Commercial interest in the culinary herb, Eryngium foetidum L., has increased worldwide due to its typical pungency, similar to coriander or cilantro, with immense pharmaceutical components. The molecular delimitation and taxonomic classification of this lesser-known medicinal plant are restricted to conventional phenotyping and DNA-based marker evaluation, which hinders accurate identification, genetic conservation, and safe utilization. This study focused on species discrimination using DNA sequencing with chloroplast–plastid genes (matK, Kim matK, and rbcL) and the nuclear ITS2 gene in two Eryngium genotypes collected from the east coast region of India. The results revealed that matK discriminated between two genotypes, however, Kim matK, rbcL, and ITS2 identified these genotypes as E. foetidum. The ribosomal nuclear ITS2 region exhibited significant inter- and intra-specific divergence, depicted in the DNA barcodes and the secondary structures derived based on the minimum free energy. Although the efficiency of matK genes is better in species discrimination, ITS2 demonstrated polyphyletic phylogeny, and could be used as a reliable marker for genetic divergence studies understanding the mechanisms of RNA molecules. The results of this study provide insights into the scientific basis of species identification, genetic conservation, and safe utilization of this important medicinal plant species.

An experiment was conducted to assess the existing variability in brinjal germplasm based on Mahalanobis’s D2 statistic based on nine quantitative traits. The germplasm accessions were classified into six clusters, in which the highest inter-cluster distance was recorded between clusters III and IV. Cluster I exhibited a low mean estimate for days to 50% flowering; cluster VI showed high estimates of the mean for plant height, the number of primary branches per plant, average fruit weight, and 1000 seed weight. Cluster V recorded the highest number of fruits and fruit yields per plant. Principal component analysis revealed total variability of 53.09 per cent, contributed by PC 1 (30.83 %) and PC 2 (23.07 %). Traits viz., days to 50% flowering, plant height, an average number of branches per plant, fruit length, and 1000 seed weight contributed positive significant component loadings for the first two PCs. High heritability and high GAM were also recorded for a number of fruits per plant, fruit yield per plant, fruit length, fruit girth, fruit weight, and 1000 seed weight. Fruit yield and the number of fruits per plant were positively and significantly associated with each other. Hence, simultaneous selection of these traits is advised for the genetic improvement in the brinjal breeding program.

Bacterial wilt caused due to Ralstoniapseudosolanacearum is pervasive across the majorpepper growing parts of world and impede production.It is reported that 30-100% yield losses in crops wasdue to bacterial wilt (James et al. 2003). Ralstoniapseudosolanacearum is highly heterogeneous bacterialpathogen cause wilting of important crops (Smith et al.1995). These pathogen propagules remain viable andactive in soil for several years making the control almostimpossible through any means of cultural managementlike crop rotation, involvement of biological agents aswell as chemical treatments especially in the regionswhere repeated and protected cultivation is undertaken(Thakur et al. 2014).