Publications

This chapter discusses the role of seed invigoration in crop resistance to abiotic stresses. The development of plant genotypes with high abiotic stress tolerance is a promising strategy for overcoming low crop yields in ever-changing climatic conditions and issues with food security in developed and developing countries. When planted in the field, primed seeds usually germinate quickly and evenly under stressful conditions. Osmoprimed seed improves crop performance under suboptimal growth conditions by enhancing germination, antioxidant activities, and osmolyte accumulation, reducing lipid peroxidation and damage by reactive oxygen species, and enhancing gene expression/transcription factors involved in stress signaling. Osmopriming with mannitol and hydropriming improved seedling growth and antioxidant activities and reduced lipid peroxidation in alfalfa under salt stress. Halopriming involves soaking seeds in an aerated solution of inorganic salts with a low water potential to control water imbibition and prevent radicle protrusion; the seeds are then dried to closer to their original weight.

Abstract Salinity is known to reduce chickpea yields in several regions of the world. Although ion toxicity associated with salinity leads to yield reductions in a number of other crops, its role in reducing yields in chickpea growing in saline soils is unclear. The purpose of this study was to (i) identify the phenological and yield parameters associated with salt stress tolerance and sensitivity in chickpea and (ii) identify any pattern of tissue ion accumulation that could relate to salt tolerance of chickpea exposed to saline soil in an outdoor pot experiment. Fourteen genotypes of chickpea ( Cicer arietinum L.) were used to study yield parameters, of which eight were selected for ion analysis after being grown in soil treated with 0 and 80 m m NaCl. Salinity delayed flowering and the delay was greater in sensitive than tolerant genotypes under salt stress. Filled pod and seed numbers, but not seed size, were associated with seed yield in saline conditions, suggesting that salinity impaired reproductive success more in sensitive than tolerant lines. Of the various tissues measured for concentrations of Cl − , Na + and K + , higher seed yields in saline conditions were positively correlated with higher K + concentration in seeds at the mid‐filling stage ( R 2 = 0.55), a higher K + /Na + ratio in the laminae of fully expanded young leaves ( R 2 = 0.50), a lower Na + concentration in old green leaves ( R 2 = 0.50) and a higher Cl − concentration in mature seeds. The delay in flowering was associated with higher concentrations of Na + in the laminae of fully expanded young leaves ( R 2 = 0.61) and old green leaves ( R 2 = 0.51). We conclude that although none of the ions appeared to have any toxic effect, Na + accumulation in leaves was associated with delayed flowering that in turn could have played a role in the lower reproductive success in the sensitive lines.

The article Female reproductive organs of Brassica napus are more sensitive than male to transient heat stress, written by Sheng Chen, Renu Saradadevi, Miriam S. Vidotti, Roberto Fritsche-Neto, Jose Crossa, Kadambot H. M. Siddique, Wallace A. Cowling, was originally published Online First without Open Access. After publication in volume 217: 117 the author decided to opt for Open Choice and to make the article an Open Access publication. Therefore, the copyright of the article has been changed to © The Author(s) 2021 and the article is forthwith distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Excessive intake of manganese (Mn) may cause neurological toxicity in the human body. Previous studies have shown that high phosphorus (P) fertilization can significantly increase the Mn content in wheat grain; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we investigated the effects of P fertilizer application on Mn accumulation, Mn transporters, and Mn micro-distribution in wheat at varying P fertilization rates. Results indicated that high P fertilization promoted Mn accumulation in wheat at anthesis and maturity and increased Mn localization in roots and flag-leaf nodes, particularly in the enlarged and diffuse vascular bundles of flag-leaf nodes. High P fertilization upregulated the expression of Mn transporter genes <i>TaNRAMP1</i> in roots and promoted the uptake of Mn by wheat, but it downregulated <i>TaNRAMP3</i> expression in the flag-leaf nodes and decreased the Mn transfer factor from straw to spikes at anthesis. These findings contribute valuable insights into new strategies for mitigating the risk of high Mn levels in wheat grain and understanding the interaction between phosphorus and metal elements.