The present study demonstrated High Resolution Melting (HRM) analysis combined with DNA barcode (Bar-HRM) as a fast and highly sensitive technique for detecting adulterants in Eurycoma longifolia commercial herbal products. Targeting the DNA barcoding of the chloroplastic region-ribulose biphosphate carboxylase large chain (rbcL) and the nuclear ribosomal region- internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2), PCR amplification and HRM analysis using saturated Eva green dye as the source of fluorescence signals, was accomplished by employing a real-time cycler. The results were further validated by sequencing to identify unknown sequence from Genbank database and to generate phylogenetic tree using neighbour joint (NJ) analysis. Both of the DNA markers exhibited a distinguishable melting temperature and shape of the normalised curve between the reference and the adulterants. In the case of species identification, ITS2 was more successful in differentiating between species. Additionally, detection of admixture sample containing small traces of targeted E. longifolia DNA (w/v) can be detected as low as 5% for rbcL and less than 1% for ITS2, proving the sensitivity and versatility of the HRM analysis. In conclusion, the Bar-HRM analysis is a fast and reliable technique that can effectively detect adulterants in herbal products. Therefore, this will be beneficial for regulatory agencies in order to regulate food safety issues.

Cabbage is a heat-stress-sensitive cool-season crop. When exposed to high temperatures, cabbage plants can experience reduced growth, wilting, leaf yellowing, and premature bolting (the formation of a flowering stem). The regulatory mechanism controlling heat stress is poorly understood in cabbage. To investigate this mechanism, physiological changes and transcriptional profiling for different heat treatment times were analyzed in this study. The results showed that superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and peroxidase (POD) activities were enhanced under heat stress. In particular, the increase in SOD and POD activities after 12 h of heat treatment was greater than that after 4 h of heat treatment. With increasing heat treatment duration, the leaf CAT activity and H₂O₂ content decreased after the initial increase. The electrolyte leakage and malondialdehyde (MDA) content dropped significantly, while the proline content increased. Alongside that, 7007 and 5537 upregulated genes were identified in the experimental group treated with heat stress for the 4 h and 12 h treatments, respectively. We found that 10,479 DEGs were shared in the heat stress treatment, of which 1241 were associated with the heat treatment time. By integrating the expression patterns and functional annotations of genes related to heat stress, we identified 15 hub genes that respond to heat stress in cabbage. Meanwhile, we had constructed a physiological to molecular model of cabbage response to long-term heat stress. These findings provide new insights for the comprehensive analysis of cabbage response to heat stress and genetic resources for breeding new varieties of cabbage with heat tolerance via genetic engineering.

The effects of gamma radiation are investigated by studying seed germination, survival rate and morphological characteristics of Stevia rebaudiana. Improvement of stevia plant through mutagenesis could be one of the ways to produce stevia with delay flowering.

Hybrid incompatibility and F₁ hybrid dysgenesis in the interspecific hybridization between pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duch.) and winter squash (Cucurbita maxima Duch.) have been previously noted. For this reason, it is difficult to obtain F₂ generations due to F₁ sterility. However, back-crossing and add-crossing can be utilized to overcome these incompatibility barriers in interspecific hybridization. To date, few studies have focused on parental selection, the back-crossing process, and offspring characteristics related to interspecific hybridization. Hence, we explored the F₁ seed acquisition rate, plant characteristics, and F₂ generation fertility after interspecific back-crossing and add-crossing hybridization of C. moschata and C. maxima. Moreover, as a female parent, X-1 (C. moschata) yielded F₁ seeds when crossed with winter squash (C. maxima) 10-04-3, 10-37, or 10-05-2. BC₁F₁ seeds and plants could be obtained with winter squash (C. maxima) as the recurrent parent. Some healthy F₂ seeds and plants were obtained from the interspecific hybrids, including ZJ-13, ZJ-8, and ZJ-11. Further fruit nutrition quality analysis showed that the starch, polysaccharide, cellulose, and dry material contents of ZJ-7 and ZJ-8 were significantly higher than those of the parent pumpkin and winter squash lines. The bioflavonoid content of ZJ-8 was lower than that of its parents, and its soluble protein was at the median value. Meanwhile, the bioflavonoid content of ZJ-1 was lower than that of its parents, but its soluble protein was significantly higher. These results suggest that back-crossing and multi-crossing can overcome the barriers to interspecific crossing of C. moschata × C. maxima. Some interspecific hybrid fruits had nutritional contents much higher than those of their parent lines. Additionally, X-1 (C. maxima) was found to act as a bridge species in interspecific hybridization. Collectively, in this study, the barriers to interspecific hybridization of C. moschata × C. maxima were addressed through crossing methods and choice of parents, and the obtained results are expected to provide novel support for interspecific hybrid breeding between C. moschata and C. maxima.

The increasing demand for chilli has drawn the interest of chilli breeders to improve the production of this crop. Mutation breeding is applied in many crops improvement programs as it can rapidly create the variability of inherited traits in crops. This study evaluates the effects of irradiation doses of radioactive cobalt (60Co) γ rays on seed performances, morphological characteristics and yield of chilli (Capsicum annum L.) var. Kulai grown under laboratory and glasshouse conditions. The chilli seeds were treated with gamma radiation at 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600 Gy. The effect of gamma-rays was assessed towards germination, survival rate and several morphological characteristics. From the observation, seeds from all treatments were germinated (100%) in 10 days. However, the gamma radiation affects the survival rate, fruit length, fruit weight, plant height, and most of the results were lower upon exposure to higher doses particularly 100 Gy and above. Germination rate, plant height, plant survival rate and other morphological characteristics of the irradiated plant were observed to improve at lower doses (40, 60 and 80 Gy). Apparently, lower gamma-ray doses (<100 Gy) were more suitable to study the effect on seed germination as well as other morphological characters of Capsicum annuum L. especially Kulai variety. Mutagenic dose of 300 Gy was estimated as the LD50 for Kulai variety. The findings of this study provide useful information for mutation breeding in Capsicum annuum L. using gamma radiation for future breeding programmes in chilli.