Official variety testing is performed in many countries by statutory agencies in order to identify the best candidates and make decisions on the addition to the national list. Neighbouring countries can have similarities in agroecological conditions, so it is worthwhile to consider a joint analysis of data from national list trials to assess the similarity in performance of those varieties tested in both countries. Here, maize yield data from official German and Poland variety trials for cultivation and use (VCU) were analysed for the period from 1987 to 2017. Several statistical models that incorporate environmental covariates were fitted.

Glucosinolates (GSLs) are amino acid-derived, sulfur-rich secondary metabolites that function as biopesticides and flavor compounds, but the high seed glucosinolate content (SGC) reduces seed quality for rapeseed meal. To dissect the genetic mechanism and further reduce SGC in rapeseed, QTL mapping was performed using an updated high-density genetic map based on a doubled haploid (DH) population derived from two parents that showed significant differences in SGC.

Fruit neck is the proximal portion of the fruit with undesirable taste that has detrimental effects on fruit shape and commercial value in cucumber. Despite the dramatic variations in fruit neck length of cucumber germplasms, the genes and regulatory mechanisms underlying fruit neck elongation remain mysterious. In this study, we found that Cucumis sativus HECATE1 (CsHEC1) was highly expressed in fruit neck.

Enhancing plant transpiration efficiency (TE) by reducing transpiration without compromising photosynthesis and yield is a desirable selection target in crop improvement programs. While narrow individual leaf width has been correlated with greater intrinsic water use efficiency in C₄ species, the extent to which this translates to greater plant TE has not been investigated. The aims of this study were to evaluate the correlation of leaf width with TE at the whole-plant scale and investigate the genetic control of leaf width in sorghum.

Managing agricultural landscapes to support biodiversity conservation requires profound structural changes worldwide. Often, discussions are centered on management at the field level. However, a wide and growing body of evidence calls for zooming out and targeting agricultural policies, research, and interventions at the landscape level to halt and reverse the decline in biodiversity, increase biodiversity-mediated ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes, and improve the resilience and adaptability of these ecosystems.

Potato vine and skin maturity, which refer to foliar senescence and adherence of the tuber periderm, respectively, are both important to production and therefore breeding. Our objective was to investigate the genetic architectures of these traits in a genome-wide association panel of 586 genotypes, and through joint linkage mapping in a half-diallel subset (N = 397). Skin maturity was measured by image analysis after mechanized harvest 120 days after planting.

Soybean mosaic disease (SMD) can be caused by a variety of viruses, most of which have been largely overlooked in breeding programs. Effective mitigation of the adverse of SMD might result from breeding cultivars with broad-spectrum resistance. However, reports on broad-spectrum resistance to multiple virus have been limited. To catalog viral community members behind SMD, virus samples were collected from symptomatic field plots, and pathogenicity of component strains was assessed. Preliminary ELISA and PCR detection revealed that 39.58% and 66.67% of samples contained two or more virus strains, respectively.

Plant immunity is activated upon perception of pathogens and often affects growth when it is constitutively active. It is still a challenge to balance plant immunity and growth in disease resistance breeding. Here, we demonstrated that soybean (Glycine max) polyamine oxidase (GmPAO) confers resistance to multiple Phytophthora pathogens, but has no obvious adverse impact on agronomic traits. GmPAO produces H₂O₂ by oxidizing spermidine and spermine. Phytophthora sojae induces an increase in these two substrates, and thus promotes GmPAO-mediated polyamine catabolism specifically during infection.

Using wild relatives of crops to identify genes related to improved productivity and resilience to climate extremes is a prioritized area of crop genetic improvement. High salinity is a widespread crop production constraint, and development of salt-tolerant cultivars is a sustainable solution. We evaluated a panel of 294 wheat accessions comprising synthetic-derived wheat lines (SYN-DERs) and modern bread wheat advanced lines under control and high salinity conditions at two locations

Transposon insertion polymorphisms (TIPs) are significant sources of genetic variation. Previous work has shown that TIPs can improve detection of causative loci on agronomic traits in rice. Here, we quantify the fraction of variance explained by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) compared to TIPs, and we explore whether TIPs can improve prediction of traits when compared to using only SNPs. We used eleven traits of agronomic relevance from by five different rice population groups (Aus, Indica, Aromatic, Japonica, and Admixed)