<div>Background: Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is one of the more important cultivated crops in the Mediterranean region, where drought and high temperatures during the grain filling stage are the main abiotic stresses limiting its production. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of the spike type on the grain yield, thousand kernels weight and some grain filling parameters. 
 
Methods: The present study was conducted on the experimental site of station ITGC in Setif, Algeria, eight Barley genotypes were tested during two cropping seasons (2017/2018 and 2018/2019) in a randomized block design with 3 replications. 
 
Result: The results proved significant effect of genotypes and spike types on the grain filling parameters, but no significant effect of spike type on the thousand kernels weight during the both cropping seasons. In addition, the spike type registered significant effect just during the second cropping season. Among the genotypes with 6 rows spike type the local genotype Fouarra have high grain yield (97.79 Q/ha) with a deviation of 37.57% from the total mean of the genotypes with 6 row spike type. Many studies proved that in 6-row barleys, the magnitude of contribution of grain number in grain yield was higher than contribution of grain weight. The grain growth of genotypes studied follows a sigmoid curve, during the first season (2017-2018) the duration of grain filling ranged between 24 days for Saida 183 and 28 days for Rihane 03, for the group of genotypes with 6 rows. In addition, the duration of grain filling for the 2 row genotypes varied from 24 days for G4 to 28 days for genotype G2. During the second season (2018-2019) and for the genotypes with 6 rows, the duration of the grain filling varied from 21 days for the Saida 183 and 26 days for the genotype Fouarra, for the genotypes with 2 rows the duration of grain filling ranged from 21 days for the genotype G2 to 26 days for the genotype G3. The correlation analysis between the grain filling parameters, GY and TKW demonstrate a significant and positive correlation between TKW and MGW and GFR (r = 0.82* and r = 0.84*, respectively). Overall, the genotype variation in grain filling velocity and duration was responsible for the difference in grain yield and the improvement in grain yield was achieved by the increasing in velocity or duration of grain filling. &nbsp;</div>

The Effect of Spike Row Type on the Grain Yield and Grain Filling Parameters in Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Genotypes under Semi-arid Conditions

<div>Rice (Oryza sativa L.)&nbsp; is the world&rsquo;s single most important staple food source for over half of the world&rsquo;s population, whose demand is expected to increase as human population increases almost exponentially every year. There are different kinds of abiotic and biotic stresses that a rice plant endures. Among the different forms of environmental stresses, drought hampers the production of rice grains notably. The reality of climate change is so stark that more and more droughts are expected to be evident in the distant future. Water, being a requisite for rice cultivation, is gradually becoming a highly limited resource across the earth. In comparison to other cereal crops, rice is more sensitive to the soil water content. Decrease of soil water content or the unavailability of water triggers drought stress in rice. Therefore, the management of drought stress for the growth of rice plants is essential as even moderate stress during reproductive growth may result in a drastic reduction of grain yield. The distinct changes brought about by drought stress not only range from morphological to physiological changes but also from biochemical to molecular changes as well. A number of starch synthesis related enzymes like granule bound starch synthase I (GBSSI), soluble starch synthase IIa (SSIIa) play important role in grain filling, which are also affected by limited water under drought environment. Due to water scarcity, the rate of photosynthesis decreases, as a result of which dry matter accumulation decreases, which ultimately affects grain filling in rice. Drought causes delayed flowering as well as spikelet sterility, followed by low grain yield during harvesting. The prevalence of drought over longer periods causes reactive oxygen species to form within the rice plants which subsequently denatures proteins and nucleic acids. In many places where drought continues for longer periods, rice plants die resulting in huge loss of grain yields. The effective strategies that have been adopted involves-the development of stable drought tolerant rice varieties through plant breeding programs, the development of short duration rice cultivars which have short growing cycle and harvesting periods that may help the plant to escape drought, the development of rice plants having deep root system such that it can penetrate the soil to find the available moisture and water required for growth, as well as the development of transgenic drought tolerant rice plants which over express specific genes to withstand drought, are few of the effective management strategies that need special attention. Thus, it can be said that drought management for rice production is a crucial step towards food security and food production in the world. The present discussions will emphasize on the negative impact of drought in rice plants and also discuss possible key management practices that can address the existing and imminent drought related problems on rice plants.</div>

Impact of Drought Stress on Grains Filling in Rice and its Management: A Review

Background: The research was conducted to screen rice cultivars with resistance ability to high-temperature conditions and analyze the relationship between pollen viability and filled grain of native Indonesia rice cultivars.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: The rice seeds were germinated, sown into a tray and then transplanted into pots filled with sandy loam and compost 3:1. After 20% of flowering, four pots of each cultivar were kept under ambient temperature (28-32&deg;C) and the other four pots were transferred to high-temperature (33-38&deg;C) conditions. Pollen stainability and pollen germination were conducted using IKI solution and by germinating them under in vitro conditions respectively before being viewed under the light microscope. Yield characters were analyzed to obtain a relationship with pollen viability.&nbsp; 
 
Result: Percentage of pollen germination, filled and empty grains of rice cultivars significantly differed between the two conditions by t-test. Ciherang and Sigeudop were two resistant cultivars for high-temperature treatment, with filled grain percentage more than 85%. There was a strong relationship between pollen germination and filled grains at ambient temperature (r=0.95; p&lt;0.01) and high temperature (r=0.94; p&lt;0.01). Rice cultivars that show high pollen germination under high-temperature conditions would produce a high percentage of filled grains.

The Relationship between Pollen Viability and Filled Grains in Native Indonesian Rice Cultivars under High Temperature at Flowering Stage

<div>Background: The optimum maturity duration for maximum grain yield of non-photosensitive rice (Oryza sativa) under direct-seeded condition in the tropics was studied. Information on such studies conducted using near-isogenic rice lines are lacking. Change in yield with maturity duration was explained using yield components.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 
Methods: The experiment was conducted in the dry zone of Sri Lanka over two seasons namely dry and wet during 2021 and 2022.&nbsp; Non-photosensitive near-isogenic rice lines that are varying in maturity duration from 80 to 120 days but with 94.0% genetic uniformity were used as simple treatments in the study. Pre-germinated seeds of isogenic lines were direct-seeded in the experimental plots.&nbsp; 
 
Result: The most appropriate relationship between maturity duration and grain yield was cubic and the optimum maturity duration for the maximum grain yield was falling within 105 to 111 days in both dry and wet seasons under direct-seeded condition in non-photosensitive rice in the tropical climate. Number of panicles/m2 and number of spikelets/panicle influenced to change the grain yield of rice with the change in maturity duration.</div>

Influence of Maturity Duration on Grain Yield of Rice under Direct-seeded Condition in the Tropics

Background: Six rice genotypes, namely Rojolele, Pandan Wangi, INPARI 32, INPARI 48, Chakra Buana and M70D, along with their fifteen half diallel crosses, were tested to elucidate the genetic control underlying the inheritance of yield and maturity traits. The research aimed to study genetic variability and yield component characters of six parents of rice genotypes and 15 crossing combinations. 
&nbsp; 
Methods: Twenty-one genotypes, including parents and F1s, were planted using a randomized block design with three replications. The rice grain yield and maturity duration data were utilized for half diallel analysis using the Hayman and Griffing method-2. 
&nbsp; 
Result: The study found that whereas additive gene action controls maturity duration and grain yield per plant features and yield per plant, additive gene action predominates. The study showed that the environment affected the expression of these additive genes and that the additive gene substantially affected the inheritance of these features. Broad-sense heritability (60%) is greater than narrow-sense (12%) of grain yield. Broad-sense and narrow-sense heritability are similarly high (98%, 70%) in maturity duration. This implies that these features can be selected in the early generation using the pedigree technique. Except for grain yield per plant, the general combining ability (GCA) was more critical for maturity duration than the specific combining ability (SCA). According to this result, the research may help rice breeding programs develop early maturity and high grain yield to promote food security.

Half Diallel Analysis for Grain Yield and Maturity Duration of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) using Hayman and Griffing Method

<div style="text-align: justify;">A field experiment was conducted during winter, 2015-16 with the objective to investigate the effect of bread wheat cultivars (Abu-Ghraib3, Ibaa99, and Alfeteh) and seed priming 100, 100, 150 mg L-1 of benzyl adenine, salicylic acid, gibberellic acid (GA3), respectively, ethanolic extract of Salix Sp., water extract of Glycyrrhiza glabra and distilled water (control) on grain growth rate (GGR), effective filling period (EFP) and accelerating of physiological maturity. Randomized complete block design with three replicates was applied. GA3&times;Ibaa99 surpassed others in grain yield (7.432 tonne ha-1) when gave the highest grain weight (45.13 mg grain-1) and GGR (1.5 mg grain-1 day-1) with the fastest time to start and end EFP (5 and 34 days), which mean it reached to physiological maturity earlier. It can be conclude that seed priming led to accelerating the physiological maturity with increase grain yield through enhancing GGR and EFP in bread wheat.</div>

Effect of seed priming on grain growth rate and effective filling period in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars

Nine genotypes of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) &nbsp;C 306 &nbsp;PBW 154, PBW 175, PBW 396, WH 542, PBW519, PBW520, PBW527 and PBW528 were screened at seedling stage for water stress tolerance at mild (-0.20MPa) and moderate (-0.40 MPa) water potential. Water stress induced by polyethylene glycol. Dehydrins with molecular mass of 24Kd was observed in C306, PBW 396 and PBW 528. The dehydrin bands were absent in PBW154, PBW175, WH542, PBW519 and PBW520. The selected &nbsp;tolerant and susceptible genotypes differing in their drought tolerance viz.C306,PBW154,PBW519,PBW527 were subjected to soil water deficit stress at two developmental stages in field conditions . The leaves of genotype C306 and PBW 527 accumulated dehydrins of Mw 24Kda and 53Kda C306, PBW527 at tillering as well as anthesis stage water deficit stress. The genotypes C306, PBW 527 have lower value of drought susceptibility index showing more tolerance to water stress as compared to &nbsp; PBW 154, PBW 519.

Effect of water deficit on accumulation of proteins in wheat&nbsp;seedlings correlates with grain filling

<div style="text-align: justify;">A short duration high yielding barnyard millet culture ACM 10145 was developed at the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Agricultural College and Research Institute, TNAU, Madurai. The culture inflorescence is pyramidal shape, incurved compact raceme and yield on an average 1700 kg/ha and 2500 kg/ha grain under rain-fed and irrigated condition which was 22 % and 17.6 % improved yield over VL 172 and CO (Kv) 2 respectively.. The grains are yellowish grey, oval and bold in size (1.09 mm) with high iron content (16 mg/100g). The white rice recovery of the milled rice and good taste that well suits the consumer&rsquo;s preferences and acceptance. The culture recorded the quality and average yield of fodder is also better than local check CO (Kv) 2.</div>

A short duration high yielding culture - Barnyard millet ACM 10145

<div>Background: Micronutrient formulation is a liquid mixture of micronutrients which can be used as a fertilizer. It is a mixture of two solutions viz., solution A and solution B. Solution A is a mixture of zinc sulphate (50 gL-1), boric acid (10 gL-1), copper sulphate (20 gL-1), manganous sulphate (0.5 gL-1), ferrous sulphate (10 gL-1) and ammonium molybdate (0.5 gL-1) whereas solution B is an organic acid which act as a chelate. The mixture can be diluted to specific concentrations for application. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of micronutrient formulation as seed treatment and foliar nutrition.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: The study was conducted at College of Agriculture, Padannakkad, Kerala Agricultural University and Regional Agricultural Research Station, Pilicode during 2018&ndash;19. The investigation was carried out in three parts: (i) standardization of micronutrient formulation for cowpea (ii) seed treatment study (iii) field experiment. The proportion of mixing micronutrient formulation and the duration for seed treatment was standardized in experiment I. In experiment II, a seed treatment study was carried out in a completely randomised design with seven treatments and three replications which included seed treatment with micronutrient formulation @ 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1, 1.5 and 2 percent as T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6 respectively. T7 (seed treatment with water) was the control. Three, a field experiment was carried out in randomized block design (factorial) with twelve treatments and three replications. The treatment consisting of combination of four levels of seed treatment - factor A [no seed treatment (S1), seed treatment with rhizobium (S2), seed treatment with best concentration from experiment 1 (S3) and second best seed treatment from experiment 1 (S4)]&nbsp;and three levels of foliar application of micronutrient - factor B [no foliar application (F1), one foliar application at 15 DAS (F2) and two foliar applications at 15 and 30 DAS (F3)]. 
 
Result: Through lab experiments, solution B was standardized and the formulation was developed by mixing solution A and solution B in the ratio 1:2. Duration for seed treatment was also standardized as 6 hours. Thus micronutrient formulation was standardized. In seed treatment study, seeds treated with 2% micronutrient formulation (T6) showed highest plant height at three leaf stage (24.23 cm) and seedling vigour index (2423). In the field experiment seed treatment with 2% micronutrient formulation (S3), foliar spray at 15 and 30 days after sowing (F3) and their interaction (S3F3) was found to be highly effective to the crop in terms of plant height, stem diameter, number of pods per plant, pod weight per plant, grain yield and nutrient content in grain. These results clearly indicate the role of micronutrient formulation in enhancing the growth, yield and nutrient content of cowpea.</div>

Evaluation of Micronutrient Mixture as Seed Treatment and Foliar Nutrition in Grain Cowpea

<div>Background: Foxtail millet is one of the nutri-cereal foods for the people of semi arid regions. Proper nutrient management and source-sink alteration are major keys for achieving higher productivity in millets. However, potassium is not recommended to foxtail millet and the potential yield is not exploited. And also the study of source-sink alteration in foxtail millet by using plant growth regulators is meager. 
 
Methods: An experiment was conducted to study the impact of plant growth retardants viz., chlormequat chloride (CCC) and mepiquat chloride (MC) with the nutrient potassium (K2SO4 - 1%) on growth, gas exchange parameters and grain yield of foxtail millet under rainfed condition. Plant growth retardants with potassium consortium were used as foliar spray at flower initiation stage under field condition. Standard methods were used to measure the plant height, root length, number of leaves, LAD, CGR and grain yield. The photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate and leaf temperature were measured by using the instrument PPS. 
 
Result: Foliar spray of CCC (250 ppm) with 1% K2SO4 showed supremacy to enhance crop growth rate, leaf area duration, photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate and grain yield compared to other treatments. However, lowest plant height (100.7 cm) and number of leaves were observed by CCC (250 ppm) alone. Highest photosynthetic rate (26.84) and transpiration rate (17.94) were registered by CCC + K2SO4. Lowest leaf temperature of 34.1&ordm;C was registered by 1% K2SO4 compared to control (35.6&deg;C). CCC with K2SO4 recorded highest LAD value of 46.1 which is on par with K2SO4 alone (45.9). CCC with K2SO4 registered highest grain yield of 2.13 t ha-1 with increased yield of 18.3% over control. However, highest benefit cost ratio of ratio of 2.75 was recorded by 1% K2SO4 alone.</div>

​Impact of Foliar Spray of Plant Growth Retardants with Potassium on Growth Traits, Gas Exchange Parameters and Grain Yield in Foxtail Millet (Panicum italicum L.)