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Background A primary threat to food security stems from the expanding global population and climate change, which have increased the frequency of droughts. Owing to shifting climatic conditions, abiotic stresses such as severe drought are intensifying, reducing wheat productivity. This study aimed to evaluate the response of elite drought-tolerant wheat genotypes to water deficit stress by analysing agronomic and physio-biochemical traits, with the goal of identifying promising genotypes for breeding. Methods Twenty wheat genotypes sourced from various national and international drought-tolerant nurseries, including a benchmark variety, were tested under water deficit and well-watered conditions over two consecutive years. The data collected included agronomic traits such as plant height (PH), days to heading (DH), days to anthesis (DA), days to physiological maturity (DPM), canopy temperature, SPAD values at different growth stages, intercepted photosynthetically active radiation above the canopy (IPARAC) and on the ground (IPAR OG), yield stability index (YSI), stress tolerance index (STI), stress index (SI), leaf area index (LAI), spike length (SL), grains per spike (GPS), 1000-grain weight (TSW), grain yield (GY; t/ha), and biomass yield (BY; t/ha). Results To streamline the study, two years of aggregated data were analysed for each parameter. Drought tolerance was assessed based on grain yield, and multitrait genotype‒ideotype distance (MGIDI) indices were employed to select drought-tolerant wheat genotypes. Significant differences were observed among the wheat genotypes across all measured parameters under both conditions. Under normal conditions, correlation analysis revealed that grain yield (GY) and biomass yield (BY) had the strongest positive relationship ( r  = 0.75**), followed by TSW, LAI, GPS, SL, PH, DPM, and DA. In contrast, under water deficit stress, BY exhibited a notable correlation with plant height (PH) ( r  = 0.42). Under both irrigated and water deficit stress situations, GY had positive and substantial correlations with PH, DA, DPM, GPS, SL, the STI, and the YSI. Two of the ten main components (PCs) accounted for 52.3% and 50.4% of the overall variation under water deficit and well-watered conditions, respectively. Additionally, the genotypes were separated into three clusters via a cluster heatmap, and the most tolerant genotypes (E38, E40, E41, E35, and E33) were found to be in cluster 3, which revealed their genetic relatedness. Genotypes E9 and E29 were found to be sensitive to water deficit, whereas genotypes E40, E38, and E35 were drought tolerant, according to tolerance indices. Conclusion Plant breeders may find the MGIDI useful for selecting genotypes on the basis of a variety of characteristics because it is a straightforward and robust selection method. Among the 20 wheat genotypes, the most stable and productive were E38, E30, E35, E40, and E34, according to an analysis of MGIDI for diverse settings. This was likely caused by the high MPS (mean performance and stability) of specific traits under different situations. The features that have been identified can be used as genitors in hybridization procedures to create wheat breeding materials that are resistant to drought. The genotypes and features that were found to be drought tolerant could be used to create new genotypes that are resistant to drought stress.

Greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels have necessitated finding renewable energy alternatives for sustainability. Bioethanol from biomass is thus gaining prominence. Bangladesh remains reliant on ethanol imports but has substantial sugarcane resources for domestic bioethanol production, potentially reducing import and opening economic opportunities. This study was thus conducted to evaluate the potential of Bangladeshi sugarcane varieties for bioethanol production over the existing utility of crystalline sugar production. Findings reveal that eight Bangladeshi sugarcane varieties are highly potential for bioethanol and laboratory experimentation yielded about 41.5 L 1st generation and 20.9 L 2nd generation bioethanol per ton cane. Contrastingly, sugar production showed about 86.8kg crystalline sugar per ton cane. Economically, sugar production from sugarcane had a benefit cost ratio of 2.24 whereas 1st or 2nd generation bioethanol production had a benefit cost ratio of 32.87 and 9.39 respectively. Combined 1st and 2nd generation bioethanol production had a benefit cost ratio of 29.04. In all cases bioethanol was profitable and indicated better pathways for energy diversification and economic resilience. Nevertheless, local sugar industry holds significant cultural and traditional importance. Thus balanced approach via strategic planning and investments in dual-purpose industry development program for the country's self-sufficiency and better economy should be implemented.

Heat stress alters photosynthetic components and the antioxidant scavenging system, negatively affecting plant growth and development. Plants overcome heat stress damage through an integrated network involving enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants. This study aimed to assess physiological and biochemical responses in contrasting thermo-tolerant wheat varieties exposed to 25 °C (control) and 35 °C (heat stress), during the seedling stage. Our results revealed a substantial decrease in the photosynthetic pigments, carotenoids, anthocyanin content, and increased membrane injury index, malondialdehyde, methylglyoxal (MG), H2O2 contents and lipoxygenase activity compared to non-stress wheat seedlings. The heat-tolerant variety BARI Gom 26 (“BG26”) maintained higher cellular homeostasis compared to the heat susceptible variety Pavon 76 (“Pavon”), perpetuated by higher accumulation of proline, glycine betaine, ascorbate-glutathione cycle associated enzymes, reduced glutathione and ascorbate concentration in plant cells. Significantly lower levels of MG detoxification and antioxidant activities and ascorbate-glutathione cycle-related enzymatic activities lead to increased susceptibility in variety “Pavon”. Hierarchical clustering and principal component analysis revealed that variety “BG26” possess a combination of biochemical responses tailoring antioxidant activities that induced a higher level of tolerance. Taken together, our results provide a pipeline for establishing a trade-off between antioxidant capacity and heat tolerance to facilitate functional genomics and translational research to unravel underlying mechanisms to better adapt wheat to heat stress.

Strawberry is a well-known source of natural antioxidants with excellent free radical scavenging capacity. This study determined the effects of chitosan application in field condition on plant growth, fruit yield and antioxidant activities in strawberry fruit. Foliar applications of chitosan on strawberry significantly increased plant growth and fruit yield (up to 42% higher) compared to untreated control. Increased fruit yield was attributed to higher plant growth, individual fruit weight and total fruit weight/plant due to the chitosan application. Surprisingly, the fruit from plants sprayed with chitosan also had significantly higher contents (up to 2.6-fold) of carotenoids, anthocyanins, flavonoids and phenolics compared to untreated control. Total antioxidant activities in fruit of chitosan treated plants were also significantly higher (ca. 2-fold) (p< 0.05) than untreated control. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of chitosan applied on field plants providing significant improvement of both yield and health benefiting biochemical contents in strawberry fruit. Further study on the elucidation of mechanisms involved with enhancement of growth, yield and biochemical contents by chitosan is needed to promote sustainable production of strawberry.

Strawberry is an excellent source of natural antioxidants with high capacity of scavenging free radicals. This study evaluated the effects of two plant probiotic bacteria, Bacillus amylolequefaciens BChi1 and Paraburkholderia fungorum BRRh-4 on growth, fruit yield and antioxidant contents in strawberry fruits. Root dipping of seedlings (plug plants) followed by spray applications of both probiotic bacteria in the field on foliage significantly increased fruit yield (up to 48%) over non-treated control. Enhanced fruit yield likely to be linked with higher root and shoot growth, individual and total fruit weight/plant and production of phytohormone by the probiotic bacteria applied on plants. Interestingly, the fruits from plants inoculated with the isolates BChi1 and BRRh-4 had significantly higher contents of phenolics, carotenoids, flavonoids and anthocyanins over non-treated control. Total antioxidant activities were also significantly higher ( p  < 0.05) in fruits of strawberry plants treated with both probiotic bacteria. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of significant improvement of both yield and quality of strawberry fruits by the application of plant probiotic bacteria BChi1 and BRRh-4 in a field condition. Further study is needed to elucidate underlying mechanism of growth and quality improvement of strawberry fruits by probiotic bacteria.

Drought stress impairs the normal growth and development of plants through various mechanisms including the induction of cellular oxidative stresses. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the exogenous application of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and salicylic acid (SA) on the growth, physiology, and antioxidant defense system of drought-stressed French bean plants. Application of MeJA (20 μM) or SA (2 mM) alone caused modest reductions in the harmful effects of drought. However, combined application substantially enhanced drought tolerance by improving the physiological activities and antioxidant defense system. The drought-induced generation of O2●− and H2O2, the MDA content, and the LOX activity were significantly lower in leaves when seeds or leaves were pre-treated with a combination of MeJA (10 μM) and SA (1 mM) than with either hormone alone. The combined application of MeJA and SA to drought-stressed plants also significantly increased the activities of the major antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione-S-transferase as well as the enzymes of the ascorbate–glutathione cycle. Taken together, our results suggest that seed or foliar application of a combination of MeJA and SA restore growth and normal physiological processes by triggering the antioxidant defense system in drought-stressed plants.

Mungbean ( L. Wilczek) is one of the most important pulse crops, well-known for its protein-rich seeds. Growth and productivity are severely undermined by waterlogging. In this study, we aim to evaluate how two promising phytohormones, namely cytokinin (CK) and gibberellic acid (GA ), can improve waterlogging tolerance in mungbean by investigating key morphological, physiological, biochemical, and yield-related attributes. Our results showed that foliar application of CK and GA under 5-day of waterlogged conditions improved mungbean growth and biomass, which was associated with increased levels of photosynthetic rate and pigments. Waterlogged-induced accumulation of reactive oxygen species and the consequently elevated levels of malondialdehyde were considerably reduced by CK and GA treatments. Mungbean plants sprayed with either CK or GA suffered less oxidative stress due to the enhancement of total phenolics and flavonoids levels. Improvement in the contents of proline and total soluble sugars indicated a better osmotic adjustment following CK and GA treatments in waterlogged-exposed plants. Most fundamentally, CK or GA -sprayed waterlogged-stressed mungbean plants demonstrated better performance in the aforementioned parameters after the 15-day recovery period as compared to water-sprayed waterlogged-exposed plants. Our results also revealed that CK and GA treatments increased yield-associated features in the waterlogged-stressed plant. Here, both phytohormones are efficient in improving mungbean resistance to waterlogging. However, CK was found to be more effective. Overall, our findings suggested that CK or GA could be used for managing waterlogging-induced damage to mungbean and perhaps in other cash crops.

Drought is one of the foremost environmental stresses that can severely limit crop growth and productivity by disrupting various physiological processes. In this study, the drought tolerance potential of 127 diverse bread wheat genotypes was evaluated by imposing polyethylene glycol (PEG)-induced drought followed by multivariate analysis of several growth-related attributes. Results showed significant variations in the mean values of different morpho-physiological traits due to PEG-induced drought effects. Correlation analysis revealed that most of the studied traits were significantly correlated among them. The robust hierarchical co-clustering indicated that all the genotypes were clustered into four major groups, with cluster 4 (26 genotypes) being, in general, drought-tolerant followed by cluster 1 (19 genotypes) whereas, cluster 2 (55 genotypes) and 3 (27 genotypes) being drought-sensitive. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) confirmed that around 90% of the genotypes were correctly assigned to clusters. Squared distance (D2) analysis indicated that the clusters differed significantly from each other. Principal component analysis (PCA) and genotype by trait biplot analysis showed that the first three components accounted for 71.6% of the total variation, with principal component (PC) 1 accounting for 35.4%, PC2 for 24.6% and PC3 for 11.6% of the total variation. Both PCA and LDA revealed that dry weights, tissue water content, cell membrane stability, leaf relative water content, root-shoot weight ratio and seedling vigor index played the most important discriminatory roles in explaining drought tolerance variations among 127 wheat genotypes. Our results conclude that the drought-tolerant and -sensitive wheat genotypes identified in this study would offer valuable genetic tools for further improvement of wheat productivity in arid and semi-arid regions during this time of unpredictable climate change.

Drought is a detrimental abiotic stress that severely limits wheat growth and productivity worldwide by altering several physiological processes. Thus, understanding the mechanisms of drought tolerance is essential for the selection of drought-resilient features and drought-tolerant cultivars for wheat breeding programs. This exploratory study evaluated 14 wheat genotypes (13 relatively tolerant, one susceptible) for drought endurance based on flag leaf physiological and biochemical traits during the critical grain-filling stage in the field conditions. Measurements included six physiological, seven gas exchange, six photosystem II, six stomatal, three reactive species, seven metabolomic solutes, and two biomass traits. All parameters were significantly influenced by drought, with varying genotypic responses. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) categorized genotypes into three drought tolerance groups based on trait performance. Seven genotypes in Cluster 2 (BARI Gom 26, BARI Gom 33, BD-631, BD-600, BD-9910, BD-9889, BD-637) exhibited superior drought tolerance, characterized by minimal changes in physiological traits and biomass accumulation, reduced oxidative stress markers, and increased accumulation of osmoprotectants. The innovative multi-trait genotype-ideotype distance index (MGIDI) further ranked wheat genotypes in regard to drought tolerance, identifying BARI Gom 33, BARI Gom 26, BD-9889, and BD-600 as top performers. Notably, all these top-ranking genotypes belonged to Cluster 2, previously identified as the highest-performing group in the HCA. The identified genotypes with superior drought tolerance offer valuable genetic resources for enhancing wheat productivity in water-limiting environments. Traits related to photosynthetic activity, biomass gain, leaf conductance, water stress, and osmoprotection showed high selection differentials and heritability in MGIDI analysis, indicating their potential as selection targets for drought-tolerant wheat. Overall, the strategic approaches have yielded novel insights into genotype screening that can be directly applied to deepen our understanding of drought tolerance mechanisms in wheat.

Liverwort Marchantia polymorpha is considered as the key species for addressing a myriad of questions in plant biology. Exploration of drought tolerance mechanism(s) in this group of land plants offers a platform to identify the early adaptive mechanisms involved in drought tolerance. The current study aimed at elucidating the drought acclimation mechanisms in liverwort’s model M. polymorpha . The gemmae, asexual reproductive units of M. polymorpha , were exposed to sucrose (0.2 M), mannitol (0.5 M) and polyethylene glycol (PEG, 10%) for inducing physiological drought to investigate their effects at morphological, physiological and biochemical levels. Our results showed that drought exposure led to extreme growth inhibition, disruption of membrane stability and reduction in photosynthetic pigment contents in M. polymorpha . The increased accumulation of hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde, and the rate of electrolyte leakage in the gemmalings of M. polymorpha indicated an evidence of drought-caused oxidative stress. The gemmalings showed significant induction of the activities of key antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, dehydroascorbate reductase and glutathione S -transferase, and total antioxidant activity in response to increased oxidative stress under drought. Importantly, to counteract the drought effects, the gemmalings also accumulated a significant amount of proline, which coincided with the evolutionary presence of proline biosynthesis gene Δ 1 -pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase 1 ( P5CS1 ) in land plants. Furthermore, the application of exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) reduced drought-induced tissue damage and improved the activities of antioxidant enzymes and accumulation of proline, implying an archetypal role of this phytohormone in M. polymorpha for drought tolerance. We conclude that physiological drought tolerance mechanisms governed by the cellular antioxidants, proline and ABA were adopted in liverwort M. polymorpha , and that these findings have important implications in aiding our understanding of osmotic stress acclimation processes in land plants.