<div>Though breeding for drought resistance is complicated due to the many processes involved and their interaction with the environment, availability of precise, cheap and easy to apply selection tool is critical. The present study quantified the response of potato genotypes to drought and identified potential morpho-physiological traits that are useful for selection of drought tolerant genotypes. The study assessed sixty genotypes under two irrigation regimes: fully watered non-stress and terminal drought, where the irrigation water supply to the crop was withheld after 50 % flowering to induce post-flowering stress. Measurements for various morpho-physiological, yield and quality related traits were taken following the potato crop trait ontology. The post-flowering stress induced in this study caused a tuber yield reduction of 33.13% compared with the non-stressed treatment. The genotypes responded differently in tuber yielding potential to the drought. This differential tuber yield response to drought was associated with up and downward regulation of multiple traits related to drought adaptation in potatoes. Drought caused downward regulation on trait responses such as harvest index, leaf area and specific leaf area. Plant height, aboveground biomass and relative water content of leaf contributed negatively for tuber yield under stressed condition. Therefore, the selection attributes identified from this study could help the potato breeding program in the country to develop climate resilient potato varieties.</div>

<div>Morpho-Physiological Traits of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) for Post-Flowering Drought Resistance</div>

Background: Recently, multipurpose and biomass canes have become important in breeding. However, biomass sampling is limited in early generation selection. The surrogate traits that represent biomass performance need to be established, especially using non-destructive sampling. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the correlation between agronomic and physiological traits and the biomass of a diverse set of sugarcane genotypes under different drought durations.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: The experiment was conducted under field conditions and arranged in a split plot in a randomized complete block design with four replications. The main plot was represented by three drought durations: no water stress, short-term drought and long-term drought and the subplot consisted of six sugarcane genotypes. Samples were collected at 3, 6, 8 and 12 months after transplanting to determine biomass and nondestructive agronomic and physiological traits. A simple correlation was used to determine the relationship between biomass and physiological and agronomic traits.&nbsp; 
 
Result: In both field capacity and long drought conditions, 3 months after transplanting, there was a positive correlation between canopy height and biomass and between green leaf number and biomass. The non-destructive leaf area index was a trait that contributed to biomass at 6 months after transplanting under non-water stress conditions. At 8 months after transplanting, a positive relationship between canopy height and biomass was found under short drought and long drought conditions and green leaf number was also related to biomass under field capacity conditions. Biomass at the harvesting stage contributed to canopy width in sugarcane under field capacity conditions. Non-destructive traits in this experiment, such as canopy height and green leaf number, could be used as indirect measurements to reflect the biomass performance under field capacity and long drought conditions at the tillering and physiological maturity phases. For the elongation phase, the non-destructive leaf area index was an altered characteristic that indirectly determined biomass. This information will be useful as an alternative measurement to indicate biomass in the breeding program for drought resistance at the early growth stage.&nbsp;

Association of Agronomic, Physiological Traits and Biomass of a Diverse Set of Sugarcane Genotypes under Varied Early Season Droughts

Background: Productive, reproductive, hematological and plasma biochemical traits have been shown to be affected by an extensive management system. 
 
Methods: Omani and Sudani (Anafi) camel breeds and their Hybrid bred in Riyadh region under an extensive management system for monitoring the number of services per pregnancy, gestation period, lactation period and daily milk production in addition to analysis of hematological and plasma biochemical traits. 
 
Result: The study explored the lactation period, daily milk production (kg), services per pregnancy and gestation period in addition to the hematological and plasma biochemical traits of Omani, Sudani camel breeds and their Hybrid animals. The results revealed significant differences in several key blood cell indices, suggesting variations in the physiological characteristics of these groups. The number of services per pregnancy was significantly higher in Omani and Sudani camel breeds if compared to their Hybrid camel group. The Omani and Sudani groups generally showed higher values for RBC-related parameters (RBC, PCV, Hb), while the Hybrid group exhibited higher granulocyte counts. The results revealed significant differences in several key metabolic indicators, suggesting variations in their physiological and metabolic states. The findings indicate distinct biochemical profiles across the Omani, Sudani and their Hybrid camel groups. The Hybrid group consistently showed a higher total protein and GGT, while the Sudanese group had higher glucose and LDH. The Omani group, in contrast, had the highest urea levels but lower values for several other parameters, including glucose and liver enzymes. It could be concluded that physiological, hematological and plasma biochemical traits might differ due to physiological traits and camel breeds.

Physiological and Biochemical Traits of Omani and Sudani Camel Breeds and their Hybrid under Extensive Management System in Saudi Arabia

<div>Background: Drought is the critical abiotic stress constraining the productivity of maize and lack of germplasm possessing drought tolerance results in low maize productivity in Kashmir. Because only 15% of the land in Kashmir Valley is irrigated and 85% of the land is rainfed, maize landrace evaluation for drought desirable traits becomes important.</div>

<div> 
Methods:&nbsp;To identify elite genotypes for drought tolerance, seventy maize landraces designated as K-L 1 to K-L 70 from Kashmir were evaluated for morpho-physiological traits: shoot height, shoot biomass, root depth, root biomass allocation, shoot to total biomass, root to total biomass, relative water content, canopy temperature, cell membrane stability and chlorophyll content.&nbsp;</div>

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Result:&nbsp;A significant decrease in root and shoot traits, relative water content, cell membrane stability, chlorophyll content and a significant increase in canopy temperature was recorded under drought conditions. The evaluation led to identifying landraces exhibiting desirable traits for drought tolerance that would prove useful for further crop improvement.</div>

Drought Stress-induced Impact on Morpho-physiological Traits in Maize Landraces of Kashmir

Background: Blackgram is one of the important short duration pulse crop which is sensitive to high temperatures. The rising global temperatures are threatening the yield of blackgram by altering the physiological processes at cellular level. Keeping this in view, the present investigation was carried out for better understanding of genotypic variability and the physiological mechanisms governing heat stress tolerance which can help in identifying heat tolerant blackgram genotypes that can yield better under climate change scenarios.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: 30 blackgram genotypes selected from temperature induction response technique were evaluated for physiological efficiency under natural high temperature conditions during summer, 2022 and 2023. Field experiment was conducted at Agricultural College Farm, Acharya N.G Ranga Agricultural University, Agricultural College, Bapatla. Physiological and yield parameters were recorded at flowering and the data were analyzed statistically and pooled. 
 
Result: Significant genetic variability was observed among the blackgram genotypes with respect to all the physiological traits under high temperature stress conditions. Among the 30 genotypes tested for thermotolerance, the genotypes TBG-129, PU-1804, LBG-1015, PU-31 and TBG-104 were found to withstand high temperature stress at reproductive stage by maintaining higher total chlorophyll, carotenoids, chlorophyll stability index, total biomass production, cooler canopies resulting into higher canopy temperature depression, less membrane injury index values and higher yield. Correlation analysis revealed a strong positive correlation for all the physiological traits with seed yield except membrane injury index under heat stress conditions. The PCA results revealed considerable variability among the traits accounting for 82.65% of total variability. The genotypes TBG-129, PU-1804, LBG-1015 and TBG-104 can be potentially used as donors in the breeding programmes for the development of heat tolerant genotypes.

Variation in Physiological Traits of Blackgram (Vigna mungo L.) Genotypes under High Temperature Stress

<div>Background: Blackgram is one of the most important pulse crop in India and it is being affected by a number of insect pests from seedling stage to maturity. Among them whitefly is an important insect pest that transmit the viral disease, yellow mosaic virus (YMV), which is a major disease resulting in severe yield losses accounting for about 70% and infection at early stages may result in complete failure of the crop causing huge loss to the farmers economically. To overcome the losses due to this important disease in blackgram, study of host plant resistance to whiteflies, thereby minimizing the losses due to YMV disease is of great importance. The trichome density plays an important role as a morphological anti-feedant which reduces the pest attack and subsequently lowers the disease incidence and the plants with high trichome density showed less YMV symptom. The morpho-physiological and biochemical traits play an important role in host plant resistance against YMV disease through insect vector resistance and hence, the study was undertaken. 
 
Mathods: A field experiment was conducted during rabi 2017-18 and 2018-19 at RARS, Lam, Guntur in a randomized block design with eight blackgram varieties and replicated thrice under receding soil moisture condition. The experiment was conducted using eight blackgram varieties (LBG 787, GBG 1, TBG 104, LBG 884, LBG 806, LBG 808, LBG 623 and LBG 752) obtained from RARS Lam, Guntur and the variety LBG 623 was considered as a susceptible check. The estimation of sugars, phenols, tannins, trichome density and SCMR was done at vegetative and reproductive stages of crop growth. 
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Result: A significant variation was observed among the varieties for all the traits observed at vegetative and reproductive growth stages during both rabi 2017-18 and 2018-19. The total sugar content of the blackgram varieties varied from 25.16 to 49.82 mgg-1 FW; the leaf phenolic content values ranged from 10.26 to 23.55 mg g-1 FW and the tannins content of the dried leaf samples ranged from 0.014 to 0.052 mgg-1 DW. The trichome density of the blackgram varieties varied from 12.91 to 74.59/cm2 of leaf area and the SCMR values ranged from 24.21 to 55.17. Higher seed yield was recorded in the variety LBG 884 followed by GBG1 and the lower seed yield was recorded in the variety LBG 623 during rabi 2017-18 and 2018-19. The YMV resistant varieties showed relatively higher phenolic, tannins content and trichome density and lower total sugar content in the leaf. The total sugar content showed a significant negative correlation with the seed yield. The SCMR value was significantly lower in the susceptible varieties of blackgram with higher disease scores.</div>

​Study of Morpho-physiological and Biochemical Traits for Resistance to Yellow Mosaic Virus (YMV) in Blackgram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper] Varieties

Background: Foliar application of macro and micronutrients plays a vital role in improving plant growth and physiological processes, especially in rainfed conditions where nutrient availability is limited. Rice (Oryza sativa L.), a staple crop, requires an adequate supply of essential nutrients for optimal growth and productivity. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of foliar application of macro and micronutrients on the growth and physiological traits of rice grown under rainfed conditions. 
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Methods: Research was carried out at the Student&rsquo;s instructional farm, Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Ayodhya, India, during the Kharif season usingrandomized block design with nine treatments and three replications on the rice variety Sahbhagi Dhan. Treatments included foliar application of KCl (0.5%, 1.0%), MgSO4&nbsp;(1.0%, 2.0%), boric acid (0.3%, 0.6%) and salicylic acid (0.25%, 0.5%), applied twice during the vegetative and grain filling stages. Data were recorded on growth parameters such as plant height, number of tillers plant-1&nbsp;and dry weight plant-1, as well as physiological traits including relative water content, chlorophyll, proline, catalase and peroxidase content at 30, 60 and 90 days after transplanting. 
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Result: Study showed that foliar application of macro and micronutrients significantly influenced the growth and physiological traits of rice. Among the treatments, 1.0% MgSO4&nbsp;led to the most notable improvements. Statistical analysis confirmed the significance of foliar nutrients application for several traits at the 5% probability level. The findings suggest that foliar nutrient application enhances rice yield by supporting plant metabolic processes and enzyme activation, ultimately improving vegetative growth and productivity. 
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Impact of Foliar Application of Macro and Micro Nutrients on Growth and Physiological Traits of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Grown under Rainfed Condition

Background: The current investigation was carried out in the year 2021-22 at Dryland Agriculture Research Station (DARS), Budgam. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications in field and completely randomized design (CRD) in vitro conditions for evaluating different traits of genotypes. DUS characterization was conducted as per the DUS testing guidelines by Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Act, Authority, Descriptors for rajmash (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) GOI, New Delhi [reproduced from Plant Variety Journal of India. Vol.1 (1), 2007]. 
 
Methods: The observations were recorded on 18 DUS characters including morphological and quality attributes and physiological characters. For all the features studied, the analysis of variance for morpho-physiological and qualitative attributes found significant differences, providing adequate chance to select the genotypes with desired qualities. DUS traits were examined in accordance with the descriptor, &ldquo;state&rdquo; and &ldquo;code&rdquo; provided for each character.&nbsp; 
 
Result: The observed range of variation were recorded for different traits for different genotypes. Cluster analysis for morphological, maturity, yield and quality characteristics arranged the rajmash genotypes into 11 clusters, as per Mahalanobis D2 analysis using Tocher&rsquo;s method with cluster III having the maximum number of genotypes (8), followed by cluster I, II, IV and V with 6 genotypes, 2 genotypes were grouped in cluster VII and XI and the remaining clusters with 1 genotype each. Diversity analysis showed grouping of genotypes in 11 clusters, which will help in selection of genetically divergent parents for exploitation in hybridization programme and would constitute an essential gene pool for future breeding programme.

DUS Characterization of Rajmash (Phaseolus vulgare L.) Genotypes for Morpho-physiological Traits under Rainfed Conditions

Background: With the advancement of storage period the crispness or firmness of greenhouse cucumber gradually decreased and usually had a shelf life counting from only 3 to 5 days at the ambient conditions. 
 
Methods: This experiment was conducted to evaluate the status of quality deterioration during post-harvest handling of different genotypes of greenhouse cucumber under ambient conditions. The basis of evaluation was based on the analysis of several physiological and qualitative traits including, physiological loss in weight (%), firmness (Newton), total soluble solids (&deg;Brix), titratable acidity (%), total chlorophyll and total carotenoid content (mg/100 mg fresh weight). 
 
Result: Among cucumber inbred lines, the genotype, BRGCU-4 was observed with minimum moisture loss and highest firmness values, while the BRPCU-8 found to be best in retaining highest TSS and acidity and BRPCU-3 exhibited highest chlorophyll content during the storage period of a week. Moreover, hybrids of BRGCU-4 &times; BRPCU-6, followed by BRGCU-4 &times; BRPCU-8 were much better in retaining moistures and firmness, while the BRPCU-3 &times; BRPCU-6 hybrids recorded for highest chlorophyll andcarotenoid content. Therefore, these genotypes were found to be suitable for transportation, marketing and storage at ambient conditions.

Assessment of Physiological and Qualitative Traits of Cucumber Genotypes under Ambient Conditions

Background: The cultivation of Bambara groundnut in arid zones, such as the Sahelian regions of Cameroon, has received scant attention despite its nutritional and agronomic potential. The Sahelian regions of Cameroon are classified as part of the arid zones of the world, characterized by a rainy season of approximately three to four months in duration. Nevertheless, the cultivation period of Bambara groundnut is approximately four to six months, a duration that hinders its cultivation. The objective of this study is to assess the impact of water stress on the morpho-physiological traits of select Bambara groundnut accessions cultivated in the Sahelian regions of Cameroon. 
 
Methods: The experiment was executed in accordance with the fisher bloc design, employing four replicates. The water stress was induced using distilled water in pot experiments to monitor thirteen (13) morphological traits and six (06) physiological traits. 
 
Result: The results demonstrated significant variability among the accessions under water stress. Accession V2 exhibited the greatest resistance, characterized by diminished leaf areas and reduced stomatal number. The findings demonstrated a consistent increase in relative water content, accompanied by a decrease in water loss and transpiration. This observation suggests a reduced response to stress. The genetic material of the accession exhibited a range of morphological responses. The considerable impact of water stress was evident on the 100-pod weight produced per accession. Accession V1 exhibited a significant response to water stress, resulting in the production of the smallest pods (22 g). Accession V2 demonstrated the least susceptibility to the 100-pod weight (26 g), exhibiting the highest weight among the other accessions. The evaluation of the 100 seeds&rsquo; weight revealed that accession V2 exhibited a significantly higher seed weight compared to the other accessions. The grain yield in the accession V2 was higher for both sites (65.39&plusmn;1.15 and 65.72&plusmn;0.50). Principal component analysis demonstrated a positive correlation between stress and the weights of 100 pods and seeds (r = 0.956). The results obtained underscore the capacity of accession V2 to adapt to the environmental conditions prevalent in the Sahelian regions of Cameroon. 
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