Broadening and exploiting the genetic base of white lupin

White lupin is a European crop with a long history of domestication and high potential interest for high-protein food or feedstuff. This report aims to summarize the research steps that were undertaken to (i) verify the extent of genetic diversity exploited by modern breeding, (ii) identify elite bitter-seed landraces and sweet-seed germplasm aimed to broaden the genetic base for European breeding, (iii) assess the genetic variation for tolerance to key abiotic stresses in the germplasm of the novel genetic base, and (iv) verify the potential of genomic models based on genotyping-bysequencing (GBS) SNP data to select simultaneously and cost-efficiently for some complex traits. Molecular diversity patterns of 83 landraces from nine major historical cropping regions and 15 commercial varieties confirmed that modern plant breeding exploited only a modest part of the crop genetic variation. Germplasm evaluation experiments for adaptation to severe drought or calcareous soil revealed substantial genetic variation (Annicchiarico and Thami-Alami, 2012; Annicchiarico et al., 2018), which, along with other information, was exploited to identify four elite landraces and four elite, sweet-seed lines that acted as parents of a broadly-based population. Some 144 sweet-seed lines extracted from this population were evaluated for grain yield under severe drought in a managed environment of Italy and for adaptation to moderately calcareous soil in a spring-sown environment of the Netherlands and an autumn-sown environment of Greece. We report on the observed line variation for these traits, and on the construction of genomic selection models and their ability to predict the line adaptation to drought or lime soil based on cross validations. Genome-enabled models may be used also to select for tolerance to anthracnose and the sweet-seed trait

Clustering algorithms for consolidation of customer orders into vehicle shipments

The consolidation of shipments into loads arises in a number of applications, including household moving, truckload trucking, rail and container operations. The capacitated clustering problem (CCP) is one of the underlying optimization problems for the efficient consolidation of customer orders to vehicle shipments. In this paper we develop optimization-based heuristic algorithms for the CCP, extending procedures developed by Mulvey and Beck, as well as algorithms developed by Fisher and Jaikumar, for the generalized assignment problem. In this paper, iterative methods are proposed that avoid the specification of "seed" customers required by other algorithms, and which are shown to produce better solutions than existing heuristics. Lagrangian relaxations are used to develop rigorous bounds, which demonstrate the effectiveness of relatively simple heuristics.

Effect of storage conditions on seed quality of soybean (Glycine max L.) germplasm

Soybean is one of the most important oil seed crops. However, soybean seed is structurally weak and inherently short-lived, making the crop vulnerable to long period storage. Thus, it is crucial to study the effect of storage conditions on the quality of soybean seeds (Glycine max L.). The genetic material consisted of 10 soybean varieties, whose seeds were stored under both cooling (refrigerator) and room temperature conditions and were subsequently subjected to germination test, electric conductivity test and estimation of free fatty acids percentage. In order to determinethe long-term effects of storage on seed quality, all genotypes were subjected to accelerated ageing at 40°C up to 48 days and viability equation was used to determine the Ki value. Overall findings revealed the significant effect of storage conditions on seed quality and, at the same time, underlined the beneficial effect of storage under cooling conditions, which is expressed as higher germination percentage, reduced electric conductivity and free fatty acids percentage and improved storage longevity. Further, our data provide conclusive evidence for the qualitative superiority of the varieties Adonai, Celina and Neoplanta, especially upon storage under cooling conditions, as they were characterized by higher germination percentage and improved tolerance to storage (storage potential) © 2022. the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

A game theoretic/network equilibrium solution approach for the railroad freight car management problem

The paper presents the development and solution procedures of a mathematical model of the management of a fleet of cars shared by autonomous profit maximizing managers faced with time-varying demands requiring shared service responsibility. Motivation for the model development arises from the freight car management problem, in which many railroads independently manage an interchangeable fleet of cars that serve customers with time-dependent origin-destination patterns; this often requires the cooperative service of more than one railroad. The problem is formulated as an N-person, noncooperative game played on a temporal-spatial network. An iterative sequential procedure is developed for which car management decisions for each railroad over a specified time horizon are based on the previously calculated optimized decisions of car management decisions for all other railroads. Several realistic test case problems are reported that exhibit rapid convergence to an equilibrium solution. It is proposed that this modeling procedure be used as a basis for evaluating (and possibly generating optimal) interrailroad agreements for the exchange of empty freight cars.

Effect of Genotype and Sowing Period on Chickpea Quality, Bioactive and Antioxidant Traits

Background: Climate change is expected to be a major constraint for chickpea as it increases the frequency of drought and temperature extremes. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of drought and heat stress conditions on chickpeas’ physical, quality and bioactive traits, along with antioxidant activity of five chickpea genotypes in normal and late sowning conditions. Methods: Field trials were carried out at Institute of Industrial and Forage Crops. All the five genotypes were planted at two different sowing dates, one during the normal sowing period (February 28, 2019) and one off-season (April 1, 2019) in order to achieve dry-heat conditions during the chickpea’s critical stages of off-season sowing. Result: Sowing period significantly affected cooking time and bioactive traits, resulted in decreased cooking time and increased bioactive traits values, in the later sowing period. Genotype’s effects were significant for all the traits studied. Amorgos appeared to be a promising variety with high nutritive value as it showed the highest values in terms of bioactive traits and antioxidant activity in both sowing periods, combined with low cooking time and high protein content at the off-season sowing. © 2021, Agricultural Research Communication Centre. All rights reserved

Effect of PEG-induced drought stress on germination of ten chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the most important legume crops worldwide, with its importance mainly relying on its high protein content. Chickpea productivity is strictly threatened by abiotic stresses, of which drought exerts the most crucial role in terms of growth inhibition and yield losses encountered. Given that germination is a critical stage that is negatively affected by drought, the aim of this study was to estimate the genotypic variability among ten chickpea genotypes and to determine the seed germination and seedling growth ability under drought stress conditions. Seeds were subjected to water stress by polyethylene glycol (PEG-6000) at five stress levels (0, 5, 10, 20, 30 and 50% PEG). Germination percentage, seed water content, seed water absorbance, root and shoot development and seedling vigour index were evaluated. The analyses revealed significant genetic variability in relation to genotypic performance under drought stress. Drought significantly affected germination as well as all other associated traits, with the effects of stress being analogous to the stress level applied. Findings point to the fact that seedling vigour index is a suitable selection criterion for drought tolerance as it allowed the classification of genotypes as tolerant, moderately tolerant, moderately susceptible and susceptible. Taken together, the commercial varieties 'Thiva', 'Keryneia' and 'Gavdos' as well as the landrace 'Lemnos' showed an increased drought tolerance at high stress level, indicating their possible exploitation as valuable genetic material for breeding programs or for commercial use. © 2020 Articles by the authors