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Not AvailableCastor is a non-edible oilseed crop, primarily grown for oil containing an unusual hydroxy fatty acid and ricinoleic acid (80–90%) of the total fatty acids. Commercial exploitation of heterosis in castor was successful in India due to the development of stable pistillate lines from a dominant and epistatic “S” type pistillate source. Diversification of pistillate sources using NES and other new sources necessitated the need for identification of diverse male combiners among the existing pool of male combiners. In this study, 60 breeding lines/genotypes were characterized for genetic diversity and population structure using EST-SSRs primers. SSR allelic variation was low as indicated by the average number of alleles (2.8), gene diversity (0.53) and polymorphic information content (0.45). Cluster analysis (neighbor joining tree) revealed 3 major genotypic groups. The genotypes showed weak population structure (membership coefficients (≥ 0.75)) and 66.7% genotypes were classified into 3 populations (K=3) and the remaining 33.3% genotypes into admixture group in STRUCTURE analysis. The genetic diversity information generated in this study would assist in selection of diverse genotypes for breeding to exploit heterosis for development of hybridsNot Availabl

Assessment of Genetic Diversity in Sesame Genotypes Based on Morphological Characters

Fifty sesame genotypes were evaluated to assess the extent of genetic diversity based on morphological characters. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the genotypes. Plant height (62.20 %) contributed most to the genetic divergence followed by number of capsules per plant (20.40 %). No relationship between geographic origin and genetic diversity was observed as genotypes from different sources were grouped in same clusters in spite of difference in their origin. Based on the intercluster distances, diverse parents from different clusters were identified for further use as parents in future breeding programmes

Screening of Sesame Genotypes against Powdery Mildew and Macrophomina phaseolina Stem/Root Rot Diseases

An investigation was carried out with fifty sesame genotypes to identify source of resistance to powdery mildew and macrophomina stem/root rot diseases during late kharif 2022 at RARS, Jagtial under protected conditions. Among the genotypes screened, four genotypes JCS 4047, JCS 4026, JCS 3880 and GT 10 were found resistant to powdery mildew. The powdery mildew PDI was ranged from 25.1%-73.3%. Based on the PDI score, fifty genotypes were classified into Resistant (4), moderately resistant (27) and Susceptible (19) categories. From fifty genotypes, JCS 4047 showed highly resistant reaction and EC 182833 showed highly susceptible reaction to powdery mildew. The macrophomina stem/root rot incidence was ranged from 65%-100%. FFAT 04 shown the lowest root rot incidence (65%) among fifty genotypes screened. None of the genotypes found to be immune. Identified resistant genotypes can be utilized as parents in breeding programme for development of resistant varieties

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Not AvailableHost plant resistance is an effective means of managing aphid pests in safflower but its genetic basis is not known. In this study, F1 and F6- recombinant inbred lines (RILs) produced from the CO-1 × EC-523368-2 cross were phenotyped for tolerance to the aphid, Uroleucon compositae based on days-to-wilt (DW) after infestation. The F1 plants showed dominance effect and RILs exhibited quantitative variation. The RIL population was genotyped with 242 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, which included a set of 150 new SSRs designed through next generation sequencing and bioinformatics approaches. Two quantitative trait loci (QTLs), QUc-Ct3.1 and QUc-Ct5.1, putatively associated with DW after aphid infestation were detected. QUc-Ct3.1 was a major QTL located on linkage group (LG) 3 with the closest marker SafM-290 (LOD = 18.3), which explained 31.5% of the phenotypic variation. QUc-Ct5.1 was a minor QTL located on LG-5 with the closest marker CtDES-237 (LOD = 7.0), which explained 9.1% of the phenotypic variation. This is the first report and a significant lead towards discovering genes for tolerance to aphids in safflower.SERB, Government of India through National Post Doctoral Fellowship (PDF/2016/003679

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Not AvailableSafflower is grown primarily for edible oil rich in unsaturated fatty acids. Due to higher stability and longer shelf life, the oil with high oleic acid content is preferred for food and other industrial applications. Safflower cultivars with high oleic acid content (>70%) have been developed and commercially successful. Incorporation of the high oleic trait through conventional breeding techniques has been a slow process due to recessive inheritance and difficulties associated with phenotyping by biochemical methods. DNA based marker-assisted selection (MAS) for high oleic trait would help speed up the breeding efforts in safflower. In this study, a set of high oleic varieties were found to carry the same mutation in the fatty acid desaturase 2-1 gene, CtFAD2-1, which is presumed to be the ‘ol’ allele associated with high oleic acid content in safflower. Genotypic assays namely Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR (KASP®) and the Amplifluor™ SNPs Genotyping System (Amplifluor®) were designed for the prediction of high oleic trait based on the mutation in the CtFAD2-1. The assays were thoroughly validated in segregating populations derived from crosses between low and high oleic parents. Through marker-assisted backcrossing scheme, the high oleic allele, ‘ol’ from the exotic variety, Montola-2000 was incorporated into the background of popular Indian linoleic type variety, Bhima and a set of promising high oleic lines (75.2%– 81.8%) were developed. The MAS-derived lines showed consistent expression of high oleic acid content over seasons and comparable seed/oil yield performance with the local check varieties. The genotypic assays reported in this study were robust, non-destructive, co-dominant and accurately predicted high oleic trait in segregating populations; thus, recommended for fast-track breeding of high oleic cultivars in safflowerNot Availabl