Breeding wheat cultivars with high nitrogen use efficiency is crucial for sustainable agriculture. In this study, 130 durum wheat accessions from 53 countries were cultivated under two nitrogen fertilization levels to investigate variations in agronomic traits and identify accessions suitable for low-nitrogen conditions. Under no nitrogen fertilization, SPAD value (-99.2), flag leaf length (−15.8 mm), grain area (−0.52 mm²), grain length (−0.27 mm), thousand-grain weight (+5.2 g), and grain protein content (−4.2%) showed significant differences compared to that under standard nitrogen fertilization. Among these traits, the SPAD value exhibited a strong positive correlation with protein content in the absence of nitrogen fertilization, suggesting its potential as an indicator for selecting germplasm with superior nitrogen use efficiency. Hierarchical cluster analysis, based on the differences in the six traits under the two nitrogen fertilization levels, classified the 130 durum wheat accessions into three groups (Groups 1, 2, and 3). Accessions in Group 2 exhibited superior adaptability under no nitrogen fertilization compared with those in the other two groups. We identified seven accessions in Group 2 that exhibited minimal decreases in SPAD values and protein content under no nitrogen fertilization for use in wheat breeding programs aimed at developing cultivars with high nitrogen use efficiencies.

Recently, crossbreeding between Asian rice (O. sativa) and African rice (O. glaberrima) has become an important solution for hunger refugees and food problems in Africa by improving grain yield. O. glaberrima exhibits important traits such as stress tolerance, and genetic diversity evaluation and structural analysis of agronomic traits have been conducted. In this study, 11 yield-related agricultural traits were analyzed in 45 lines of O. sativa and 28 lines of O. glaberrima under Korean climatic conditions. Through cluster analysis using the investigated yield-related traits, O. sativa and O. glaberrima were grouped into clusters by characterizing the remaining traits, except for the number of spikelets, grain width, and grain thickness. The number of spikelets was highly influenced by the environment and had the greatest variation, whereas grain width showed the least variation. In addition, rice yield components are quantitative traits, and in breeding to improve yield, it is important to analyze the interaction of agricultural traits and the influence of the environment to maintain an optimal balance and improve plant potential. Although O. sativa was found to exhibit different agricultural traits depending on its ecotype, it still belonged to the same group when clustered. The results of this study provide basic information on the yield-related agronomic characteristics of O. sativa and O. glaberrima under Korean climatic conditions, suggesting that O. glaberrima can be used as breeding material to diversify Korean rice genetic resources.

Breeders typically use core collections of a specific trait or core collections selected by a few genotypes to efficiently select breeding materials or to study functional genes. As a result, many accessions have been deemed redundant or duplicated and are no longer considered for use. This study aimed to investigate the agronomical characteristics and genetic diversity of 1,514 previously unused and unstudied wheat germplasms and to confirm their value as breeding materials using population structure analysis. The performance of these wheat germplasms was compared with that of 8,878 wheat breeding materials and 72 known Korean wheat cultivars. The results of agronomic trait diversity comparison showed that the germplasm populations used for breeding research did not completely encompass the unused germplasm populations. The agronomic traits of wheat germplasms varied greatly. ANOVA and PCA results revealed the greatest differences in growth habits (CV=0.339), panicle length (CV=0.330), and awn length (CV=0.296). To accurately assess the value of unused wheat germplasms as breeding materials, 106 SSR markers were extracted from the analysis of four representative Korean cultivars: Geuru, Geumgang, Uri, and Jokyoung. Among these, 24 SSR markers were chosen, and 129 wheat resources were subjected to population structure analysis, which revealed five subpopulations. Most of the 34 germplasms that originated in Korea were distributed in subpopulation 1 (18 accessions, 52.9%) and subpopulation 4 (12 accessions, 35.3%). Subgroups 2, 3, and 5 differed significantly in agronomic traits and genotypes, indicating their potential as breeding materials. The findings of this study could serve as a foundation for breeders and aid in the discovery and utilization of new wheat breeding materials.

In this study, genotype analysis was conducted using the Fluidigm system with 13 SNP markers related to anthracnose, powdery mildew, phytophthora root rot, cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), potyvirus, and tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) resistance. A total of 25,350 data points were obtained, 8.2% of which indicated resistance genotypes. Resources having perfect resistance genotype to each disease-related molecular marker set were 58 accessions for anthracnose, 57 for powdery mildew, 246 for phytophthora root rot, and 765 for CMV. There was no resource having a perfect resistance genotype of all three potyvirus-related molecular SNP markers including pvr1, pvr2 (123457), and pvr2 (689). Thirty-seven accessions for pvr1, 349 accessions for pvr2 (123457), and 23 accessions for pvr2 (689) were identified as resources with resistance genotype. No resource with the TMV-resistance genotype was found in this study. The resources with complex resistance genotypes of anthracnose and powdery mildew were 55 accessions, and they were mainly Capsicum baccatum. Among these, seven accessions had a three-disease combined resistance genotype with phytophthora root rot. Thirty-six accessions, 16 accessions, and nine accessions each had resistance genotypes of the three potyvirus-related markers. These resources also had CMV and phytophthora root rot resistance genotypes, and they were mainly Capsicum chinense. The statistical analysis considering the evaluated resistance genotypes, revealed that the anthracnose resistance genotype showed a tendency to be linked with powdery mildew resistance genotype. The potyvirus-related marker pvr1 was positively correlated with Phytophthora root rot markers.

In this study, composition and agronomic traits, including yield-related traits, were investigated and compared among 35 Korean landrace germplasm for two years (2019 and 2020). The contents of 12 isoflavones were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography, and agronomic trait data were collected according to the Rural Development Administration criteria. Comparing isoflavone composition between the two years, all isoflavones, except glycitein, were generally higher in 2019. The values of yield-related and major agronomic traits decreased in most accessions in 2020. ANOVA showed highly significant differences (p<0.001) in genotypes, years, and genotype-by-year interaction for all isoflavones, the number of pods per plant, and 100-seed weight. The number of seeds per pod, days to flowering, and days to maturity also showed significant differences among genotypes, as well as between the two years. Correlation analysis revealed that daidzin and genistin were positively correlated with their malonylated form. Malonyl daidzin was also positively correlated with malonyl genistin levels. The accessions with the least variation in the total isoflavone content were IT 153844 (907.5 µg/g, 898.6 µg/g) and IT 252252 (663.2 µg/g, 636.4 µg/g). Some of the evaluated landraces will be a promising genetic source for developing soybean varieties with high levels of environmental stability in isoflavone content and agronomic traits.

Oats are known for their abundance of quality proteins and lipids compared to those of other grain crops; they especially contain a large amount of good quality fibers, including β-glucan. The Korean domestic consumption of oats is rapidly increasing due to their high nutritional value. However, the research for functional food breeding material has been insufficient because oats have been focused on as feed. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the agronomic traits and important nutritional ingredients, including β-glucan, protein, lipid, fiber, and dietary fiber, of 142 oat germplasms from Korea, China, and Japan, which are maintained in the National Agrobiodiversity Center. In addition, the diversity by origin of the germplasms was analyzed based on their agronomic traits. For the agronomic characteristics, Korean oat germplasms were on average headed and matured earlier than the Chinese and Japanese ones. Seven accessions, including IT151107, were matured before mid-June, which makes double cropping possible in the Southern region of Korea. In the diversity analysis by origin based on quantitative agronomic traits, Korean oat germplasms were in the distinguished group compared to Chinese and Japanese germplasms. Oat germplasm had a wider range of main ingredients compared to that of Korean domestic oat cultivars. However, Chinese germplasms had a significantly higher β-glucan content, while Korean germplasms had significantly higher crude protein, crude lipid, and crude fiber contents, than did other germplasms from other origins. Dietary fiber contents showed no significant differences between origins. IT129802 (China), IT166594 (Korea), IT166584 (Korea), IT151108 (Korea), and IT129798 (China) showed the highest β-glucan, protein, lipid, fiber, and dietary fiber contents, respectively. These selected oat germplasms can be superior breeding materials for various functional and agronomic purposes.

This study was carried out to investigate the utilization value of legume crops collected in tropical and subtropical areas. We examined agronomic traits to assess domestic adaptability and evaluated useful components of foreign legumes. We used a total of 201 genetic resources of three legumes, consisting of 68 lentils, 72 chickpeas and 61 guars. The average number of days to flowering of the three legumes ranged from 56.7 to 60.8 days; the shortest in guar and longest in chickpea. The average number of days to growth of the three legumes ranged from the shortest 86.8 days in lentil, to the longest 163.9 days in guar. The maturation period of the three legumes lasted from the end of May until mid-September, based on sowing in March. However, the average yield of lentil was very low, ranging from 0.5 g to 30.6 g, with an average 16.4 g based on 10 plants per accession. The average 100 seed weight of the three legumes was 2.2 g for lentil, 22.9 g for chickpea, and 3.8 g for guar. The crude protein content ranged from 14.1% to 32.4% with an average of 20.4%, the highest for guar and the lowest for chickpea. The average crude oil content in the three legume crops was generally low, ranging from 0.8% in lentil, to 4.3% in chickpea. The average dietary fiber content in the three legume crops varied from 15.7% to 50.7%. Guar was the highest source of fiber, followed by chickpea (19.3%) and lentil (15.7%). From the agricultural traits analysis, chickpea and guar could grow domestically. However, lentil was difficult to flower and fruit normally during the warmer season after May. Therefore, lentil should be considered for late summer cropping during the cool season. The physicochemical properties of the three legumes seem to be useful as they are similar to, or better than, those of the control common bean.