
black) are major threats due to the rapid appearance of new
races (pathotypes) of rust pathogens with additional virulence
for the major and widely deployed resistance genes. Yellow
(stripe) rust which occurs in comparatively cooler areas can
cause yield losses often ranging from 10 to 70% on susceptible
varieties (Chen, 2005), whereas, brown (leaf) rust which is
most widely occurring in wheat-growing areas can cause yield
losses up to 50 per cent (Bhardwaj et al., 2016). Black (stem)
rust although mostly occurs at maturity stage can cause yield
losses up to 100 per cent in case of an early start of disease in
warmer areas (Prasad et al., 2016). An adequate level of genetic resistance to all the current rust pathotypes is a major breeding objective in our wheat breeding programmes. Seedling resistance or ‘all stage
resistance’ (ASR), is typically expressed at all growth stages,
conferred by a single ‘major effect’ gene often associated
with a hypersensitive response and is often race specific
(Riaz et al., 2016). Therefore, the present study was carried
out to identify all stage resistance (ASR) against three rust
diseases in advanced bread wheat lines.
Journal of Cereal Research, 2021
Spot blotch disease (SB) caused by Bipolaris sorokiniana (teleomorph: Cochliobolus sativus) is a ... more Spot blotch disease (SB) caused by Bipolaris sorokiniana (teleomorph: Cochliobolus sativus) is a major disease of barley and causes a significant yield loss under favorable conditions in the warm and humid areas. A global set of 340 barley germplasm obtained from ICARDA were evaluated for SB resistance under natural epiphytotic conditions along with two local checks (Bonus and Solu Uwa) at the research field of Nepal Agricultural Research Council, Rampur, Chitawan, Nepal for three consecutive years (2016-2018). Analysis of variance showed significant variation in Area Under Disease Progress Curve (AUDPC) of the studied genotypes in all the three years' experiments. The check varieties were susceptible to SB (AUDPC value ≥ 750) in all the experiments. In the first-year experiment, 28, 105, 98 and 109 genotypes had resistant (R, AUDPC <250), moderately resistant (MR, AUDPC 250-499), moderately susceptible (MS, AUDPC 500-749), and susceptible (S, AUDPC≥750) type of disease reaction, respectively. In the second year, 1, 42, 136 and 161 genotypes showed R, MR, MS, and S type of disease reaction. In the third-year, 69 genotypes had MR, 132 MS and 139 S type of disease reaction. Summarized across the years, about 27 % genotypes had MS to MR or R type of SB reaction. The study identified barley lines that can be a potential source of SB resistance for barley breeding programs.
Journal of Cereal Research, 2021
Declaration of climate emergency reminds that the main source of variations in worldwide food pro... more Declaration of climate emergency reminds that the main source of variations in worldwide food production sourced from developing countries and is of utmost concern. Process-based models use simplified functions to express the interactions between upland rice growth and the major environmental factors (i.e., climate, soils, and management) that affect crops yield. This research was conducted to investigate the DSSAT-CERES-Rice model for simulating the impact of different temperature (28˚C, 30˚C and 32˚C) on upland grain yield (Dawk Payawm, Mai Tahk, Bow Leb Nahng, Dawk Kha 50 and Dawk Kahm). The results showed that the temperature significantly affected the grain yield, flowering, and maturity date. The highest grain yield bearing genotype was Bow leb Nahng (6235.80 kgha-1) with the highest variation between the genotypes. At maximum temperature 32˚C simulated grain yield varied from (3194-6669) kgha-1 , at high temperature 30˚C it varied from 3252-6667 kgha-1 while at moderate temperature 28˚C 3189-6711 kgha-1 was the observed range. However, results indicated that moderate temperature i.e., 28°C gave the highest simulated grain yield. Thus, it was demonstrated that the CERES-Rice model was more useful as a tool for simulating grain yield under the changing different temperature conditions.
Journal of Cereal Research, 2021
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection for crop varieties have implications on both resear... more Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection for crop varieties have implications on both research and food security, as development of new varieties depends on access to existing varieties/biological material or access to their genetic information. In this situation, India under its obligation under Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), opted for a "sui generis" system and enacted "Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act" (PPV&FRA) in 2001. Through some specific provisions in this act, a balance between incentive to innovate (through limited period exclusive rights) and access to protected varieties during protection period for furthering innovations is attempted. India enacted another IPR act following suigeneris system viz., Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act-1999 (GI act). Under this act some special types of agricultural crops are protected. In this backdrop, this study attempted to examine the status of IPR protection to rice varieties and impact of the two types of IPRs viz., PPV&FRA and GI on varietal development and biodiversity in the case of rice in India. The study utilized secondary data from relevant IPR authorities and ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research (ICAR-IIRR) database. It is observed that (i) there is increase in rice varietal development following enactment of PPV&FRA and GI acts in India; (ii) there is increase in private sector participation in hybrid rice research following enactment of PPV&FRA; and (iii) both PPV&FRA and GI acts individually and also together are playing a key role in rice biodiversity management.
Journal of Cereal Research, 2021
Wheat production is essential for food security. Stem and leaf rust
diseases continually pose th... more Wheat production is essential for food security. Stem and leaf rust
diseases continually pose threat to wheat production. In recent years,
climate change and intensive crop cultivation practices are making
powdery mildew as a potential threat to wheat production. Deploying
resistant cultivars are the most economic, reliable and sustainable way
to manage the stem rust, leaf rust and powdery mildew of wheat. Using
conventional selection system, it is difficult to select two or more genes
in a single genotype. In such a situation, phenotype neutral selection
based on marker-trait association along with seedling and adult plant
reaction become inevitable. Stem rust, leaf rust and powdery mildew
resistance genes, Sr24/Lr24, Sr26 and Sr36/Pm6 were pyramided in the
background of nine Indian wheat cultivars through marker assisted
backcross approach. The presence of the rust and powdery mildew
resistance genes were confirmed using microsatellite markers such
as Sr24#12 (Sr24/Lr24), Sr26#43 (Sr26) and Stm773-2 (Sr36/Pm6) in the
pyramided lines. Stable lines were selected at BC3F4 generation. Seedling
and adult plant reaction of pyramided lines showed resistance to most
of the stem and leaf rust pathotypes prevailing in India. Using gene
pyramids (Sr24/Lr24, Sr26 and Sr36/Pm6) that confer resistance to the
predominant pathotypes of stem rust, leaf rust and powdery mildew
could impart durability to the cultivars than single gene deployment.
Journal of Cereal Research, 2021
Global warming influences environmental factors which directly and indirectly affects agricultura... more Global warming influences environmental factors which directly and indirectly affects agricultural crop production by exposing to several new biotic and abiotic stresses. The abiotic stresses like heat, drought, moisture, salinity and pre harvest sprouting stresses are most common whose effect became more severe due to climate change.
Journal of Cereal Research, 2021
Around 70 percent of crop yield losses are projected because of
climate induced abiotic stresses... more Around 70 percent of crop yield losses are projected because of
climate induced abiotic stresses like moisture stress, soil salinity and
heat stress. Critical to the stability of cropping systems in the face
of climate change is the capacity to rapidly grow germplasm with
tolerance to complex polygenic inherited abiotic and biotic stresses
combined. Molecular breeding provides the means to speed up
cereal breeding, but adequate phenotyping protocols are required
to ensure that the much-anticipated benefits of novel breeding tools
can be realized. Tremendous advances in phenomics have taken
place in the recent past. Both forward and reverse phenomics have
developed to help determine either the best genotype with the desired
feature or mechanism and the genes that make the genotype the best.
High-throughput phenomics studies include techniques for screening
substantial germplasm sets for a specific trait using high-throughput
phenotyping (HTP) technologies like advanced robots, high-tech
sensors, 3D imaging, fluorescence imaging, NIR imaging, lemnatec,
etc. The high velocity of plant phenotyping based on phenomics
accelerates the selection phase of potential advanced germplasm
resilient towards climate induced stresses.
Journal of Cereal Research, 2019
During the last two years, 31 wheat and 5 barley varieties have been notified by the CSCSN&R for ... more During the last two years, 31 wheat and 5 barley varieties have been notified by the CSCSN&R for commercial cultivation. Of which, 13 wheat and 3 barley varieties were central released and 18 wheat and 2 barley varieties were state released. Amongst the central released varieties, 6 varieties were released for NWPZ, 4 for PZ and 3 for NEPZ. Similarly among the state released varieties, six wheat varieties were released for Uttarakhand, four for Uttar Pradesh, two for Chhattisgarh and one each for Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Tamilnadu. Special features of each variety is given in the paper.
Journal of Cereal Research , 2019
Cytoplasmic male sterility based experimental hybrids were developed using diversified CMS lines ... more Cytoplasmic male sterility based experimental hybrids were developed using diversified CMS lines in Indian Agronomic background as female parent and Restorer lines as male parents and these were evaluated for estimation of genetic parameters and heterotic potential in comparison to check variety HD 3086 for yield and component traits.
Journal of Cereal Research , 2019
Yellow rust of barley caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. hordei (Psh), is an important disease... more Yellow rust of barley caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. hordei (Psh), is an important disease in barley growing regions of India and worldwide. For identifying adult plant stage resistance to yellow rust, a set of 29 barley advanced breeding lines was tested at five locations, Durgapura, Jammu, Ludhiana, Bajaura and Karnal during 2016-17 and 2017-18. The seedling resistance test was conducted on 27 barley advanced breeding lines against seven Psh pathotypes separately under controlled conditions at ICAR-IIWBR, Shimla during 2017-18. As consequences, seven lines (DWRFB10, DWRFB12, DWRFB14, DWRFB15, DWRFB19, DWRFB20 and DWRFB28) were found immune to highly resistant against yellow rust at adult plant stage across the locations. Similarly, seven advanced breeding lines viz., DWRFB11, DWRFB12, DWRFB13, DWRFB14, DWRFB19, DWRFB20 and DWRFB27, were found resistant to yellow rust at seedling stage. On the basis of APR and SRT, four advanced barley breeding lines, DWRFB12, DWRFB14, DWRFB19 and DWRFB20 were highly resistant to yellow rust (nearly immune) both at seedling and adult-plant stages.
Journal of Cereal Research, 2019
An experiment was conducted for two consecutive years (2012-13 and 2013-14) to determine the effe... more An experiment was conducted for two consecutive years (2012-13 and 2013-14) to determine the effect of different inducer chemicals on spot blotch disease of wheat and its impact on grain yield. All the inducer chemicals reduced the spot blotch infection significantly at different concentration levelsand also increase the yield attributing characters like number of grains/panicle and 1000 seed weight. The accumulation of phenol increased up to 96 days after sowing (DAS), whereas, peroxidase accumulation increased up to 68 days after sowing in wheat plants in all the treatments.Among the different inducer chemicals salicyclic acid (10-4 M) and CuSO4 (10-4 M and 10-5 M) showed good results even at low concentration levels. Therefore, the inducer chemicals can be used as an alternative method to manage the spot blotch of wheat.
Journal of Cereal Research , 2019
The corn leaf aphid (CLA), Rhopalosiphum maidis is one of the most serious insect-pests of barley... more The corn leaf aphid (CLA), Rhopalosiphum maidis is one of the most serious insect-pests of barley, Hordeum vulgare L. in northern plains of India. The resistance to CLA has been identified in both double and six-rowed barley genotypes. Comparative biology and population build-up were investigated to find out the level of aphid resistance in five selected barley genotypes BCU 2806, BK 9816, CIHO 6264, BCU 4507 and IC 434880 along with susceptible check PL 426. The nymphal duration and adult longevity of CLA was significantly higher on resistant barley genotypes whereas these genotypes has relatively lower fecundity and mean reproductive potential. BK 9816 (15.07 ± 1.44 days) and IC 424880 (15.08 ± 1.73 days) has the longest nymphal duration and BCU 2806 has the longest adult longevity (19.63 ± 1.20 days) of CLA. The reproductive potential of CLA was minimum on BCU 2806 (2.24 ± 0.19 nymphs/day) and fecundity was lowest on BK 9816 (31.10 ± 1.60 nymphs). It was found the population build-up of CLA was delayed by a week on resistant genotypes. Higher mortality (up to 83.25 %) and early alate formation in no-choice test indicated the presence of both antixenosis and antibiosis type of resistance in tested resistant barley genotypes.
Journal of Cereal Research, 2019
The genetic gain for yield in wheat and other cereals has been known to be stagnating in recent y... more The genetic gain for yield in wheat and other cereals has been known to be stagnating in recent years. Breeding wheat cultivars with increased genetic potential can contribute to meet at least half of the desired production increases. In this context we have developed some advanced wheat lines in our breeding program, which aims to utilize the untapped variability. We assessed a set of 60 diverse lines along with four commercial check varieties for various agro-morphological traits, grain quality and yield based and also the adaptability using molecular markers. Significant genotypic differences were observed for most of the grain quality and agro-morphological traits recorded, including grain yield. We could identify lines which have significantly higher grain yield. The diversity analysis carried out using the DNA markers could explain the variability for different traits in this set. This set of genotypes is thus a very useful source as far as enhancing the yield levels. The lines developed through the conventional breeding program were based on crosses between elite breeding lines and specific donors and hence might resulted in higher yield potential.
Journal of Cereal Research , 2019
A study was conducted for the assessment of heterosis and inbreeding depression for grain yield a... more A study was conducted for the assessment of heterosis and inbreeding depression for grain yield and its contributing traits in bread wheat using a 13 × 13 diallel fashion excluding reciprocals. The analyses of heterosis over mid parent (MP), better parent (BP) as well as the standard check (SC; NW 1014) were carried out in 78 F 1 and F 2 crosses and inbreeding depression in F 2 crosses. Biological yield exhibited maximum degree of SC, BP and MP heterosis (46.96%, 39.98% and 31.78%), followed by grain yield (35.27%, 27.58% and 20.52%), respectively. The crosses viz.
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Papers by Journal of Cereal Research (JCR)
to the journal’s grueling editorial process over the past four months, regardless of whether the articles are finally published
or not. In this issue a total of 12 articles were published. The editors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the
following reviewers for their unstinting contribution for this issue of Journal of Cereal Research, Volume 13, issue 1 in 2021.
in India, but only some of them are usually responsible
for major economic losses. The important fungal diseases
occurring in Uttar Pradesh are loose smut, flag smut, karnal
bunt, rusts and powdery mildew. The powdery mildew
fungi (Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici) continues to rank among
the most harmful pathogens on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
in the world (Opalski et. al., 2006). It is becoming a disease
of concern in the North Western Plains Zone, Northern
Hills Zone and Southern Hills Zone of the country. In subtropical regions, powdery mildew damage ranges from 13%
to 35% when low infection while 50% to 100% damage
under severe infection of disease could be recorded in field
(Alam et. al. 2013; Li et. al., 2011) when chemical control is
neglected. In Uttar Pradesh, it regularly appears on wheat
crop resulting in losses in isolated fields. Indeed, powdery
mildew has a number of characteristics, which support rapid
adaptation, such as its relatively short generation time with
potential sexual recombination throughout the year, and
the nature of its air-borne spread. Indian germplasms lack
variability for powdery mildew resistance as evident from
the susceptibility of wheat varieties developed recently in
India (Singh et. al. 2009). However, sporadic incidence
of powdery mildew has been reported from Rajasthan,
Maharashtra and Karnataka (Arya and Ghemawat, 1953;
Gadore and Patwardhan, 1965; Patil et. al., 1969). Not
much work on powdery mildew resistance has been done
so far, therefore identification and evaluation of wheat
varieties for powdery mildew resistance should be done.
Hence, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the
effect of powdery mildew severity and to identify the
powdery mildew resistant varieties for direct use in breeding
programmes.
Indian diet and has been under cultivation in the Indian
subcontinent since Harrapan civilization. It is a cosmopolitan
grain consumed by nearly 2.5 billion people in more than 90
countries and provides ~20% of the total calories in the human
diet (Anonymous, 2020). The ever-increasing population,
rapid urbanization, reduction in cultivable area, increased
domestic consumption, demands well-planned efforts to face
the future challenges of food security of India. Worldwide
wheat production is threatened by various biotic and abiotic
stresses. Among wheat diseases, three rusts (yellow, brown and
black) are major threats due to the rapid appearance of new
races (pathotypes) of rust pathogens with additional virulence
for the major and widely deployed resistance genes. Yellow
(stripe) rust which occurs in comparatively cooler areas can
cause yield losses often ranging from 10 to 70% on susceptible
varieties (Chen, 2005), whereas, brown (leaf) rust which is
most widely occurring in wheat-growing areas can cause yield
losses up to 50 per cent (Bhardwaj et al., 2016). Black (stem)
rust although mostly occurs at maturity stage can cause yield
losses up to 100 per cent in case of an early start of disease in
warmer areas (Prasad et al., 2016). An adequate level of genetic resistance to all the current rust pathotypes is a major breeding objective in our wheat breeding programmes. Seedling resistance or ‘all stage
resistance’ (ASR), is typically expressed at all growth stages,
conferred by a single ‘major effect’ gene often associated
with a hypersensitive response and is often race specific
(Riaz et al., 2016). Therefore, the present study was carried
out to identify all stage resistance (ASR) against three rust
diseases in advanced bread wheat lines.
diseases continually pose threat to wheat production. In recent years,
climate change and intensive crop cultivation practices are making
powdery mildew as a potential threat to wheat production. Deploying
resistant cultivars are the most economic, reliable and sustainable way
to manage the stem rust, leaf rust and powdery mildew of wheat. Using
conventional selection system, it is difficult to select two or more genes
in a single genotype. In such a situation, phenotype neutral selection
based on marker-trait association along with seedling and adult plant
reaction become inevitable. Stem rust, leaf rust and powdery mildew
resistance genes, Sr24/Lr24, Sr26 and Sr36/Pm6 were pyramided in the
background of nine Indian wheat cultivars through marker assisted
backcross approach. The presence of the rust and powdery mildew
resistance genes were confirmed using microsatellite markers such
as Sr24#12 (Sr24/Lr24), Sr26#43 (Sr26) and Stm773-2 (Sr36/Pm6) in the
pyramided lines. Stable lines were selected at BC3F4 generation. Seedling
and adult plant reaction of pyramided lines showed resistance to most
of the stem and leaf rust pathotypes prevailing in India. Using gene
pyramids (Sr24/Lr24, Sr26 and Sr36/Pm6) that confer resistance to the
predominant pathotypes of stem rust, leaf rust and powdery mildew
could impart durability to the cultivars than single gene deployment.
climate induced abiotic stresses like moisture stress, soil salinity and
heat stress. Critical to the stability of cropping systems in the face
of climate change is the capacity to rapidly grow germplasm with
tolerance to complex polygenic inherited abiotic and biotic stresses
combined. Molecular breeding provides the means to speed up
cereal breeding, but adequate phenotyping protocols are required
to ensure that the much-anticipated benefits of novel breeding tools
can be realized. Tremendous advances in phenomics have taken
place in the recent past. Both forward and reverse phenomics have
developed to help determine either the best genotype with the desired
feature or mechanism and the genes that make the genotype the best.
High-throughput phenomics studies include techniques for screening
substantial germplasm sets for a specific trait using high-throughput
phenotyping (HTP) technologies like advanced robots, high-tech
sensors, 3D imaging, fluorescence imaging, NIR imaging, lemnatec,
etc. The high velocity of plant phenotyping based on phenomics
accelerates the selection phase of potential advanced germplasm
resilient towards climate induced stresses.
to the journal’s grueling editorial process over the past four months, regardless of whether the articles are finally published
or not. In this issue a total of 12 articles were published. The editors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the
following reviewers for their unstinting contribution for this issue of Journal of Cereal Research, Volume 13, issue 1 in 2021.
in India, but only some of them are usually responsible
for major economic losses. The important fungal diseases
occurring in Uttar Pradesh are loose smut, flag smut, karnal
bunt, rusts and powdery mildew. The powdery mildew
fungi (Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici) continues to rank among
the most harmful pathogens on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
in the world (Opalski et. al., 2006). It is becoming a disease
of concern in the North Western Plains Zone, Northern
Hills Zone and Southern Hills Zone of the country. In subtropical regions, powdery mildew damage ranges from 13%
to 35% when low infection while 50% to 100% damage
under severe infection of disease could be recorded in field
(Alam et. al. 2013; Li et. al., 2011) when chemical control is
neglected. In Uttar Pradesh, it regularly appears on wheat
crop resulting in losses in isolated fields. Indeed, powdery
mildew has a number of characteristics, which support rapid
adaptation, such as its relatively short generation time with
potential sexual recombination throughout the year, and
the nature of its air-borne spread. Indian germplasms lack
variability for powdery mildew resistance as evident from
the susceptibility of wheat varieties developed recently in
India (Singh et. al. 2009). However, sporadic incidence
of powdery mildew has been reported from Rajasthan,
Maharashtra and Karnataka (Arya and Ghemawat, 1953;
Gadore and Patwardhan, 1965; Patil et. al., 1969). Not
much work on powdery mildew resistance has been done
so far, therefore identification and evaluation of wheat
varieties for powdery mildew resistance should be done.
Hence, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the
effect of powdery mildew severity and to identify the
powdery mildew resistant varieties for direct use in breeding
programmes.
Indian diet and has been under cultivation in the Indian
subcontinent since Harrapan civilization. It is a cosmopolitan
grain consumed by nearly 2.5 billion people in more than 90
countries and provides ~20% of the total calories in the human
diet (Anonymous, 2020). The ever-increasing population,
rapid urbanization, reduction in cultivable area, increased
domestic consumption, demands well-planned efforts to face
the future challenges of food security of India. Worldwide
wheat production is threatened by various biotic and abiotic
stresses. Among wheat diseases, three rusts (yellow, brown and
black) are major threats due to the rapid appearance of new
races (pathotypes) of rust pathogens with additional virulence
for the major and widely deployed resistance genes. Yellow
(stripe) rust which occurs in comparatively cooler areas can
cause yield losses often ranging from 10 to 70% on susceptible
varieties (Chen, 2005), whereas, brown (leaf) rust which is
most widely occurring in wheat-growing areas can cause yield
losses up to 50 per cent (Bhardwaj et al., 2016). Black (stem)
rust although mostly occurs at maturity stage can cause yield
losses up to 100 per cent in case of an early start of disease in
warmer areas (Prasad et al., 2016). An adequate level of genetic resistance to all the current rust pathotypes is a major breeding objective in our wheat breeding programmes. Seedling resistance or ‘all stage
resistance’ (ASR), is typically expressed at all growth stages,
conferred by a single ‘major effect’ gene often associated
with a hypersensitive response and is often race specific
(Riaz et al., 2016). Therefore, the present study was carried
out to identify all stage resistance (ASR) against three rust
diseases in advanced bread wheat lines.
diseases continually pose threat to wheat production. In recent years,
climate change and intensive crop cultivation practices are making
powdery mildew as a potential threat to wheat production. Deploying
resistant cultivars are the most economic, reliable and sustainable way
to manage the stem rust, leaf rust and powdery mildew of wheat. Using
conventional selection system, it is difficult to select two or more genes
in a single genotype. In such a situation, phenotype neutral selection
based on marker-trait association along with seedling and adult plant
reaction become inevitable. Stem rust, leaf rust and powdery mildew
resistance genes, Sr24/Lr24, Sr26 and Sr36/Pm6 were pyramided in the
background of nine Indian wheat cultivars through marker assisted
backcross approach. The presence of the rust and powdery mildew
resistance genes were confirmed using microsatellite markers such
as Sr24#12 (Sr24/Lr24), Sr26#43 (Sr26) and Stm773-2 (Sr36/Pm6) in the
pyramided lines. Stable lines were selected at BC3F4 generation. Seedling
and adult plant reaction of pyramided lines showed resistance to most
of the stem and leaf rust pathotypes prevailing in India. Using gene
pyramids (Sr24/Lr24, Sr26 and Sr36/Pm6) that confer resistance to the
predominant pathotypes of stem rust, leaf rust and powdery mildew
could impart durability to the cultivars than single gene deployment.
climate induced abiotic stresses like moisture stress, soil salinity and
heat stress. Critical to the stability of cropping systems in the face
of climate change is the capacity to rapidly grow germplasm with
tolerance to complex polygenic inherited abiotic and biotic stresses
combined. Molecular breeding provides the means to speed up
cereal breeding, but adequate phenotyping protocols are required
to ensure that the much-anticipated benefits of novel breeding tools
can be realized. Tremendous advances in phenomics have taken
place in the recent past. Both forward and reverse phenomics have
developed to help determine either the best genotype with the desired
feature or mechanism and the genes that make the genotype the best.
High-throughput phenomics studies include techniques for screening
substantial germplasm sets for a specific trait using high-throughput
phenotyping (HTP) technologies like advanced robots, high-tech
sensors, 3D imaging, fluorescence imaging, NIR imaging, lemnatec,
etc. The high velocity of plant phenotyping based on phenomics
accelerates the selection phase of potential advanced germplasm
resilient towards climate induced stresses.