Use of Phenomics for Differentiation of Mungbean (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek) Genotypes Varying in Growth Rates Per Unit of Water

In the human diet, particularly for most of the vegetarian population, mungbean (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek) is an inexpensive and environmentally friendly source of protein. Being a short-duration crop, mungbean fits well into different cropping systems dominated by staple food crops such as rice and wheat. Hence, knowing the growth and production pattern of this important legume under various soil moisture conditions gains paramount significance. Toward that end, 24 elite mungbean genotypes were grown with and without water stress for 25 days in a controlled environment. Top view and side view (two) images of all genotypes captured by a high-resolution camera installed in the high-throughput phenomics were analyzed to extract the pertinent parameters associated with plant features. We tested eight different multivariate models employing machine learning algorithms to predict fresh biomass from different features extracted from the images of diverse genotypes in the presence and absence of soil moisture stress. Based on the mean absolute error (MAE), root mean square error (RMSE), and R squared (R2) values, which are used to assess the precision of a model, the partial least square (PLS) method among the eight models was selected for the prediction of biomass. The predicted biomass was used to compute the plant growth rates and water-use indices, which were found to be highly promising surrogate traits as they could differentiate the response of genotypes to soil moisture stress more effectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is perhaps the first report stating the use of a phenomics method as a promising tool for assessing growth rates and also the productive use of water in mungbean crop

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Not AvailableSymbiotic effectiveness of rhizobitoxine (Rtx)-producing strains of Bradyrhizobium spp. in soybean (cultivar NRC-37/Ahilya-4) under limited soil moisture conditions was evaluated using phenomics tools such as infrared(IR) thermal and visible imaging. Red, green and blue (RGB) colour pixels were standardized to analyse a total of 1017 IR thermal and 692 visible images. Plants inoculated with the Rtx-producing strains B. elkanii USDA-61 and USDA-94 and successive inoculation by B. diazoefficiens USDA-110 resulted in cooler canopy temperatures and increased canopy greenness. The results of the image analysis of plants inoculated with Rtx-producing strains were correlated with effective nodulation, improved photosynthesis, plant nitrogen status and yield parameters. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed the reliability of the phenomics approach over conventional destructive approaches in assessing the symbiotic effectiveness of Bradyrhizobium strains in soybean plants under watered (87.41–89.96%) and water-stressed (90.54–94.21%) conditions. Multivariate cluster analysis (MCA) revealed two distinct clusters denoting effective (Rtx) and ineffective (non-Rtx) Bradyrhizobium inoculation treatments in soybean. Furthermore, correlation analysis showed that this phenotyping approach is a dependable alternative for screening drought tolerant genotypes or drought resilience symbiosis. This is the first report on the application of non-invasive phenomics techniques, particularly RGB-based image analysis, in assessing plant-microbe symbiotic interactions to impart abiotic stress tolerance.Not Availabl

Community-forming traits play role in effective colonization of plant-growth-promoting bacteria and improved plant growth

Community-forming traits (CFts) play an important role in the effective colonization of plant-growth-promoting bacterial communities that influence host plants positively by modulating their adaptive functions. In this study, by considering plant-growth-promoting traits (PGPts) and community-forming traits (CFts), three communities were constructed, viz., SM1 (PGPts), SM2 (CFts), and SM3 (PGPts+CFts). Each category isolates were picked up on the basis of their catabolic diversity of different carbon sources. Results revealed a distinctive pattern in the colonization of the communities possessed with CF traits. It was observed that the community with CFts colonized inside the plant in groups or in large aggregations, whereas the community with only PGPts colonized as separate individual and small colonies inside the plant root and leaf. The effect of SM3 in the microcosm experiment was more significant than the uninoculated control by 22.12%, 27.19%, and 9.11% improvement in germination percentage, chlorophyll content, and plant biomass, respectively. The significant difference shown by the microbial community SM3 clearly demonstrates the integrated effect of CFts and PGPts on effective colonization vis-à-vis positive influence on the host plant. Further detailed characterization of the interaction will take this technology ahead in sustainable agriculture

Optimizing plant growth, nutrient uptake, and yield of onion through the application of phosphorus solubilizing bacteria and endophytic fungi

IntroductionThe application of mineral fertilizers deteriorates soil properties and affects crop yield and nutritional properties. However, plant growth-promoting microorganisms (PGPM- Serendipita indica, phosphorus solubilizing bacteria (PSB), and vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM)) have great potential to reduce fertilizers and improve soil fertility, crop yield, and nutrient uptake and mitigate the environmental effect of mineral fertilizers.Material and methodsHence, a field experiment was conducted involving nine treatments to evaluate the effects of PGPM along with 50% or 100% of the recommended dose of fertilizers on plant growth, soil fertility, nutrient uptake, and onion productivity.Results and discussionResults indicated that 100% RDF combined with S. indica or PSB led to improved plant growth, and higher nutrient concentrations in both leaves and bulbs of onions compared to RDF alone. Moreover, the application of 100% RDF with S. indica increased total dry matter yield by 11.5% and 7.6% in the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 seasons, respectively, compared to 100% RDF alone. This treatment also resulted in the highest nutrient uptake, with N uptake increasing by 6.9%-29.9%, P by 13.7%-21.7%, K by 20.0%-23.7%, and S by 18.1%-23.4%. Additionally, the combination of 100% RDF with S. indica inoculation led to a notable increase in bulb yield, with increments of 16.2% and 13.9% observed in 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, respectively, compared to 100% RDF alone. Similarly, the application of 100% RDF along with PSB inoculation resulted in an increase in bulb yield by 7.2% and 9.4% in the respective years. However, VAM did not exhibit satisfactory performance or improvements in the onion crop.ConclusionOverall, the study suggests that combining 100% RDF with S. indica or PSB can enhance onion productivity and nutrient use efficiency. The present study may open a new avenue of PGPM application in enhancing onion yield and improving the bulb quality as well as soil health. However, field trials across different regions and soil types are necessary to validate these findings for practical adoption by farmers

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Not AvailableExperiments were conducted to elucidate the physiological basis of high SGW of LOK-1, a wheat cultivar grown in dry and hot environments in the central and peninsular zones of India. SGW of LOK-1 was least affected by removal of spikelets indicating little competition between the grains within the spike for assimilates. Reduction in SGW due to defoliation was less and the contribution of stem reserves to the grain development was high in LOK-1 relative to other cultivars. It seems that high level of expression of genes such as expansin (TaExpA6) contributes to the high SGW of LOK-1.Not Availabl

Exploring Potent Fungal Isolates from Sanitary Landfill Soil for In Vitro Degradation of Dibutyl Phthalate

Di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) is one of the most extensively used plasticizers for providing elasticity to plastics. Being potentially harmful to humans, investigating eco-benign options for its rapid degradation is imperative. Microbe-mediated DBP mineralization is well-recorded, but studies on the pollutant’s fungal catabolism remain scarce. Thus, the present investigation was undertaken to exploit the fungal strains from toxic sanitary landfill soil for the degradation of DBP. The most efficient isolate, SDBP4, identified on a molecular basis as Aspergillus flavus, was able to mineralize 99.34% dibutyl phthalate (100 mg L−1) within 15 days of incubation. It was found that the high production of esterases by the fungal strain was responsible for the degradation. The strain also exhibited the highest biomass (1615.33 mg L−1) and total soluble protein (261.73 µg mL−1) production amongst other isolates. The DBP degradation pathway scheme was elucidated with the help of GC-MS-based characterizations that revealed the formation of intermediate metabolites such as benzyl-butyl phthalate (BBP), dimethyl-phthalate (DMP), di-iso-butyl-phthalate (DIBP) and phthalic acid (PA). This is the first report of DBP mineralization assisted with A. flavus, using it as a sole carbon source. SDBP4 will be further formulated to develop an eco-benign product for the bioremediation of DBP-contaminated toxic sanitary landfill soils

Physiological traits reveal potential for identification of droughttolerant mungbean[Vigna radiata (L.)Wilczek] genotypes undermoderate soil-moisture deficit

Not AvailableCanopy temperature is an important physiological trait usedfor screening drought tolerance in several crop plants.Mungbean being often exposed to post-flowering drought,we evaluated a set of 48 genotypes for variability in post-flowering canopy temperature and its association with roottraits and other physiological parameters contributing todrought tolerance under soil-moisture deficit stressconditions. Overall, canopy temperature depressionrevealed significant association with seed yield. Root traitslike number of lateral branches and dry root weight exhibitedsignificant negative correlation with canopy temperature.Leaf SPAD readings were positively associated with grainyield and most of the high SPAD genotypes maintainedhot canopies under drought. Some genotypes withcontrasting variation in SPAD levels (DMG-1050 and SML-1628) maintained their photosystem PSII health at par.Moreover, cool canopy was no guarantee for better PSIIhealth or vice versa. This study identified some cool canopygenotypes (VC-6173-C, IC-325770 and ML-2082) and agenotype (DMG-1050) with novel trait combinations likehigh SPAD and better PSII health despite high canopytemperature which can be used as donors in mungbeanbreeding programs. Present study explores geneticvariation in these adaptation traits contributing to plantperformance under soil-moisture deficit stress conditionsand potential of physiological breeding approaches forgenetic enhancement of this legume cropICA

Phenomics to Differentiate Mungbean Genotypes

Not AvailableIn the human diet, particularly for most of the vegetarian population, mungbean (Vigna radiata L.Wilczek) is an inexpensive and environmentally friendly source of protein. Being a short-duration crop, mungbean fits well into different cropping systems dominated by staple food crops such as rice and wheat. Hence, knowing the growth and production pattern of this important legume under various soil moisture conditions gains paramount significance. Toward that end, 24 elite mungbean genotypes were grown with and without water stress for 25 days in a controlled environment. Top view and side view (two) images of all genotypes captured by a high-resolution camera installed in the high-throughput phenomics were analyzed to extract the pertinent parameters associated with plant features. We tested eight different multivariate models employing machine learning algorithms to predict fresh biomass from different features extracted from the images of diverse genotypes in the presence and absence of soil moisture stress. Based on the mean absolute error (MAE), root mean square error (RMSE), and R squared (R2) values, which are used to assess the precision of a model, the partial least square (PLS) method among the eight models was selected for the prediction of biomass. The predicted biomass was used to compute the plant growth rates and water-use indices, which were found to be highly promising surrogate traits as they could differentiate the response of genotypes to soilmoisture stressmore effectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is perhaps the first report stating the use of a phenomics method as a promising tool for assessing growth rates and also the productive use of water in mungbean crop.Not Availabl

Effect of Cow Urine-Based Bioformulations on Growth and Physiological Responses in Mungbean Under Soil Moisture Stress Conditions

Not AvailableExperiments were conducted to evaluate the influence of cow urine-based bio formulations on the morphological, physiological growth response and expression of stress responsive genes under drought stress in mung-bean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] plants. An initial in vitro evaluation and three separate pot experiments were carried out by treating mungbean with varying concentrations of bioformulations under different soil moisture conditions(well watered and water stressed). The application of bio-formulations (BR and SH) led to an increase in number of nodules (22.41 in R3 stage under stress; 12.17 in R5 stage under stress recovery) and total plant dry weight (1.12 g inR3 stage under stress; 1.22 g in R5 stage under stress recovery) at different growth stages and soil moisture conditions. Least decrease or no change in photo chemical efficiency of PS-II (Fv/Fm) in the bioformulations-treated plants under stress-imposed conditions indicated that bio-formulations used in this experiment have potential role inmitigating soil moisture stress in crops like mungbean. The enhanced expression of genes of membrane-integrated protein like aquaporins (Nodulin 26-like Intrinsic Proteins—NIP) in the treated plants under low soil moisture conditions further accentuated the efficacy of these bio-formulations to alleviate the drought stress in crops.ICAR-NIAS