To allow genetic analysis of starch quality in wheat and its relatives, it was necessary to develop techniques suitable for use on endosperm halves of seeds, leaving the embryo half to be grown for the next generation. Seeds were split and the endosperm end was crushed and soaked in 0.5 M NaCl overnight. The solids were ground three times in 0.5 M NaCl, the supernatant starch slurries were pooled and washed through a series of 4 M NaCl, 6 M NaCl/50 %, sucrose, 2 % sodium dodecyl sulphate solution, and acetone before being dried over silica gel. Subsamples of 1 mg of starch were dispersed in ethanol in preweighed microfuge tubes, gelatinised in NaOH solution, diluted to constant concentration, and aliquots were neutralised with citric acid, stained with iodine, diluted with water, and evaluated in an ELISA plate reader at 620 nm. The overall method provided cleaner starch than earlier methods, as shown by higher apparent amylose values, and was highly repeatable. The method was used to demonstrate the variation in amylose content within single heads of an inbred tetraploid wheat. No consistent patterns of variation due to seed location were detected but the overall breadth of variation around the median value of 27 % was ± 5 %.
Drought is one of the most important abiotic stresses that causes significant reductions in crop yield, and thushinders the food security of the growing world population. In consequence, it is urgent to select crops able toresist drought, maintain high yield and have a good nutritive content. The purpose of this project was toevaluate the responses of different accessions of Andean lupin to drought stress, and identify if there aresignificant differences in their physiological responses.To identify germplasm for further investigation, thirty accessions of Lupinus mutabilis Sweet. and oneaccession of L. albococcineus Hort. were screened in two sets, A of 15 and B of 16 accessions. From thesesets, four lines were chosen on the basis of extreme values in the measurements, and this set of four wasinvestigated in depth (set C). Water stress consisted of controlled water loss from the soil (at 2% per day).The screening techniques used were: leaf temperature, stomatal conductance, relative water content, waterpotential, ion membrane leakage, and shoot dry weight were measured and transpiration efficiency wascalculated. In addition, carbon isotope discrimination, root length, root dry matter, proline content andsoluble sugar content were included in only set C.Based on the results from set A and set B, accessions PI 457981, PI 457972, and AC 2792 were consideredas being drought resistant and PI 510572 was considered as drought sensitive. However, the results from setC showed that accession PI 510572 is able to adapt its cell membrane to the drought stress so that its ionleakage is less than in the other accessions, and in addition it has the ability to accumulate higherconcentrations of osmoprotectants.Thus, this survey identified that some accessions of Andean lupin were able to avoid drought stress throughstomatal traits and root traits, and others that were able to tolerate drought through the accumulation ofosmotically active substances. Consequently, there are good prospects for breeding of Andean lupin toimprove its drought resistance.
Legumes are an important component of sustainable crop rotations around the world, but are under-represented in European agriculture. Finnish use of grain legumes is exceptionally low. These experiments were initiated to test the possibility of extending the range of grain legumes that can be grown in Finland. A small range of germplasm of blue lupin, white lupin, lentil and some other annual species were tested in a trial that also included familiar cultivars of faba bean. Faba bean yields were 6.0 – 7.3 Mg ha-1, blue lupin yields 3.3 – 4.8 Mg ha-1. Two of the cultivars of blue lupin reached maturity in a timely fashion, showed little disease and did not lodge, so they have potential for use in the national agricultural system. Lentils also ripened, but presented management problems that require further investigation. White lupin showed potential as a producer of biomass, with one cultivar exceeding 18 Mg ha-1 dry matter.
Fungi of genus Botrytis are important pathogens of legumes, causing gray mold and chocolate spot diseases. The use of molecular methods to identify pathogens has resulted in the discovery of several new Botrytis species and new associations of pathogens with diseases. Thus, chocolate spot of faba bean is now associated with at least four species: B. fabae, B. cinerea, B. pseudocinerea and B. fabiopsis. Species of Botrytis differ in host plant, pathogenicity, fungicide resistance and other relevant properties that affect disease control. The aim of this study was to identify the species of Botrytis isolated from different legume crops and to evaluate their in vitro pathogenicity. Between 2014 and 2019, 278 isolates of Botrytis were obtained from infected legumes in Latvia. A phylogenetic analysis was carried out by sequencing three nuclear genes, RPB2, HSP60, and G3PDH, considered to be diagnostic for species in this genus. A set of 21 representative isolates was selected for pathogenicity tests on detached leaves of faba bean, field pea, lupin and soybean using 5-mm mycelium-agar plugs. The diameter of the formed lesions under the inoculated plug was measured crosswise each day. The datasets were subjected to analysis of variance with the split-plot design of the experiment and repeated-measures model. Six species were identified: B. cinerea, B. fabae, B. pseudocinerea, B. fabiopsis, B. euroamericana and B. medusae. In addition to the expected combinations of host and pathogen, naturally occurring infections of B. fabiopsis were found on chickpea, B. euroamericana on faba bean and B. medusae in lupin seeds. Species and isolate had significant effects on pathogenicity on all crops tested. Several isolates were pathogenic on two or more host species: two of B. pseudocinerea, two of B. cinerea, two of B. fabiopsis and the one of B. medusae. One isolate of B. pseudocinerea and two of B. fabiopsis caused primary lesions on all five host species. The results show that these Botrytis species have a broad host range that should be borne in mind when planning crop sequences and rotations.
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