BackgroundRoot is the prime organ that sucks water and nutrients from deep layer of soil. Wild barley diversity exhibits remarkable variation in root system architecture that seems crucial in its adaptation to abiotic stresses like drought. In the present study, we performed quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping of root and related shoot traits under control and drought conditions using a population of wild barley introgression lines (ILs). This population (S42IL) comprising of genome-wide introgressions of wild barley accession ISR42-8 in the cultivar Scarlett background. Here, we aimed to detect novel QTL alleles for improved root and related shoot features and to introduce them in modern cultivars.ResultsThe cultivar Scarlett and wild barley accession ISR42-8 revealed significant variation of root and related shoot traits. ISR42-8 showed a higher performance in root system attributes like root dry weight (RDW), root volume (RV), root length (RL) and tiller number per plant (TIL) than Scarlett. Whereas, Scarlett exhibited erect type growth habit (GH) as compared to spreading growth habit in ISR42-8. The S42IL population revealed significant and wide range of variation for the investigated traits. Strong positive correlations were found among the root related traits whereas GH revealed negative correlation with root and shoot traits. The trait-wise comparison of phenotypic data with the ILs genetic map revealed six, eight, five, five and four QTL for RL, RDW, RV, TIL and GH, respectively. These QTL were linked to one or several traits simultaneously and localized to 15 regions across all chromosomes. Among these, beneficial QTL alleles of wild origin for RL, RDW, RV, TIL and GH, have been fixed in the cultivar Scarlett background.ConclusionsThe present study revealed 15 chromosomal regions where the exotic QTL alleles showed improvement for root and related shoot traits. These data suggest that wild barley accession ISR42-8 bears alleles different from those of Scarlett. Hence, the utility of genome-wide wild barley introgression lines is desirable to test the performance of individual exotic alleles in the elite gene pool as well as to transfer them in the cultivated germplasm.

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The aim of the present study was to dissect the genetic inheritance and interplay of root, shoot and heading attributes for a better understanding of these traits in crop production. For this, we utilized quantitative trait loci (QTL) and candidate gene analysis approach using a second filial (F2) population originated from a cross between spring cultivar Cheri and wild barley accession ICB181160. The F2 population comprising 182 plants was phenotyped for root dry weight (RDW), root volume (RV), root length (RL) and shoot dry weight (SDW), tiller number per plant (TIL) and days to heading (HEA). In parallel, this population was genotyped using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) markers distributed across the whole genome. Marker by trait analysis revealed 16 QTL for root and shoot traits localized on chromosomes 1H, 3H, 4H, 5H and 7H. The strongest and a common QTL effect for root, shoot and heading traits was identified on chromosome 7H at the putative region of Vrn-H3 gene. Later, we have established PCR based gene specific marker HvVrnH3 revealing polymorphism for early heading Vrn-H3 allele in Cheri and late heading allele vrn-H3 in ICB181160. Genotyping of these alleles revealed a clear co-segregation of early heading Vrn-H3 allele with lower root and shoot attributes, while late heading vrn-H3 allele with more TIL and higher root biomass suggesting a primary insight on the function of Vrn-H3 gene beyond flowering. Genetic interactions of vernalization genes Vrn-H3 with Vrn-H2 and Vrn-H1 also suggested the major role of Vrn-H3 alleles in determining root and shoot trait variations in barley. We believe, these data provide an opportunity for further research to test a precise significance of early heading on yield components and root associated sustainability in crops like barley and wheat.

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As rice is an important staple food globally, research for development and enhancement of its nutritional value it is an imperative task. Identification of nutrient enriched rice germplasm and exploiting them for breeding programme is the easiest way to develop better quality rice. In this study, we analyzed 113 aromatic rice germplasm in order to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) underpinning nutrition components and determined by measuring the normal frequency distribution for Fe, Zn, amylose, and protein content in those rice germplasm. Comparatively, the germplasm Radhuni pagal, Kalobakri, Thakurbhog (26.6 ppm) and Hatisail exhibited the highest mean values for Fe (16.9 ppm), Zn (34.1 ppm), amylose (26.6 ppm) and protein content (11.0 ppm), respectively. Moreover, a significant linear relationship (R 2 = 0.693) was observed between Fe and Zn contents. Cluster analysis based on Mahalanobis D 2 distances revealed four major clusters of 113 rice germplasm, with cluster III containing a maximum 37 germplasm and a maximum inter-cluster distance between clusters III and IV. The 45 polymorphic SSRs and four trait associations exhibited eight significant quantitative trait loci (QTL) located on eight different chromosomes using composite interval mapping (CIM). The highly significant QTL (variance 7.89%, LOD 2.02) for protein content (QTL.pro.1) was observed on chromosome 1 at 94.9cM position. Also, four QTLs for amylose content were observed with the highly significant QTL.amy.8 located on chromosome 8 exhibiting 7.2% variance with LOD 1.83. Only one QTL (QTL.Fe.9) for Fe content was located on chromosome 9 (LOD 1.24), and two (QTL.Zn.4 and QTL.Zn.5) for Zn on chromosome 4 (LOD 1.71) and 5 (LOD 1.18), respectively. Overall, germplasm from clusters III and IV might offer higher heterotic response with the identified QTLs playing a significant role in any rice biofortification breeding program and released with development of new varieties.

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Abstract:As grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) is rarely produced in Bangladesh because of unavailability of improved varieties, so this study was designed to solve this problem through evaluating the effects of hormonal combination for the duration of in vitro micro propagation of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) from shoot tips and nodal segments. Firstly, surface sterilization process was carried out by using HgCl 2 (mercuric chlorite) at 0.1% for 3 min and best result was found. During establishment stage, explants were cultured on MS (Murashige and Skoog) basal medium supplemented with BAP (6-benzylamino purine) 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mg/l and NAA (β-naphthalene acetic acid). 0.1mg/l where MS+ BAP 1.0 mg/l + NAA 0.1mg/l displayed best potential result. During shoot multiplication stage, BAP 2.0 and 3.0 mg/l and NAA 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 mg/l and their combination were used and highest number of proliferated shoots was obtained from MS+ BAP 3.0 mg/l + NAA 0.2 mg/l. For rooting stage, NAA 0.5 and 1.0 mg/l and IBA (Indol-3-butyric acid) 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 mg/l were used and tested. The highest rooting percentage, number of roots per shoot and root length found in MS+ 0.5 mg/l NAA + IBA 1.0 mg/l. Finally, neo-formed plantlets were transferred into pots containing peat moss and sand (1:1 v/v) and potential growth of these plantlets in environment indicates that through using the adequate amount of hormonal combination could give a better solution for the improvement and availability of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) for Bangladeshi farmers.