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Wheat is an important cereal food crop providing key nutrients to humankind. Rusts are the most destructive pathogens of cereal crops, with the exception of rice, across the world and resistant cultivars have been widely employed to reduce the yield losses caused by them. The modern intensive monoculture of cultivars and changing climatic conditions has created congenial conditions for the emergence of new virulent races such as Ug99, which is a great concern for world food security. Conventional breeding efforts have not been effective in quickly developing new varieties with durable and broad‐spectrum resistance against the rapidly evolving rust pathogen races. However, in the last two decades, biotechnological methods such as marker‐assisted selection (MAS) and transgenic technology have provided novel strategies for enhancing resistance levels and durability in crop plants in a short span of time. Nevertheless, broad application of transgenics in agriculture is hindered by biosafety apprehensions. In recent years, improved versions of biotechnological breeding methods such as genomic selection, genome editing technologies, cisgenesis and intragenesis, RNA‐dependent DNA methylation (RdDM), agroinfiltration and reverse breeding are gaining popularity. These technologies provide a tremendous capability to manipulate crop plants more precisely than before and accelerate crop improvement efforts for sustained food production as well as overcoming safety concerns associated with food crops.

The cashew is an important nut crop cultivated in the tropical regions. It is known for its economic and nutritional value. Phenology is the study of seasonal timing of recurring events in the annual growth cycle. A generic scale such as the Biologische Bundesantalt, Bundessortenamt and Chemische Industrie (BBCH) scale defines developmentally similar growth stages of different crops and within it, more specific scales for individual species can be developed. In the current study, detailed descriptions and codes are proposed for the growth stages of cashew using a modified three‐digit scale of BBCH. Seven principal growth stages viz. bud, leaf and shoot development, inflorescence emergence, flowering, fruit development, and fruit maturity were described. A total of thirty‐seven secondary growth stages were identified and described within the seven principal growth stages. Due to the importance of phenological growth stages in crop management and crop improvement, the proposed phenological scale is expected to facilitate better adoption of cultural practices, efficient germplasm characterisation and help in studying the impact of climate change on cashew production.

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Oil content is an important yield trait in Brassica juncea (L.) Coss. Improvements to yield levels of mustard by conventional breeding methods have reached a plateau. The application of transgenic technology is an area that has not yet been explored for improving the oil content of B. juncea. In this study, the effect of overexpression of AtDGAT1 (a key gene involved in oil biosynthesis) on the seed oil content of B. juncea was investigated. For seed-specific overexpression, the gene was linked to Arabidopsis thaliana oleosin promoter and mobilized into mustard through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Transformants were selected on MS medium containing 50 mg/L kanamycin, and a transformation frequency of 10.5% was obtained. A total of 10 transgenic events were generated. Analyses of seed weight, oil content, and other yield traits in T1 transgenics showed that seed-specific overexpression of AtDGAT1 significantly improved the oil content and seed weight. The maximum oil content increase observed in the transgenic seeds was 8.3% compared with the wild-type plants. Total fatty acid content was increased from 4% to 14% in six of the seven events. However, the content of oleic and linoleic acid was reduced and, of these two, oleic acid content showed drastic reduction.