Herbicide-tolerant wheat is needed for effective weed management in broad acre cropping. A number of herbicide-tolerant wheat genotypes have been identified through screening 946 wheat lines. The identified lines can be used for breeding herbicide-tolerant wheat cultivars and for studying the mechanisms of herbicide tolerance in wheat and other crops.

A novel HMW-GS named 1Ux3.5 was characterized from wheat relative species Aegilops umbellulata, which improved the dough quality in vitro analysis. 1Ux3.5 is an valuable candidate gene for wheat quality improvement.

The effects of histidine and glycine on root uptake and xylem sap transport of Cd in triticale and bread wheat was investigated. Histidine resulted in higher shoot Cd accumulations while glycine had no effects on shoot Cd content of wheat but decreased it in triticale shoots. Effects of amino acids on plant root uptake and xylem sap translocation of Cd depend on the type of amino acid supplemented.

Physiological and anatomical characteristics of rice plants associated with CH₄ emission were studied in high-yielding rice varieties of tropical India. The rice varieties, Kolong, Lachit and Dikhow were identified as low CH₄ emitting varieties having smaller xylem vessels. Selection of suitable rice varieties with higher grain yield and lower CH₄ emission is a viable option for reduction of this greenhouse gas from rice agriculture.

Early responses of plant pathogens upon interaction with plants are important in development of diseases or hypersensitive responses. Expressions of aminoacyl tRNA genes in rice-leaf extract treated Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), which causes bacterial blight, were studied and the crystal structure of glutamyl-tRNA synthetase from Xoo was determined. The structure provides useful information for development of pesticides against bacterial blight.

Two field experiments (water response and density trial) were conducted in semi-arid Eastern Kenya to estimate the production potential of promising short-season grain legumes (common bean, cowpea and lablab) in resource-constraint environments. The studied legumes showed pronounced temporal and spatial differences in growth, development and resource-use efficiency. This can be exploited to design strategies to cope with short growing periods and restricted water availability in the view of climate change for improved adaptation in the small-scale farming systems of semi-arid areas.

Drought stress is a major challenge to agricultural productivity worldwide. The recently developed proteomics technique was used to uncover the molecular basis of drought tolerance in sunflower. The results can serve to provide putative biomarkers for efficient screening of sunflower genotypes and improve sunflower productivity under drought conditions.

This paper reports on an experiment that investigated a noval approach whereby cotton defoliation is delayed at a wet harvest in an attempt to reduce the soil compaction risk imposed by harvesting equipment. The work highlights a number of significant findings pertaining to the management soil compaction leading up to harvest as well as the effects of small changes in soil moisture to compaction risk.

Drought stress disrupted Leymus chinensis plant growth, and photosynthetic pigments; while, increasing MDA and osmolytes. Nonetheless, foliar-applied NPK and ALA improved growth, chlorophyll content; further improving the osmolytes, stimulating antioxidant enzyme activities, and reducing MDA content under different water stress regimes. In summary, combined application of NPK and ALA was found effective to improve drought tolerance and may have significant practical applications for L. chinensis.

Salt-tolerant grasses are valuable resources for forage production when conventional crops become uneconomic owing to increased salinity of irrigation water. We evaluated the productivity of four halophytic grasses established on three salt-affected study farms. The results confirmed that the grasses offer practical alternatives for sustainable forage production, and the methodology adopted in the study could serve as a model for productive use of salt-degraded and abandoned farms.

Interest in tropical perennial grasses in southern Australia is increasing but there is limited knowledge of the temperature requirements for successful establishment. The optimum temperature range for seed emergence of seven tropical grasses commonly sown in the frost-prone, summer-dominant rainfall region of inland northern New South Wales was determined in a growth cabinet study. The results could help guide sowing time recommendations and understand competitiveness of tropical grasses in mixes.