Cultivated beets, including leaf beets, garden beets, fodder beets, and sugar beets, which belong to the species Beta vulgaris L., are economically important edible crops that have been originated from a halophytic wild ancestor, Beta maritima L. (sea beet or wild beet). Salt and drought are major abiotic stresses, which limit crop growth and production and have been most studied in beets compared to other environmental stresses. Characteristically, beets are salt- and drought-tolerant crops; however, prolonged and persistent exposure to salt and drought stress results in a significant drop in beet productivity and yield. Hence, to harness the best benefits of beet cultivation, knowledge of stress-coping strategies, and stress-tolerant beet varieties, are prerequisites. In the current review, we have summarized morpho-physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses of sugar beet, fodder beet, red beet, chard (B. vulgaris L.), and their ancestor, wild beet (B. maritima L.) under salt and drought stresses. We have also described the beet genes and noncoding RNAs previously reported for their roles in salt and drought response/tolerance. The plant biologists and breeders can potentiate the utilization of these resources as prospective targets for developing crops with abiotic stress tolerance.

Cultivated beets (sugar beets, fodder beets, leaf beets, and garden beets) belonging to the species Beta vulgaris L. are important sources for many products such as sugar, bioethanol, animal feed, human nutrition, pulp residue, pectin extract, and molasses. Beta maritima L. (sea beet or wild beet) is a halophytic wild ancestor of all cultivated beets. With a requirement of less water and having shorter growth period than sugarcane, cultivated beets are preferentially spreading from temperate regions to subtropical countries. The beet cultivars display tolerance to several abiotic stresses such as salt, drought, cold, heat, and heavy metals. However, many environmental factors adversely influence growth, yield, and quality of beets. Hence, selection of stress-tolerant beet varieties and knowledge on the response mechanisms of beet cultivars to different abiotic stress factors are most required. The present review discusses morpho-physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses of cultivated beets (B. vulgaris L.) to different abiotic stresses including alkaline, cold, heat, heavy metals, and UV radiation. Additionally, we describe the beet genes reported for their involvement in response to these stress conditions.

Drought and salinity stresses badly influence rice plant growth and yield. The rising efforts to advance rice genotypes for drought and salt tolerance necessitate the selection of tolerant genotypes. Here, a total 51 rice genotypes were tested for salinity and moisture stress tolerance at germination and early seedling growth in NaCl (200 mM) and PEG-6000 (20%). Physiological and biochemical parameters viz., seed morphology, seed germination, length, fresh weight, dry weight and proline accumulation were evaluated with respect to salt and drought stress, depicting that rice genotypes performed differentially in their response to these stresses. Allelic variations with reference to the control varieties were found and these alleles can be used as a source of genomic approach and mining of elite alleles. The present study provides the information about the significant variation in salinity and drought tolerance subsisting within tested rice genotypes, which intended to make available with great promise for improving salt and drought tolerance in rice.

Understanding the genetic diversity of crop species is critical for developing effective breeding strategies to improve yield and related traits. This study presents an integrative assessment of genetic diversity among 72 pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duchesne) genotypes including standard check varieties, using both morphological traits and molecular markers. The experiment was carried out at ICAR-Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh in augmented block design during the summer season of 2023 with data recorded on 17 quantitative traits. The analysis of variance revealed that the mean sum of squares attributable to genotype was significant to highly significant across all 17 quantitative traits, indicating that the evaluated genotypes exhibited significant genetic diversity for test traits under study. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as per cent of mean was observed for characters such as peduncle diameter (73.34 % and 169.72 %, respectively) and seed width (99.85 % and 157.59 %, respectively), making them ideal targets for genetic improvement through selection. Principal component analysis identified seven significant principal components, with PC1 accounting for the largest proportion of variability (13.99 %), followed by PC2 (12.90 %) and PC3 (11.58 %) and highlighting fruit yield per plant, fruit weight and seed width were major contributors to the phenotypic divergence. Molecular profiling using 19 SSR markers revealed high polymorphism with polymorphic information content (PIC) values ranging from 0.36–0.97 and unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) clustering delineated seventy-two genotypes into three distinct clusters. The marker CMTm34 had the highest PIC value (0.97), suggesting its exceptional discriminatory power for detecting genetic variability in pumpkin genotypes. Allele frequencies across all markers varied widely, ranging from 8.75 % to 80.00 %, demonstrating the genetic richness and diversity of the genotypes under study. The diverse genotypes identified in this study may be utilised as potential parents in hybrid breeding programmes to develop superior pumpkin lines.