Transcription factors (TFs) are an important target in understanding the regulation of plant responses to environmental stress including moisture stress. Members of the same TF family may differ in their response to moisture stress. The expression pattern could vary between shoot and root tissues depending on level of moisture stress. A set of five rarely studied TF families viz., MADS-box (MCM1, AGAMOUS, DEFICIENS and SRF), Auxin Responsive Factor (ARF), Heme Activator Protein 2 (HAP2), Multiprotein Bridging Factor (MBF) and Homeobox (HB) together having 20 members in sorghum, were expression analyzed through quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) in well watered and moisture stressed shoot and root tissues of sorghum using SYBR Green® to quantify dsDNA synthesis. Fluorescence values were used to calculate PCR efficiency by using LinRegPCR. The PTSb00029.1 and PTSb00033

Study was conducted to isolate and characterize Rhizobia from root nodules of pigeon pea from Vijayapur, Kalaburgi and Bagalkot districts of northern regions of Karnataka. Ten Rhizobial isolates and reference strain PPM35B were subjected for nodulation test. All the isolates showed positive result for nodulation. The number of nodules was ranging from 12 to 14.5 per plant. All these isolates were also subjected for functional characterization. The amount of IAA, GA production and ACC deaminase activity by different rhizobial isolates ranged from 16.60 to 22.85 g IAA/ ml of broth, 11.00 to 14.43 g/25ml of broth and 44.5 to 73.5 nmoles of α-ketobutyrate/mg/h of broth respectively. The diameter of P, Zn and Si solubilization by the rhizobial isolates was ranged from 4.5 to 10.3 mm, 9.5 to 20.5 mm and 5.5 to 6.5 mm, respectively. These isolates were further subjected for morphological and biochemical characterization. All the isolates were found to be rod shaped and gram negative. All the isolates were positive for citrate utilization, catalase, urease, oxidase, acid and gas production tests whereas negative for Voges proskauer's and indole production test.

Field experiments were conducted during kharif 2013 and 2014 at Agricultural Research Station, Mugad, University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Dharwad (Karnataka), to determine the response of zinc applicationon on growth, zinc content and grain yield of rice genotypes and also studied correlation between yield and zinc content. The experiment was comprised of 20 genotypes and three treatments viz., T1: Control (no zinc); T2: Soil application of ZnSO4 (20 kg ha-1) T3– Foliar Spray of ZnSO4 @ 0.5% at 50% flowering, laid out in factorial randomized block design with two replications. The data revealed that application of ZnSO4 recorded significantly higher plant height (85.9 cm), leaf area (764.5 cm-2 plant-1), number of tillers (95.4 m-1), total dry weight (26.1 g plant-1), panicle weight(15.3 g plant-1), number of panicles (81.6 m-1) and grain yield(3966 kg ha-1) over the foliar application of Zn and control . However number of grains panicle-1 (97.8 panicle-1), test weight (23.7 g), shoot and seed zinc content (15.9 and 21.2 ppm, respectively) were increased with foliar application of Zn. Correlation studies classified the genotypes as high seed zinc content (> 21 ppm) and low seed zinc content genotypes ( less than 21 ppm). High and low seed zinc content genotypes showed negative correlation with yield and yield attributes. However, shoot zinc content was positively correlated with yield.

Iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC) under calcareous and alkaline soils is a significant abiotic stress affecting the growth and yield of peanut. In this study, the genomic regions governing IDC tolerance were mapped using a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from TMV 2 (susceptible to IDC) and TMV 2-NLM (tolerant to IDC), which was phenotyped during the rainy seasons of 2019 and 2020 in the iron-deficient calcareous plots. The best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) values for IDC tolerance traits like visual chlorotic rating (VCR), and SPAD chlorophyll meter reading (SCMR) were used for QTL analysis along with a genetic map carrying 700 GBS-derived SNP, AhTE and SSR markers. In total, 11 and 12 main-effect QTLs were identified for VCR and SCMR, respectively. Among them three QTLs were major with the phenotypic variance explained (PVE) of 10.3-34.4% for VCR, and two QTL were major for SCMR with PVE of 11.5-11.7%. A region (159.3-178.3 cM) on chromosome Ah13 carrying two QTLs (one each for VCR and SCMR) was consistent with the previous report. A SNP marker, Ah14_138037990 identified from single marker analysis for VCR was located in the intronic region of the gene Arahy.QA0C1, which is important for protein-binding. Overall, this study identified new QTLs and also validated QTL for IDC tolerance. These genomic resources could be useful for genomics-assisted breeding of peanut for IDC tolerance.

Iron de ciency chlorosis (IDC) under calcareous and alkaline soils is a signi cant abiotic stress affecting the growth and yield of peanut. In this study, the genomic regions governing IDC tolerance were mapped using a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from TMV 2 (susceptible to IDC) and TMV 2-NLM (tolerant to IDC), which was phenotyped during the rainy seasons of 2019 and 2020 in the iron-de cient calcareous plots. The best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) values for IDC tolerance traits like visual chlorotic rating (VCR), and SPAD chlorophyll meter reading (SCMR) were used for QTL analysis along with a genetic map carrying 700 GBS-derived SNP, AhTE and SSR markers. In total, 11 and 12 maineffect QTLs were identi ed for VCR and SCMR, respectively. Among them three QTLs were major with the phenotypic variance explained (PVE) of 10.3-34.4% for VCR, and two QTL were major for SCMR with 3 cM) on chromosome Ah13 carrying two QTLs (one each for VCR and SCMR) was consistent with the previous report. A SNP marker, Ah14_138037990 identi ed from single marker analysis for VCR was located in the intronic region of the gene Arahy.QA0C1, which is important for protein-binding. Overall, this study identi ed new QTLs and also validated QTL for IDC tolerance. These genomic resources could be useful for genomics-assisted breeding of peanut for IDC tolerance.