Explore the vast range of titles available.

The distribution and bioavailability of Hg in vegetable-growing soils collected from the estuary areas of Jiulong River, China, were studied. Concentrations of Hg in top-soils, soil profiles and plant samples were measured with the method of hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry after microwave digestion. Mercury species in soils were determined with the sequential extraction procedures based on Kingston method. Results showed that Hg concentrations in top-soils ranged from 49.8 to 1,685 ng g⁻¹, with an average of 510 ng g⁻¹ which was more than twice higher than the mercury limit (250 ng g⁻¹ at pH < 6.5) of soil quality set for edible agricultural products in China (HJ 332-2006). High levels of Hg were found to mainly distribute in the top-soils from the northern, western and southern part of the estuary areas. Hg concentrations decreased with the increases of profile depths, except for one sample (S15) in which Hg level in the depth of 0–20 cm was found lower than that in the 20–40 cm. Hg in most of soil samples in non-mobile forms accounted for 46–82 % of total Hg in soils, while Hg in the mobile forms only 0.6–8.7 %. No significant correlation of Hg concentrations between the vegetables and the soils was observed in the studied areas, which indicates that the transfer factors could only reflect the abilities of Hg uptake and accumulation in a specific plant, but they are unsuitable to be used as the general indexes for the mobility and bioavailability of Hg in soils.

In recent decades, the demand for vegetables has increased significantly due to the blooming global population. Climate change has affected vegetable production by increasing the frequencies and severity of abiotic and biotic stresses. Among the abiotic stresses, drought and salinity are the major issues that possess severe threats on vegetable production. Many vegetables (e.g., carrot, tomato, okra, pea, eggplant, lettuce, potato) are usually sensitive to drought and salt stress. The defence mechanisms of plants against salt and drought stress have been extensively studied in model plant species and field crops. Better understanding of the mechanisms of susceptibility of vegetables to drought and salt stresses will help towards the development of more tolerant genotypes as a long-term strategy against these stresses. However, the intensity of the challenges also warrants more immediate approaches to mitigate these stresses and enhance vegetable production in the short term. Therefore, this review enlightens the updated knowledge of responses (physiological and molecular) against drought and salinity in vegetables and potentially effective strategies to enhance production. Moreover, we summarized different technologies such as seed priming, genetic transformation, biostimulants, nanotechnology, and cultural practices adopted to enhance vegetable production under drought and salinity stress. We propose that approaches of conventional breeding, genetic engineering, and crop management should be combined to generate drought and salt resistance cultivars and adopt smart cultivation practices for sustainable vegetable production in a changing climate.

The consequences of climate change, food security, and self-sufficiency goals are driving excessive human activity onto vegetable farms in Bangladesh, and harmful heavy metal exposure is spreading. So, the study assessed the toxic metals (Pb, Cd, and Cr) exposure, characteristics, and human health risk regarding the soil-vegetable system of two distinct locations in Bangladesh using atomic absorption spectrometry. The average concentration of metals in soil and fertilizer/pesticide samples followed the same order (Cr > Pb > Cd), but for vegetable samples, the order was Pb > Cr > Cd, with some extra Pb compared to the World Health Organization (WHO) allowable limit (0.3 mg/kg). Low levels of pollution with negligible ecological concerns were predicted for both locations by the soil quality indexing. But industrial influence boosted the Pb content in location B, and common sources (fertilizer/pesticide) for both locations might be responsible for a moderate level of Cd. The toxic metals transferred to vegetables followed the trend of Cd > Pb > Cr. However, the human health risks arising from harmful metals exposure at both locations were ineffective (< 1) in evaluating noncarcinogenic risk patterns through the target hazard quotient (THQ), total THQ, and hazard index (HI). Again, considering probable carcinogenic risk patterns, vegetable consumption with studied exposure levels of toxic metals followed within the acceptable range (between 1.0E-04 and 1.0E-06). Overall, location B is slightly more vulnerable than location A by considering metal exposure, pollution distribution, and risk evaluation in the study area (significant at p  < 0.05). So, systematic monitoring and protective measures are required to ensure food safety and sustainable vegetable production.

Vegetables are a substantial part of our lives and possess great commercial and nutritional value. Weeds not only decrease vegetable yield but also reduce their quality. Non-chemical weed control is important both for the organic production of vegetables and achieving ecologically sustainable weed management. Estimates have shown that the yield of vegetables may be decreased by 45%–95% in the case of weed–vegetable competition. Non-chemical weed control in vegetables is desired for several reasons. For example, there are greater chances of contamination of vegetables by herbicide residue compared to cereals or pulse crops. Non-chemical weed control in vegetables is also needed due to environmental pollution, the evolution of herbicide resistance in weeds and a strong desire for organic vegetable cultivation. Although there are several ways to control weeds without the use of herbicides, cover crops are an attractive choice because these have a number of additional benefits (such as soil and water conservation) along with the provision of satisfactory and sustainable weed control. Several cover crops are available that may provide excellent weed control in vegetable production systems. Cover crops such as rye, vetch, or Brassicaceae plants can suppress weeds in rotations, including vegetables crops such as tomato, cabbage, or pumpkin. Growers should also consider the negative effects of using cover crops for weed control, such as the negative allelopathic effects of some cover crop residues on the main vegetable crop.

With the growing interest of society in healthy eating, the interest in fresh, ready-to-eat, functional food, such as microscale vegetables (sprouted seeds and microgreens), has been on the rise in recent years globally. This review briefly describes the crops commonly used for microscale vegetable production, highlights Brassica vegetables because of their health-promoting secondary metabolites (polyphenols, glucosinolates), and looks at consumer acceptance of sprouts and microgreens. Apart from the main crops used for microscale vegetable production, landraces, wild food plants, and crops’ wild relatives often have high phytonutrient density and exciting flavors and tastes, thus providing the scope to widen the range of crops and species used for this purpose. Moreover, the nutritional value and content of phytochemicals often vary with plant growth and development within the same crop. Sprouted seeds and microgreens are often more nutrient-dense than ungerminated seeds or mature vegetables. This review also describes the environmental and priming factors that may impact the nutritional value and content of phytochemicals of microscale vegetables. These factors include the growth environment, growing substrates, imposed environmental stresses, seed priming and biostimulants, biofortification, and the effect of light in controlled environments. This review also touches on microgreen market trends. Due to their short growth cycle, nutrient-dense sprouts and microgreens can be produced with minimal input; without pesticides, they can even be home-grown and harvested as needed, hence having low environmental impacts and a broad acceptance among health-conscious consumers.

Microplastics (MPs) constitute a known, undesirable contaminant of the ecosystems. Land-based pollution is considered to be an important contributor, but microplastics in the terrestrial environment remains largely unquantified. Some agriculture practices, such as plastic mulch and compost application, are suspected to be major sources of microplastics as plastics are exposed to weathering or are present in organic fertilizers. The overall aim of this research is to bridge the terrestrial plastic contamination information gap, focusing on light density microplastics in two vegetable production systems in Southeast Spain and in the Netherlands. The selected farmer in Spain used plastic mulch for more than 12 years whereas the two farmers in the Netherlands annually applied 10 t ha−1 compost for the past 7 and 20 years. Samples from two different depths were collected: 0–10 cm and 10–30 cm. High quality compost samples originating from municipal organic waste and from garden and greenhouse waste were obtained from two Dutch compost plants. All samples from both Spanish (n = 29) and Dutch (n = 40) soils were contaminated by microplastics, containing 2242 ± 984 MPs kg−1 and 888 ± 500 MPs kg−1, respectively. Compost samples from municipal organic waste (n = 9) were more contaminated than the ones from garden and green house wastes (n = 19), with, respectively, 2800 ± 616 MPs kg−1 and 1253 ± 561 MPs kg−1. These results highlight the need for studies focusing on the effects of microplastics in the environment and the need for monitoring campaigns and the implementation of thresholds to regulate the microplastic contamination.

In this paper, the relationship between carbon dioxide and agriculture in Ghana was investigated by comparing a Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) and Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Model. Ten study variables spanning from 1961 to 2012 were employed from the Food Agricultural Organization. Results from the study show that carbon dioxide emissions affect the percentage annual change of agricultural area, coarse grain production, cocoa bean production, fruit production, vegetable production, and the total livestock per hectare of the agricultural area. The vector error correction model and the autoregressive distributed lag model show evidence of a causal relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and agriculture; however, the relationship decreases periodically which may die over-time. All the endogenous variables except total primary vegetable production lead to carbon dioxide emissions, which may be due to poor agricultural practices to meet the growing food demand in Ghana. The autoregressive distributed lag bounds test shows evidence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between the percentage annual change of agricultural area, cocoa bean production, total livestock per hectare of agricultural area, total pulses production, total primary vegetable production, and carbon dioxide emissions. It is important to end hunger and ensure people have access to safe and nutritious food, especially the poor, orphans, pregnant women, and children under-5 years in order to reduce maternal and infant mortalities. Nevertheless, it is also important that the Government of Ghana institutes agricultural policies that focus on promoting a sustainable agriculture using environmental friendly agricultural practices. The study recommends an integration of climate change measures into Ghana’s national strategies, policies and planning in order to strengthen the country’s effort to achieving a sustainable environment.

Background Salinity stress is a major limiting factor for plant growth, particularly in arid and semi-arid environments. To mitigate the detrimental effects of salinity stress on vegetable production, selenium (Se) biofortification and grafting onto tolerant rootstocks have emerged as effective and sustainable cultivation practices. This study aimed to investigate the combined effects of Se biofortification and grafting onto tolerant rootstock on the yield of cucumber grown under salinity stress greenhouse conditions. The experiment followed a completely randomized factorial design with three factors: salinity level (0, 50, and 100 mM of NaCl), foliar Se application (0, 5, and 10 mg L -1 of sodium selenate) and grafting (grafted and non-grafted plants) using pumpkin ( Cucurbita maxima ) as the rootstock. Each treatment was triplicated. Results The results of this study showed that Se biofortification and grafting significantly enhanced salinity tolerance in grafted cucumbers, leading to increased yield and growth. Moreover, under salinity stress conditions, Se-Biofortified plants exhibited increased leaf relative water content (RWC), proline, total soluble sugars, protein, phenol, flavonoids, and antioxidant enzymes. These findings indicate that Se contributes to the stabilization of cucumber cell membrane and the reduction of ion leakage by promoting the synthesis of protective compounds and enhancing antioxidant enzyme activity. Moreover, grafting onto pumpkin resulted in increased salinity tolerance of cucumber through reduced Na uptake and translocation to the scion. Conclusion In conclusion, the results highlight the effectiveness of Se biofortification and grafting onto pumpkin in improving cucumber salinity tolerance. A sodium selenate concentration of 10 mg L -1 is suggested to enhance the salinity tolerance of grafted cucumbers. These findings provide valuable insights for the development of sustainable cultivation practices to mitigate the adverse impact of salinity stress on cucumber production in challenging environments.

Background New vegetable production systems, such as vertical farming, but also well-established in-door production methods led to the implementation of light emitting diodes (LEDs). LEDs are the most important light sources in modern indoor-production systems and offer the possibility for enhancing growth and specific metabolites in planta . Even though the number of studies investigating the effects of LED lighting on vegetable quality has increased, the knowledge about genus variability is limited. In the present study, the effect of different LED spectra on the metabolic and transcriptional level of the carotenoid metabolism in five different Brassica sprouts was investigated. Cruciferous vegetables are one of the main food crops worldwide. Pak choi ( Brassica rapa ssp. chinensis ), cauliflower ( Brassica oleracea var. botrytis ), Chinese cabbage ( Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis ), green kale ( Brassica oleracea ssp. sabellica ) and turnip cabbage ( Brassica oleracea spp. gongylodes ) sprouts were grown under a combination of blue & white LEDs, red & white LEDs or only white LEDs to elucidate the genus-specific carotenoid metabolism. Results Genus-specific changes in plant weight and on the photosynthetic pigment levels as well as transcript levels have been detected. Interestingly, the transcript levels of the three investigated carotenoid biosynthesis genes phytoene synthase ( PSY ), β-cyclase ( βLCY ) and β-carotene hydroxylase ( βOHASE1 ) were increased under the combination of blue & white LEDs in the majority of the Brassica sprouts. However, only in pak choi, the combination of blue & white LEDs enhanced the carotenoid levels by 14% in comparison to only white LEDs and by ~ 19% in comparison to red & white LEDs. Conclusions The effects of light quality differ within a genus which leads to the conclusion that production strategies have to be developed for individual species and cultivars to fully benefit from LED technology.

Abstract Background and aimsGreenhouse vegetable production is commonly associated with substantial nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, low nitrogen (N)and irrigation water use efficiency (NUE and IWUE) due to excess N input and frequent flooding irrigation, so it is crucial to develop irrigation and fertilization strategies to alleviate N2O emissions while ensuring vegetable productivity.MethodsAn experiment spanning three crop rotations of cucumber and celery in a greenhouse was conducted in North China Plain (NCP). It included four treatments, i.e., no N fertilizer (CK), farmers' conventional fertilization (FP), conventional fertilization rate with drip fertigation (FPD), and reduced N fertilizer rate with drip fertigation (RFPD).ResultsThe mean annual area-scaled, yield-scaled N2O emissions and direct N2O emission factors (EFd) of FP were 36 kg N ha−1, 175 g N t−1 and 1.3%, respectively. FPD significantly reduced N2O emissions by over 25% (both in area- and yield-scaled), enhanced IWUE by 37%, and had no significant negative effects on vegetable yield or NUE. RFPD also significantly mitigated both area- and yield-scaled N2O emissions by about 45%, improved IWUE by 40% and NUE by 25%, while maintaining vegetable yield. Quadratic curves were fitted to the boundary points of ln-transformed N2O emissions against soil temperature and water-filled pore space (WFPS), with the maximum N2O losses occurring at 19.5 ℃ or 68%. N2O emissions responded to IWUE and NUEs following an exponential (R2 = 0.71, P < 0.001) and a linear-plateau model (R2 = 0.67, P < 0.001), respectively.ConclusionsDrip irrigation with reduced N fertilizer rate is a suitable agronomic practice to simultaneously mitigate N2O emissions and improve both IWUE and NUE while maintaining vegetable yield from typical greenhouse cucumber-celery fields in NCP.