Background: The growth and productivity of soybean are adversely affected by an array of biotic factors. Viruses are one of them as they cause great loss to the yield of soybean in India. The present study was conducted with an objective to identify yellow mosaic virus (YMV) resistant genotypes among the selected set of 53 soybean genotypes. Methods: The field screening was performed to identify YMV resistant genotypes. The field data was compared with molecular data recorded on the basis of gene specific SSR molecular markers. Result: During field study, 11 genotypes were found to be highly resistant, 26 resistant, 6 moderately resistant, 4 moderately susceptible, 3 susceptible, while three genotypes namely: JS335, JS 97-52 and RVS 2001-4 were found to be highly susceptible. In molecular analysis three genotypes viz.,: JS 20-29, JS 20-69 and JS 20-98 were found to be resistant against YMV. Among the polymorphic SSR markers the highest genetic diversity (0.4785) was observed with Satt554 while lowest genetic diversity (0.037) was observed with Satt308. Similarly polymorphism information content (PIC) was highest (0.364) in Satt554 and lowest (0.0363) in Satt308 among all polymorphic markers used for screening against YMV. The resistant genotypes identified in this study may be used as donor of resistance gene against YMV to develop improved genotypes which would stand as barrier against spread of the disease to newer areas and thus it can boost production and productivity of soybean in the country.

An efficient in vitro propagation is described for Spondias mangifera Willd., a medicinally important tree, using nodal explants obtained from 4-week-old seedlings. The frequency of shoot regeneration from seedling node was affected by various concentrations of BAP and successive transfer of mother explant. MS (Murashige and Skoog, Physiol Plant 15:473-497, 1962) medium supplemented with 1.0 mg l -1 of 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) was optimal for shoot multiplication. Upon this medium, highest number of shoots (about 10.6) per explants was obtained after fourth subculture of mother explants. Half-strength MS medium containing IAA (1.0 mg l -1 ) was most effective for rooting of shoots. Regenerated plantlets were successfully acclimatized and transferred into soil with 80-90% survival rate. The regenerated plants were morphologically uniform and exhibited similar growth characteristics and vegetative morphology to the mother plants. This is the first report on micropropagation of S. mangifera, which can be applied for further genetic transformation assays and pharmaceutical purposes.

Aim: The present study was undertaken to analyze genetic diversity among pearl millet genotypes based on drought linked morpho-physiological and microsatellite markers. Study Design: In the present investigation, 96 pearl millet germplasm lines were screened against drought using different morphological and physiological traits along with SSR markers. Place and Duration of the Study: The present study was conducted at College of Agriculture, Gwalior, Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Gwalior, M.P., India during July 2019 to December, 2020. Methodology: The study was conducted to record different morphological and physiological traits related to drought tolerance and susceptibility. Thirty five microsatellite markers were also used in laboratory to analyze the variability among pearl millet genotypes under study. Results: Pearl millet genotypes were grouped according to their morpho-physiological characteristics. Among 35 SSR markers, twenty-two were successfully amplified across all germplasm lines and seven SSR markers were found to be polymorphic and fifteen markers were monomorphic. All seven polymorphic SSR markers were used consequently for amplification of all the 96 germplasm lines. The range of PIC value was 0.0939 to 0.2980 with the average of 0.2274. The highest PIC value was recorded for the markers Xibmsp26 and Xibmsp29 (0.2980), followed by Xibmsp03 (0.2392), Xibmsp29 (0.2392), Xibmsp06 (0.2289) and Xibmsp07 (0.1948) while the lowest for the marker Xibmsp01 (0.0939). The range of major allele frequency value was 0.7604 to 0.9479 with the average of 0.8363. The range of genetic diversity value was 0.0987 to 0.3644 with the average of 0.2665. Conclusions: According to the morpho-physiological data a total of 22 pearl millet genotypes were found to be grouped distantly from rest of the genotypes. These genotypes had shown their drought tolerance bahaviour however, rests of the genotypes were found to be susceptible against drought.

Fusarium wilt is one of the most destructive biotic stress reducing chickpea productivity worldwide. As a step towards understanding the basis of wilt resistance in chickpea, we investigated the morpho-physiological and biochemical traits of 29 desi and 15 kabuli chickpea genotypes and screened these genotypes for fusarium wilt disease using gene based molecular markers. The number of branches per plant were significant and positively correlated with number of pods per plant (r=0.635) and number of seed per plant (r=0.556) at 1% significance level. Biochemical parameters related to stresses were also analyzed for proline (1.19-3.92 µ mol/g), sugar (23.6-37.4 mg/g), malondialdehyde (MDA) (1.1 -3.67 nmol/g) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) (10.4-21.5 µ mol/g) in seeds of these genotypes grown under normal field conditions. Molecular screening was done by using15 gene-based markers. Polymorphic Information Content (PIC) value was in the range of 0.221 to 0.695, respectively. The genotypes JG-63 and Vijay identified during the investigation could be included in the hybridization programs during development of high yielding and wilt resistant varieties. The molecular markers TA194, TA-59, TA-96, TR-19, TR-29 and TR-31 can be used as marker assisted breeding tools for screening, validation and development of fusarium wilt resistant chickpea genotypes.

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