The investigations were carried out with ten genetically diverse maize varieties and all possible crosses between them, including reciprocals, at two agro-climatically different locations in Punjab (India). The materials were studied in a split-split plot design with plant population level of 59200, 74000 and 98700 plants per hectare. The variances due to reciprocal cross effects were significant for plant height, ear height and ear girth in the pooled analysis and the effects were quite consistent over plant population levels and locations. The data on days to silk were recorded only at one location and highly significant reciprocal effects were observed. The cytoplasmic effects, however, did not depend on the cytoplasm alone but also on the interaction of genotype with cytoplasm. The reciprocal effects were more distinct in early × late combinations of varieties than in early × early or late × late combinations. Early parents when used as female tended to reduce plant and ear height and days to silk, indicating a common developmental pathway for these three traits. Since the cytoplasmic effects for these characters were not associated with significant effects on yield, the results can be of practical significance. The cytoplasmic effects for days to silk were maintained even in the F2 and back-crosses. These findings encourage the use of particular cytoplasm in developing early maturing varieties.
The current study was undertaken to identify the sources of tolerance to bruchid in cowpea, by screening a set of germplasm accessions as a source for natural resistance. A total of 103 diverse accessions of cowpea were evaluated for resistance to Callosobruchus maculatus Fab. under no-choice artificial infestation conditions. Significant differences among the cowpea accessions were observed for oviposition, adult emergence, exit holes and per cent seed weight loss (PSWL) caused by the bruchid infestation. The accessions showed variation in physical seed parameters viz., colour, shape, testa texture, length, width and seed hardness. Among the seed biochemical parameters studied, per cent sugar content ranged from 0.322 (IC330950) to 1.493 (IC249137), and per cent phenol content ranged from 0.0326 (EC390261) to 1.081 (EC528423). Correlation studies indicated that PSWL had significant positive correlation (r = 0.335) with exit holes, oviposition (r = 0.219), adult emergence (r = 0.534) and seed roundness (r = 0.219). Adult emergence had a significant negative correlation with seed hardness (r = −0.332). Correlation with biochemical parameters indicated that PSWL had a significant positive correlation (r = 0.231) with sugar content and a significant negative correlation with phenol content (r = −0.219). None of the accessions were found to be immune to bruchid infestation. However, out of studied accessions, EC528425 and EC528387 were identified as resistant based on PSWL and moderately resistant based on adult emergence. These resistance sources of cowpea germplasm can be used as potential donors for development of bruchid tolerant/resistant cultivars.
The north-western Himalaya is one of the rich repositories of wheat genetic resources because of the preponderance of locally developed traditional crop varieties owing to high agro-climatic heterogeneity and local socio-cultural diversity. In the present study, 100 wheat landraces of this diversity rich region were evaluated for variability in physical parameters of seed to understand the basis of resistance against rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae. The evaluation was based on the parameter of growth index (GI) of S. oryzae in different landraces. GI was correlated with different quantitative physical seed parameters, viz. hardness, length, width, length × width, test weight and qualitative parameter seed colour were studied to work out if these were related to resistance/susceptibility. Based on the parameter of GI, the six landraces viz. IC266831, IC266872, IC393109, IC392578, IC444217 and IC589276 were identified as resistant. Correlation coefficients between GI of S. oryzae and physical parameters of wheat landraces indicated that GI had significant positive relation with length × width (r = +0.573) and test weight (r = +0.549) indicated that small seeds confer resistance to S. oryzae. Also significant negative relation (r = −0.457) with GI of S. oryzae and seed hardness, indicated that hard seeds were relatively more resistant to S. oryzae.
A total of 52 accessions of cowpea including two checks (Pusa Komal and Local variety) were screened for resistance to pulse beetle, <italic>Callosobruchus chinensis</italic> under no-choice artificial infestation conditions. There were significant differences among the accessions in terms of number of eggs laid, development period, adult emergence, number of emergence holes, weight loss and growth index of <italic>C. chinensis</italic> on cowpea. Based on growth indices, Pusa Komal (0.04081) and IC328859 (0.04112) were resistant while IC106033 (0.06819) and Local variety (0.06816) were most susceptible to <italic>C. chinensis</italic>. Of the 52 accessions screeened, 11 accessions were resistant, 15 moderately resistant, 13 moderately susceptible, 8 susceptible and 5 were highly susceptible to <italic>C. chinensis.</italic> Correlation between growth index and growth parameters of pulse beetle on different cowpea accessions indicated that growth index had significant negative relationship with mean development period (r = -0.68) and significant positive relationship with adult emergence(r = +0.80). Adult emergence had a positive relationship with weight loss (r = +0.22).
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