With an aim of enhancing drought tolerance using a marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC) approach, we introgressed the "QTL-hotspot" region from ICC 4958 accession that harbors quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for several drought-tolerance related traits into three elite Indian chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivars: Pusa 372, Pusa 362, and DCP 92-3. Of eight simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers in the QTLhotspot region, two to three polymorphic markers were used for foreground selection with respective cross-combinations. A total of 47, 53, and 46 SSRs were used for background selection in case of introgression lines (ILs) developed in genetic backgrounds of Pusa 372, Pusa 362, and DCP 92-3, respectively. In total, 61 ILs (20 BC 3 F 3 in Pusa 372; 20 BC 2 F 3 in Pusa 362, and 21 BC 3 F 3 in DCP 92-3), with >90% recurrent parent genome recovery were developed. Six improved lines in different genetic backgrounds (e.g. BGM 10216 in Pusa 372; BG 3097 and BG 4005 in Pusa 362; IPC(L4-14), IPC(L4-16), and IPC(L19-1) in DCP 92-3) showed better performance than their respective recurrent parents. BGM 10216, with 16% yield gain over Pusa 372, has been released as Pusa Chickpea 10216 by the Central SubCommittees on Crop Standards, Notification and Release of Varieties of Agricultural Crops, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, for commercial cultivation in India. In summary, this study reports introgression of the QTL-hotspot

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Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine whether fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of testis alone is sufficient to diagnose testicular function and whether follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) estimation can be safely eliminated from the evaluation protocol of the azoospermic subject. Materials and Methods: We studied 46 adult azoospermic males who were infertile for more than 2 years following marriage. Hormonal profile was done in all. Later all 46 patients were subjected to bilateral FNAC of the testes. The cytological findings were correlated with histological findings. Results: We found 95.65% agreement between FNAC and testicular biopsy. Though serum FSH estimation was done in all patients in this series, in none of the cases did it affect overall management. Conclusion: FNAC is a quick, safe and minimally invasive modality. Following a well-performed semen analysis in an azoospermic subject, it appears that FNAC may be the only investigation needed. It provides a reliable diagnosis in patients with either obstructive or non-obstructive azoospermia. Routine estimation of FSH can be omitted from the investigative protocol in these patients.

The mineral content of pulses is generally high, but the bioavailability is poor due to the presence of phytate and polyphenols which inhibits Fe absorption. In the present study, the genetic variability and heritability for seed Fe and Zn content was studied. The effect of genotypes was significant for all the quality traits indicating presence of enough variability among the blackgram genotypes for the traits. The Fe content in 26 blackgram genotypes ranged from 71.02 to 100.20 ppm, whereas Zn content ranged from 18.93 to 60.58 ppm. Maximum Fe as well as Zn was recorded in genotype SHEKHAR 2 (100.2 and 60.58 ppm respectively). The Phytic acid and polyphenol content among genotypes varied significantly and it ranged from 0.06-0.37% to 5.88-9.03 mg/g, respectively. High phytic acid content was recorded in black gram genotypes COBG 653, Nodai Urd, NP 03 and PKG U 03, whereas high polyphenol content was recorded in PU 31, IPU 99-200, PDU 1 and YAKUBPUR 2. Blackgram genotype COBG 653 had high phytic acid but low polyphenol content. The genotype 9 year interaction was significant for all the traits under study which indicates differential reaction to the expression of quality characters over years. Fe content in blackgram genotypes showed significant positive phenotypic correlation with Zn content while at genotypic level in addition to Zn, it showed positive correlation with phytic acid and polyphenol content as well. This indicates that although the traits are genotypically correlated, the expression is masked by the environmental influence. This is further exhibited from low heritability estimates for phytic acid and polyphenol content among the genotypes.