Search Results (51)

Nowadays, food traceability represents an important issue in the current context of trade agreements, which influence global food prices. Many consumers prefer to pay a higher price for a traditional cultivation regime of a certain food product that comes from a certain region, appreciating the taste of the respective foodstuff. The potato is now the world’s fourth most important food crop in terms of human consumption, after wheat, maize, and rice. In this context, 100 potato samples from the Romanian market were collected. While 68 samples came from Romania, the rest of the 32 were from abroad (Hungary, France, Greece, Italy, Germany, Egypt, and Poland). The countries selected for potato sample analysis are among the main exporters of potatoes to the Romanian market. The samples were investigated by their multi-elemental and isotopic (²H, ¹⁸O and ¹³C) fingerprints, using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) and Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS). Then, to distinguish the geographical origin, the experimental results were statistically processed using linear discriminant analysis (LDA). The best markers that emphasize Romanian potatoes were identified to be δ¹³C_bulk, δ²H_water, and Sr. Full article

Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici (Bgt), the causal agent of wheat powdery mildew, poses a significant threat to global wheat production. In this study, we identified and characterized a broad-spectrum powdery mildew resistance gene, PmL709, in a resistant cultivated emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum) accession: L709. Using bulked segregant RNA sequencing (BSR-Seq) analysis and molecular markers, PmL709 was mapped to a 1.7 cM interval on chromosome arm 2BS, flanked by markers Xdw05/YTU95-04/YTU95-06/YTU95-08/Xdw10/Xdw11 and YTU692B-094, corresponding to a 21.82–25.94 Mb physical interval (cv. Svevo), using the segregated population crossed by L709 and a susceptible durum wheat cultivar, Langdon. Referring to the origin, the resistance spectra, and the physical position with known resistance genes on chromosome arm 2BS, PmL709 was likely to be an allele of Pm68. Transcriptomic analysis revealed 3923 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between resistant and susceptible bulks, enriched in pathways such as phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, MAPK signaling, and plant–pathogen interactions. qRT-PCR validated the differential expression of nine candidate genes within the PmL709 interval, highlighting their potential roles in disease resistance. The flanking markers could accurately trace the presence of PmL709 from resistant accession L709 in a survey of 46 susceptible wheat accessions. These findings provide valuable insights into the genetic and molecular mechanisms of powdery mildew resistance in wheat and offer practical tools for marker-assisted breeding to develop resistant cultivars. Full article

In this study, we investigated the possible effects of cobalt and boron nanoparticles as an inducer of the first stages of development (germination) of hard and soft wheat when simulating flooding as one of the limiting environmental factors. We also investigated the remote effect of treating wheat grains with nanoparticles when flooding was applied already at the tillering stage. To identify the effects of nanoparticles, we used morphometric, biochemical and phenotypic parameters of seedlings and plants of two wheat species differing in origin and the response of these parameters to flooding. Positive effects were found at the germination stage, increasing quantitative indicators under stress. The sensitivity of wheat species to flooding was different, which corresponds to historical and climatic aspects of cultivation. Sensitivity to stress effects associated with loss of germination, decreased growth and photosynthesis was shown for both species. Treatment with cobalt and boron nanoparticles enhanced adaptation to stress and improved photosynthetic parameters, but the encouraging results under stressful conditions were ambiguous and in the case of soft wheat could lead to deterioration of some parameters. Thus, the use of boron and cobalt nanoparticles has potential for reducing productivity under stress, but requires a detailed assessment of the cultivation protocol depending on the genotype. Full article

Background/Objectives: The archaeobotanical taxon “Triticum parvicoccum” was first described in 1980 as a small-grained, naked, free-threshing, and dense ear tetraploid wheat species (2n = 4x = 28) identified from archaeological remains. This primitive tetraploid, cultivated in the Levant approximately 9000 years ago and subsequently dispersed throughout the Fertile Crescent, represents a potential contributor of the BBAA genomes to T. aestivum. This study aims to resolve the complex nomenclatural status of this taxon, which has remained ambiguous due to competing interpretations under fossil and non-fossil taxonomic regulations. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive nomenclatural review to evaluate the taxonomic validity of T. parvicoccum, analyzing previous research on the classification of archaeobotanical materials in relation to fossil status. Results: Our analysis demonstrated that archaeobotanical materials do not qualify as fossils and led to the validation of the taxon at a subspecific rank as a non-fossil entity: T. turgidum subsp. parvicoccum Kislev. subsp. nov. The holotype was established using a charred rachis fragment from Timnah (Tel Batash), an archaeological site on the inner Coastal Plain (Shfela) adjacent to the western piedmont of the Judean Mountains, Israel. Conclusions: This study resolves the longstanding nomenclatural uncertainty surrounding this archaeologically significant wheat taxon, providing a valid taxonomic designation that reflects its biological and historical importance while adhering to current botanical nomenclature standards. Full article

Many staple foods originate from durum wheat and its milling products; because of this, it is very important to know their characteristics. This study investigates elemental contents in these products and if differences exist because of organic farming. The concentrations of 28 elements in the whole seed and in milling products, that is, bran, semolina and flour, of durum wheat, were determined through ICP-OES. The wheats were grown under conventional or organic agronomic practices to verify the possibility of discriminating, using the elemental content, between products coming from one or the other practice. The elements were more abundant in the outer layer of the seed, the bran, but most of them were also present in the others. Traces of Sb were present only in 3% of the samples, while traces of Tl were detected in approximately half of the seed and bran samples but not in other samples. The absence of an element was more characteristic of specific products, e.g., most semolina and flour lacked Co, while other elements showed small differences between products from organic and conventional cultivation or between different milling products, which was the case, for example, for traces of Ag, B, and V. The concentrations of these elements were coupled with multivariate discriminant analysis, specifically PLS-DA, to identify the cultivation provenance of the milled products. A few elements, although different for each product, are sufficient to attain precision and accuracy of classification close to 1; small differences exist for different products. The worst is flour, where the predicted precision and accuracy are 0.92, although using only three elements: B, K, and Se. Semolina attains perfect prediction when also adding to the three previous elements, Ag, Cd, and Cu. Further elements are necessary for bran, while Fe and Mg replace K and Ag to classify seeds. In conclusion, five elements, B, Cd, Cu, K, and Se, are the most important in distinguishing between organic and conventional agriculture; these elements also permit some differentiation among products. The method could help in fraud prevention. Full article

Agricultural systems contribute nearly one-third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions and are an important source of GHGs globally. The clarification of the GHG emission pattern from agriculture is of paramount importance in the establishment of an agricultural emission reduction mechanism and the realization of China’s dual-carbon target. Based on the life cycle assessment method (LCA), this paper comprehensively quantifies the greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural system in China, encompassing rice, wheat, and corn cultivation as well as animal husbandry including cows, horses, donkeys, mules, camels, pigs, and sheep. The analysis covers the period 2000–2020 and examines the spatial distribution, temporal trends, and structural changes in the greenhouse gas emissions within China’s agriculture sector. The main results are as follows: (1) from 2000 to 2020, China witnessed a consistent upward trajectory in its total agricultural GHG emissions, exhibiting an average annual growth rate of 0.73%. Notably, methane (CH₄) emissions emerged as the largest contributor, displaying an overall fluctuating pattern. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions demonstrated intermittent increases with a noteworthy annual growth rate of 3%, signifying the most rapid expansion within this context. Conversely, nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions experienced decline over the specified period. (2) GHG emissions from cultivation demonstrate an upward trajectory, primarily driven by the CH₄ emissions originating from rice cultivation and CO₂ resulting from straw incineration. Conversely, GHG emissions stemming from animal husbandry declined, with the primary source being CH₄ emissions arising from animal enteric fermentation. Agricultural N₂O emissions predominantly arise due to manure management and nitrogen fertilizer application. (3) Agricultural greenhouse gas emissions exhibit significant variations in spatial distribution, gradually concentrating towards the North China Plain, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the northeast. Specifically, agricultural CH₄ emissions are progressively concentrated in China’s pivotal rice-growing regions, encompassing the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Plain, as well as livestock breeding areas like Inner Mongolia. Agricultural CO₂ emissions primarily concentrate in dryland crop production zones such as North China and Northeast China. Meanwhile, Agricultural N₂O emissions predominantly occur in Inner Mongolia and the North China Plain. China’s agricultural greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 show a significant spatial clustering effect, with hotspots primarily concentrated in Shandong, Anhui, Henan, and other regions and cold spots focused in the western and southern areas. The emission patterns of agricultural GHGs are closely intertwined with farming practices, regional development levels, and national policy; hence, tailored measures for emission reduction should be formulated based on specific crop types, livestock categories, agricultural production activities, and regional development characteristics. Full article

Wheat, including durum and common wheat, respectively, is an allopolyploid with two or three homoeologous subgenomes originating from diploid wild ancestral species. The wheat genome’s polyploid origin consisting of just three diploid ancestors has constrained its genetic variation, which has bottlenecked improvement. However, wheat has a large number of relatives, including cultivated crop species (e.g., barley and rye), wild grass species, and ancestral species. Moreover, each ancestor and relative has many other related subspecies that have evolved to inhabit specific geographic areas. Cumulatively, they represent an invaluable source of genetic diversity and variation available to enrich and diversify the wheat genome. The ancestral species share one or more homologous genomes with wheat, which can be utilized in breeding efforts through typical meiotic homologous recombination. Additionally, genome introgressions of distant relatives can be moved into wheat using chromosome engineering-based approaches that feature induced meiotic homoeologous recombination. Recent advances in genomics have dramatically improved the efficacy and throughput of chromosome engineering for alien introgressions, which has served to boost the genetic potential of the wheat genome in breeding efforts. Here, we report research strategies and progress made using alien introgressions toward the enrichment and diversification of the wheat genome in the genomics era. Full article

Over the last decade, the significance of yellow rust caused by Puccinia striiformis (Pst) has substantially increased worldwide, including in Russia. The development and cultivation of resistant genotypes is the most efficient control method. The present study was conducted to explore the yellow rust resistance potential of modern common winter wheat cultivars included in the Russian Register of Breeding Achievements in 2019–2022 using the seedling tests with an array of Pst races and molecular markers linked with Yr resistance genes. Seventy-two winter wheat cultivars were inoculated with five Pst isolates differing in virulence and origin. Molecular markers were used to identify genes Yr2, Yr5, Yr7, Yr9, Yr10, Yr15, Yr17, Yr18, Yr24, Yr25 and Yr60. Thirteen cultivars were resistant to all Pst isolates. The genes Yr5, Yr10, Yr15 and Yr24 that are effective against all Russian Pst races in resistant cultivars were not found. Using molecular methods, gene Yr9 located in translocation 1BL.1RS was detected in 12 cultivars, gene Yr18 in 24, gene Yr17 in 3 and 1AL.1RS translocation with unknown Yr gene in 2. While these genes have lost effectiveness individually, they can still enhance genetic diversity and overall yellow rust resistance, whether used in combination with each other or alongside other Yr genes. Full article

Policosanols (PCs) are long-chain linear aliphatic alcohols that are present in the primary leaves of cereal crops, such as barley and wheat, sugar cane wax, and beeswax. PCs have been used as a nutraceutical for improving hyperlipidemia and hypercholesterolemia. However, the PC content in mutant wheat lines has not been investigated. To select highly functional wheat sprouts with a high content of PCs in wheat mutant lines developed via gamma-irradiated mutation breeding, we cultivated the sprouts of wheat mutant lines in a growth chamber with white LED light (6000 K) and analyzed the PC content in these samples using GC-MS. We studied the PC content in 91 wheat sprout samples: the original variety (Woori-mil × D-7; WS01), commercially available cv. Geumgang (WS87) and cv. Cheongwoo (WS91), and mutant lines (WS02–WS86 and WS88–WS90) developed from WS01 and WS87. Compared to WS01, 18 mutant lines exhibited a high total PC content (506.08–873.24 mg/100 g dry weight). Among them, the top 10 mutant lines were evaluated for their PC production after cultivating under blue (440 nm), green (520 nm), and red (660 nm) LED light irradiation; however, these colored LED lights reduced the total PC production by 35.8–49.7%, suggesting that the cultivation with white LED lights was more efficient in promoting PCs’ yield, compared to different LED lights. Therefore, our findings show the potential of radiation-bred wheat varieties as functional foods against hyperlipidemia and obesity and the optimal light conditions for high PC production. Full article

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most extensively cultivated cereal crops around the world. Here, we investigated the population structure and genetic diversity of a panel mainly originated from two wheat agro-ecological regions (northern winter wheat region, NW; and the Huang-Huai River Valley’s facultative wheat region, HH) in China based on a 15K SNP array. Population genetic analysis revealed that the optimal population number (K) was three, and the three groups were roughly related to ecological regions, including NW (mainly Hebei), HH1 (Henan-Shaanxi), and HH2 (Shandong). Within HH, HH1 had a higher nucleotide diversity (π = 0.31167), minor allele frequency (MAF = 0.2663), polymorphism information content (PIC = 0.2668), and expected heterozygosity (H_exp = 0.3346) than HH2. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that genetic diversity decreases with the advancement of wheat breeding. Finally, inference of ancestry informative markers indicated that the genomes of the three pure groups from the three provinces (Hebei, Henan, and Shandong) of the two regions have genomic regions with different mosaic patterns derived from the two landrace groups. These findings may facilitate the development of wheat breeding strategies to target novel desired alleles in the future. Full article

In this study, the origin of Spanish durum wheat and olive tree landrace collections (preserved in seed banks and ex situ field collections, respectively) was traced throughout different studies on genetic structure analysis of different landrace collections and historical records of plant material circulation of these two crops in the south and east of Spain (the main cultivation areas). Although there were several groups of Spanish durum wheat landraces, they did not cluster geographically and likely came from intense grain circulation within the country and abroad (due to a high seeding rate of about 100 kg/ha and an unstable production) from the 15 to 19th centuries (especially the Maghreb and Sicily). However, Spanish olive tree landraces experienced lower genetic circulation over time and space due to the longevity of the species and the large size of the reproductive material. They can be clearly divided into two groups: those from the south, of Maghrebi origin, which most likely originated during the Islamic expansion of the 8–15th centuries, and those from the east, arriving most likely during Roman times from Italy. The genetic circularity levels of the plant material of these two crops are different. Full article

This study introduces a dataset of crop imagery captured during the 2022 growing season in the Eastern Kazakhstan region. The images were acquired using a multispectral camera mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle (DJI Phantom 4). The agricultural land, encompassing 27 hectares and cultivated with wheat, barley, and soybean, was subjected to five aerial multispectral photography sessions throughout the growing season. This facilitated thorough monitoring of the most important phenological stages of crop development in the experimental design, which consisted of 27 plots, each covering one hectare. The collected imagery underwent enhancement and expansion, integrating a sixth band that embodies the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values in conjunction with the original five multispectral bands (Blue, Green, Red, Red Edge, and Near Infrared Red). This amplification enables a more effective evaluation of vegetation health and growth, rendering the enriched dataset a valuable resource for the progression and validation of crop monitoring and yield prediction models, as well as for the exploration of precision agriculture methodologies. Full article

Thirty-one varieties of wheat cultivated in Romania were analyzed regarding the genetic diversity and physicochemical properties, including the following determinations: moisture, ash, protein, wet gluten, lipid, starch content, falling number and damaged starch, considering the particularity of each species, its biological status and origin. The physicochemical data showed that the wheat samples presented large variability. The physicochemical properties of wheat flour were assessed by multivariable data analysis, using principal component analysis (PCA). All wheat samples clustered together according to their physicochemical data showed an association between all wheat species. The protein and ash contents were more related to the ancient wheat species, while the amounts of starch and damaged starch were associated with the modern ones. Positive correlations were obtained between protein and wet gluten content and between lipid and ash content. ISSR markers were used to analyze and compare genetic diversity among selected wheat cultivars. The obtained data were analyzed using NTSYSpc software considering the coefficients of similarity (Jaccard) and dissimilarity (Neighbor joining). The Jaccard coefficients varied from 0.53 to 1, reflecting the high genetic diversity characteristic of all wheat varieties. Full article

Wheat is the third most cultivated cereal in the world and represents the major contributor to human nutrition. Milling wheat by-products such as husks (17–20% of the total processing output weight), even if still containing high-value-added bioactive compounds, are often left untreated or unused, thus resulting in environmental and human health burdens. In these regards, the present study is aimed at evaluating in a multimethodological approach the nutraceutical properties of durum wheat husks belonging to the ancient cultivar “Senatore Cappelli”, thus assessing their potential as bioactive compound sources in terms of phytochemical, cytotoxic, and nutraceutical properties. By means of HPLC-FD analyses, wheat husk samples analyzed revealed a higher content of serotonin, amounting to 35% of the total BAs, and were confirmed to occur at biogenic amines quality index (BAQI) values <10 mg/100 g. In addition, spectrophotometric assays showed a significant variable content in the phenolic (189.71–351.14 mg GAE/100 g) and antioxidant compounds (31.23–37.84 mg TE/100 g) within the wheat husk samples analyzed, according to the different cultivar areas of origin. Considering wheat husk extracts’ anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity, in vitro analyses were performed on BV-2 murine microglia cells cultured in the presence or absence of LPS, thus evaluating their ability to promote microglia polarization towards an anti-inflammatory phenotype. Cytotoxicity assays showed that wheat extracts do not affect microglia viability. Wheat husks activity on microglial polarization was assessed by analyzing the expression of M1 and M2 markers’ mRNA by RT-PCR. Wheat husk antioxidant activity was assessed by analysis of NRF2 and SOD1 mRNA expression. Moreover, the sustainability assessment for the recovery of bioactive components from wheat by-products was carried out by applying the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology using SimaPro v9.2.2. software. Full article

Durum wheat landraces represent a genetic resource for the identification and isolation of new valuable genes and alleles, useful to increase the crop adaptability to climate change. Several durum wheat landraces, all denominated “Rogosija”, were extensively cultivated in the Western Balkan Peninsula until the first half of the 20th century. Within the conservation program of the Montenegro Plant Gene Bank, these landraces were collected, but without being characterized. The main goal of this study was to estimate the genetic diversity of the “Rogosija collection” consisting of 89 durum accessions, using 17 morphological descriptors and the 25K Illumina single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. The genetic structure analysis of the Rogosija collection showed two distinguished clusters localized in two different Montenegro eco-geographic micro-areas, characterized by continental Mediterranean climate and maritime Mediterranean climate. Data suggest that these clusters could be composed of two different Balkan durum landrace collections evolved in two different eco-geographic micro-areas. Moreover, the origin of Balkan durum landraces is discussed. Full article