Browsing by Author "Parida, Swarup Kumar"

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Differential resilience of chickpea's reproductive organs to cold stress across developmental stages: insights into antioxidant strategies for enhanced fertility
(Frontiers Media S.A., 2025) Padhiar, Deeksha; Kaur, Sarbjeet; Jha, Uday Chand; Prasad, P. V. Vara; Sharma, Kamal Dev; Kumar, Sanjeev; Parida, Swarup Kumar; Siddique, Kadambot H M; Nayyar, Harsh
Chickpea is highly sensitive to cold stress during its reproductive stages, leading to significant reductions in potential pod formation due to decreased reproductive success. This study aimed to investigate the specific responses of anthers and ovules to cold stress, explore the role of oxidative stress and antioxidant mechanisms, and understand the relationship between oxidative stress and reproductive function to enhance our understanding of chickpea responses to cold stress. Chickpea seeds of contrasting genotypes—cold-tolerant (ICC 17258, ICC 16349) and cold-sensitive (ICC 15567, GPF 2)—were sown outdoors in early November under optimal conditions (25.5/15.4°C mean day/night temperatures). At 50 days after sowing, plants were subjected to 13/7°C cold stress (12 h light/dark in walk-in growth chambers. Cold stress significantly increased membrane damage and reduced cellular viability in anthers and ovules, particularly in cold-sensitive (CS) genotypes. Oxidative damage was more pronounced in anthers, particularly at anthesis (stage 2), as indicated by elevated malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide levels. Cold-tolerant (CT) genotypes exhibited increased antioxidant activity under stress, especially at pre-anthesis (stage 1), followed by declines at later stage, although responses varied by genotype. Anthers exhibited higher overall antioxidants activity than ovules, while ovules demonstrated notably high catalase activity. Among the antioxidants studied, ascorbate peroxidase and glutathione reductase were most prominent in the CT genotype, along with higher levels of ascorbate (AsA) and glutathione (GSH), highlighting the critical role of the AsA–GSH cycle in conferring cold tolerance to chickpea. Exogenous supplementation with 1 mM ascorbate (AsA) and glutathione (GSH) significantly stimulated pollen germination in cold-stressed plants under in vitro conditions, with a greater effect observed in CS genotypes. Furthermore, antioxidant activity strongly correlated with key reproductive traits such as pollen germination and ovule viability. This study revealed that the anthers and ovules exhibited distinct responses to cold stress, with significant genotypic differences across key reproductive stages. These insights provide a deeper understanding of cold tolerance mechanisms in chickpea and provide vital clues for breeding strategies to enhance resilience and reproductive success under cold stress.
Key determinants of seed size for enhancing genetic gain in legumes
(John Wiley & Sons, 2026) Padhy, Asish Kumar; Singh, Ananya; Chaurasia, Shiksha; Parida, Swarup Kumar; Tripathi, Kuldeep; Bhatia, Sabhyata
Legumes play a pivotal role in human nutrition due to their high nutritional value, especially protein content. Therefore, enhancing the productivity of grain legumes is desirable for ensuring food and nutritional security. Seed size and seed weight are key factors influencing productivity. This article consolidates the substantial amount of research conducted to uncover the molecular signatures associated with seed size into a structured format, providing a one-stop platform of available resources for enhancing genetic gains in legumes. The advent of NGS technologies enabled the decryption of genomes and transcriptomes of important grain legumes. Moreover, molecular signatures such as SSRs, SNPs, transcription factors, methylation patterns and so forth scanned from phenotypically and genotypically well-characterized natural and mapping populations helped identify the QTLs, MTAs and candidate genes associated with seed size. Many of these QTLs and candidate genes have been utilized in marker-assisted breeding for achieving larger seeds and enhanced yield in legumes. Besides, the characterization of legume orthologs of candidate genes from other crops using different omics approaches helped in understanding the regulatory pathways involved in seed size determination in legumes. This review provides a direction for the effective utilization of available resources to enhance legume productivity.
Nitric oxide-mediated modulation of reproductive resilience under cold stress in chickpea
(Frontiers Media S.A., 2025) Kaur, Sarbjeet; Padhiar, Deeksha; Jha, Uday Chand; Kumar, Sanjeev; Sharma, Kamal Dev; Parida, Swarup Kumar; Siddique, Kadambot H. M.; Prasad, P. V. Vara; Nayyar, Harsh
Chickpeas are particularly sensitive to cold stress during the reproductive phase, which can significantly impair pod set and yield. This study examined the role of sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a nitric oxide (NO) donor, in mitigating cold-induced reproductive damage in cold-tolerant (CT) and cold-sensitive (CS) chickpea genotypes. After 100 days of outdoor growth, plants were subjected to cold stress (15/8°C day/night; 12 h photoperiod) for 21 days in walk-in growth chambers during the reproductive stage of development. Control plants were maintained at 25/15°C day/night temperature. SNP treatment (1 mM) was applied exogenously each time, first two days prior to stress onset and then at seven-day intervals (three applications total). Cold stress significantly lowered endogenous NO levels in leaves, anthers, and ovules, particularly in CS genotypes, thereby leading to reduced pollen viability and germination. SNP treatment restored NO and improved reproductive performance, with stronger responses in the CS than the CT genotype. For instance, pollen germination increased by 57.9% in CS versus 17.6% in CT, and pollen viability increased by 28.0% and 13.1%, respectively. Enhanced anther function resulted in a 157.2% increase in pod set and 62.0% higher seed yield in CS. SNP also improved physiological traits, including a 43.9% increase in cellular viability, 18.6% in stomatal conductance, and 41.9% in chlorophyll content in CS genotypes. Cryoprotectants (proline, trehalose, and sucrose) accumulated in anthers, reinforcing cold resilience, while oxidative stress was simultaneously alleviated through reduced malondialdehyde, hydrogen peroxide, and electrolyte leakage, together with the upregulation of both enzymatic (superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APx), and glutathione reductase (GR)) and non-enzymatic (ascorbic acid (ASC) and reduced glutathione (GSH)) components. Notably, CS genotypes showed more pronounced improvements from SNP application than CT genotypes, particularly in terms of reproductive success and yield-related traits. These findings highlight the potential of NO donors, such as SNP, to enhance cold tolerance in chickpeas, with promising implications for safeguarding productivity under low-temperature stress, especially in sensitive cultivars.
Unraveling the genetics of heat tolerance in chickpea landraces (Cicer arietinum L.) using genome-wide association studies
(Frontiers Media S.A., 2024) Danakumara, Thippeswamy; Kumar, Neeraj; Patil, Basavanagouda Siddanagouda; Kumar, Tapan; Bharadwaj, Chellapilla; Jain, Pradeep Kumar; Nimmy, Manduparambil Subramanian; Joshi, Nilesh; Parida, Swarup Kumar; Bindra, Shayla; Kole, Chittaranjan; Varshney, Rajeev K.
Chickpea, being an important grain legume crop, is often confronted with the adverse effects of high temperatures at the reproductive stage of crop growth, drastically affecting yield and overall productivity. The current study deals with an extensive evaluation of chickpea genotypes, focusing on the traits associated with yield and their response to heat stress. Notably, we observed significant variations for these traits under both normal and high-temperature conditions, forming a robust basis for genetic research and breeding initiatives. Furthermore, the study revealed that yield-related traits exhibited high heritability, suggesting their potential suitability for marker-assisted selection. We carried out single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping using the genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) method for a genome-wide association study (GWAS). Overall, 27 marker-trait associations (MTAs) linked to yield-related traits, among which we identified five common MTAs displaying pleiotropic effects after applying a stringent Bonferroni-corrected p-value threshold of <0.05 [-log10(p) > 4.95] using the BLINK (Bayesian-information and linkage-disequilibrium iteratively nested keyway) model. Through an in-depth in silico analysis of these markers against the CDC Frontier v1 reference genome, we discovered that the majority of the SNPs were located at or in proximity to gene-coding regions. We further explored candidate genes situated near these MTAs, shedding light on the molecular mechanisms governing heat stress tolerance and yield enhancement in chickpeas such as indole-3-acetic acid-amido synthetase GH3.1 with GH3 auxin-responsive promoter and pentatricopeptide repeat-containing protein, etc. The harvest index (HI) trait was associated with marker Ca3:37444451 encoding aspartic proteinase ortholog sequence of Oryza sativa subsp. japonica and Medicago truncatula, which is known for contributing to heat stress tolerance. These identified MTAs and associated candidate genes may serve as valuable assets for breeding programs dedicated to tailoring chickpea varieties resilient to heat stress and climate change.