Amit Kumar

• Ph.D
• Researcher at ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, maim, Meghalaya

Forty soybean genotypes were evaluated for agro-morphological traits and genetic parameters. Correlation and path coefficients were estimated for all these traits. Analysis of variance and mean performance for yield and its components revealed significant differences among all the genotypes for all the characters. Correlation was also found signifi...

The objective of our study was to know the differences in expression of total protein, total phenol, peroxidase and polyphenoloxidase activities in self-defense in plant tissues against rice blast diseases. The activities of these compounds were studied in different genotypes of rice (Oryza sativa L.) Ngoba, Bhalum-1, Lampnah and IET 7614 with vary...

Phosphorus (P) is one of the most limiting nutrients in groundnut production. Several adaptive traits are developed by plants for tolerance to P insufficiency i.e, enhanced root morphogenesis and architecture to acquire more P by increasing contact area, solubilizing P by acid exudation, mycorrhiza activity, etc. Among them, root morphogenesis and...

Phosphorous is one of the most deficient nutrients owing to its fixation and low mobility in acid soils. A total of 324 genotypes were screened in both P sufficient and insufficient conditions to evaluate the P uptake efficiency. Thirty-four responsive genotypes were evaluated in solution culture with two checks viz., ICGV 86590 and JL 24. The comp...

In North Eastern (NE) region, Aluminium (Al) toxicity is a major problem due to acidic soils. Shifting (Jhum) cultivation of rice is a primitive mode of agriculture prevailing in the hills of the NE region.The present study was carried out to screen a set of 67 genotypes for agronomic traits, yield and characters related to Al tolerance. The compon...

The winged bean is also termed ‘green gold’ and ‘wonder legume’ as it has high protein, oil, unsaturated fatty acids, vitamin content and can be grown in marginal and neglected areas. However, lack of germplasm characterization and the judicious utilization of genotypes in breeding programs significantly hamper the goal of winged bean improvement....

The study assessed the molecular and morphometric diversity of 96 aromatic short-grain rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotypes. Based on 27 polymorphic SSR markers, the genotypes were grouped into 6 clusters with 18, 22, 10, 13, 14, and 19 genotypes, respectively. The number of detected alleles ranged from 2 to 5 with a mean of 3 alleles per locus. The nu...

The studies on genetic diversity and marker-trait association analysis of northeastern hill rice for grain quality and yield attributes are of enormous importance for the identification of promising rice genotypes with better grain and cooking quality. Genetic diversity among 130 rice genotypes of North East India and marker-trait association was a...

An essential element for healthy plant growth and development is phosphorus (P). Globally, lack of phosphorus (P) is a major factor affecting rice productivity. P insufficiency issues generally occur in iron-toxicity soils, soils with aluminium or manganese content, and acidic soils which accounts for over 80% of the area of land in North Eastern I...

The loss of rice's genetic diversity caused by the replacement of landraces with superior cultivars in modern agriculture highlights the importance of genetic diversity assessment. Therefore, a set of 96 rice genotypes collected from different parts of Manipur, India was used for genetic diversity assessment in the present investigation. Nine agron...

The cultivation of nearly 10,000 indigenous rice landraces in the North-Eastern Hill (NEH) region by various ethnic groups creates opportunities for the utilization of unique landraces through systematic evaluation of genetic variability. In the present study, a set of 102 rice landraces were assessed based on morphological and SSR markers, and fiv...

Global warming is causing increased temperatures that are affecting crop yield and sustainability. To harness the diversity present in rice germplasm, 1100 rice genotypes from the north-eastern Himalayan region (NEHR) were evaluated for high yield stability and marker-trait associations using SSR markers under ambient and elevated temperature condi...

The biological nitrification inhibitor trait (BNI) inhibits nitrification activity, which enhances uptake of nitrogen and improves assimilation of ammonium in wheat. Three wheat genotypes with the BNI trait, as well as commercial cultivars DBW187, DBW303, and DBW371, were assessed for various agro-morphological traits at 0%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of t...

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is an important staple food in India, particularly in the North Eastern Hill (NEH) region. The surge in demand for rice, along with its significance in international trade, highlights the need for accurate identification of rice varieties. To address this, we constructed a dataset having four rice varieties-Bhalum-5, Shahsara...

Coix lacryma-jobi L. is a minor millet and an underutilized crop native to Asia that is of paramount importance in food and medicine. In India, the crop is mainly grown in the northeastern hill region for food, medicine, beverage, and fodder purposes. Genetic information on edible Job’s tears and wild relatives still needs improvement. Therefore, t...

Lablab bean (Lablab purpureus L.), known for its higher protein content provides a promising alternative to reduce reliance on animal-based proteins and support sustainable agriculture. Nowadays, traditional methods for nutritional profiling have been outperformed by Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) integrated with Near-Infrared Reflectance Spe...

Perilla seeds contain a rich array of essential minerals, thus having the potential to address multiple micronutrient deficiencies at a time. However, traditional methods of mineral estimation are complex, time-consuming, expensive, and require technical expertise. This study includes the development of Near-Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS)...

The current investigation addresses the pressing need to integrate orphan or underutilized crops into mainstream agriculture, focusing on Perilla (Perilla frutescens L.) due to its superior nutritional profile. A major challenge is the lack of fast, cost-effective, and labor-efficient screening methods for germplasm. Near-Infrared Reflectance Spect...

Introduction: Millets are nutritionally superior and climate-resilient short-duration crops and hold a prominent place in cropping sequences around the world. They have immense potential to grow in a marginal environment due to diverse adaptive mechanisms. Methods: An experiment was conducted in an organic production system in the North Eastern Hi...

Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) is a global concern, particularly in underdeveloped and underprivileged regions dependent on plant-based diets. Plant-based meat alternatives offer a potential solution, with rice bean emerging as a promising crop due to its high protein content. However, traditional methods for determining protein content in rice...

Main conclusion This review discusses the Finger millet's rich nutritional profile, bioactive potential, and industrial applications, combined with its climate resilience, which make it a promising crop for enhancing food security and promoting sustainable agriculture. This review also highlights its significant potential to address malnutrition an...

Understanding the nutritional diversity in Perilla (Perilla frutescens L.) is essential for selecting and developing superior varieties with enhanced nutritional profiles in the North Eastern Himalayan (NEH) region of India. In this study, we assessed the nutritional composition of 45 diverse perilla germplasm collected from five NEH states using s...

The northeastern region of India, being a biodiversity hotspot and the probable origin of rice, harbors enormous diversity for the crop. However, many of the landraces have become extinct due to increasing human interference, favoring improved cultivars over local landraces, urbanization, and climate change. Systematic evaluation of landraces for t...

Rice variety differentiation was based on morphological descriptors (DUS) before the advent of genomic and proteomic technology. DNA fingerprinting is becoming an important molecular marker approach because of its wide application in varietal protection, classification, and conflict settlement. In the present study, genetic diversity and variabilit...

Perilla seed meal (PSM), a byproduct of oil extraction from Perilla frutescens L. seeds, is rich in protein (24.26–42.85%) and holds potential as an economical and sustainable animal feed. Traditional methods for assessing protein content are labor-intensive and costly. This study explores Near-Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) for the rapid...

A set of thirty two Ahu rice landraces were analyzed for identification of P-efficient genotypes. Based on molecular data of 7 Pup1 markers, the genotypes were grouped into two major clusters. Out of the 32 genotypes, 13 genotypes having consistent amplification of the entire 7 Pup1 markers and grouped in same subcluster with Kasalath were identifi...

Rice variety differentiation was based on morphological descriptors (DUS) before the advent of genomic and proteomic technology. DNA fingerprinting is becoming an important molecular marker approach because of its wide application in varietal protection, classification, and conflict settlement. In the present study, genetic diversity and variabilit...

Rice blast disease is one of the most disastrous diseases causing significant losses to the crop. In the humid weather conditions of north-eastern Himalayan region, the situation is highly devastating as the climate is very favorable to the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. Development of resistant rice varieties is the most effective, economical, and env...

Northeastern states of India are known for unique landraces of Capsicum spp. with geographical indications. However, little information is available about these valuable landraces of chillies. Surveys and collections were carried out in niche areas to find out their ecology and diversity through morphological traits and molecular analysis using mic...

The study characterized 34 Job's tears accessions from the northeastern Himalayan region using yield-related traits and simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers. Genotyping with 17 SSR markers revealed an average of 3.18 alleles per locus, varying from 2 to 4. Polymorphism information content values ranged from 0.27 to 0.52, averaging 0.41. Clustering...

Under changing climate, identification and diversification of cropping systems having higher stress resilience and adaptability for fragile mountain ecosystems of Eastern Himalayan Region (EHR) are paramount. Lesser known and underutilized crop like buckwheat (BW) with year-round cultivation potential and having higher stress tolerance to prevailin...

A total of 32 sweet potato genotypes were evaluated to assess the genetic diversity based on quantitative traits and molecular markers, as well as stability for yield and related traits. Wider variability was observed for the traits like vine length (181.2–501.3 cm), number of leaves/plant (103.0–414.0 cm), internodal length (3.20–14.80 cm), petiol...

Aroids are an important group of indigenous tuber crops, grown widely for their leaves, petioles, stolons, corms, and cormels. A total of 53 genotypes were evaluated for their genetic diversity in northeastern region of India. At household level, a total of 16 landraces of Aroids were recorded having different ethnobotanical uses. Based on the popu...

Assessing the genetic variability at molecular level gives a clear idea of plant genetic resource distribution and extent of diversity among and within the available population. In the present study, 120 ricebean (Vigna umbellate L.) genotypes collected from different states of Northeast (NE) regions of India. The genetic variability and population...

The exploitation of heterosis through intersubspecific hybridisation between indica and japonica has been a major breeding target in rice, but is marred by the cross incompatibility between the genomes. Wide compatibility (WC) is a triallelic system at the S5 locus on chromosome 6 that ensures the specificity of hybridisation within and between ind...

Abating the approaching yield plateau in rice requires taking advantage of potential technologies that requires knowledge on genetic diversity. Hybrid breeding, particularly in indica rice, requires the recruitment of large genetic variability from outside because the available genetic diversity of the cultivated pool has already been utilized to a...

Maize landraces collected from Mizoram state of North Eastern India were evaluated for three years (2017, 2018 and 2019) to assess the amount of variability present among the genotypes, association of traits and stability (parametric and non-parametric). MZM-44 was found to be a superior line with respect to yield and yield related traits. Least di...

Perilla frutescens (L.) Britton (Lamiaceae) is a self-fertilizing annual, bushy and aromatic herbaceous oilseed crop. Perilla crop includes two major varieties distinguished by their morphology and plant type. P. frutescens var. frutescens is used as an oil crop, whereas P. frutescens var. crispa is used as a medicine or vegetable crop. The ind...

India being the second largest wheat producer in the world provides 13% of global wheat supply. Traditional breeding approaches are limited by the low genetic variability, complexity of stress tolerance traits and yield components and the lack of efficient selection techniques under stress conditions. Although the physiological tolerance indices ar...

A large diversity of Ricebean exists in northeast India. Ricebean is a hardy crop and rich in protein with added nutritional advantage. It has the potential to emerge as an important crop. Understanding and utilizing the available genetic resources that may harbor useful genes for yield and biotic and abiotic stress tolerance is pertinent to improv...

The association of parental divergence based on simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers and heterosis in 96 rice (Oryza sativa L) hybrids was investigated for yield and component traits under four environments. Hybrids were derived from four cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines and 24 iso-cytoplasmic restorers (ICR). The genetic distance (GD) and het...

Character association and path analysis was studied in 24 lines (22 advanced line + 2 checks lines) of rice to select the better lines for yield, yield components and quality traits. The experiment was conduct in randomized complete block design with three replications at experimental farm, College of post graduate studies, Umiam, Meghalaya in the...

Iso-cytoplasmic restorers (ICRs) are valuable source of fertility restoration for three linerice hybrids derived from wild- abortive cytosterile (WA-CMS) lines. They carry a full complement of fertility restorer (Rf) genes and sterile cytoplasm. We have test-crossed a set of 25 ICRs with four WA-CMS lines namely, IR 79156A, IR 58025A, Pusa 6A and R...

One hundred diverse iso-cytoplasmic restorer (ICR) lines carrying WA cytoplasm indicated significant but moderate variability for agro-morphological traits as well as for the microsatellite-based allele patterns. There were two major groups of ICRs based on agro-morphological clustering. Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers identified allelic varia...

Perilla is an important underutilized oilseed crop cultivated by tribal farmers in hilly areas of north-eastern region of India. It is grown by tribal and marginalised farmers in the traditional form of agriculture. The crop has good oil quality and plays an important role in providing nutritional security to the tribal farmers. There is a need to...

One hundred and twenty germplasm of ricebean [Vigna umbellata (Thunb) Ohwi and Ohashi] were evaluated during 2015-16 and 2016-17 to study the yield related traits in ricebean in the mid-altitudes of Meghalaya. Luxuriant ricebean growth with a wide spectrum of variability for plant height, number of branches per plant, days to flowering, number of p...

Marker-assisted selection is an unequivocal translational research tool for crop improvement in the genomics era. Pusa Basmati 1 (PB1) is an elite Indian Basmati rice cultivar sensitive to salinity. Here, we report enhanced seedling stage salt tolerance in improved PB1 genotypes developed through the marker-assisted transfer of a major QTL, Saltol....

Supplementary Table 1: chromosome wise list of polymorphic STMS markers between PB1 and FL478. Supplementary Table 2: information on Saltol-linked SSR markers on chromosome1 polymorphic between PB1 and FL478. Supplementary Table 3: agronomic performance, salt tolerance, and recurrent parent genome recovery of Saltol-positive homozygous BC2F2 plants...

A set of 390 iso-cytoplasmic restorer lines were developed from 25 popular rice hybrids grown in India through pedigree breeding exercising selection for spikelet fertility, yield and extent of panicle exsertion were evaluated for various agromorphological traits. Correlation analysis showed that yield per plant was significantly correlated with nu...

Iso-cytoplasmic restorers possess the same male sterile cytoplasm as the cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines, thereby minimizing the potential cyto-nuclear conflict in the hybrids. Restoration of fertility of the wild abortive CMS is governed by two major genes namely, Rf3 and Rf4. Therefore, assessing the allelic status of these restorer genes in...

Present experiment was carried out to determine the agronomic performances of thirty two rice genotypes across three locations in India (North East) in two consecutive years. The objective was to interpret genotype-environment (GE) interactions and determine stable genotypes by using Eberhart -Russell and Additive Main effect and Multiplicative Int...

Two divergent ecotypes of five winter wheat were crossed with ten spring wheat lines in line × tester fashion. EC609406 and EC609396 were identified as good general combiners for grain yield per plant, 1000-grain weight, reduced days to heading and yellow rust resistance. Among the spring wheats, HD3096 was found to be a good general combiner for y...

A 2-year study was carried out on 84 maize genotypes to assess the genetic diversity for various morphological traits and their association with yield. There was a significant variation for all the traits studied among the genotypes. Moderate value of heritability and high genetic advance over mean were found for TLB infestation, average No of cobs...

Twenty one genotypes of pigeon pea were evaluated in a randomized complete block design during the Kharif season of 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 based upon number of primary branches per plant, pod length, number of grains per pod, 100-seed weight and seed yield per plant. The stability was studied by deploying AMMI (additive main effects and multi...

Genetic variation is prerequisite for any crop improvement program as it helps in development of superior recombinants. Forty eight genotypes were evaluated for agronomic traits, yield and characters related to Al tolerance. The components of variability revealed high magnitude and highly heritable nature of the variations. High heritability with h...

To evaluate the effect of different crop establishment methods and nutrient management practices in transplanted rice under hill ecosystem, a field experiment was conducted at Agricultural Research Farm of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region, Jharnapani, Medziphema during kharif season of 2011 and...

Forty-two soybean genotypes were evaluated for their agro-morphological traits and the extent of genetic variability. Analysis of variance and mean performance for yield and its components revealed significant differences among all the genotypes for all the characters. Correlation was also found significant with yield and its component traits. The...

Assessment of genetic diversity and its application for wheat breeding results in enhanced and sustainable production and productivity. Twenty-three wheat genotypes along with 2 checks were evaluated for 9 agro-morphological and physiological traits viz., early vigor, leaf firing, days to heading, plant height, number of tillers/m, chlorophyll cont...

In the North Eastern Hill Region of India, the shifting or jhum cultivation is practiced in 16.79 lac ha area and rice bean is an essential part of jhum. Increasing the productivity of jhum is one of the important management options to uplift the economies of farmers. Identification / development of early maturing, high yielding rice bean genotypes...

Twenty one genotypes of short duration pigeonpea were evaluated under rainfed condition of Manipur during kharif season of 2007/8, 2008/9 and 2009/10 to obtain the knowledge of genetic diversity and stability for yield and its component traits and used for identification of stable genotypes of pigeonpea. The experiment was carried out in randomized...

Thirty four pole type French bean genotypes were evaluated to assess their genetic variability to identify desirable ones for yield and quality traits. The genotypic variance was moderate to high for the all the 14 traits studied, which resulted in high heritability and moderate to high genetic advance values. Pod yield per plant was positively cor...

To identify superior crop genotypes through multi-environment trials data, the genotype main effect (G) and genotype by environment interaction (GE) biplot graphical tool was applied. Combined analysis of variance showed that the GE interaction effect accounted for 27.77% and 15.71% of total variation for grain yield and number of branches respecti...

Twenty two chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes were evaluated during rabi seasons of 2007-08 and 2008-09 to explore the possibility of introducing chickpea crop in to the cropping system of the mid-altitudes of Meghalaya. Luxuriant chickpea growth with a wide spectrum of variability for plant height, number of branches/plant, days to flowering,...

Variations due to environmental adaptations among different populations of two locally common landraces Jaulia and Thapachini from niche environments of Uttarakhand Himalaya were studied. Wide variations for various agronomic traits like grain yield per plant, number of grains per panicle, grain length and width, etc. among different populations of...

Molecular characterization of green gram (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek) germplasm is essential for scientific assessment of variability and diversity for its better utilization in breeding programs. In this study, 120 accessions of green gram were analysed for 27 Sequence Tagged Microsatellites (STMS) loci. For data analysis, accessions were grouped...

Upland rice grown in hills suffers serious yield loss due to soil acidity. A core set of germplasm was used for genetic analysis of yield and nineteen other component traits. Analysis of variance revealed presence of high variability among the genotypes for all the traits. Heritability (h2) estimates were generally high except for flag leaf angle....