Breeding Chickpea for Improved Adaptation to the Semi-Arid Tropical Environments

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), also known as Garbanzo bean or Bengal gram, is the second most cultivated grain legume grown globally after dry bean (FAOSTAT data, 2007). It is cultivated annually on an area of about 10 million hectares over 50 countries. Over 80% of its area is in the semi-arid tropics (SAT) that encompass most of south Asia, parts of southeast Asia, a swathe across sub-Saharan Africa, much of southern and eastern Africa, and parts of Latin America. These regions are characterized by high atmospheric water demand, a high mean annual temperature, limited and erratic monsoonal rainfall, and nutrient poor soils. The major constraints to chickpea production in SAT include terminal drought and heat stresses, fusarium wilt and Helicoverpa pod borer. Soil salinity is also a major constraint to adaptation of chickpea in some areas, particularly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran and Australia. High instances of dry root rot are reported from Sub- Saharan Africa and India. India is the largest chickpea producing country with 64% of global chickpea production (FAOSTAT data, 2007). Chickpea is grown on 6.7 m ha from latitude 32°N in northern India with cooler, long-season environment to 10°N in southern India with warmer, short season environment. There has been a large, shift in chickpea area from north to central and southern India, mainly because of expansion in area under irrigation and wheat cultivation in northern India. During the past four decades, chickpea area declined by about 4.2 m ha in northern and north-eastern states (Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar) and increased by 2.6 m ha in central and southern states (Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh). This drastic shift in chickpea cultivation from cooler, long-season environments to warmer, short-season environments resulted in chickpeas being more prone to abiotic and biotic stresses that are prevalent in warm short season environments (e.g. terminal drought and heat stresses). The crop improvement efforts at ICRISAT and National Agricultural Research System (NARS) in SAT countries have largely focused on improving adaptation of chickpea to SAT environments by enhancing resistance/tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses prevalent in SAT environments. This paper reviews recent progress in breeding chickpea for improved adaptation to the SAT environments

Genetic Risk Can Be Decreased: Quitting Smoking Decreases and Delays Lung Cancer for Smokers With High and Low CHRNA5 Risk Genotypes - A Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Recent meta-analyses show that individuals with high risk variants in CHRNA5 on chromosome 15q25 are likely to develop lung cancer earlier than those with low-risk genotypes. The same high-risk genetic variants also predict nicotine dependence and delayed smoking cessation. It is unclear whether smoking cessation confers the same benefits in terms of lung cancer risk reduction for those who possess CHRNA5 risk variants versus those who do not. METHODS: Meta-analyses examined the association between smoking cessation and lung cancer risk in 15 studies of individuals with European ancestry who possessed varying rs16969968 genotypes (N=12,690 ever smokers, including 6988 cases of lung cancer and 5702 controls) in the International Lung Cancer Consortium. RESULTS: Smoking cessation (former vs. current smokers) was associated with a lower likelihood of lung cancer (OR=0.48, 95%CI=0.30-0.75, p=0.0015). Among lung cancer patients, smoking cessation was associated with a 7-year delay in median age of lung cancer diagnosis (HR=0.68, 95%CI=0.61-0.77, p=4.9∗10(-10)). The CHRNA5 rs16969968 risk genotype (AA) was associated with increased risk and earlier diagnosis for lung cancer, but the beneficial effects of smoking cessation were very similar in those with and without the risk genotype. CONCLUSION: We demonstrate that quitting smoking is highly beneficial in reducing lung cancer risks for smokers regardless of their CHRNA5 rs16969968 genetic risk status. Smokers with high-risk CHRNA5 genotypes, on average, can largely eliminate their elevated genetic risk for lung cancer by quitting smoking- cutting their risk of lung cancer in half and delaying its onset by 7years for those who develop it. These results: 1) underscore the potential value of smoking cessation for all smokers, 2) suggest that CHRNA5 rs16969968 genotype affects lung cancer diagnosis through its effects on smoking, and 3) have potential value for framing preventive interventions for those who smoke

Antimicrobial resistance of non-typhoidal Salmonella isolates from egg layer flocks and egg shells

This study was conducted to examine the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of Salmonella spp. isolated from commercial caged layer flocks in New South Wales and South Australia. All Salmonella isolates (n=145) were subjected to phenotypic and genotypic characterisation of AMR and carriage of integrons. The majority of Salmonella isolates (91.72%) were susceptible to all antimicrobials tested in this study. Limited resistance was observed to amoxicillin and ampicillin (5.51%), tetracycline (4.13%), cephalothin (2.06%) and trimethoprim (0.68%). None of the isolates were resistant to cefotaxime, ceftiofur, ciprofloxacin, chloramphenicol, gentamycin, neomycin or streptomycin. A low frequency of Salmonella isolates (4.83%) harboured antimicrobial resistance genes and a class 1 integron. The most commonly detected AMR genes among the Salmonella isolates were blaTEM (2.07%), tet A (1.38%) and dhfrV (0.69%). Overall, Salmonella enterica isolates exhibited a low frequency of AMR and represent a minimal public health risk associated with the emergence of multidrug resistant Salmonella spp. from the Australian layer industry

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Not AvailableThe present study evaluated bamboo( Dendrocalamus strictus) based resource conservation in the Yamuna ravines at central soil and water conservation research and training institute , research centre, Agra , UP. India. Ravine lands are highly degraded dry lands and 3.97 m ha area is affected by ravines in India. One ravine micro watershed of 2.8 ha area was planted with two rows of bamboo in stagered manner as vegetative barrier for the analysis hydrological and economic aspect of bamboo plantation . Hydrological results showed that runoff has been reduced from 9.6% to 1.8% and soil loss from 4.2 to 0.6 t/ha/year in the last four years. Based on bamboo growth performance , average value of culm height and culm collar diameter have been recorded as3.80 m and 22.50mm, , the value of average crown size and number of culms per clump being 3.93 m and 18 numbers respectively.. Further the soils under bamboo plants improved in terms of decreased pH and enhanced soil organic carbon. The economic analysis suggested a cash outflow of rs 48000 ha-1 from 7th year onwards to the stakeholders in the region, in addition to the benefits accrued to society at large in terms of vaue of nutrient (rs 2125- 5555 ha -1) saved through soil conservation. This study recommends bamboo plantation for productive and protective utilization of such degraded lands. It also suggests that the high cost of establishment for individual stakeholders can be met through subsidies and banks financial inclusion programme in developing countries such as India. Further, public funding can also be routed through appropriate budgetary provisions in development plans for corporate entities involved in the rural development in the country.Not Availabl

Mapping QTL for resistance to botrytis grey mould in chickpea

Botrytis grey mould (BGM) caused by Botrytis cinerea Pers. ex. Fr. is the second most important foliar disease of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) after ascochyta blight. An intraspecific linkage map of chickpea consisting of 144 markers assigned on 11 linkage groups was constructed from recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of a cross that involved a moderately resistant kabuli cultivar ICCV 2 and a highly susceptible desi cultivar JG 62. The length of the map obtained was 442.8 cM with an average interval length of 3.3 cM. Three quantitative trait loci (QTL) which together accounted for 43.6% of the variation for BGM resistance were identified and mapped on two linkage groups. QTL1 explained about 12.8% of the phenotypic variation for BGM resistance and was mapped on LG 6A. It was found tightly linked to markers SA14 and TS71rts36r at a LOD score of 3.7. QTL2 and QTL3 accounted for 9.5 and 48% of the phenotypic variation for BGM resistance, respectively, and were mapped on LG 3. QTL 2 was identified at LOD 2.7 and flanked by markers TA25 and TA144, positioned at 1 cM away from marker TA25. QTL3 was a strong QTL detected at LOD 17.7 and was flanked by TA159 at 12 cM distance on one side and TA118 at 4 cM distance on the other side. This is the first report on mapping of QTL for BGM resistance in chickpea. After proper validation, these QTL will be useful in marker-assisted pyramiding of BGM resistance in chickpea