Advances in crop breeding techniques and economic evaluation are critical to ensuring and improving crop yields and sustainable development. Based on the provincial data on food legumes breeding (FLB) in China from 2001 to 2020, the research and development (R&D) expenditure distribution, FLB contribution rate, and R&D expenditure on FLB were estimated. The economic benefits of output per unit area and R&D expenses were evaluated, and relevant policy suggestions were put forward. The study found that: (i) the R&D expenditure on FLB’s showed a significant upward trend, and the development can be divided into a starting, stable, and rapid growth period. There were significant differences in R&D expenditures across eight provinces of China with relatively high R&D expenditures for FLB; (ii) the R&D expenditure on FLB had a significant lag in the improvement of per mu yield (1 mu = 0.067 hectares). For every 10,000 yuan increase in R&D funding for FLB, the yield per mu will increase by 0.145 kg/mu in the next five years, and the regional spillover effect of breeding costs is significant; and (iii) the marginal revenue of R&D expenditures FLB from 2008 to 2020 is 34.91 yuan, that is, every 1 yuan invested in breeding R&D can bring a short-term marginal revenue of 34.91 yuan and a long-term marginal revenue of 337.23 yuan. Based on the above analysis, some recommendations were proposed and discussed, including further increasing the R&D investment of FLB, strengthening industry–university–research cooperation in breeding, improving the breeding research system, and promoting the multi-dimensional development of FLB industry–university–research services.

Food legumes play a pivotal role in China’s food security, nutritional health, and green development strategies due to their unique advantages. This paper presents an empirical study on the economic evaluation of scientific research on pest and disease control for food legumes. Using panel data from 31 Chinese provinces from 2008 to 2023, we employ a Double Machine Learning (DML) approach to identify the impact of investment in plant protection research on food legume outputs. The results indicate a steady increase in China’s investment in this field, with an average annual growth rate of 5.19% from 2008 to 2023, and the total investment in 2023 was 2.14 times that of 2008. Investment in plant protection research effectively mitigates output losses and leads to significant production increases. Specifically, a 1% increase in research investment corresponds to a 0.2% increase in food legume output. This effect remains robust across various algorithms, time windows, and control variable settings. Based on these findings, we recommend: (1) increasing financial support and talent acquisition for research on food legume pests and diseases to enhance the stability and sustainability of research investment; (2) strengthening cooperation mechanisms between research institutions and enterprises to leverage their respective strengths and promote the commercialization of research outcomes and regional variety extension; (3) establishing a diversified research investment system that explores a co-construction model guided by the government, involving enterprises, and utilizing public–private partnerships to reconcile the conflict between long research cycles and market demands; (4) fostering a dual-track linkage between regional technological innovation and enterprise product commercialization to improve the efficiency of technology transfer and application; and (5) strengthening R&D in cutting-edge fields like Artificial Intelligence to improve the efficiency and precision of pest and disease control.

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) plays pivotal roles in plant growth, abiotic stress responses, detoxification of xenobiotics, and maintenance of redox homeostasis. In this study, transcriptomic analysis was employed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in pea of DX27 under low temperature stress(-4°C) at 3, 6, and 12 h. GO and KEGG enrichment analyses of global transcriptomic data further revealed that DEGs were significantly enriched in oxidation-reduction processes, stress responses, glutathione metabolism, and secondary metabolite biosynthesis—functional categories. A total of 52 PsatGST genes were identified and classified into nine subfamilies based on phylogenetic relationships. Chromosomal localization revealed a non-random distribution across seven chromosomes. Promoter cis-element analysis indicated that PsatGST genes harbor diverse regulatory elements associated with light responsiveness, hormone signaling (auxin, abscisic acid, gibberellin, salicylic acid, and MeJA), and abiotic/biotic stress responses (low-temperature, wounding, and anaerobic induction). PsatGSTU18 and PsatGSTF2 expression analysis showing pronounced up-regulation at 12 h under low temperature stress (-4°C) at 3, 6, and 12 h. These findings provide a foundational framework for understanding the evolutionary history and functional diversification of the PsatGSTs gene family and offer valuable candidate genes for breeding stress-tolerant pea varieties.

The pea weevil (Bruchus pisorum L.) causes severe yield losses in cultivated pea (Pisum sativum L.), yet the molecular basis of host resistance remains unclear. Here, we performed integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses on pods and seeds of resistant (YWD) and susceptible (LW1) pea genotypes to characterize the constitutive defence network against weevils. Extensive transcriptional and metabolic reprogramming was observed in resistant materials, with upregulation of defence pathways and suppression of primary metabolism. Pods directed phenylpropanoid flux toward isoflavonoid biosynthesis and enhanced cutin/wax pathways, while seeds redirected flux to flavone/flavonol biosynthesis, accumulating high levels of flavone C-glycosides including isovitexin (5260.46-fold) and vitexin (3771.09-fold). We identified Dof21 as a key transcription factor putatively regulating flavonoid biosynthesis, with its Dof domain predicted to bind promoters of 4CL1, CHS3 and CYP75B. A seed-specific lectin gene LG16 showed 8.99-fold higher expression in resistant seeds with negligible expression in pods. The ABA catabolite dihydrophaseic acid and semi-volatile compounds vanilloloside and cimidahurinine were significantly enriched in resistant seeds, implicating ABA turnover and glycosylation in defence compound stabilization. This study provides a multi-dimensional molecular framework for weevil resistance in pea and offers key candidate genes including Dof21, LG16, 4CL1, CHS3 and CYP75B for resistant germplasm screening and marker-assisted breeding.

Background: Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) play pivotal roles in plant growth, abiotic stress responses, detoxification of xenobiotics, and maintenance of redox homeostasis. Methods: In this study, transcriptomic analysis was employed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the pea cultivar DX27 under freezing stress (−4 °C) at 3, 6, and 12 h. Results:GO and KEGG enrichment analyses of global transcriptomic data further reveal that DEGs are significantly enriched in the following functional categories: oxidation–reduction processes, stress responses, glutathione metabolism, and secondary metabolite biosynthesis. A total of 52 PsatGST genes were identified and classified into nine subfamilies based on phylogenetic relationships. Chromosomal localization revealed a non-random distribution across seven chromosomes. Promoter cis-element analysis indicated that PsatGST genes harbor diverse regulatory elements associated with light responsiveness, hormone signaling (auxin, abscisic acid, gibberellin, salicylic acid, and MeJA), and abiotic/biotic stress responses. PsatGSTF2 expression analysis showed pronounced up-regulation under freezing stress (−4 °C) at 3, 6, and 12 h. Conclusions: These findings provide a foundational framework for understanding the evolutionary history and functional diversification of the PsatGST gene family and offer valuable candidate genes for the breeding of stress-tolerant pea varieties.