The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) arrived in Europe in the sixteenth century from the American continent and spread across the old continent as a result of adaptation to different climatic and geographical conditions, as well as selection for different cultivation techniques and eating habits. This expansion gave rise to a huge number of landraces, which have now been largely replaced by more productive cultivars. To avoid losing this genetic diversity heritage, it is essential to characterize the genetic resources at risk of extinction for correct in situ/ex situ conservation and as a first step toward promoting and relaunching their exploitation. In this article, we report the study of a group of Borlotti beans, both landraces and modern cultivars, which are typically cultivated in Northern Italy. The aim was to explore the variability within the assembled Borlotti panel to assess whether landraces have maintained their morphological and genetic identity over time during on-farm cultivation. In particular, we investigated whether it is possible to distinguish between landraces and commercial accessions, a topic that has so far been understudied, but in the field of conservation, it is particularly important because it allows for the prioritization of preserving genetic resources. We found distinctive traits among the various accessions, with only a few landraces maintaining their identity, many of which should more properly be defined as obsolete cultivars. Taken together, these data indicate that it is possible to establish a priority scale for in/ex situ conservation by comparing landraces and cultivars using morphological and genetic data. Furthermore, thanks to geographical isolation, on-farm conservation has proven to still be successful in maintaining the identity of landraces.

Background and aim: Cereals’ iron content is a major contributor to dietary iron intake in Europe and a potential for biofortification. A simulation of daily iron intake from wheat and rice over the next 20 years will be quantified. Methods: Food items, and energy and iron intake by age classes are estimated using the Italian dietary survey (IV SCAI). Iron intake and adequacy estimation trends were categorized in four scenarios compared to a baseline (basic scenario; only climate change effects): over wheat and rice biofortification effects (scenario 1); over the shift in whole wheat consumption of up to 50% of the total amount of wheat-based foods (scenario 2); over the shift in brown rice consumption up to 100% of the total amount of rice (scenario 3); over the cumulative effects of biofortifications and whole wheat and brown rice consumption (scenario 4). Results: Increasing the iron intake from wheat and rice biofortification and the shift in whole wheat consumption is similar and sufficient to recover the baseline iron depletion effect due to climate change. The shift in brown rice consumption produces a negligible increment in iron intake. The cumulative effects of the corrective actions considered in the scenarios can significantly reduce the iron intake inadequacy, despite not reaching the recommended levels. Conclusions: Corrective actions including biofortification and whole grain consumption are still far from ensuring the full recovery in children and females of fertile age as at-risk groups of iron deficiency. Further actions are needed considering other biofortified food sources, fortified foods, and/or dietary food diversification.

Non‐proteinaceous and proteinaceous antinutrients in common bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.) seeds can negatively affect human nutrition by reducing mineral bioavailability and impairing protein digestibility during digestion, respectively. However, many of these compounds also possess strong antioxidant properties that can help protect the plant from oxidative stress. While strategies to reduce antinutrient levels have been proposed to enhance the nutritional value of beans, less attention has been given to their potential protective functions, particularly under abiotic stress conditions. In the context of ongoing global climate change – marked by more frequent and prolonged drought and heat stress – there is a significant research gap concerning the influence of these environmental stresses on the accumulation and function of seed antinutrients in common beans. This perspective paper reviews current knowledge on the production of antioxidative antinutrients in response to abiotic stress and highlights the dual role of these compounds. It also outlines key research directions needed to better understand how climate‐induced stress may alter antinutrient levels, and the implications this may have for both human nutrition and plant resilience. © 2025 The Author(s). Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

The Asparagus genus includes approximately 240 species, the most important of which is garden asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.), as this is a vegetable crop cultivated worldwide for its edible spear. Along with garden asparagus, other species are also cultivated (e.g., Asparagus maritimus L.) or have been proposed as untapped sources of variability in breeding programs (e.g., Asparagus acutifolius L.). In the present work, we applied reduced-representation sequencing to examine a panel of 378 diverse asparagus genotypes, including commercial hybrids, interspecific lines, wild relatives of garden asparagus, and doubled haploids currently used in breeding programs, which enabled the identification of more than 200K single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). These SNPs were used to assess the extent of linkage disequilibrium in the diploid gene pool of asparagus and combined with preliminary phenotypic information to conduct genome-wide association studies for sex and traits tied to spear quality and production. Moreover, using the same phenotypic and genotypic information, we fitted and cross-validated genome-enabled prediction models for the same set of traits. Overall, our analyses demonstrated that, unlike the diversity detected in wild species related to garden asparagus and in interspecific crosses, cultivated and wild genotypes of A. officinalis L. show a narrow genetic basis, which is a contributing factor hampering the genetic improvement of this crop. Estimating the extent of linkage disequilibrium and providing the first example of genome-wide association study and genome-enabled prediction in this species, we concluded that the asparagus panel examined in the present study can lay the foundation for determination of the genetic bases of agronomically important traits and for the implementation of predictive breeding tools to sustain breeding.