Unraveling the Variability of Essential Oil Composition in Different Accessions of Bunium persicum Collected from Different Temperate Micro-Climates

The present investigation was performed to evaluate the variability of the essential oil composition present in the seed extract of Kala zeera (Bunium persicum Bioss.) obtained from different geographical zones of Northwestern-Himalayan using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrum (GC-MS). The results of the GC-MS analysis revealed significant differences in the essential oil content. Significant variability was observed in the chemical constituents of the essential oils mainly for p-cymene, D-limonene, Gamma-terpinene, Cumic aldehyde and 1, 4-p-menthadien-7-al. Among these compounds, the highest average percentage across the locations was observed for gamma-terpinene (32.08%) which was followed by cumic aldehyde (25.07%), and 1, 4-p-menthadien-7-al (15.45%). Principal component analysis (PCA) also grouped the 4 highly significant compounds i.e., p-Cymene, Gamma-Terpinene, Cumic aldehyde, and 1,4-p-Menthadien-7-al into same cluster which are mainly distributed in Shalimar Kalazeera-1, and Atholi Kishtwar zones. The highest value of gamma-terpinene was recorded in Atholi accession (40.66%). However, among climatic zones Zabarwan Srinagar and Shalimar Kalazeera-1 was found to have highly positive significant correlation (0.99). The cophenetic correlation coefficient (c) was found to be 0.8334 during hierarchical clustering for 12 essential oil compounds showing that our results are highly correlated. Network analysis also showed the overlapping pattern and similar interaction between the 12 compounds as shown by hierarchical clustering analysis. From the results, it could be concluded that existence of variability among the various bioactive compounds of B. persicum which are probably to be incorporated to the potential list of drugs and may serve as good genetic source for various modern breeding programs

Correlation and path coefficient analysis of some quantitative traits in wheat

Wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) is an important cereal crop of cool climates, and plays a key role in the food and nutritional security of India. The objective of this study was to establish the inter-relationship and direct and indirect effect of various wheat components on yield. Thirty-seven wheat genotypes and three check varieties were studied for correlation and path coefficient analysis of some quantitative traits in wheat at Kisan (P.G), College, Simbhaoli in India. Generally, the estimates of genotypic correlation coefficients were higher than the corresponding phenotypic correlation coefficients for all the character combinations. Seed yield was significantly and positively associated with number of spikelets plant-1, followed by number of effective tillers and 100-seed weight at both phenotypic and genotypic levels. Seed yield showed a significant negative association with number of seeds spikelet-1 at genotypic level. Among the significant inter-relationships, the association of days to 75% spike emergence with days to maturity and 100-seed weight were significant and positive, but were negative and significantly associated with number of seeds spikelet-1 and number of grains spike-1. Similarly, the associations of spike length with number of seeds spikelet-1, and number of spikelets plant-1 and number of effective tillers were negative and significant. The association of number of spikelets plant-1 with number of effective tillers was also positive and highly significant. Path coefficient analysis revealed that the magnitude of positive direct effect on seed yield was highest through number of spikelets plant-1, followed by number of grains spike-1 and 100-seed weight; whereas protein content followed by number of seeds spikelet-1 and number of effective tillers exhibited high, but negative direct effect on seed yield plant-1.Le blé ( Triticum aestivum L.) est une culture céréalière importante des climats plus frais, jouant un rôle clé dans la sécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle de l’Inde. L’objectif de cette étude était d’établir les relations entre différents composants du blé et leurs effets directs et indirects sur le rendement. Trente-sept génotypes de blé et trois varietés-témoins ont été étudiés pour vérifier la corrélation et l’analyse du coefficient de certains caractères quantitatifs du blé au collège Kisan (PG) à Simbhaoli en Inde. Généralement, les estimations des coefficients de corrélation du génotype étaient plus élevées que les coefficients de corrélation phénotypique correspondante pour toutes les combinaisons de caractères. Le rendement en grains est significativement et positivement associé à un nombre d’épillets par plante, suivi par le nombre de talles effictives et le poids de 100 grains à la fois aux niveaux phénotypiques et génotypiques. Le rendement en grains a montré une association négative significative avec le nombre de grains par épillet au niveau du génotype. Parmi les inter-relations significatives, l’association des jours à 75% d’ émergence d’épis avec des jours de la maturité ainsi que le poids de 100 grains a été significative et positive, mais était négative et significativement associée au nombre de grains par épillet et le nombre de grains par épis. De façon similaire, les associations de la longueur d’épis avec le nombre de grains par épillet, ainsi que le nombre d’épillets plante et le nombre de talles effectives ont été négatives et significatives. L’association du nombre d’épillets par plante avec le nombre de talles effectives était également positive et hautement significative. L’analyse du coefficient de passage a révélé que l’ampleur de l’effet direct positif sur le rendement des grains a été la plus élevée quant au nombre d’épillets par plante, suivie par le nombre de grains par épis et le poids de 100 grains, alors que la teneur en protéines suivie par le nombre de grains par épillet et le nombre de talles effectives, exhibaient un effet direct élevé mais négatif sur le rendement en grains par plante

Molecular Characterization of Saffron-Potential Candidates for Crop Improvement

In this study, thirty one (31) morphologically distinct selections of saffron crop were used for molecular characterization. Molecular characterization was done through SSR, ISSR and RAPD markers. RAPD and ISSR markers showed significant variation; however, SSR markers did not reveal any variation between the selected clones. The Jaccard’s similarity coefficient ranged from 0.94 to 1.00 with an average of 0.98 among all 31 selections used. Minimum similarity value (0.94) was observed between CITH-S-107 and PAM-S-116 selections. The study provides sufficient knowledge to identify clones with better stigma characteristics for further crop improvement programs

Morpho-Biochemical characterization of Kalazeera (Bunium persicum Boiss. Fedts) germplasm grown in Global temperate ecologies

The present investigation explores the variability of Bunium persicum populations belonging to different regions. Variability among 74 genotypes for thirty-seven traits (29 quantitative and 8 qualitative) were studied to ascertain the population structure of the Bunium persicum. Among the agro-morphological traits, wide range of variability was recorded in tuber shape, tuber colour, seed shape, seed colour, growth habit, leaf shape, leaf colour, umbel shape, umbel colour, plant height (22.90–96.52 cm), primary branches plant−1 (1–6), umbel diameter of primary umbel (6.17 – 13.67 cm), number of primary umbels plant−1 (1–12), umbels plant−1 (8–40), seed yield per plant (0.55–13.10 g), essential oil content (3.2–9.3 %) etc. Significant and positive association was observed between number of seeds primary-1 umbel (r = 0.91), plant height (r = 0.65), number of seeds primary-1 umbel (0.52), number of seeds primary-1 umbel (0.43), number of seeds secondary-1 umbel (0.38) with number of umblets secondary-1 umbel. Cluster analysis classified the genotypes with different geographical origin into two major clusters and sub-clusters. Cluster-I comprises of 50 genotypes and cluster - II of 24 genotypes while the genotype SRS-KZ-189 from Kargil population was separated as an individual sub-group. Principal component (PC1) and (PC2) harbors accounted 20.2% and 14% of total variation. Variability of Kalazeera genotypes would facilitate the plant breeders to implement and design various crop improvement programme in future