Food-based components represent major sources of functional bioactive compounds. Milk is a rich source of multiple bioactive peptides that not only help to fulfill consumers ‘nutritional requirements but also play a significant role in preventing several health disorders. Understanding the chemical composition of milk and its products is critical for producing consistent and high-quality dairy products and functional dairy ingredients. Over the last two decades, peptides have gained significant attention by scientific evidence for its beneficial health impacts besides their established nutrient value. Increasing awareness of essential milk proteins has facilitated the development of novel milk protein products that are progressively required for nutritional benefits. The need to better understand the beneficial effects of milk-protein derived peptides has, therefore, led to the development of analytical approaches for the isolation, separation and identification of bioactive peptides in complex dairy products. Continuous emphasis is on the biological function and nutritional characteristics of milk constituents using several powerful techniques, namely omics, model cell lines, gut microbiome analysis and imaging techniques. This review briefly describes the state-of-the-art approach of peptidomics and lipidomics profiling approaches for the identification and detection of milk-derived bioactive peptides while taking into account recent progress in their analysis and emphasizing the difficulty of analysis of these functional and endogenous peptides.

Water scarcity and increasing salinity stress are significant challenges in the farming sector as they often exacerbate each other, as limited water availability can concentrate salts in the soil, further hindering plant growth. Lettuce, a crucial leafy vegetable with high nutritional value, is susceptible to water availability and quality. This study investigates the growth and development of lettuce plants under water scarcity and varying levels of salinity stress to identify effective strategies for reducing water consumption while maintaining or improving plant productivity. Field experiments were designed to simulate three drought levels (50, 75, and 100% of class A pan evaporation) and three salinity stress levels (control, 1500, and 3000 ppm NaCl), assessing their impact on lettuce’s morphological and biochemical parameters. The combination of reduced water supply and high salinity significantly hindered growth, underscoring the detrimental effects of simultaneous water deficit and salinity stress on plant development. Non-stressed treatment enhanced nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium contents and progressively decreased with the reduction in water supply from 100% to 50%. Interestingly, higher salinity levels increased total phenolic, flavonoid, and antioxidant activity, suggesting an adaptive stress response. Moreover, antioxidant activity, evaluated through DPPH and ABTS assays, peaked in plants irrigated with 75% ETo, whether under control or 1500 ppm salinity conditions. The Yield Stability Index was highest at 75% ETo (0.95), indicating robust stability under stress. The results indicated that lettuce could be cultivated with up to 75% of the water requirement without significantly impacting plant development or quality. Furthermore, the investigation demonstrated that lettuce could thrive when irrigated with water of moderate salinity (1500 ppm). These findings highlight the potential for reducing water quantities and saline water in lettuce production, offering practical solutions for sustainable farming in water-scarce regions.

Salt stress is one of the major constraints affecting plant growth and agricultural productivity worldwide. Sorghum is a valuable food source and a potential model for studying and better understanding the salt stress mechanics in the cereals and obtaining a more comprehensive knowledge of their cellular responses. Herein, we examined the effects of salinity on reserve mobilization, antioxidant potential, and expression analysis of starch synthesis genes. Our findings show that germination percentage is adversely affected by all salinity levels, more remarkably at 120 mM (36% reduction) and 140 mM NaCl (46% reduction) than in the control. Lipid peroxidation increased in salt-susceptible genotypes (PC-5: 2.88 and CSV 44F: 2.93 nmloe/g.FW), but not in tolerant genotypes. SSG 59-3 increased activities of α-amylase, and protease enzymes corroborated decreased starch and protein content, respectively. SSG 59-3 alleviated adverse effects of salinity by suppressing oxidative stress (H₂O₂) and stimulating enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant activities (SOD, APX, CAT, POD, GR, and GPX), as well as protecting cell membrane integrity (MDA, electrolyte leakage). A significant increase (p ≤ 0.05) was also observed in SSG 59-3 with proline, ascorbic acid, and total carbohydrates. Among inorganic cations and anions, Na⁺, Cl⁻, and SO₄²⁻ increased, whereas K⁺, Mg²⁺, and Ca²⁺ decreased significantly. SSG 59-3 had a less pronounced effect of excess Na⁺ ions on the gene expression of starch synthesis. Salinity also influenced Na+ ion efflux and maintained a lower cytosolic Na⁺/K⁺ ratio via concomitant upregulation of SbNHX-1 and SbVPPase-I ion transporter genes. Thus, we have highlighted that salinity physiologically and biochemically affect sorghum seedling growth. Based on these findings, we highlighted that SSG 59-3 performed better by retaining higher plant water status, antioxidant potential, and upregulation of ion transporter genes and starch synthesis, thereby alleviating stress, which may be augmented as genetic resources to establish sorghum cultivars with improved quality in saline soils.

Present study was conducted on four genotypes of quinoa to find out optimum temperature and method for germination test at Department of Seed Science and Technology, CCS HAU, Hisar during 2019-20. The result of this study revealed that at 25oC temperature average germination was 22.47 per cent while it was 13.31 per cent at 20oC temperature. Similarly seedling lengths were 9.69 and 7.58cm and seedling vigour index-I were 229.54 and 103.07 at 20 and 25oC respectively. Between the methods, Top of Paper (TP) recorded 19.78 % germination while Between Paper (BP) recorded 16.00 % germination. Similarly, 8.51 and 8.77cm seedling lengths and 157.83 and 174.78 vigour index-I were observed in Top of Paper and Between Paper methods respectively. Poor germination was recorded in all four genotypes (Maximum 42%) which was confirmed by conducting tetrazolium test. It is concluded from the study that 25 oC temperature and both Top of Paper and Between Paper methods can be used for germination test in quinoa crop. For radical emergence test, 250C temperature for 60 hours should be used and for seed viability test, the seeds should soaked into 1.0% percent tetrazolium solution (2, 3, 5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride) for 20 hours at 30oC.

The study was conducted on HC 3 variety of chickpea to optimize the seed rate for bold seeded varieties during rabi 2022-23. The results revealed that there was a decrease in plant stand establishment, days to flowering, and plant height as the seed rate is reduced from 120 kg to 72 kg/ha. However, the seed yield per plant increased when the seed rate is reduced. The highest seed yield of 2010 kg/ha was recorded in seed rate of 84 kg/ha, but it decreased to 1727 kg/ha in seed rate of 72 kg/ha. Graded seed yield was recorded as the highest with 84 kg/ha (1772 kg/ha) compared to 72 kg/ha (1541 kg/ha). In terms of economic returns, the net monetary return per hectare was highest with a seed rate of 84 kg/ha (Rs. 2,30,098/-) compared to 120 kg/ha (Rs. 1,70,010/-) with benefit-cost ratio 4.03 and 2.85, respectively. It is concluded from the study that optimal seed rate for achieving maximum seed yield and improved seed quality in bold-seeded variety of chickpea is 84 kg/ha.