Explore the vast range of titles available.

The chitosan (CHT) biopolymer is a de-acetylated chitin derivative that exists in the outer shell of shrimp, shellfish, lobster or crabs, as well as fungal cell walls. Because of its biodegradability, environmental non-toxicity, and biocompatibility, it is an ideal resource for sustainable agriculture. The CHT emerged as a promising agent used as a plant growth promoter and also as an antimicrobial agent. It induces plant growth by influencing plant physiological processes like nutrient uptake, cell division, cell elongation, enzymatic activation and synthesis of protein that can eventually lead to increased yield. It also acts as a catalyst to inhibit the growth of plant pathogens, and alter plant defense responses by triggering multiple useful metabolic pathways. This review emphasizes the role and mechanisms of CHT as a plant growth promoter and disease suppressor, and its future implications in agriculture.

Drought is a major environmental threat to agricultural productivity and food security across the world. Therefore, addressing the detrimental effects of drought on vital crops like soybean has a significant impact on sustainable food production. Priming plants with organic compounds is now being considered as a promising technique for alleviating the negative effects of drought on plants. In the current study, we evaluated the protective functions of ethanol in enhancing soybean drought tolerance by examining the phenotype, growth attributes, and several physiological and biochemical mechanisms. Our results showed that foliar application of ethanol (20 mM) to drought-stressed soybean plants increased biomass, leaf area per trifoliate, gas exchange features, water-use-efficiency, photosynthetic pigment contents, and leaf relative water content, all of which contributed to the improved growth performance of soybean under drought circumstances. Drought stress, on the other hand, caused significant accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as superoxide and hydrogen peroxide, and malondialdehyde, as well as an increase of electrolyte leakage in the leaves, underpinning the evidence of oxidative stress and membrane damage in soybean plants. By comparison, exogenous ethanol reduced the ROS-induced oxidative burden by boosting the activities of antioxidant enzymes, including peroxidase, catalase, glutathione S-transferase, and ascorbate peroxidase, and the content of total flavonoids in soybean leaves exposed to drought stress. Additionally, ethanol supplementation increased the contents of total soluble sugars and free amino acids in the leaves of drought-exposed plants, implying that ethanol likely employed these compounds for osmotic adjustment in soybean under water-shortage conditions. Together, our findings shed light on the ethanol-mediated protective mechanisms by which soybean plants coordinated different morphophysiological and biochemical responses in order to increase their drought tolerance.

Drought is recognized as a paramount threat to sustainable agricultural productivity. This threat has grown more severe in the age of global climate change. As a result, finding a long-term solution to increase plants’ tolerance to drought stress has been a key research focus. Applications of chemicals such as zinc (Zn) may provide a simpler, less time-consuming, and effective technique for boosting the plant’s resilience to drought. The present study gathers persuasive evidence on the potential roles of zinc sulphate (ZnSO4·7H2O; 1.0 g Kg−1 soil) and zinc oxide (ZnO; 1.0 g Kg−1 soil) in promoting tolerance of cotton plants exposed to drought at the first square stage, by exploring various physiological, morphological, and biochemical features. Soil supplementation of ZnSO4 or ZnO to cotton plants improved their shoot biomass, root dry weight, leaf area, photosynthetic performance, and water-use efficiency under drought stress. Zn application further reduced the drought-induced accumulations of H2O2 and malondialdehyde, and electrolyte leakage in stressed plants. Antioxidant assays revealed that Zn supplements, particularly ZnSO4, reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation by increasing the activities of a range of ROS quenchers, such as catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione S-transferase, and guaiacol peroxidase, to protect the plants against ROS-induced oxidative damage during drought stress. Increased leaf relative water contents along with increased water-soluble protein contents may indicate the role of Zn in improving the plant’s water status under water-deficient conditions. The results of the current study also suggested that, in general, ZnSO4 supplementation more effectively increased cotton drought tolerance than ZnO supplementation, thereby suggesting ZnSO4 as a potential chemical to curtail drought-induced detrimental effects in water-limited soil conditions.

Water scarcity leads to significant ecological challenges for global farming production. Sustainable agriculture depends on developing strategies to overcome the impacts of drought on important crops, including soybean. In this present study, seven promising soybean genotypes were evaluated for their drought tolerance potential by exposing them to water deficit conditions. The control group was maintained at 100% field capacity (FC), while the drought-treated group was maintained at 50% FC on a volume/weight basis. This treatment was applied at the second trifoliate leaf stage and continued until maturity. Our results demonstrated that water shortage exerted negative impacts on soybean phenotypic traits, physiological and biochemical mechanisms, and yield output in comparison with normal conditions. Our results showed that genotype G00001 exhibited the highest leaf area plant−1 (483.70 cm2), photosynthetic attributes like stomatal conductance (gs) (0.15 mol H2O m−2 s−1) and photosynthetic rate (Pn) (13.73 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1), and xylem exudation rate (0.25 g h−1) under drought conditions. The G00001 genotype showed greater leaf greenness by preserving photosynthetic pigments (total chlorophylls (Chls) and carotenoids; 4.23 and 7.34 mg g−1 FW, respectively) in response to drought conditions. Soybean plants accumulated high levels of stress indicators like proline and malondialdehyde when subjected to drought stress. However, genotype G00001 displayed lower levels of proline (4.49 μg g−1 FW) and malondialdehyde (3.70 μmol g−1 FW), indicating that this genotype suffered from less oxidative stress induced by drought stress compared to the other investigated soybean genotypes. Eventually, the G00001 genotype had a greater yield in terms of seeds pod−1 (SP) (1.90) and 100-seed weight (HSW) (14.60 g) under drought conditions. On the other hand, BD2333 exhibited the largest decrease in plant height (37.10%), pod number plant−1 (85.90%), SP (56.20%), HSW (54.20%), gs (90.50%), Pn (71.00%), transpiration rate (59.40%), relative water content (34.40%), Chl a (79.50%), total Chls (72.70%), and carotenoids (56.70%), along with the maximum increase in water saturation deficit (290.40%) and malondialdehyde content (280.30%) under drought compared to control conditions, indicating its higher sensitivity to drought stress. Our findings suggest that G00001 is a promising candidate to consider for field trials and further evaluation of its molecular signature may help breeding other elite cultivars to develop drought-tolerant, high-yielding soybean varieties.

Rice (Oryza sativa) is a major crop and a main food for a major part of the global population. Rice species have derived from divergent agro-climatic regions, and thus, the local germplasm has a large genetic diversity. This study investigated the relationship between phenotypic and genetic variabilities of yield and yield-associated traits in Aus rice to identify short-duration, high-yielding genotypes. Targeting this issue, a field experiment was carried out to evaluate the performance of 51 Aus rice genotypes, including 50 accessions in F5 generation and one short-duration check variety BINAdhan-19. The genotypes exhibited a large and significant variation in yield and its associated traits, as evidenced by a wide range of their coefficient of variance. The investigated traits, including days to maturity (DM), plant height (PH), panicle length (PL) and 1000-grain weight (TW) exhibited a greater genotypic coefficient of variation than the environmental coefficient of variation. In addition, the high broad-sense heritability of DM, PH, PL and TW traits suggests that the genetic factors significantly influence the observed variations in these traits among the F5 Aus rice accessions. This study also revealed that the grain yield per hill (GY) displayed a significant positive correlation with PL, number of filled grains per panicle (FG) and TW at both genotype and phenotype levels. According to the hierarchical and K-means cluster analyses, the accessions BU-R-ACC-02, BU-R-ACC-08 and R2-36-3-1-1 have shorter DM and relatively higher GY than other Aus rice accessions. These three accessions could be employed in the ongoing and future breeding programs for the improvement of short-duration and high-yielding rice cultivars.

Wheat blast, caused by the Magnaporthe oryzae Triticum ( MoT ) lineage (synonym Pyricularia oryzae Triticum lineage), is a destructive disease in South America and Bangladesh. It is primarily a disease of wheat head, which can cause yield loss up to 100% under favorable disease conditions. The head infection results in complete or partial bleaching of the spike above the point of infection with either no grain or shriveled grain with low test weight. Due to low fungicide efficacy against the disease and lack of availability of resistant varieties, an integrated management program should be adopted to control this serious wheat disease. First of all, a convenient and specific diagnostic tool is needed for evaluating seed health and early detection in wheat field to initiate timely mitigation measures and thereby decreasing pathogen initial inoculum and dispersal. Second, we should have a better understanding of the epidemiology of the disease and develop a real-time disease monitoring and surveillance system to alert growers to apply management practices at an optimum time. Third, we need a better understanding of the infection biology of the fungus and its interaction with wheat plants at the tissue and molecular levels helpful for improving disease management. Fourth, breeding for resistance to wheat blast can be accelerated by using resistance genes such as 2NS translocation, Rmg8 and RmgGR119 or advanced genomic technology such as CRISPR-Cas. Fifth, integration of alternative disease management practices, such as biological control using antagonistic microorganisms or derivatives thereof to achieve sustainable approach for the management of wheat blast. Finally, a globally concerted effort is needed using open science and open data sharing approaches to prevent this seed- and air-borne plant disease’s widespread devastation of wheat crop. This comprehensive review updates our knowledge on wheat blast disease and discusses the approaches for its sustainable management for ensuring food and nutritional security of the ever-increasing global population.

Developing sensitive and cost‐effective biosensors is critical for detecting clinically relevant biomarkers such as microRNAs (miRNAs). Herein, a novel surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) platform is fabricated based on the physical adsorption‐driven assembly of gold–locked nucleic acid (Au‐LNA) nanohybrids onto molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanosheets for the indirect detection of miR‐210‐3p. Leveraging the inherent physicochemical properties of AuNPs and MoS2, synergy, and non‐covalent interactions, Au‐LNA nanohybrids are immobilized onto MoS2, forming a stable plasmonic nanocomposite. Characterization of the nanohybrids and nanocomposites showcased successful hybridization, conjugation, surface assembly, and performance capabilities via a physical adsorption mechanism of synthesis . Cy3 Raman reporter facilitates sensitive monitoring of hybridization and timmobilization. The nanocomposite exhibits a strong and concentration‐dependent SERS response at ≈1389, and 1585 cm−1 Cy3 signature peaks. Comparatively, ≈1585 cm−1, showed superior signal amplification, stability, and reliability, and a strong linear correlation range (R2 = 0.92) with a detection limit of 11 nm. Matched to existing MoS2‐based biosensing strategies, this platform exhibits comparable sensitivity, signal amplification, and simplicity in fabrication. This work demonstrates the practicality of physical adsorption as an effective strategy for SERS biosensor assembly and highlights the platform's potential for scalable label‐integrated detection of miRNAs and low‐abundant biomarkers. The Au‐LNA Raman probe, composed of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), thiol functional group, and Cy3 modified LNAs, synthesized after hybridization of LNA and miR‐210‐3p target, is integrated into the MoS2@Au composite. The integration of the nanocomposite is formed by physical adsorption of Au‐LNA nanohybrid with MoS2. Characterization confirms morphology, Raman properties, and detection performance, with an 11 nm LOD of the nanocomposite.

This research aimed to assess the agronomic performance of the progeny (F 3 and F 4 generations) of 48 newly developed Aus rice lines, using a randomized-complete-block-design under rainfed conditions. We found a wide range of variations in yield and yield-contributing traits among the studied genotypes. High board sense heritability percentages were found for sterility percentage (99.50 and 97.20), thousand-grain-weight (88.10 and 90.20 g), plant-height (84.90 and 86.90 cm) and day-to-maturity (84.50 and 97.60 d) in both F 3 and F 4 generations, respectively. However, the highest genetic advance as mean percentage was observed for sterility (48.00 and 50.60), effective tillers number per hill (ET) (44.70 and 47.10), total tillers number per hill (TT) (43.00 and 45.40) and filled-grains per panicle (41.00 and 43.20) respectively. Notably, the correlation study also identified the traits, TT ( r = 0.31 and 0.45), ET ( r = 0.30 and 0.44), straw yield ( r = 0.57 and 0.39) and harvest index ( r = 0.63 and 0.67) as effective for improving grain yield in both F 3 and F 4 generations, respectively. We identified higher grain yield per hill (g) and shorter to moderate crop growth duration (days) in several distinct accessions, including R1-49-7-1-1, R3-26-4-3-1, R1-6-2-3-1, R1-13-1-1-1, R1-50-1-1-1, R3-49-4-3-1, R1-47-7-3-1, R2-26-6-2-2, R3-30-1-2-1 and R1-44-1-2-1, among the 48 genotypes in both the F 3 and F 4 generations. A further location-specific agronomic study is recommended to assess the drought tolerance of these promising genotypes. This will further assess their suitability as potential breeding materials when developing rice varieties adapted to grow under fluctuating rainfalls conditions.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as sources of promising, minimally invasive biomarkers for diagnosing and monitoring diseases like Alzheimer's. Using EVs as a source of biomarkers for neurological diseases is highly relevant because they can carry pathogenic proteins, such as tau and amyloid‐β, across the blood‐brain barrier and can be easily accessed and collected since they are available in almost all biofluids, including blood, urine, and saliva. Here, a bioanalytical antibody‐aptamer sandwich assay detection using surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is developed to quantify the expression of EV‐associated tau. Specifically, a gold surface conjugated with antibodies was developed to capture tau protein derived from EVs. Subsequently, adding gold nanoparticles functionalized with SERS probes and aptamers enabled the detection of tau in EVs using SERS. The sensing platform exhibited excellent reproducibility, selectivity, and sensitivity for tau in a broad range of 30 pm–10 nm with a calculated detection limit of 13 pm. Detecting molecular targets within and on the surface of EVs can enable the design of multiplex biosensors for the early diagnosis of multifactorial diseases by simultaneously detecting and quantifying pathogenic proteins, such as amyloid‐β and tau in Alzheimer's disease. Tau protein plays a critical role in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease, utilizing extracellular vesicles (EVs) as a mechanism for intercellular transmission. This study develops a highly sensitive sandwich assay biosensor for detecting and quantifying tau‐associated EVs using surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS).

Wheat growth, development and yield are severely affected by a wide range of abiotic stresses, and salt stress is a vital and increasing abiotic stress. Salicylic acid (SA) is a phenolic phytohormone involved in plant physiological processes. Hence, we have conducted an experiment to explore the roles of exogenous SA in mitigating salt stress in two wheat genotypes. There were eight treatments comprising (i) control, (ii) 0.5 mM SA, (iii) 1.0 mM SA, (iv) 1.5 mM SA, (v) salinity (12 dS m−1), (vi) salinity + 0.5 mM SA, (vii) salinity + 1.0 mM SA and (viii) salinity + 1.5 mM SA with two wheat genotypes viz G 200-4 and BARI gom-25. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with five replications. During the vegetative stage, salt stress significantly reduced the relative water content (RWC), photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and growth characteristics of both wheat genotypes, while the exogenous application of SA in salt-stressed plants significantly improved the RWC, gas exchange activities and growth performance of both the genotypes. The leaf chlorophyll content was also degraded due to salinity treatment, although it was mitigated by the exogenous application of SA. The imposition of salt significantly reduced the number of days required for maturity, yield-contributing characteristics and the yield of both the wheat genotypes. Salt stress also significantly increased Na+ concentrations and the Na+/K+ ratio, while the K+ concentrations was decreased significantly in both the wheat genotypes. However, the exogenous application of SA in salt-stressed plants significantly reduced the salt stress effects and increased the growth and yield of wheat genotypes by enhancing RWC, gas exchange activities and photosynthetic pigments and maintaining lower Na+ concentrations and a Na+/K+ ratio. Therefore, the findings of this study suggested that the exogenous application of SA improved the salt tolerance of both wheat genotypes.