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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Agroecology and Ecosystem Services
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1549061
This article is part of the Research Topic Enhancing Soil Health and Climate Resilience through Sustainable Agricultural Practices View all articles

Exploring the Genotypic Potential of Perilla (Perilla frutescens L.) for Climate-Resilient Agriculture in the North Eastern Himalayas

Provisionally accepted
Meraj Alam Ansari Meraj Alam Ansari 1,2*Amit Kumar Amit Kumar 1*Ahammed Shabeer Ahammed Shabeer 3Alok Kumar Alok Kumar 4Subhra Saikat Roy Subhra Saikat Roy 5Dr Majhrool Hak Ansari Dr Majhrool Hak Ansari 6Raghavendra Singh Raghavendra Singh 1,2Moirangthem Sangeeta Moirangthem Sangeeta 1Jayanta Layek Jayanta Layek 1N Prakash N Prakash 1V K Mishra V K Mishra 1
  • 1 The ICAR Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region (ICAR RC NEH), Umiam, India
  • 2 Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research (ICAR), Modipuram, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • 3 National Research Center on Pomegranate (ICAR), Solapur, Maharashtra, India
  • 4 Indian Institute of Seed Science, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • 5 Central Citrus Research Institute (ICAR), Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
  • 6 Veer Kunwar Singh College of Agriculture, Buxar- 802136, Department agronomy, Bihar agricultural unversity, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Perilla (Perilla frutescens (L.) Britt) is an potential but often neglected oilseed crop with a long cultivation history among tribal farmers in the hilly regions of north-eastern India and China. Perilla, with its rich fatty acids, essential nutrients, antioxidants, and phenolic acids, holds great promise for climate-resilient agriculture in rainfed areas. Its large scale cultivation improve food security and offer numerous health benefits, including cardiovascular support and disease prevention, thereby enhancing human well-being. However, the genetic complexity of its fatty acid composition, nutrient content, and yield-associated agronomic traits remains poorly understood. To dissect the genetic basis, we evaluated 28 diverse genotypes across three growing seasons for eight agronomic traits and sixteen biochemical traits, revealing substantial phenotypic and biochemical variation. Agronomic traits displayed significant variability, with seed yield showing the highest coefficient of variation (CV) at 47.38%, while leaf length had the lowest CV (7.87%). For oil quality traits, the maximum CV was observed for the omega-6: omega-3 ratio (12.08%), and the minimum for polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (4.12%), with an average variation of 7.16%. Seed yield exhibited a positive correlation with copper (Cu), potassium (K), and iron (Fe), while PUFA showed positive correlation with Omega-6 and negative correlation with saturated fatty acids (SFA). Principal component analysis indicated that the first two components explained 71.28% of the variance, with omega-6 and PUFA: SFA contributing most to PC1 and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and omega-9 contributing most to PC2. The genotypes RCT 30 and RCT 3 showed the highest contributions in both components (PC1 and PC2). This study offers valuable insights into the genotypic potential of perilla for enhancing yield, oil quality, and nutrient composition, with significant implications for breeding programs aimed at developing climate-resilient varieties for the North Eastern Himalayas.

    Keywords: Antioxidants, Climate resilient genotypes, Fatty Acids, Nutritive composition, Perilla, phenolics, North Eastern Himalayan region

    Received: 20 Dec 2024; Accepted: 15 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Ansari, Kumar, Shabeer, Kumar, Roy, Ansari, Singh, Sangeeta, Layek, Prakash and Mishra. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Meraj Alam Ansari, The ICAR Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region (ICAR RC NEH), Umiam, India
    Amit Kumar, The ICAR Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region (ICAR RC NEH), Umiam, India

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.