Crop domestications are long-term selection experiments that have greatly advanced human civilization. The
domestication of cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.) ranks as one of the most important developments in history.
However, its origins and domestication processes are controversial and have long been debated. Here we generate
genome sequences from 446 geographically diverse accessions of the wild rice species Oryza rufipogon, the
immediate ancestral progenitor of cultivated rice, and from 1,083 cultivated indica and japonica varieties to construct

Improvement in post-rainy sorghum grain yield has been a challenge with M 35-1, a landrace selection released in 1937 dominating the post-rainy (rabi) tracts. It led to stagnation of post-rainy sorghum yields until the importance of specific adaptation was realized in lieu of highly variable soil and climatic conditions of post-rainy growing regions. As a result, Phule Maulee and of late Phule Chitra were released for regions of Maharashtra with medium soil depth.

An important source of uncertainty in anticipating the effects of climate change on agriculture is limited understanding of crop responses to extremely high temperatures. This uncertainty partly reflects the relative lack of observations of crop behaviour in farmers’ fields under extreme heat. We used nine years of satellite measurements of wheat growth in northern India to monitor rates of wheat senescence following exposure to temperatures greater than 34 °C.

Plant breeders have played an essential role in improving agricultural crops, and their efforts will be critical to meet the increasing demand for cellulosic bioenergy feedstocks. However, a major concern is the potential development of novel invasive species that result from breeders' efforts to improve agronomic traits in a crop. We use reed canarygrass as a case study to evaluate the potential of plant breeding to give rise to invasive species.