African Journal of Plant Breeding

African Journal of Plant Breeding ISSN: 2375-074X Vol. 13 (1), pp. 001-0006, January, 2026. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Mycorrhizal Mediation of Coriander Root Response to Interactive P Supply and Drought

Hossein Aliabadi Farahani¹, Sayed Alireza Valadabadi¹ and Mohammad Ali Khalvati²

¹Islamic Azad University of Shahr-e-Qods branch, Iran.
²Department of Plant-Microbe Interactions, German Research Centre for Environment and Health, Munich (HelmholtzZentrum München), Ingolstaedter 1, Neuherberg Germany.

Accepted 16 October, 2025

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are among the most important plant root symbiosis fungi enhancing plant P uptake. This research was conducted in Iran during 2006. The experimental design was a split factorial on the basis of completely randomized block design with four replicates. The control and AM species, Glomus hoi were assigned to the main plots and the combination of P fertilizer including 0, 35 and 70 kg ha-1 of triple super phosphate and the drought treatment including control (30 mm evaporation) and 60 mm evaporation from the evaporation pan were factorially assigned to the subplots. AM and P fertilizer significantly increased the root yield, root length, primary root dry weight and primary root length of coriander. Although the non-drought stress treatment significantly increased the root of coriander, the longest root length was achieved under the drought stress. It can be stated that AM is able to enhance the growth of coriander under drought stress through enhancing P uptake. This can have very important environmental impact through decreasing the amount of P fertilizer under control and drought stress conditions and also through enhancing the coriander resistance when subjected to the drought stress. Findings may interest farmers and agricultural researches to consider carefully on huge amount of soil phosphorus with interaction to water restriction as a challenge in environmental issues.

Key words: AM fungi, drought stress, phosphorus, root growth, coriander.
 

African Journal of Plant Breeding ISSN: 2375-074X Vol. 13 (1), pp. 001-0003, January, 2026. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Optimizing Row Spacing to Enhance Maize Yield Performance in the Trans Nzoia District 

Owino Charles Onyango

Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service. P.O Box 249, Kitale, Kenya. E-mail: [email protected].

Accepted 17 August, 2025

Maize yield trend has been declining in recent past. Farmers in Trans Nzoia District rarely intercrop maize with other crops like beans. With good nutrition and favourable weather conditions, decreased maize row spacing can maximise maize production per unit land area by increasing plant population density, optimal light interception and nutrient uptake. The experiment was carried out during the long rain season (April - September) for two successive years starting 2006. There were significant treatment differences (at 5%) between row spacing, varieties and interaction between row spacing and varieties. The mean yield increased with decreasing row spacing. Decreased row spacing combined with improved maize varieties is a possibility of increasing maize yield in Trans Nzoia District.

Key words: Row spacing, maize varieties, yield, interaction.
 

African Journal of Plant Breeding ISSN: 2375-074X Vol. 12 (2), pp. 001-010, February, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Review

Genetic Fortification of Maize: Quality Protein Maize (QPM) as a Solution for Nutritional Deficiencies

P. A. Sofi1*, Shafiq A. Wani1, A. G. Rather2 and Shabir H. Wani3

1Directorate of Research, SKUAST-K, Shalimar, 191121, J and K, India.
2Rice Research Station, SKUAST-K, Khudwani, India.
3Department of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biotechnology, PAU, Ludhiana, India.

Accepted 7 October, 2024

Cereals are the only source of nutrition for one-third of the world’s population especially in developing and underdeveloped nations of Sub-Saharan Africa and South-east Asia. The three major cereals, rice, wheat and maize constitute about 85% of total global cereals production amounting to about 200 million tonnes of protein harvest annually at an average of 10% protein content, out of which a sizeable proportion goes into human consumption (Shewry, 2007). A major concern in case of developing nations is that in most cases, a single cereals crop is the major food staple and as such the nutritional profile of cereal crops assumes great significance. Grain protein content of cereals has a very narrow range with rice (5.8-7.7%), maize (9-11%), barley (8- 15%) and wheat (7-22%) as reported by various workers. In many developing countries of Latin America, Africa and Asia, maize is the major staple food and often the only source of protein. At global level, maize accounts for 15% of proteins and 20% of calories in world food diet. But unfortunately, the nutritional profile of maize is poor as it is deficient in essential amino acids such as lysine, tryptophan and methionine due to a relatively higher proportion of prolamines in maize storage proteins which are essentially devoid of lysine and tryptophan. The reason concerning this is that lysine, tryptophan and threonine are the limiting amino acids in human beings and non -ruminants. Maize is also an important component of livestock feed especially in developed nations where 78% of total maize production goes into livestock feed. Therefore, breeding strategies aimed at improving the protein profile of maize will go a long way in reducing prevalence and persistence of malnutrition in developing world.

Key words: Mucronate, protein, maize, zein.
 

African Journal of Plant Breeding ISSN: 2375-074X Vol. 12 (2), pp. 001-010, February, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Exploring Allelopathic and Antifungal Properties of Padina pavonica (L.) Extract

Faten Omezzine1, Rabiaa Haouala1*, Asma El Ayeb1 and Neziha Boughanmi2

1Department of Biology, Higher Institute of Biotechnology of Monastir, University of Monastir, 5000, Tunisia.
Unit of search for Mycotoxins, Phycotoxins and associated Pathologies 03/UR/08-14.
2Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences of Bizerte, Tunisia.

Accepted 17 January, 2025

In this study, potential allelopathic of a brown alga Padina pavonica (L) was evaluated. Aqueous extracts of the alga obtained at room temperature / 24 h (E1), 50°C / 4 h (E2) and 100°C / 2 h (E3) were tested on the germination and early growth of crop plants and growth of three fungal strains: Fusarium graminearum, Penicillium expansum and Alternaria alternata. Also, a fractional, of the alga in three organic solvents with increasing polarity: hexane, chloroform and acetone, was carried out and estimated as well as that the seedling growth soil composition was estimated. Results revealed a perceptible allelopathic capacity of P. pavonica. Although the percentage of germination of seeds was not influenced or slightly stimulated compared to the control in the presence of the three kind extracts and the dry powder, root and shoot growth was clearly improved. Results varied according to extracts and the vegetable material dose. Extract prepared at room temperature (E1) was most favorable. Stimulation percentage varied between 15 and 78% for roots and between 1 and 67% for shoots. Fungal growth was strongly inhibited in the presence of extract E3 compared with E1. Thus, growth inhibition percentages were 95.83, 80.76 and 63.33% for F. graminearum, P. expansum and A. alternata respectively, in presence of E1, against 41.66, 72.30 and 51.66% in presence of E3. For organic extracts, the most spectacular seedling growth stimulations were recorded in the presence of the chloroform extract. This indicated that the active molecules had an average polarity. The incorporation of algal powder in the soil was shown very beneficial for the target species in particular with low dose (50 g/Kg). Moreover, the effect of the algal powder was similar to that obtained by the addition of chemical fertilizers. Finally, algal powder allowed a clear improvement of the chemical composition of the soil concerning its richness on calcium, magnesium and organic matter and did not affect its pH. Results might be considered very interesting, since molecules of this species could have a double effect in the crops: a fertilizing effect and an antifungal effect without deteriorating the physico-chemical properties of the soil.

Key words: Anti-fungal activity, aqueous extracts, chemical fertilizers, fertilizing capacity, growth, Padina pavonica, seeds.
 

African Journal of Plant Breeding ISSN: 2375-074X Vol. 12 (1), pp. 001-007, January, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Identification of DNA Markers via PCR Flanking Three Mutant Loci Associated with Low Phytic Acid in Barley

R. E. Oliver¹*, C. Yang², G. Hu¹, V. Raboy¹ and M. Zhang²

¹USDA-ARS, Small Grains and Potato Germplasm Research Unit, Aberdeen, ID 83210, USA.
²Hebei Institute of Food and Oil Crops, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050031, People’s Republic of China.

Accepted 10 October, 2024

Abstract

Phytic acid (PA) is the most abundant form of phosphorus (P) in cereal grains. PA chelates mineral cations to form an indigestible salt and is thus regarded as an antinutritional agent and a contributor to water pollution. Grain with low phytic acid (lpa) genotypes could aid in mitigating this problem. In barley, more than 20 lpa mutant lines have been isolated, representing at least 6 different genetic loci. These mutants have significantly reduced levels of seed PA, which are largely replaced by inorganic P, a form readily digestable by animals. Use of lpa lines in breeding has proved a practical approach for improvement of phosphorus nutrition in barley. Efficient utilization of these loci in marker-assisted selection breeding programs requires identification of closely-linked, high-throughput molecular markers. Here we report development of flanking, PCR-based markers for 3 major lpa loci in barley: lpa1-1 (M422), lpa2-1 linked locus (M640), and a locus linked to the myo -inositol 1-phosphate synthase (MIPS) gene (M678). In addition, marker position accuracy in the MIPs region has been improved by detection and elimination of marker redundancy.

Key words: Barley breeding, SSR marker, low phytic acid (lpa), grain nutrition.

African Journal of Plant Breeding ISSN: 2375-074X Vol. 12 (1), pp. 001-007, January, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Evaluating Intervarietal Variations in Drought Tolerance in Chickpea Through Nodule and Plant Trait Indicators

Nehla Labidi*, Henda Mahmoudi, Messedi Dorsaf, Ines Slama and Chedly Abdelly

The Laboratry of Plant Adaptation to Abiotic Stress (LAPSA), Biotechnology Center at the Technopark of Borj-Cedria (CBBC), BP 901, Hammam-Lif 2050, Tunisia.

Accepted 28 October, 2024

Abstract

5 lines of Tunisian varieties of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) inoculated with Mesorhizobium ciceri UPMCa7 were monitored during the vegetative stage on sterilized sandy soil. 2 levels of soil moisture were compared (100 and 33% of field capacity). The work was aimed at assessing the relative tolerance of these lines to drought and then, to research relationships between the level of sensitivity of plant growth and N content to drought and nodule, leaf and root traits. Drought limited plant growth of Amdoun and Neyer and decreased N content of Chetoui, Amdoun and Neyer. The latter N shortage was associated with increase in nodule mortality and restriction of nodule growth. In view of their minimal decrease in plant biomass and N content, Beja and Kesseb were the most tolerant varieties. Inter- varietal differences for water stress effects on nodule, root and leaf traits were limited to (i) change in root to shoot ratio (ii) loss of chlorophylls and (iii) nodule mortality. Each of these traits was considered as an indicator of stress tolerance. These indicators predict that the most tolerant variety was Beja based on higher increase in root to shoot ratio and Beja and Kesseb based on lower nodule mortality. When choice of the varieties should depend on the likelihood of water stress during the culture, Amdoun which presented the higher biomass per plant and the higher nitrogen content in control condition and ranked similarly to all other varieties in stress condition might represent a reasonable trade- off between high growth and stress tolerance when the probability of water stress to occur during the culture period is low.

Key words: Cicer arietinum, drought stress, nodule characteristics, tolerance.