Does improved oleic acid content due to marker-assisted introgression of ahFAD2 mutant alleles in peanuts alter its mineral and vitamin composition?

Peanuts (Arachis hypogaea L.) with high oleic acid content have extended shelf life and several health benefits. Oleic, linoleic, and palmitic acid contents in peanuts are regulated by ahFAD2A and ahFAD2B mutant alleles. In the present study, ahFAD2A and ahFAD2B mutant alleles from SunOleic 95R were introgressed into two popular peanut cultivars, GG-7 and TKG19A, followed by markers-assisted selection (MAS) and backcrossing (MABC). A total of 22 MAS and three MABC derived lines were developed with increased oleic acid (78–80%) compared to those of GG 7 (40%) and TKG 19A (50%). Peanut kernel mineral and vitamin composition remained unchanged, while potassium content was altered in high oleic ingression lines. Two introgression lines, HOMS Nos. 37 and 113 had over 10% higher pooled pod yield than respective best check varieties. More than 70% recurrent parent genome recovery was observed in HOMS-37 and HOMS-113 through recombination breeding. However, the absence of recombination in the vicinity of the target locus resulted in its precise introgression along with ample background genome recovery. Selected introgression lines could be released for commercial cultivation based on potential pod yield and oleic acid content

Standardizing the Hydrogel Application Rates and Foliar Nutrition for Enhancing Yield of Lentil (Lens culinaris)

Lentil (Lens culinaris) is an important winter season annual legume crop known for its highly valued seed in human and animal nutrition owing to its high lysine and tryptophan content. Shortage of water during the crop growth period has become the major impediment for cultivation of pulses in rice fallow in particular. Under such conditions, the application of hydrogel can be a potential alternative to improve photosynthetic efficiency, assimilate partitioning, and increase growth and yield. A field experiment was conducted from November to February during 2015–16 to 2017–18 on clay loam soil that was medium in fertility and acidic in reaction (pH 5.4) at Central Agricultural University, Imphal, Manipur. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications. There were three hydrogel levels in total in the main plot and foliar nutrition with five different nutrient sprays in sub-plots, together comprising 15 treatment combinations. The data pooled over three years, 2015–2018, revealed that application of hydrogel at 5 kg/ha before sowing recorded a significantly greater number of pods per plant (38.0) and seed yield (1032.1 kg/ha) over the control. Foliar application of nutrients over flower initiation and pod development had a positive effect on increasing the number of pods per plant eventually enhanced the seed yield of lentil. Foliar application of either 0.5% NPK or salicylic acid 75 ppm spray at flower initiation and pod development stages recorded significantly more pods per plant over other nutrient treatments. Further, the yield attributed improved because of elevated growth in plant. Significantly maximum seed yield (956 kg/ha) recorded in the NPK spray of 0.5% remained on par with salicylic acid 75 ppm (939 kg/ha) over the rest of the treatments

Conservation of wild animals by assisted reproduction and molecular marker technology

710-723<span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";="" mso-ansi-language:en-in;mso-fareast-language:en-in;mso-bidi-language:hi"="" lang="EN-IN">Wild animals are an integral component of the ecosystem. Their decimation due to abrupt natural calamities or due to gradual human intervention would be disastrous to the ecosystem and would alter the balance in nature between various biotic components. Such an imbalance could have an adverse effect on the ecosystem. Therefore, there is an urgent need to put an end to the ever increasing list of endangered species by undertaking both in situ and ex situ conservation using tools of modern biology, to ascertain the degree of genetic variation and reproductive competence in these animals. This review highlights the development and use of molecular markers such as microsatellites, minisatellites, mitochondrial control region, cytochrome b and MHC loci to assess the genetic variation in various Indian wild animals such as the lion, tiger, leopard and deer. The review also presents data on the semen profile of the big cats of India. Reproductive technologies such as cryopreservation of semen and artificial insemination in big cats are also highlighted.</span

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Not AvailablePeanut plays a key role to the livelihood of millions in the world especially in Arid and Semi-Arid regions. Peanut with high oleic acid content aids to increase shelf-life of peanut oil as well as food products and extends major health benefits to the consumers. In peanut, ahFAD2 gene controls quantity of two major fatty acids viz, oleic and linoleic acids. These two fatty acids together with palmitic acid constitute 90% fat composition in peanut and regulate the quality of peanut oil. Here, two ahfad2 alleles from SunOleic 95R were introgressed into ICGV 05141 using marker-assisted selection. Marker-assisted breeding effectively increased oleic acid and oleic to linoleic acid ratio in recombinant lines up to 44% and 30%, respectively as compared to ICGV 05141. In addition to improved oil quality, the recombinant lines also had superiority in pod yield together with desired pod/seed attributes. Realizing the health benefits and ever increasing demand in domestic and international market, the high oleic peanut recombinant lines will certainly boost the economical benefits to the Indian farmers in addition to ensuring availability of high oleic peanuts to the traders and industry.Not Availabl

Steady expression of high oleic acid in peanut bred by marker-assisted backcrossing for fatty acid desaturase mutant alleles and its effect on seed germination along with other seedling traits.

Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important nutrient-rich food legume and valued for its good quality cooking oil. The fatty acid content is the major determinant of the quality of the edible oil. The oils containing higher monounsaturated fatty acid are preferred for improved shelf life and potential health benefits. Therefore, a high oleic/linoleic fatty acid ratio is the target trait in an advanced breeding program. The two mutant alleles, ahFAD2A (on linkage group a09) and ahFAD2B (on linkage group b09) control fatty acid composition for higher oleic/linoleic ratio in peanut. In the present study, marker-assisted backcrossing was employed for the introgression of two FAD2 mutant alleles from SunOleic95R into the chromosome of ICGV06100, a high oil content peanut breeding line. In the marker-assisted backcrossing-introgression lines, a 97% increase in oleic acid, and a 92% reduction in linoleic acid content was observed in comparison to the recurrent parent. Besides, the oleic/linoleic ratio was increased to 25 with respect to the recurrent parent, which was only 1.2. The most significant outcome was the stable expression of oil-content, oleic acid, linoleic acid, and palmitic acid in the marker-assisted backcrossing-introgression lines over the locations. No significant difference was observed between high oleic and normal oleic in peanuts for seedling traits except germination percentage. In addition, marker-assisted backcrossing-introgression lines exhibited higher yield and resistance to foliar fungal diseases, i.e., late leaf spot and rust