Aroma is one of the main characteristics that guide rice purchases worldwide. Aromatic rice varieties are generally less adapted to biotic and abiotic stresses. Among the abiotic constraints, drought stress causes considerable yield losses. This review describes advances in breeding for aroma and drought tolerance in rice and investigates the possibility of combing these traits in one variety. Some of the major quantitative trait loci that have been discovered for drought tolerance were recently introgressed into aromatic varieties. However, more details on the performance of developed lines are still needed. Furthermore, there are not yet any published reports on the release of aromatic drought-tolerant rice varieties.

Drought is among the major abiotic stresses on rice production that can cause yield losses of up to 100% under severe drought conditions. Neither of the rice varieties currently grown in Burundi can withstand very low and irregular precipitation. This study identified genotypes that have putative quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with drought tolerance and determined their performance in the field. Two hundred and fifteen genotypes were grown in the field under both drought and irrigated conditions. Genomic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was extracted from rice leaves for further genotypic screening. The results revealed the presence of the QTLs qDTY12.1, qDTY3.1, qDTY2-2_1, and qDTY1.1 in 90%, 85%, 53%, and 22% of the evaluated genotypes, respectively. The results of the phenotypic evaluation showed a significant yield reduction due to drought stress. Yield components and other agronomic traits were also negatively affected by drought. Genotypes having high yield best linear unbiased predictions (BLUPs) with two or more major QTLs for drought tolerance, including IR 108044-B-B-B-3-B-B, IR 92522-45-3-1-4, and BRRI DHAN 55 are of great interest for breeding programs to improve the drought tolerance of lines or varieties with other preferred traits.

Bananas and plantains are edible and vegetatively propagated parthenocarpic species of the genus Musa. They are used as staple food, dessert and cash crop by more than hundred millions of people throughout the world. However, the crop is threatened by several pests and diseases in central and eastern Africa. One way of partly solving this problem is to have diploids which have desirable traits currently lacking in the AAA-Lujugira-Mutika subgroup. The study assessed through 21 microsatellite markers pairs the cladistic closeness of the diploid AA-Mshale accessions with AAA-Lujugira-Mutika with the purpose of inclusion in breeding programmes. Results showed that the eight studied accessions of AA-Mshale were different from each other. AA-Mshale malembo was fairly well established to be among the ancestor of Lujugira-Mutika, suggesting the determinism of its pollen viability and the level of resistance to pests for including in breeding programmes. The use of two pairs of microsatellites per chromosomes linkage group established the existence of alleles’ deletion, recombination or non-annealing. The closeness among AA-Mshale and AAA-subgroups (Ibota, Gros Michel and Green Red) so far established through other techniques was confirmed. The results recommend the use of microsatellite markers, covering 11 linkage groups for cultivar identification and diversity study.

Background: Iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) deficiencies remain important nutritional challenges, particularly where common bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is an important dietary staple. Understanding the genetic basis of seed micronutrient accumulation can facilitate development of nutritionally improved cultivars. This study aimed to identify genomic regions and marker–trait associations associated with seed Fe and Zn concentrations in a genetically diverse collection of common bean germplasm from Burundi using genome-wide association analysis. Results: Significant phenotypic variation was observed for both micronutrients, with Fe showing greater dispersion than Zn. Broad-sense heritability ranged from 0.73 to 0.81 for Fe and 0.70–0.81 for Zn, while genotypic effects accounted for 85.24% and 84.61% of total variation, respectively. Fe and Zn exhibited moderate positive phenotypic (rp = 0.58) and genetic (rg = 0.55) correlations, indicating potential for simultaneous improvement. Principal component analysis revealed pronounced differentiation between Andean ( n = 62) and Mesoamerican ( n = 101) gene pools, with PC1 explaining 44.12% of molecular variation. Linkage disequilibrium remained extended, with predicted r² = 0.2717 at 250 kb. Genome-wide association analysis identified no SNPs reaching the Bonferroni threshold for either trait. For Fe, 20 SNPs were significant under the Benjamini–Hochberg false discovery rate, and 16 Fe-associated SNPs were retained for detailed interpretation and candidate-gene analysis. These loci were distributed across Pv01, Pv04, Pv06, and Pv07 and individually explained 12.61–16.28% of phenotypic variance. In contrast, no significant or suggestive marker–trait associations were detected for Zn. LD-informed candidate-gene analysis identified 145 unique putative candidate genes within ± 100-kb regions surrounding the 16 Fe-associated SNPs. These genes represented diverse functional categories, including metal/mineral homeostasis, signalling, transcriptional regulation, redox processes, protein processing, RNA-related processes, and photosynthesis/chloroplast functions. Conclusion: The findings demonstrate substantial genetic variation and complex genetic control of seed Fe and Zn accumulation in Burundi common bean germplasm. The identified Fe-associated SNPs and candidate genes provide useful genomic resources for Fe biofortification, whereas the absence of detectable Zn associations highlights the potential value of genomic selection and multi-locus approaches for Zn improvement. Independent validation and functional characterization will be necessary to confirm the stability and biological relevance of the identified Fe-associated regions.