Breeding of high-yielding and stable durum wheat varieties with improved kernel characteristics is needed for dry regions around the globe. The aim of this study was to investigate the performance and stability of eight durum wheat genotypes varying in their kernel characteristics across 15 contrasting environments. The tested material included three recombinant inbred lines (NUR-072, NUR-106 and NUR-238) derived from a cross between Norsi, a Jordanian landrace with special kernel characteristics and UC1113 Yr36+Gpc-B1, an elite line from USA. Field trials were carried out for three constitutive growing seasons under rainfed conditions, except for three environments where supplementary irrigation was provided. After the harvest, grain yield (GY), total yield (TW), and harvest index (HI) were recorded. Additionally, several kernel-related traits, including thousand kernel weight (TKW), kernel area (KA), kernel width (KW), kernel length (KL), kernel circularity (KC), and kernel length–width ratio (KL:KW) were evaluated. Analysis of variance for all tested traits revealed high significant variations (p ≤ 0.01) between the genotype (except for TW) and the genotype × environment (G × E) interaction. Genotype effect contributed to substantial percentage of variation (>75%) for KA, KL, KC and KL:KW, whereas KW showed a lower percentage similar to GY. Regarding the G × E effect, explained variation was highest for the TW (67.79%), and lowest for KL (6.47%). For GY, Norsi produced significantly the lowest mean value (249.99 g.m⁻²) while, Bolenga produced the highest mean value (377.85 g.m⁻²) although no significant differences were observed with the remaining genotypes. On the other hand, Norsi, NUR-072 and NUR-106 showed best performance for TKW and kernel-related traits with NUR-106 producing the highest mean value for KL (9.07 mm). The GGE biplot and AMMI analysis of GY identified Bolenga, Um Qais and NUR-106 as good performers across several environments, while Norsi exhibited the poorest performance. For TKW, Norsi was the best performer across different environments followed by NUR-106, which showed excellent performance under irrigated and saline conditions. For stability analysis, NUR-106 emerged as the most stable genotype in this study for GY and several kernel-related traits, particularly for KL and KC. In conclusion, the results of this study offer valuable insights for durum wheat breeders seeking to develop high-yielding and stable varieties with special kernel characteristics suitable for cultivation in dry areas.

The current work investigates the impact of postharvest applications of calcium chloride (CaCl₂) in combination with either 10% gum arabic or 50% cactus mucilage on the quality parameters and storability of tomato fruit (Izmir variety), at ambient storage conditions [21 ± 1 °C, relative humidity (RH) 45% ± 2%]. The tomato fruits were dipped in 6% CaCl₂ for 10 min and then coated with either 10% gum arabic or 50% cactus mucilage for 3 min. During the time-course of storage, the fruit attributes, such as fresh fruit weight loss, fruit decay, firmness, titratable acidity (TA), total soluble solids (TSS), and color development were assessed. The results revealed a significant (P ≤ 0.05) effect of fruit postharvest treatment with 6% CaCl₂ for 10 min combined with postharvest coating treatments with either 10% gum arabic or 50% cactus mucilage for 3 min on reducing fruit fresh weight loss, and decay percent of fruits. Fruit firmness, TA, and TSS were preserved compared with untreated fruit. In addition, treated fruits took more time to develop from pink to full red compared with untreated fruit. Hence, coating with natural substances combined with CaCl₂ preserved the overall quality parameters and enhanced the shelf life of tomato fruit even after three weeks of storage at ambient temperature.

Background: A laboratory bioassay study was conducted to evaluate the in vitro pathogenicity of different isolates of B. bassiana, M. anisopliae and L. lecanii, against the adults of black bean aphid. Methods: The PCR-based method was used to identify the different isolates molecularly using sequence information from the ITS region. The total genomic DNA of the 19 fungal isolates was recovered from aphid cadavers using CTAB. The amplified DNA using QRT-PCR showed no significant differences in the ANOVA that tested mean cycle threshold (CT) values from the control. Post-molecular identification of the isolated entomopathogen was approved. The single discriminative concentration bioassay was carried out to determine LT50 values for each of twelve isolates to determine the most virulent for further studies. Result: LT50 values for B. bassiana, M. anisopliae and V. lecanii isolates varied from 110-113, 71-75 and 64-77 h, respectively. B. bassiana isolate BBK2, M. anisopliae isolate MAA2 and V. lecanii isolates VLJ2 were selected for further experiments based on their discriminating concentration values. LC50 of BBA post-exposure to isolates of V. lecanii, M. anisopliae and B. bassiana was 46, 269 and 251 ppm, respectively. A significant difference in cumulative mortality was recorded between the three EPF. M. anisopliae showed a higher significant cumulative mortality during the first and second days post-application. Then V. lecanii recorded higher significant cumulative mortality from the third until the seventh-day post-application. V. lecanii showed higher virulence among the other entomopathogenic isolates.