Comparative transcriptome analysis reveals molecular regulation of salt tolerance in two contrasting chickpea genotypes.

Salinity is a major abiotic stress that causes substantial agricultural losses worldwide. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an important legume crop but is salt-sensitive. Previous physiological and genetic studies revealed the contrasting response of two desi chickpea varieties, salt-sensitive Rupali and salt-tolerant Genesis836, to salt stress. To understand the complex molecular regulation of salt tolerance mechanisms in these two chickpea genotypes, we examined the leaf transcriptome repertoire of Rupali and Genesis836 in control and salt-stressed conditions. Using linear models, we identified categories of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) describing the genotypic differences: salt-responsive DEGs in Rupali (1,604) and Genesis836 (1,751) with 907 and 1,054 DEGs unique to Rupali and Genesis836, respectively, salt responsive DEGs (3,376), genotype-dependent DEGs (4,170), and genotype-dependent salt-responsive DEGs (122). Functional DEG annotation revealed that the salt treatment affected genes involved in ion transport, osmotic adjustment, photosynthesis, energy generation, stress and hormone signalling, and regulatory pathways. Our results showed that while Genesis836 and Rupali have similar primary salt response mechanisms (common salt-responsive DEGs), their contrasting salt response is attributed to the differential expression of genes primarily involved in ion transport and photosynthesis. Interestingly, variant calling between the two genotypes identified SNPs/InDels in 768 Genesis836 and 701 Rupali salt-responsive DEGs with 1,741 variants identified in Genesis836 and 1,449 variants identified in Rupali. In addition, the presence of premature stop codons was detected in 35 genes in Rupali. This study provides valuable insights into the molecular regulation underpinning the physiological basis of salt tolerance in two chickpea genotypes and offers potential candidate genes for the improvement of salt tolerance in chickpeas.

Grain-Filling Rate Improves Physical Grain Quality in Barley Under Heat Stress Conditions During the Grain-Filling Period.

Heat stress is a primary constraint to Australia's barley production. In addition to impacting grain yield, it adversely affects physical grain quality (weight and plumpness) and market value. The incidence of heat stress during grain filling is rising with global warming. However, breeding for new superior heat-tolerant genotypes has been challenging due to the narrow window of sensitivity, the unpredictable nature of heat stress, and its frequent co-occurrence with drought stress. Greater scientific knowledge regarding traits and mechanisms associated with heat tolerance would help develop more efficient selection methods. Our objective was to assess 157 barley varieties of contrasting genetic backgrounds for various developmental, agro-morphological, and physiological traits to examine the effects of heat stress on physical grain quality. Delayed sowing (i.e., July and August) increased the likelihood of daytime temperatures above 30°C during grain-filling. Supplementary irrigation of field trials ensured a reduced impact of drought stress. Heat tolerance appeared to be the primary factor determining grain plumpness. A wide variation was observed for heat tolerance, particularly among the Australian varieties. Genotypic variation was also observed for grain weight, plumpness, grain growth components, stay-green and stem water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) content, and mobilisation under normal and delayed sown conditions. Compared to normal sowing, delayed sowing reduced duration of developmental phases, plant height, leaf size, head length, head weight, grain number, plumpness, grain width and thickness, stem WSC content, green leaf area retention, and harvest index (HI), and increased screenings, grain length, grain-filling rate (GFR), WSC mobilisation efficiency (WSCME), and grain protein content. Overall, genotypes with heavier and plumper grains under high temperatures had higher GFR, longer grain-filling duration, longer green leaf area retention, higher WSCME, taller stature, smaller leaf size, greater HI, higher grain weight/plumpness potentials, and earlier flowering. GFR played a significant role in determining barley grain weight and plumpness under heat-stress conditions. Enhancing GFR may provide a new avenue for improving heat tolerance in barley.

Salt sensitivity in chickpea: Growth, photosynthesis, seed yield components and tissue ion regulation in contrasting genotypes.

Chickpea is a relatively salt sensitive species but shows genotypic variation for salt tolerance, measured as grain yield per plant in mild-to-moderately saline soil. This experiment was designed to evaluate some physiological responses to salinity in three contrasting genotypes. One tolerant (Genesis836), one moderately tolerant (JG11) and one sensitive (Rupali) genotype were grown for 108d in non-saline nutrient solution (controls) and two levels of salinity treatment (30 and 60mM NaCl). No plants survived to maturity in the 60mM NaCl treatment; however, Genesis836 survived longer (87d) than JG11 (67d) while Rupali died after 27d; only Genesis836 flowered, but no pods were filled. At 30mM NaCl, Genesis836 produced a few filled pods, whereas JG11 and Rupali did not. Genotypic differences in plant dry mass at the vegetative stage were evident only at 60mM NaCl, while at maturity differences were evident at 30mM NaCl. Photosynthesis was maintained to different degrees by the three genotypes (e.g. at 30mM NaCl, 35-81% of controls; highest in Genesis836); photosynthesis was restricted predominately due to non-stomatal limitations as the intercellular CO2 concentration was only modestly affected (94-99% of controls). Photosystem II damage was evident in the less tolerant genotypes (e.g. at 30mM NaCl, actual quantum efficiency of photosystem II values were 63-96% of controls). Across treatments, shoot dry mass was negatively correlated with both Na(+) and Cl(-) shoot concentrations. However, the sensitive genotype (Rupali) had equal or lower concentrations of these ions in green leaves, stems or roots compared to tolerant genotypes (JG11 and Genesis836); ion 'exclusion' does not explain variation for salt tolerance among these three chickpea genotypes. The large difference between Rupali (sensitive) and Genesis836 (tolerant) in the salt-induced reduction in net photosynthesis via non-stomatal limitations and the assessed damage to photosystem II, but with similar leaf ion concentrations, provides evidence that variation in 'tissue tolerance' of Na(+) and/or Cl(-) in leaves contributes to the differential salt tolerance of these chickpea genotypes.