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Open access Aug 2026

Stability and Climate Resilience Potential of Fodder Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) Germplasm Across Diverse Environments

Background: As global warming accelerates, developing climate-resilient crops is critical for agricultural sustainability. Amid increasing climatic disruptions, fodder cowpea, a drought-adapted legume, remains an essential nutritional security crop for livestock feed. Quantifying its phenotypic stability across heterogeneous environments would be fundamental for any breeding program capable of withstanding such intensifying climatic stresses. Methods: This study evaluated twenty-three fodder cowpea germplasm lines and three popular varieties across three environments differing in temperature, moisture and soil fertility. The focus was on three major traits namely, green fodder yield per plant (GFY), crude fiber content (CFB) and crude protein content (CPR). We analyzed Genotype-by-environment interaction (GEI) using two models, Additive Main Effects and Multiplicative Interaction (AMMI) for individual trait evaluation and Multi-Trait Stability Index (MTSI) for simultaneous evaluation of all the three traits. Result: Significant GEI observation highlighted the need for environment-specific genotypes. Combined AMMI 1 and AMMI 2 biplot analyses found genotypes such as FD 1067 (G10), K-13-CP42 (G14) and CO (FC) 8 (G24) to be broadly stable performers for GFY, CPR and CFB across environments, while genotypes like GETC 40 (G21), GETC 41 (G22) and GETC 49 (G23) showed specific adaptation. The environments (E1-E3) exhibited distinct discriminative capacities depending on the trait, highlighting the value of multi-environment trials for reliable genotype selection.

M. Thakur, Ezhilarasi Thailappan, Pushpam Ramamoorthy et al. · 0 citations
Open access Jul 2026

Genetic Diversity Analysis for Yield-attributing Traits in Durum Wheat (Triticum durum L.)

Durum wheat, a highly valued cereal characterised by its hard, vitreous grain and superior protein content, is the second most widely cultivated wheat type globally and requires continuous genetic improvement to enhance yield stability. Identifying highly divergent parents is essential for strategic hybridisation aimed at maximising heterosis and yield potential. This study evaluated genetic diversity among 130 durum wheat (Triticum durum L.) genotypes for 13 yield-attributing traits during the Rabi season of 2022-2023 at Prayagraj, India. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed highly significant differences (p < 0.01) for most traits, confirming substantial genetic variability. Correlation analysis showed important positive associations between grain yield per spike and the number of tillers per plant, number of spikelets per spike, and flag leaf width. Spike length was also significantly correlated with 1000-grain weight, while plant height was significantly correlated with biological yield. Cluster analysis grouped the 130 genotypes into eight distinct clusters. Cluster 3 contained 43 genotypes and Cluster 1 contained 39 genotypes; Clusters 2 and 6 contained 16 genotypes each, whereas Clusters 4, 5, and 8 each contained one genotype. The high inter-clusterdivergence indicates potential for selecting diverse parental lines from contrasting clusters (e.g. Cluster 4, 5, or 8 x Cluster 2 or 3). Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that the overall variation was associated mainly with spike architecture, biomass, and grain weight. These genetically divergent genotypes may be used in future hybridisation programmes to exploit heterosis and support genetic improvement for grain yield in durum wheat.

Narendra Singh, Neeraj Kumar · 0 citations
Aug 2026

Harnessing G × E interactions to improve durum wheat resilience: Evidence from irrigated and drought‐stressed trials

Durum wheat ( Triticum durum Desf.) is a critical staple and cash crop in semi‐arid regions, yet its productivity remains highly vulnerable to climate‐induced abiotic stresses, particularly drought and rising temperatures. This study leverages data from the 30th Elite Regional Durum Wheat Yield Trials conducted across 13 rainfed and irrigated environments in Iran (2022–2025) to dissect genotype × environment (G × E) interactions and identify high‐performing, stable genotypes for deployment under increasing climatic uncertainty. Using an integrative analytical framework—combining Additive Main Effects and Multiplicative Interaction (AMMI), Genotype plus genotype‐by‐environment (GGE) biplot, and Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression with 19 climatic covariates—we quantified the relative contributions of environment, genotype, and their interaction, delineated environmental groups, and identified key climatic drivers of yield variation. Results revealed that environment accounted for 81% of total yield variance, with terminal drought (low June rainfall) imposing a universal constraint. G × E interaction, though modest in magnitude (7.65%), was over six times larger than genotype main effects, underscoring its operational relevance for varietal recommendation. Breeding lines G12 (CIMMYT‐derived) and G24 (Iranian) emerged as top candidates: G12 featured among the top‐four performers in 10 of 13 environments and ranked first in 7, while G24 displayed exceptional stability and broad adaptability. PLS modelling identified February and April rainfall—coinciding with tillering to heading—as the strongest climatic predictors of yield, surpassing total seasonal precipitation in explanatory power; late‐season (May–June) temperature also significantly modulated G × E, particularly under terminal heat stress. Environment evaluation highlighted KD3 (Khorramabad) and KH3 (Kermanshah) as the most discriminative and representative test sites, whereas MN4 (Moghan) and IM5 (Ilam) served as effective stress filters. Collectively, our findings support an empirical framework that integrates pattern recognition (AMMI/GGE) with environmental modelling (PLS) to guide environment‐targeted selection—providing a foundation for developing durum wheat varieties with improved adaptation to Iran's heterogeneous rainfed agroecologies.

Reza Mohammadi, M. Armion, M. Abdipour et al. · 0 citations
Review Open access Jul 2026

Unlocking the genetic potential of Triticum urartu for wheat improvement: a review

The narrow genetic base of cultivated wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) remains a major constraint to genetic improvement, particularly in addressing current and emerging production challenges. Expanding this genetic base is essential to overcome yield plateaus and meet the food demands of a growing global population. Wild relatives and ancestral progenitors of wheat harbour extensive, underutilized genetic diversity that can be harnessed for crop improvement. Among these, Triticum urartu, the A-genome donor of bread and durum wheat, presents a potentially valuable reservoir of traits related to biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, and grain quality. In this review, we summarise current knowledge on the potential of T. urartu as a source of resistance to major wheat diseases including powdery mildew, stem rust (notably the highly virulent race Ug99), leaf rust, and stripe rust. In addition, we discuss the potential of T. urartu as a source of drought and heat tolerance, enhanced photosynthetic traits and quality associated traits. We further highlight the successful introgression of T. urartu chromosomes into diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploid wheat backgrounds, demonstrating its compatibility across multiple ploidy levels. Advances in doubled haploid (DH) technology have recently accelerated the generation of homozygous wheat–T. urartu introgression lines, thereby facilitating rapid trait fixation and efficient germplasm development. The application of molecular marker technologies, including SNP-based kompetitive allele-specific PCR (KASP) assays, has further improved the characterization of T. urartu genetic diversity and the precise tracking of introgression lines. The increasing availability of validated SNP datasets in public repositories and the development of scalable high- and -medium throughput genotyping platforms are further accelerating wheat–T. urartu introgression programs.

Veronica Faith Guwela, Martin R. Broadley, M. Hawkesford et al. · 0 citations
Open access Aug 2026

Integrating qualitative and quantitative traits with multivariate analysis to decipher the diversity structure of barley landraces for sustainable agriculture

Understanding genetic diversity in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) landraces is crucial for identifying potential parental lines and conserving valuable genetic resources. This study evaluated the agro-morphological and genetic diversity of seventy-five barley landraces under the field of College of Natural Resource Management (CNRM) Bardibas of Madhesh Province, Nepal, to identify valuable germplasm for breeding and conservation for Terai condition. The experiment was conducted in Alpha Lattice design with two replications. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected at different stage of barley. Multivariate test and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) test were conducted to test the diversity of barley. The ANOVA revealed highly significant genotypic differences (p < 0.001) for key agro-morphological traits, including days to flowering (78.5–123 days), days to maturity (115–148 days), spike length (4.4–19.4 cm), filled grains per panicle (7.4–59.8), sterility (5.6–84.6%), plot yield (3.0–181.2 g plot− 1), and plot biomass (25–475 g) confirming a broad phenotypic basis for selection. Substantial phenotypic diversity was observed with Shannon-wiener diversity indices reaching up to 0.99 for grain-related traits such as grain surface (0.994), rachilla hair (0.997), grain crease width (0.976), and spike density (0.899). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed that the first two principal components (PC1 and PC2) explained 54.89% of the total variance (PC1 = 42.63%, PC2 = 12.26%). Traits with the highest loadings on PC1 included days to maturity (0.931), sterility (0.865), spike length (0.865), and days to flowering (0.889), while PC2 was strongly influenced by thousand-grain weight (0.739). Cluster analysis using both K-means (K = 2) and hierarchical Ward’s methods consistently grouped the landraces into four distinct clusters, with a high degree of concordance between the two methods. The PCA bi-plot and heat-map visualizations clearly differentiated these clusters and highlighted specific landraces (NGRC7732 and NGRCO7726) occupying extreme positions, indicating unique genetic backgrounds. The results highlight the presence of valuable genetic variation and adaptive traits for suitable for barley improvement ad breeding programs aimed at enhancing yield stability and resilience.

Abhisek Shrestha, K. Dhakal, D. Gauchan et al. · 0 citations
Open access Aug 2026

Genetic Studies in Cherry Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. var. Cerasiforme) Germplasm Lines under West Garo Hills, Meghalaya

Cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. var. cerasiforme) germplasm maintained in West Garo Hills, Meghalaya, represents a useful source of morphological variability for selection. The present investigation evaluated 15 germplasm lines during 2023 at the Demonstration unit, Biotech KISAN Hub, Tura, using a randomised block design with three replications. Twenty-two horticultural characters were assessed to estimate phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation, broad-sense heritability and genetic advance. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among the germplasm lines for the characters studied, indicating substantial variability. Phenotypic coefficients of variation were higher than the corresponding genotypic coefficients for all characters. Fruit weight recorded the highest phenotypic coefficient of variation (39.16%), while fruit yield per plant recorded the highest genotypic coefficient of variation (36.72%). The lowest phenotypic coefficient of variation was observed for days to first fruit harvest (4.43%), whereas the lowest genotypic coefficient of variation was also recorded for days to first fruit harvest (3.62%). Broad-sense heritability ranged from 28.73% to 94.54%, with the highest estimate for pericarp thickness. Genetic advance as a percentage of the mean ranged from 6.11 to 71.43%, with the highest value for fruit yield per plant. The observed combination of variability, heritability and genetic advance indicates useful scope for selection of promising cherry tomato germplasm under West Garo Hills conditions.

Susmita Chakraborty, Arindam Barman, Vikash Panggam · 0 citations

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