Pritam Kalia

Encapsulation of black carrot juice using spray and freeze drying

Black carrot juice extracted using pectinase enzyme was encapsulated in three different carrier materials (maltodextrin 20DE, gum arabic and tapioca starch) using spray drying at four inlet temperatures (150, 175, 200 and 225 ℃) and freeze drying at a constant temperature of − 53 ℃ and vacuum of 0.22–0.11 mbar with the constant feed mixture. The products were analyzed for total anthocyanin content, antioxidant activity, water solubility index, encapsulation efficiency and total colour change. For both the drying methods followed in this study, maltodextrin 20DE as the carrier material has proven to be better in retaining maximum anthocyanin and antioxidant activity compared to gum arabic and tapioca starch. The best spray dried product, was obtained at 150 ℃. The most acceptable was the freeze dried product with maximum anthocyanin content, antioxidant activity, water solubility index, encapsulation efficiency and colour change.

Genetics and Molecular Mapping of Black Rot Resistance Locus Xca1bc on Chromosome B-7 in Ethiopian Mustard (Brassica carinata A. Braun).

Black rot caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Pam.) Dowson is the most destructive disease of cauliflower causing huge loss to the farmers throughout the world. Since there are limited sources of resistance to black rot in B. oleracea (C genome Brassica), exploration of A and B genomes of Brassica was planned as these were thought to be potential reservoirs of black rot resistance gene(s). In our search for new gene(s) for black rot resistance, F2 mapping population was developed in Brassica carinata (BBCC) by crossing NPC-17, a susceptible genotype with NPC-9, a resistant genotype. Out of 364 Intron length polymorphic markers and microsatellite primers used in this study, 41 distinguished the parental lines. However, resistant and susceptible bulks could be distinguished by three markers At1g70610, SSR Na14-G02 and At1g71865 which were used for genotyping of F2 mapping population. These markers were placed along the resistance gene, according to order, covering a distance of 36.30 cM. Intron length polymorphic markers At1g70610 and At1g71865 were found to be linked to black rot resistance locus (Xca1bc) at 6.2 and 12.8 cM distance, respectively. This is the first report of identification of markers linked to Xca1bc locus in Brassica carinata on B-7 linkage group. Intron length polymorphic markers provided a novel and attractive option for marker assisted selection due to high cross transferability and cost effectiveness for marker assisted alien gene introgression into cauliflower.

Root Vegetable Crops

Summary Significant heterosis for earliness and yield has been reported for root vegetable crops. Major root crops are carrot, radish, turnip and garden beet. These vegetables are used as cooked or as a salad. The hybrids in these crops are also gaining popularity all over the world. These are highly cross-pollinated crops. There are different systems like self-incompatibility and male sterility are available in these crops. Hybrid vigor is exploited commercially in these crops using these mechanisms.

High Quality Unigenes and Microsatellite Markers from Tissue Specific Transcriptome and Development of a Database in Clusterbean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba, L. Taub)

Clusterbean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L. Taub), is an important industrial, vegetable and forage crop. This crop owes its commercial importance to the presence of guar gum (galactomannans) in its endosperm which is used as a lubricant in a range of industries. Despite its relevance to agriculture and industry, genomic resources available in this crop are limited. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to generate RNA-Seq based transcriptome from leaf, shoot, and flower tissues. A total of 145 million high quality Illumina reads were assembled using Trinity into 127,706 transcripts and 48,007 non-redundant high quality (HQ) unigenes. We annotated 79% unigenes against Plant Genes from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), Swiss-Prot, Pfam, gene ontology (GO) and KEGG databases. Among the annotated unigenes, 30,020 were assigned with 116,964 GO terms, 9984 with EC and 6111 with 137 KEGG pathways. At different fragments per kilobase of transcript per millions fragments sequenced (FPKM) levels, genes were found expressed higher in flower tissue followed by shoot and leaf. Additionally, we identified 8687 potential simple sequence repeats (SSRs) with an average frequency of one SSR per 8.75 kb. A total of 28 amplified SSRs in 21 clusterbean genotypes resulted in polymorphism in 13 markers with average polymorphic information content (PIC) of 0.21. We also constructed a database named ‘ClustergeneDB’ for easy retrieval of unigenes and the microsatellite markers. The tissue specific genes identified and the molecular marker resources developed in this study is expected to aid in genetic improvement of clusterbean for its end use.

Race-specific genetics of resistance to black rot disease [Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc) (Pammel) Dowson] and the development of three random amplified polymorphic DNA markers in cauliflower

Summary In order to understand the genetics of resistance to black rot disease caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc) (Pammel) Dowson in cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.) and to identify random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers that segregate with the resistance genes, susceptible (‘Pusa Himjyoti’, female parent) and resistant (‘BR-161’, pollen parent) plants were crossed. Six generations of plants (30 P1, 30 P2,30 F1, 120 F2, 90 B1, and 90 B2) were evaluated for the presence or absence of black rot disease in a randomised block design with three replications. The pattern of segregation of resistance was tested by the χ2 test at the 5% level of significance. All F1 progeny plants were resistant, and the segregation of resistant and susceptible plants in the F2 and two backcross generations (B1 and B2) showed that a single dominant gene caused resistance to the black rot pathogen in ‘BR-161’. Three polymorphic RAPD markers (OPO-04833, OPAW-202538, and OPG-25625) were found by bulk segregant analysis, which produced unique amplicons 833 bp, 2,538 bp, and 625 bp in length, respectively. These markers were associated in coupling phase to the resistance allele. Best fit ratios of 3:1 (resistant:susceptible) in the F2 plants with the three RAPD markers, suggested that the markers were linked to the single gene controlling black rot resistance. These markers will be useful to identify more closely-linked markers and to develop black rot-resistant hybrid cauliflower varieties.

Current Researches in Hybrid Broccoli

Summary Broccoli is the most nutritious member of Cole group belonging to family Brassicaceae. Its marketable plant part is “head” composed of immature flowers or florets. It is very popular in the developed world because of its highly nutritional and medicinal properties. It is recommended for consumption as a measure to decrease the incidence of human cancer. Different types of broccolis are available but green types are more popular. Genetic resistance is also available for many diseases. Self-incompatibility and male sterility are also present in the crop. Commercial heterosis is reported by many workers. The use of self-incompatible and cross-compatible lines and genic and cytoplasmic male sterile lines helps in the seed production of hybrid varieties. Many hybrids have been released for commercial cultivation and hybrid seed production is successfully exploited.

First record of Pepper cryptic virus 2 in chilli (Capsicum annuum) in India

Abstract The occurrence of Pepper cryptic virus 2 was confirmed by RT-PCR and partial sequencing of coat protein gene in chilli cultivars Jwalamukhi and Jwalasakhi grown in the experimental farm at IARI, New Delhi. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of occurrence of cryptovirus in chilli in India.

Characterization of cultivated and wild species of Capsicum using microsatellite markers

Diversity of twenty four genotypes of hot pepper representing cultivated species Capsicum annuum, C. frutescens, C. baccatum and C. chinense as well as a wild species C. chacoense was analyzed in the present study using 99 microsatellite loci distributed uniformly throughout the genome. The 85 polymorphic loci, out of 99 simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci used, amplified a total of 192 alleles among the 24 genotypes with one to five allele per loci. The average number of alleles per loci was found to be 2.25. The highest polymorphism information content (PIC value) was observed to be 0.729 for the marker located on linkage group 6. Principal component analysis provided useful information regarding genetic relationship among genotypes as it distributed all the genotypes studied into three major groups each including different species. All the C. annuum genotypes were grouped together while other cultivated species formed a separate group. The C. chacoenese was the only wild species studied which, although, fell within the first group but was placed separately from C. annuum. Besides, all the Chilli leaf curl resistant genotypes were grouped together.

Genetic Characterization of Self-incompatible Lines and Strategies for Heterosis Breeding in Cauliflower

ABSTRACT Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.) is a thermosensitive crop grown almost all year-round in North Indian plains due to development of genotypes for production under different temperature regimes. Comparatively, varieties of early and mid-maturity group cauliflowers exhibit low yield compared to that of late maturing snowball types. Despite the presence of a higher level of heterosis in Indian cauliflower, development of hybrids in India is lacking due to nonavailability of strong self-incompatibility-based hybrids suitable for different seasons. To identify diverse parental lines for breeding in early and mid-maturity Indian cauliflower, genetic characterization of self-incompatible inbred lines was carried out based on quantitative and molecular analyses. To study heterotic performance of these lines in relation to divergence, 80 and 54 F1 hybrids of early and mid-maturity groups, respectively, were developed into a Line × Tester mating design and evaluated for yield and related traits. The mid-maturity group had higher diversity compared to that of early maturity group. Of 32 random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and 38 simple sequence repeat (SSR) primers, 25 RAPD and 3 SSRs exhibited polymorphism and generated a total of 164 reproducible amplicons, of which 37 were polymorphic. The average number of amplicons per primer was 6.71 and the maximum number of polymorphic amplicons (three) was obtained from RAPD primer SK-14. In SSR markers, the average number of polymorphic amplicons was 1.48 per primer. The SSR marker BoREM-1b indicated heterozygosity in the self-incompatible lines ccm-8 and cc-35L and further inbreeding may produce homozygosity in these lines. Lines cc-32E (early) and cc-22 (mid-maturity) had the most heterotic crosses for marketable curd weight and moderate diversity at the molecular level could be utilized for heterosis breeding. The molecular makers with quantitative analysis may be utilized for assessment of genetic diversity, testing of hybrid purity, and protection of superior lines and hybrids.

Study of β-carotene enhancing ‘Or’ gene effects on yield and contributing traits in mid-season Indian cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.)

Nature of gene action of EC 625883, an orange curd colour genotype, on yield and contributing traits incauliflower was studied by using five generation model (P1, P2, F1, F2 and F3) in three cross combinations, viz., DC-309 × EC 625883, CC-35 × EC 625883 and DC 18–19 × EC 625883 for ten quantitative traits. The orange curdcolour Or gene donor homozygous line EC 625883 and three divergent recipient mid season (November-January)maturity white curd lines, namely, DC-309, CC-35, and DC 18–19 were involved in hybridization. Generationmean analysis using scaling test indicated that epistasis gene interaction model fitted well for most of the traitsunder study in all the three cross combinations. The complementary type of gene interaction was observed fornumber of days to marketable curd maturity, total plant weight, marketable curd weight and net curd weight. Thepresence of complementary type of interactions and prevalence of high magnitude of non-additive gene effectssuggested exploitation of heterosis breeding for improvement in cauliflower using Or gene for enhancing of β-carotene and micronutrient simultaneously.