Browsing by Author "Mukesh Choudhary"

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Breeding strategies for improved multistress-resilient crops
(Springer Nature, 2025) B. M. Lokeshkumar; Sanchika Snehi; Krishanu; S. Dasaratha Kumar; Kuram Tirumala Ravikiran; Rahul Kumar; Mukesh Choudhary; Suneetha Kota; Arvind Kumar; Anita Mann; Satish Kumar Sanwal; Nitish Ranjan Prakash
Multiple stresses including abiotic and biotic, affecting crop plants are more common nowadays in the era of climate change. These stresses include several abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, cold, heat, mineral deficiency, mineral toxicity, and waterlogging and biotic stresses such as diseases, pests, insects, and weeds. Breeding suitable cultivars with the capacity to endure multiple stresses are need of the hour. The approaches in the past were conventional pedigree-based selection, backcross-assisted introgression and transfer, and recombination breeding. However, in the recent past, the marker-assisted backcross breeding (MABB) approach has been used successfully to transfer multiple abiotic and biotic stress-tolerant oligogenic/major QTLs from donor genotypes into elite lines. Presently, with the advent of robust and cheaper genotyping costs, the capability to analyze big data, high computational efficiency, and the use of rapid generation techniques (Speed Breeding), genomic selection has emerged as a major player in breeding. Genomic selection breeding pipelines are very robust in predicting the performance of genotypes. The present chapter summarizes a thorough understanding of conventional and molecular breeding approaches to develop multistress-tolerant crop varieties. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.
NDVI and grain fill duration are important to be considered in breeding for terminal heat stress tolerance in wheat
(John Wiley and Sons Inc, 2023) Monu Kumar; Vinod Kumar Mishra; Ramesh Chand; Sandeep Sharma; Uttam Kumar; Jai Prakash Jaiswal; Mukesh Choudhary; Anima Mahato; Ashutosh; Prashant Singh; Arun Kumar Joshi
Terminal heat stress is a major constraint for taking a profitable crop of wheat by small and marginal farmers in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of south Asia. Hence, breeders remain in constant search for heat-tolerant genotypes. This study was done with the purpose to find out high-yielding wheat genotypes that perform stably under terminal heat stress as well as to conclude an easy phenotyping trait for this objective. A cross (HUW 234 × HUW 468) was made using two popular cultivars of the eastern Gangetic Plains of India. HUW 234 carries terminal heat tolerance whereas, HUW 468 is high yielding but suffers from terminal heat stress when planted late. So obtained 167 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) were exposed to both timely sown (TS) and late sown (LS) conditions at three locations for two consecutive years 2016–17 and 2017–18 at Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) and Pusa, Samastipur (Bihar). Combined ANOVA revealed that normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) at anthesis stage (NDVI_AH) and grain filling duration (GFD) was significant for genotype (G), environment (E) and genotype × environment interaction (GEI). Likewise, differences were significant for grain yield (GY) and 1000-grain weight (TGW). AMMI analysis revealed similar results. However, NDVI_AH showed low variation under heat stressed late sown conditions. Furthermore, the which-won-where model and mean versus stability identified the best performing, above-average yielding and stable lines across the environments. Correlation among measured traits revealed that NDVI_AH had a significant association with GY in most of the environments. Several lines that performed superior to better parent for GY also showed higher values for NDVI_AH and GFD. The study demonstrates that NDVI_AH and GFD appear to be important traits to be considered while breeding for terminal heat stress tolerance in wheat. © 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Rhizosphere microorganisms towards soil sustainability and nutrient acquisition
(Springer Singapore, 2017) Mahendra Prasad; Manoj Chaudhary; Mukesh Choudhary; T. Kiran Kumar; Lokesh Kumar Jat
The importance of soils and its function is conclusive; the soil is a living entity that needs to be improved under sustainable approach. It is apparent that soil biota contributes substantially to effective soil functioning and maintenance of soil sustainability. The increase of food production to meet out the food security demand of an ever-increasing population has been highly dependent on integrated nutrient management input but ignores the potential of bioagents. The significance of rhizosphere microorganism can be enormous as they are able in managing nutrient transformation, nutrient acquisition and use, and thus crop sustainability. The soil sustainability and nutrient use efficiency (NUE) can be enhanced by modification of rhizosphere through the best management approaches such as agronomic practices, nutrient management, use of organic and biofertilizers, and regulation of rhizosphere processes. © 2017, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
Sole- or Dual-Crop Basis Residue Mulching and Zn Fertilization Lead to Improved Productivity, Rhizo-modulation and Soil Health in Zero-Tilled Pigeonpea–Wheat Cropping System
(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2022) Adarsh Kumar; K.S. Rana; Anil K. Choudhary; R.S. Bana; V.K. Sharma; Gaurendra Gupta; Sudhir K. Rajpoot; Ingudam Bhupenchandra; Mukesh Choudhary; Praveen Jakhar; Amit Kumar; Abhishek Kumar; Prabhat Kishore; Amaresh Pradhan; Vishal Tyagi; Kuldeep Kumar
Conventional tillage has led to deteriorated soil health in semi-arid ecologies of south Asia. Sole- and dual-crop basis residue mulching in a predominant pigeonpea-wheat cropping system (PWCS) of the region may boost crop productivity and soil health. Widespread Zn deficiency also invokes for developing sound Zn fertilization practices (ZFPs) for improved Zn bioavailability and crop productivity. We assessed the comparative performance of single- and double-crop basis residue mulching + hydrogel in main plots, and the ZFPs in sub-plots in split-plot design under a zero-tilled PWCS in semi-arid agro-ecology. Dual-crop basis residue mulching + hydrogel exhibited ~ 17.1–22.3% higher system productivity with improved rhizo-modulation and soil health over sole-crop residue mulching and no-residue mulchings in a zero-tilled PWCS. Dual-crop basis residue mulching (8 t ha−1 year−1) + hydrogel (2.5 kg ha−1) maintained significantly higher soil organic carbon (4.4 g kg−1); soil organic carbon stock (9.06 t ha−1); nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and micronutrients; and soil biological parameters compared to sole-crop residue mulching (4 t ha−1 year−1). Interestingly, soil physico-chemical and biological properties and carbon stock showed an improvement while enhancing residue covering from 4 to 8 t ha−1 year−1 compared to no residues. Among ZFPs, 5 kg Zn ha−1 + Zn solubilizer (Bacillus endophyticus) exhibited 7.4–13% higher system productivity and soil health. Correlation analysis exhibited significant positive correlation (p < 0.01) amongst system-productivity and soil-health parameters. Double-crop basis residue mulching + hydrogel along with 5 kg Zn ha−1 + Zn solubilizer improved the soil health with optimized root development and hence harnessed higher system productivity in PWCS. Likewise, pigeonpea residue mulching proved more beneficial than wheat residue mulching in succeeding crops in realizing higher system productivity and soil health, where otherwise livestock inevitably need crop residues as quality fodder in semi-arid agro-ecologies. © 2021, The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Sociedad Chilena de la Ciencia del Suelo.