Phosphate-solubilizing and nitrogen-fixing bacteria are crucial in increasing soil fertility and restoring soil properties damaged by salinity and other abiotic environmental factors. The presented study aims to explore and identify the morphological characteristics of phosphate-solubilizing and nitrogen-fixing bacteria in saline soil. This study took place from August until November 2022 in the field and laboratory of the Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia. Isolation of potential microbes proceeded to characterize phosphate-solubilizing and nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Sampling began with the soil planted with rice and palm oil at the sampling location. Morphological parameters observed were color, form, margin, surface, and elevation of pure colonies. The result showed that exploring various species in saline soil revealed 19 colonies and 14 cells of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria and 16 colonies and 14 cells of nitrogen-fixing bacteria. The pure colonies of the phosphate-solubilizing and nitrogen-fixing bacteria showed differences in the morphological characteristics, i.e., color, form, margin, surface, and elevation. The potential microbes obtained sought to increase soil fertility and crop production.

Keywords: Phosphate-solubilizing bacteria, nitrogen-fixing bacteria, morphological characteristics, saline soil

Key findings: Exploration and identification of morphological characteristics is a must action to analyze potential microbes in depth to improve the quality of saline soils to increase crop productivity.

The presented research aimed to study the numerical taxonomy of the genus Rosa L. and to identify and differentiate its various species grown in different regions in Kurdistan, Iraq. This study proceeded in the 2021–2022 season at the College of Education of Pure Science, University of Mosul, Mosul, Iraq. Forty morphological quantitative and qualitative characteristics, including vegetative and reproductive traits (leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, and pollen grains), gained taxonomic analysis. From there, selection of 12 morphological features finally drew polygonal shapes for the concerned species. The analysis of the polygonal shapes revealed the species owned significant variations in these forms. The similarity among these species ranged between 0.5% to 91.0%, and the highest level of similarity (91.0%) occurred between the two species Rosa canina var. ‘canina,’ and Rosa canina var. ‘verticillacantha,’ and the lowest (0.05%) emerged from the species. R. elyamaitica and R. dumalis subsp. boissieri. From the cluster analysis, the UPGMA dendrogram separated the 13 species into three main groups and subgroups. The first main groups, divided into two subgroups, included the species R. canina var. ‘canina,’ R. canina var. ‘verticillacantha,’ R. canina var. ‘dumetorum,’ R. canina var. ‘deseglisei,’ and R. dumas subsp. boissieri. The second main groups included the species R. eiyamaitica and R. heckeliana subsp. orientalis. The second subgroup included the species R. gallica, R. centifolia, and R. damascena. Moreover, the third main group included the species R. foetida, R. foetida var. bicolor, and R. hemisphareaca.

Keywords: Rosa L. (Rosaceae), numerical taxonomy, species, genetic variations, quantitative and qualitative traits, cultivars, UPGMA, cluster analysis

Key findings: Using numerical taxonomy helped identify and differentiate the 13 taxa of the genus Rosa L. (Rosaceae), grown in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, based on quantitative and qualitative parameters, comprising vegetative morphological and reproductive traits.

The current study comprising molecular identification of the mutagenic effects of gamma rays and sodium azide on Catharanthus roseus using scot markers took place at the Department of Biology, University of Kufa, Iraq. The seeds of two cultivars, i.e., ‘victory carmine’ and a local variety (pink variety) of Catharanthus roseus L (carmine var.) received irradiation with two doses of gamma rays (50 Gray and 75 Gray). Afterward, these got soaked in sodium azide with four concentrations (0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, and 0.8%) to induce the genetic variation in the cultivar. The non-treated seeds served as control treatments for comparison with treated ones. Accomplishing irradiation was at an average of 18 Gy/h using Cobalt-60. The effects of gamma rays and sodium azide treatments’ evaluation were through 10 start codon targeted (SCoT) DNA markers. The higher number of distinctive fingerprints was three produced by primers SCoT-26, while primer SCoT-60 provided a distinct fingerprint for only one treatment. However, primer SCoT-40 failed to recognize any treatment with a distinctive fingerprint. The highest molecular size (2488 bp) came from primer SCoT-54, whereas the lower molecular size (143 bp) resulted in primer SCoT-12. Primer SCoT-33 provided the highest value for chief and unique bands, reaching 33 and 18, respectively. The highest number of amplified bands was 77 bands in primer SCoT-54. Primer SCoT-60 produced the highest value for monomorphic bands, primer SCoT-12 gave the highest value for polymorphic bands, polymorphism, and discriminatory (15, 68.18, and 20.83, respectively), and primer SCoT-9 produced the highest value for efficiency.

Keywords: Catharanthus roseus, SCoT primers, gamma rays, sodium azide, genetic variation

Key findings: In the presented molecular study, using ScoT markers were capable of assessing the genetic variations generated by gamma rays and sodium azide treatments with diverse doses and concentrations, respectively.

The presented study analyzed the inheritance via heterosis of interspecific F₁ hybrids between durum and bread wheat over better parents and ratios of dominance for spike-related traits affecting their productivity and transmission to future segregating populations. The research transpired in the crop seasons of 2017–-2019 at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnologies, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Baku, Azerbaijan. The hybridization program used eight durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf) genotypes, i.e., Shark, Karabagh, Barakatli-95, Tartar, Garagilciıg-2, Vugar, Mirbashir- 50, and Shiraslan-23, and 13 bread wheat (T. aestivum L.) cultivars, viz., Mirbashir-128, Kyrmyzygul-1, Gobustan, Layaqatli, Kyzyl Bughda, Gunashli, Taleh-38, Sheki-1, Murov, Nurlu-99, Aran, and two foreign cultivars Bezostaya-1 (Russia) and Dagdash (Turkey) to generate 24 interspecific F₁ hybrids. Studying the heterosis over better parents and degree of dominance in these interspecific F₁ hybrids compared their performance with parental genotypes for spike-related traits, i.e., spike length, spikelets per spike, grains per spike, and grain weight per spike. In the F₁ interspecific hybrids’ evaluation, the recorded desirable positive heterosis over better parents and dominance ratios appeared in cross combinations, i.e., Barakatli-95 × Gobustan, Karabagh × Mirbashir-128, Karabagh × Shark, Sheki-1 × Gobustan, Murov × Daghdash, Nurlu-99 × Layaqatli, Gobustan × Sheki-1, and Mirbashir-50 × Shiraslan-23 for spike-related traits. However, the F₁ hybrid Garabagh × Gobustan revealed negative heterosis and depression for yield-related traits.

Keywords: Interspecific wheat hybrids (T. durum × T. aestivum), parental genotypes, heterosis, dominance, spike-related traits, productivity

Key findings: The study identified the promising durum by bread wheat F₁ hybrids in terms of heterotic and dominance effects over better parents for yield indicators that can benefit future breeding work to obtain high-yielding wheat genotypes.