A facile atmospheric pressure cold plasma process is presented to deposit a novel organic-inorganic hydrocarbon polymer/ZnO nanoparticles nanocomposite coating. Specifically, this method involves the utilization of an atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) fed with helium and the aerosol of a dispersion of oleate-capped ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) in n-octane. As assessed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, the deposited nanocomposite coating combines the chemical features of both the oleate-capped ZnO NPs and the polyethylene-like organic component originated from the plasma polymerization of n-octane. Additionally, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission scanning electron microscopy (TSEM) confirm the synthesis of hierarchical micro/nanostructured coatings containing quasi-spherical NPs agglomerates. The polyethylene-like polymer covers the NPs agglomerates to different extents and contributes to their immobilization in the three-dimensional network of the coating. The increase of both the deposition time (1-10 min) and the NPs concentration in the dispersion (0.5-5 wt %) has a significant effect on the chemical and morphological structure of the thin films and, in fact, results in the increase the ZnO NPs content, which ultimately leads to superhydrophobic surfaces (advancing and receding water contact angles higher than 160°) with low hysteresis due to the hierarchical multiscale roughness of the coating.

Representative, broad and diverse collections are a primary resource to dissect genetic diversity and meet pre-breeding and breeding goals through the identification of beneficial alleles for target traits. From 2,500 tetraploid wheat accessions obtained through an international collaborative effort, a Global Durum wheat Panel (GDP) of 1,011 genotypes was assembled that captured 94–97% of the original diversity. The GDP consists of a wide representation of Triticum turgidum ssp. durum modern germplasm and landraces, along with a selection of emmer and primitive tetraploid wheats to maximize diversity. GDP accessions were genotyped using the wheat iSelect 90K SNP array. Among modern durum accessions, breeding programs from Italy, France and Central Asia provided the highest level of genetic diversity, with only a moderate decrease in genetic diversity observed across nearly 50 years of breeding (1970–2018). Further, the breeding programs from Europe had the largest sets of unique alleles. LD was lower in the landraces (0.4 Mbp) than in modern germplasm (1.8 Mbp) at r2 = 0.5. ADMIXTURE analysis of modern germplasm defined a minimum of 13 distinct genetic clusters (k), which could be traced to the breeding program of origin. Chromosome regions putatively subjected to strong selection pressure were identified from fixation index (Fst) and diversity reduction index (DRI) metrics in pairwise comparisons among decades of release and breeding programs. Clusters of putative selection sweeps (PSW) were identified as co-localized with major loci controlling phenology (Ppd and Vrn), plant height (Rht) and quality (gliadins and glutenins), underlining the role of the corresponding genes as driving elements in modern breeding. Public seed availability and deep genetic characterization of the GDP make this collection a unique and ideal resource to identify and map useful genetic diversity at loci of interest to any breeding program.

The renewed focus on cereal landraces is a response to some negative consequences of modern agriculture and conventional breeding which led to a reduction of genetic diversity. Cereal landraces are still cultivated on marginal lands due to their adaptability to unfavourable conditions, constituting an important source of genetic diversity usable in modern plant breeding to improve the adaptation to abiotic or biotic stresses, yield performance and quality traits in limiting environments. Traditional agricultural production systems have played an important role in the evolution and conservation of wide variability in gene pools within species. Today, on-farm and ex situ conservation in gene bank collections, together with data sharing among researchers and breeders, will greatly benefit cereal improvement. Many efforts are usually made to collect, organize and phenotypically and genotypically analyse cereal landrace collections, which also utilize genomic approaches. Their use in breeding programs based on genomic selection, and the discovery of beneficial untapped QTL/genes/alleles which could be introgressed into modern varieties by MAS, pyramiding or biotechnological tools, increase the potential for their better deployment and exploitation in breeding for a more sustainable agricultural production, particularly enhancing adaptation and productivity in stress-prone environments to cope with current climate changes.

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