A simple high-performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of the pharmacologically important quinazoline alkaloids vasicine and vasicinone in Adhatoda vasica. The assay combines the separation and quantification of the analytes on silica gel 60 GF254 HPTLC plates with visualisation under UV and scanning at 270 and 281 nm. Using this technique, the alkaloidal content of different parts of the title plant have been determined.

Residual fate and dissipation pattern of endosulfan (50 WDG) in soil and plant was studied by gas liquid chromatography following twice applications (at 350 g and 700 g a.i. ha(-1)) in chick-pea, Bengal gram (Cicer arietinum) at vegetative and flowering stages of the crop. The initial residues of Endosulfan (alpha + beta + endosulfan sulfate) in plant following second application was 23.40-57.91 microg g(-1) and its maximum deposit in soil was 1.00-2.45 microg g(-1) after 1 day. Dissipation followed first order reaction kinetics and the half-life values were 2.6-2.9 days in green foliage and 4.4-5.0 days in soil. A pre-harvest interval of 14-19 days was recommended for green foliage. No residues were detected in harvested seeds. Maximum concentration of the metabolite endosulfan sulfate was 0.152-0.473 microg g(-1) in soil and 5.42-9.40 microg g(-1) in plant on third day. Endosulfan-beta was more persistent than alpha-isomer attributable to higher conversion of the later to endosulfan sulfate in soil and plant.

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Lentil, an important cool season food legume, is a rich source of easily digestible protein, folic acid, bio-available iron, and zinc nutrients. Lentil grows mainly as a sole crop in the winter after harvesting rice in South Asia. However, the annual productivity is low due to its slow growth during the early phase, competitive weed infestation, and disease outbreaks during the crop growth period. Disease resistance breeding has been practiced for a long time to enhance resistance to various diseases. Often the sources of resistance are available in wild crop relatives. Thus, wide hybridization and the ovule rescue technique have helped to introgress the resistance trait into cultivated lentils. Besides hybridization, induced mutagenesis contributed immensely in creating variability for disease tolerance, and several disease-resistant mutant lines have been developed. However, to overcome the limitations of traditional breeding approaches, advancement in molecular marker technologies, and genomics has helped to develop disease-resistant and climate-resilient lentil varieties with more precision and efficiency. This review describes types of diseases, disease screening methods, the role of conventional and new breeding technologies in alleviating disease-incurred damage and progress toward making lentil varieties more resilient to disease outbreaks under the shadow of climate change.

Collar rot disease caused by Sclerotium rolfsii attacks lentils at the seedling stage and reduces plant population considerably in the field. Although soil moisture and temperature influence disease development much, no concrete attempts to find the optimum level of moisture, temperature, and seedling age have been made in lentils. Here, we identified optimum soil moisture, temperature, and seedling age that allow successful infection by S. rolfsii and maximum seedling mortality in a controlled environment inside a plant growth chamber. Screening of one hundred and ninety genotypes for two consecutive years in the field identified some resistant genotypes. Ten genotypes were selected from earlier screening and further evaluated in sick plots at two different locations with different pH for three consecutive years. About 80% variation in disease resistance was due to genotypes, and minor infection of collar rot disease was observed in acidic lateritic soil than in neutral alluvial soil. Furthermore, low mycelial load in a selected resistant genotype was confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR using an S. rolfsii specific primer pair. The identified resistant genotypes will be helpful to breeding collar rot resistant cultivars and mapping disease resistance. In addition, the study improves the understanding of the development of collar rot disease, which is critical for expanding the area under cultivation in Asia, especially in rice fallows.

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