Drought stress is considered a severe threat to crop production. It adversely affects the morpho-physiological, biochemical and molecular functions of the plants, especially in short duration crops like mungbean. In the past few decades, significant progress has been made towards enhancing climate resilience in legumes through classical and next-generation breeding coupled with omics approaches. Various defence mechanisms have been reported as key players in crop adaptation to drought stress. Many researchers have identified potential donors, QTLs/genes and candidate genes associated to drought tolerance-related traits. However, cloning and exploitation of these loci/gene(s) in breeding programmes are still limited. To bridge the gap between theoretical research and practical breeding, we need to reveal the omics-assisted genetic variations associated with drought tolerance in mungbean to tackle this stress. Furthermore, the use of wild relatives in breeding programmes for drought tolerance is also limited and needs to be focused. Even after six years of decoding the whole genome sequence of mungbean, the genome-wide characterization and expression of various gene families and transcriptional factors are still lacking. Due to the complex nature of drought tolerance, it also requires integrating high throughput multi-omics approaches to increase breeding efficiency and genomic selection for rapid genetic gains to develop drought-tolerant mungbean cultivars. This review highlights the impact of drought stress on mungbean and mitigation strategies for breeding high-yielding drought-tolerant mungbean varieties through classical and modern omics technologies.

Terminal heat stress has become one of the major threats due to global climate change which is significantly affecting the production and productivity of wheat crop. Therefore, it is necessary to identify key traits and genotypes to breed heat-tolerant wheat. The present study was undertaken with the objective of comparing the effects of heat stress (HSE) and extended heat stress (EHSE) on phenological-physio-biochemical traits of contrasting heat-tolerant and heat-susceptible genotypes during the reproductive phase. Phenological traits exhibited significant reduction under EHSE compared to HSE. Heat-tolerant genotypes maintained balanced phenological-physio-biochemical traits, while heat-sensitive genotypes showed significant reductions under both stress regimes. Among phenological traits, DM (R² = 0.52) and BY (R² = 0.44) have shown a positive effect on seed yield, indicating that biomass and crop duration contributed to the yield advantage under stress. During the grain filling stage, both the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and chlorophyll (Chl) exhibited consistently positive impacts on grain yield under both HSE and EHSE conditions. This could be attributed to the enhanced photosynthesis resulting from delayed senescence and improved assimilate remobilization under terminal heat stress. The biochemical activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POX), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) was induced in tolerant genotypes under HSE. The correlation of canopy temperature with phenological-physio-biochemical traits remained static under HSE and EHSE, suggesting CT as the best selection parameter for heat tolerance. The traits showing a positive association with yield and that are less affected under stress could be used for selecting tolerant genotypes under stress environments. These tolerant genotypes can be used to develop mapping populations to decipher the genes conferring tolerance as well as to study the molecular basis of tolerance.

Globally, abiotic stresses, such as temperature (heat or cold), water (drought and flooding), and salinity, cause significant losses in crop production and have adverse effects on plant growth and development. A variety of DNA-based molecular markers, such as SSRs, RFLPs, AFLPs, SNPs, etc., have been used to screen germplasms for stress tolerance and the QTL mapping of stress-related genes. Such molecular-marker-assisted selection strategies can quicken the development of tolerant/resistant cultivars to withstand abiotic stresses. Oilseeds such as rapeseed, mustard, peanuts, soybeans, sunflower, safflower, sesame, flaxseed, and castor are the most important source of edible oil worldwide. Although oilseed crops are known for their capacity to withstand abiotic challenges, there is a significant difference between actual and potential yields due to the adaptation and tolerance to severe abiotic pressures. This review summarizes the applications of molecular markers to date to achieve abiotic stress tolerance in major oilseed crops. The molecular markers that have been reported for genetic diversity studies and the mapping and tagging of genes/QTLs for drought, heavy metal stress, salinity, flooding, cold and heat stress, and their application in the MAS are presented.

Field pea is one of the important short-duration cool season pulse crops which contributes significantly towards food and nutritional security. Two heat-susceptible (HS) and two heat-tolerant (HT) genotypes were selected from the previous study for further characterization. A significant variation was observed for morpho-physiological traits studied. Principal component analysis explained that first two principal components, i.e., PC1 and PC2 showed 76.5% of the total variance in optimal condition, whereas 91.2% of the total variance was covered by the first two PCs in heat stress environment. The seed yield per plant determined significant and positive association with superoxide dismutase and number of seeds per pod under optimal conditions, whereas under heat stress condition, it was positively associated with number of effective pods per plant, biological yield per plant, proline, pod length, number of seeds per pod, superoxide dismutase, and peroxidase. The significant reduction was noticed in the susceptible genotypes, whereas tolerant genotypes showed stable and non-significant reduction in chlorophyll content. Further, minimum cell damage and higher hydrogen peroxide production was noticed in the susceptible genotypes. In addition, the biochemical characterization of HS and HT genotypes revealed that the higher expression of peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, and catalase modulates the tolerant responses in HT genotypes. These genotypes were further used in developing heat-tolerant field pea genotypes.

Waterlogging represents a substantial agricultural concern, inducing harmful impacts on crop development and productivity. In the present study, 142 diverse sesame genotypes were examined during the early vegetative phase to assess their response under waterlogging conditions. Based on the severity of symptoms observed, 2 genotypes were classified as highly tolerant, 66 as moderately tolerant, 69 as susceptible, and 5 as highly susceptible. Subsequent investigation focused on four genotypes, i.e., two highly tolerant (JLT-8 and GP-70) and two highly susceptible (R-III-F6 and EC-335003). These genotypes were subjected to incremental stress periods (0 h, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, and 96 h) to elucidate the biochemical basis of tolerance mechanisms. Each experiment was conducted as a randomized split-plot design with three replications, and the statistical significance of the treatment differences was determined using the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by the Fisher least significant difference (LSD) test at p ≤ 0.05. The influence of waterlogging stress on morphological growth was detrimental for both tolerant and susceptible genotypes, with more severe consequences observed in the latter. Although adventitious roots were observed in both sets of genotypes above flooding levels, the tolerant genotypes exhibited a more rapid and vigorous development of these roots after 48 h of stress exposure. Tolerant genotypes displayed higher tolerance coefficients compared to susceptible genotypes. Furthermore, tolerant genotypes maintained elevated antioxidant potential, thereby minimizing oxidative stress. Conversely, susceptible genotypes exhibited higher accumulation of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and malondialdehyde content. Photosynthetic efficiency was reduced in all genotypes after 24 h of stress treatment, with a particularly drastic reduction in susceptible genotypes compared to their tolerant counterparts. Tolerant genotypes exhibited significantly higher activities of anaerobic metabolism enzymes, enabling prolonged survival under waterlogging conditions. Increase in proline content was observed in all the genotypes indicating the cellular osmotic balance adjustments in response to stress exposure. Consequently, the robust antioxidant potential and efficient anaerobic metabolism observed in the tolerant genotypes served as key mechanisms enabling their resilience to short-term waterlogging exposure. These findings underscore the promising potential of specific sesame genotypes in enhancing crop resilience against waterlogging stress, offering valuable insights for agricultural practices and breeding programs.

Lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) comprising of wheat bran, coconut husk, rice husk, cereals straw, and other hardwood and softwoods is a good source for the production of xylooligosaccharides (XOS) (prebiotic). XOS produced are nondigestible carbohydrates being stable under stomach pH and digestive enzymes so they can be easily delivered to the intestine in native form, thus stimulating the growth of probiotics. Here we review about the raw material, production, purification, and application of XOS with health benefits. Importance of XOS being valuable food ingredient is increasing as they perform a variety of functions, including reduction in cholesterol levels, gastrointestinal health maintenance, anticancer and antioxidant properties, and modulation of immune system. We also discuss the different characterization methods which are necessary to determine the degree of polymerization (DP) of XOS. Low DP (xylobiose and xylotriose) is usually preferred for the application of XOS in various sectors. This review emphasizes the growing significance of XOS as a prebiotic, serving as nourishment for probiotics.