Status of sesame breeding

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.), an ancient domesticated oilseed crop, has been utilized for thousands of years, and it contains a high level of oil, protein, and other nutrients, making it an important food and feed crop. According to FAO statistics, the top-producing countries are Sudan, Myanmar, Tanzania, India, Nigeria, and China. The significant breeding orientations in sesame have been tightly linked to human needs: increased seed yield, improved morphological architecture of the plants, tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses, indehiscent capsules, and improved oil quality. Furthermore, novel advanced breeding tools such as phenomic and genomic markers assisted selection have mapped the sesame genome, revealing a small diploid genome of 350 Mb size. The novel technologies pave the road for a fast-track breeding process for sesame, adapting it to climate change, biofortification, and food security challenges. This study reviews the features and achievements obtained related to opportunities for sesame breeding programs

The Genetic Diversity Analysis of Tunisian Male Date Palm Cultivars (Phoneix dactylifera L.) Revealed by Phenotypic and Molecular Markers

Tunisian oases reveal an important genetic heritage of date palm cultivars, with various qualities of use. Since the beginning of the century, this heritage has evolved to a selective orientation based on the monoculture of "Deglet Nour," this orientation risks causing the loss of many cultivars. The male of the date palm is part of this heritage and so far remains marginalized. Although they are important for the date palm production cycle, it is in this context that lies our work to study the genetic diversity of a collection of male date palm pollinators from southern Tunisia. The morphological study of the 20 date palm pollinators using 45 IPGRI (International Plant Genetic Resources Institute) descriptors showed significant discrimination, with a similarity index ranging from 0.207 to 0.457, divided them into five similarity groups. The use of 7 ISSR (Inter Simple Sequences Repeat) primers resulted in 64 reproducible bands, of which 57 were 90% polymorphic, and statistical analysis showed a more or less significant genetic diversity with genetic distances 0.491 to 0.873. According to the Mentel test, a non-significant weak correlation (r = 0.015) was noted between the molecular and morphological data. However, the processing of molecular data by various methods generated very significant correlations. Indeed, the correlation between the SM (Simple matching) coefficient and the DICE coefficient showed an important correlation with r = 0.748, which confirms the discriminating power of the ISSR markers in studying the genetic diversity of date palm pollinators

Effect of pollination time, the hour of daytime, pollen storage temperature and duration on pollen viability, germinability, and fruit set of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) cv "Deglet Nour"

Success artificial pollination with viable pollen is crucial process in the production chain of date palms. This study evaluated the impact of pollen storage temperature and duration, pollination time following spathe cracking, and the hour of daytime on pollen viability, germinability, fruit set and yield of 'Deglet Nour' date palm cultivar. In in vitro tests, fresh pollen showed the maximum viability (96.3%) and germination (85%) but it decreased thereafter upon the storage temperature (28, 4 and-30 degrees C) and duration (3, 6, 9 and 12 months). In this respect, pollen stored at-30 degrees C retained highest viability and germinability followed by those stored at 4 and then at 28 degrees C. In filed experiments, fruit set was 85, 75, 65, and 45% with pollination using fresh pollen, or pollen stored at-30, 4 and 28 degrees C, respectively. Fruit set was 95%, 75%, and less than 50%, for pollination performed on the same day of spathe cracking, 6 and 12 days later, respectively. The highest fruit set percentage and yield/bunch were obtained with pollination performed between 12.0 pm and 15.0 pm in contrast to 8.0-11.0 am or 16.0-17.0. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

The potential of biological control against Heterobasidion root rot is not realized in practical forestry

For about 25 years, forest managers in Sweden have been treating stumps following harvesting with Phlebiopsis gigantea, retailed as Rotstop (R) S gel, against spore infections of Heterobasidion, which cause root rot in order to minimize losses in timber production. However, not all forest managers trust the efficacy of stump treatment and this fact has hindered widespread adoption of stump treatment using P. gigantea. In this study, we evaluated stump treatment in the field during commercial thinning operations across 15 sites, by assessing the degree of stump coverage and subsequent infection levels in stump discs. In total, 45 % of all stumps were infected with Heterobasidion spp.. Nineteen percent of all stumps were considered to have full (100 %) coverage by Rotstop (R) S but contractors failed to achieve the manufacturers stipulated minimum coverage (85 %) in approximately 1/3 of all stumps. Using PCR, we could only detect the presence of P. gigantea in 73 % of the tested stumps. Large variation occurred between stump coverage and the recovery of P. gigantea in wood chip samples collected from stump discs across sites. In the worst case, we detected P. gigantea in only three out of ten treated stumps at one site. Despite this discrepancy we saw a clear reduction of the size of Heterobasidion infections on stumps where stump treatment coverage was more than 85 % of the stump surface.Our results suggest that forest operators in Sweden repeatedly fail to either apply a spore solution of P. gigantea or cover enough of the stumps to provide the desired protection. The outcome of such sub-standard application, could further undermine the usage of biological control agents in forestry and limit any potential control against Heterobasidion spp.

Worldwide diversity of endophytic fungi and insects associated with dormant tree twigs

International trade in plants and climate change are two of the main factors causing damaging tree pests (i.e. fungi and insects) to spread into new areas. To mitigate these risks, a large-scale assessment of tree-associated fungi and insects is needed. We present records of endophytic fungi and insects in twigs of 17 angiosperm and gymnosperm genera, from 51 locations in 32 countries worldwide. Endophytic fungi were characterized by high-throughput sequencing of 352 samples from 145 tree species in 28 countries. Insects were reared from 227 samples of 109 tree species in 18 countries and sorted into taxonomic orders and feeding guilds. Herbivorous insects were grouped into morphospecies and were identified using molecular and morphological approaches. This dataset reveals the diversity of tree-associated taxa, as it contains 12,721 fungal Amplicon Sequence Variants and 208 herbivorous insect morphospecies, sampled across broad geographic and climatic gradients and for many tree species. This dataset will facilitate applied and fundamental studies on the distribution of fungal endophytes and insects in trees

Climate, host and geography shape insect and fungal communities of trees.

Non-native pests, climate change, and their interactions are likely to alter relationships between trees and tree-associated organisms with consequences for forest health. To understand and predict such changes, factors structuring tree-associated communities need to be determined. Here, we analysed the data consisting of records of insects and fungi collected from dormant twigs from 155 tree species at 51 botanical gardens or arboreta in 32 countries. Generalized dissimilarity models revealed similar relative importance of studied climatic, host-related and geographic factors on differences in tree-associated communities. Mean annual temperature, phylogenetic distance between hosts and geographic distance between locations were the major drivers of dissimilarities. The increasing importance of high temperatures on differences in studied communities indicate that climate change could affect tree-associated organisms directly and indirectly through host range shifts. Insect and fungal communities were more similar between closely related vs. distant hosts suggesting that host range shifts may facilitate the emergence of new pests. Moreover, dissimilarities among tree-associated communities increased with geographic distance indicating that human-mediated transport may serve as a pathway of the introductions of new pests. The results of this study highlight the need to limit the establishment of tree pests and increase the resilience of forest ecosystems to changes in climate

Climate, host and geography shape insect and fungal communities of trees

13 Pág.Non-native pests, climate change, and their interactions are likely to alter relationships between trees and tree-associated organisms with consequences for forest health. To understand and predict such changes, factors structuring tree-associated communities need to be determined. Here, we analysed the data consisting of records of insects and fungi collected from dormant twigs from 155 tree species at 51 botanical gardens or arboreta in 32 countries. Generalized dissimilarity models revealed similar relative importance of studied climatic, host-related and geographic factors on differences in tree-associated communities. Mean annual temperature, phylogenetic distance between hosts and geographic distance between locations were the major drivers of dissimilarities. The increasing importance of high temperatures on differences in studied communities indicate that climate change could affect tree-associated organisms directly and indirectly through host range shifts. Insect and fungal communities were more similar between closely related vs. distant hosts suggesting that host range shifts may facilitate the emergence of new pests. Moreover, dissimilarities among tree-associated communities increased with geographic distance indicating that human-mediated transport may serve as a pathway of the introductions of new pests. The results of this study highlight the need to limit the establishment of tree pests and increase the resilience of forest ecosystems to changes in climate.We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Swiss National Science Foundation (Project C15.0081) Grant 174644 and the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment Grant 00.0418.PZ/P193-1077. This work was supported by COST Action “Global Warning” (FP1401). CABI is an international intergovernmental organisation, and R.E., M.K., H.L. and I.F. gratefully acknowledge the core financial support from our member countries (and lead agencies) including the United Kingdom (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office), China (Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs), Australia (Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research), Canada (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada), Netherlands (Directorate General for International Cooperation), and Switzerland (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation). See https://www.cabi.org/aboutcabi/who-we-work-with/key-donors/ for full details. M.B. and M.K.H. were financially supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency (Project APVV-19-0116). H.B. would like to thank the botanist Jorge Capelo who helped with Myrtaceae identification and INIAV IP for supporting her contribution to this study. Contributions of M. de G. and B.P. were financed through Slovenian Research Agency (P4-0107) and by the Slovenian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food (Public Forestry Service). G.C, C.B.E. and A.F.M. were supported by OTKA 128008 research grant provided by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office. Contributions of K.A. and R.D. were supported by the Estonian Research Council grants PSG136 and PRG1615. M.J.J., C.L.M. and H.P.R. were financially supported by the 15. Juni Fonden (Grant 2017-N-123). P.B., B.G. and M.Ka. were financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland for the University of Agriculture in Krakow (SUB/040013-D019). C.N. was financially supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency (Grant APVV-15-0531). N.K. was partially supported by the Russian Science Foundation (grant № 22-16-00075) [species identification] and the basic project of Sukachev Institute of Forest SB RAS (№ FWES-2021-0011) [data analysis]. R.OH. was supported by funding from DAERA, and assistance from David Craig, AFBI. T.P. thanks the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) for funding noting that this publication does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of DFFE or its employees. In preparing the publication, materials of the bioresource scientific collection of the CSBG SB RAS “Collections of living plants indoors and outdoors” USU_440534 (Novosibirsk, Russia) were used. M.Z. was financially supported by Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia (contract no. 451-03-47/2023-01/200197). We acknowledge the Genetic Diversity Centre (GDC) at ETH Zurich for providing computational infrastructure and acknowledge the contribution of McGill University and Génome Québec Innovation Center (Montréal, Quebec, Canada) for pair-end sequencing on Illumina MiSeq. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewe

Phenotypic Diversity of Date Palm Cultivars (Phoenix dactylifera L.) from Sudan Estimated by Vegetative and Fruit Characteristics

The aim of this study was to apply some of the vegetative and fruit traits which are easily recognised to identify the variation and the diversity level of the most famous Sudanese date palm cultivars grown on farm in the northern region of Sudan. Sixteen phenotypic traits consisting of ten quantitative and six qualitative characteristics were used for describing the vegetative and fruit characteristics. The principal components analysis (PCA) and UPGMA clustering were used to analyse the data set. The results revealed high variability among the cultivars according to PCA. Fourteen out of the sixteen quantitative and qualitative traits investigated showed a strong discriminating factor suggesting their possible uses in the initiation of Sudanese date palm morphological descriptor list. UPGMA clustering exhibited strong relationship between some cultivars according to their fruit and vegetative characteristics similarity. Based on morphological traits, cultivars Wad-laggi (Lag) and Wad-khateeb (Kha) formed a distinct group suggesting their close relatedness. Similarly, the cultivars sharing the dry fruit texture such as Gondaila (Gon), Tamoda (Tam), Kolmah (Kol), and Barkawi (Bar) were grouped together according to their vegetative traits. Further investigations on Sudanese date palm using more phenotypic characteristics are recommended in order to shape and complete the set of the morphological descriptor list

Effect of flowering stage and storage conditions on pollen quality of six male date palm genotypes

Availability of efficient male genotypes is critical for successful artificial pollination and regular bearing of female date palms. The effect of flowering stage and storage conditions on pollen quality of six male date palm genotypes encoded 'ABD1', 'P4', 'P3', 'P8', 'P7' and 'P13'were evaluated. Pollen collected from spathes developed at the middle of flowering stage exhibited the best viability (90%) and germinability (85%) compared to other stages. Pollen viability was greater than 90%, except for 'P8' that exhibited 80%, while, germinability greatly varied among the genotypes. Pollen quality decreased during 4 months of storage upon genotype and temperature, with a minimum reduction at -30 degrees C followed by 4 degrees C. Heat shock exposure (33 +/- 2 degrees C) following storage revealed that pollen stored at -30 degrees C or 4 degrees C should be used for pollination on the same day of take out to avoid dramatic quality loss. The 'ABD1', an early flowering genotype, proved highest pollen quality both at fresh stage and after storage. While, the 'P3', a late flowering genotype, retained its pollen quality during storage. However, the 'P13' genotype exhibited excellent pollen quality when fresh, but greatly loses germinability during storage. (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University

Modeling the Effects of Cypermethrin Toxicity on Ovalbumin-Induced Allergic Pneumonitis Rats: Macrophage Phenotype Differentiation and p38/STAT6 Signaling Are Candidate Targets of Pirfenidone Treatment

Although the classic form of asthma is characterized by chronic pneumonitis with eosinophil infiltration and steroid responsivity, asthma has multifactorial pathogenesis and various clinical phenotypes. Previous studies strongly suggested that chemical exposure could influence the severity and course of asthma and reduce its steroid responsiveness. Cypermethrin (CYP), a common pesticide used in agriculture, was investigated for the possible aggravation of the ovalbumin (OVA)-induced allergic pneumonitis and the possible induction of steroid resistance in rats. Additionally, it was investigated whether pirfenidone (PFD) could substitute dexamethasone, as an alternative treatment option, for the induced steroid resistance. Fifty-six male Wistar albino rats were randomly divided into seven groups: control, PFD alone, allergic pneumonitis, CYP alone, allergic pneumonitis/CYP-exposed, allergic pneumonitis/CYP/dexamethasone (Dex), and allergic pneumonitis/CYP/PFD-treated groups. Allergic pneumonitis was induced by three intraperitoneal OVA injections administered once a week, followed by an intranasal OVA instillation challenge. CYP (25 mg/kg/d), Dex (1 mg/kg/d), and PFD (100 mg/kg/d) were administered orally from day 15 to the end of the experiment. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was analyzed for cytokine levels. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and periodic acid Schiff (PAS)-stained lung sections were prepared. Immunohistochemical identification of p38 MAPK and lung macrophages was performed. The inflammatory/oxidative status of the lung and PCR-quantification of the STAT6, p38 MAPK, MUC5AC, and IL-13 genes were carried out. The allergic pneumonitis-only group showed eosinophil-mediated inflammation (p p p < 0.05) by PFD, meanwhile not by dexamethasone treatment. Pirfenidone could replace dexamethasone treatment in the current rat model of CYP-induced severe steroid-resistant asthma via inhibiting the M1 macrophage differentiation through modulation of the STAT6/p38 MAPK pathway