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Climatic variations adversely affect the limited water resources of earth which leads to water stress and influences agricultural production worldwide. Therefore, a novel approach has been introduced to improve the tolerance against water stress in herbaceous nature medicinal plants such as Coriandrum sativum by the usage of nanotechnology (foliar applied nanoparticles of ZnOx) coupled with the application of water deficit irrigation. This is an alternative water saving strategy that proved to be efficient to mitigate the Coriandrum sativum tolerance against water stress regimes for sustainable yield production through the activation of antioxidant system. Thus, the phenomena of green synthesis have been deployed for the formation of Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnOx NPs) from the leaf extract of Camellia sinensis L. and zinc acetate dihydrate was used as precursor. Different techniques have been used for the thorough study and confirmation of ZnOx NPs such as UV-vis spectroscopy (UV-vis) X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Elemental dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The prepared ZnOx NPs exhibit hexagonal wurtzite crystal nature has an average size of 37 nm with high purity. These ZnOx NPs have been further studied for their role in amelioration of water stress tolerance in Coriandrum sativum in a pot experiment. Two levels of water stress regimes were employed, IR75 (moderate) and IR50 (Intense) to evaluate the behavior of plant compared to full irrigation (FI). Results showed that under water stress regimes, the 100 ppm of prepared NPs stimulate the antioxidant system by increasing the activity of catalases (CAT), super oxidases (SOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) enzymes and found the maximum at IR50, while the concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) decreased due to increase in activity of antioxidative enzymes. Furthermore, chlorophyll content and amount of proline also enhanced by the foliar application of prepared ZnOx NPs under moderate water stress (IR75). The results suggested that all the investigated agronomic attributes significantly increased, including plant biomass and economic yield (EY), compared to non-treated ZnOx NPs plants, except for the number of primary branches and LAI. Further, the 100 ppm of prepared ZnOx NPs have great potential to improve water stress tolerance in Coriandrum sativum by improving the antioxidant enzymes activity that enhance agronomic attributes for high crop productivity that require further research at transcriptomic and genomic level.

Assessing the energy cycle and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of wheat production in small Egyptian farms is essential to improve wheat productivity to meet population growth and achieve sustainable development. This study aims to compare wheat production in terms of energy use and GHG emissions for different scenarios in the Delta of Egypt and to use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to optimize the wheat production system. Three common scenarios of the wheat production system (S-I, S-II, and S-III) from old lands with one scenario (S-IV) from newly reclaimed land were included in the study. Data were collected from small farmers through a face-to-face questionnaire and interviews in 2022–2023. The results showed that the third scenario (S-III) in the old lands had the lowest input energy consumption (42,555 MJ ha−1) and the highest output energy (160,418 MJ ha−1), with an energy use efficiency of 3.770. In comparison, the input and output energy for the newly reclaimed scenario (S-IV) were 37,575 and 130,581 MJ ha−1, respectively, with an energy use efficiency of 3.475. S-III was an optimum scenario due to its high energy indicators, such as energy productivity of 0.173 kg MJ−1. The total GHG emissions of S-III were the lowest in old lands with a value of 1432.9 kg CO2-eq ha−1, while S-IV had 1290.2 kg CO2-eq ha−1. The highest GHG emissions input was diesel fuel for machinery and irrigation, followed by manure, chemical fertilizers, and agricultural machinery use. Using mechanization in most farming operations for S-III and S-IV led to decreased losses of agricultural inputs with increasing outputs (yield and straw). Therefore, using them in wheat farming practices is recommended to increase the wheat farming system’s energy efficiency and GHG emissions.

Successfully evaluating and improving the salt tolerance of genotypes requires an appropriate analysis tool to allow simultaneous analysis of multiple traits and to facilitate the ranking of genotypes across different growth stages and salinity levels. In this study, we evaluate the salt tolerance of 56 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) in the presence of salt-tolerant and salt-sensitive control genotypes using multivariate analysis of plant dry weight, measured at 75 (PDW-75) and 90 (PDW-90) days from sowing, biological yield (BY), grain yield (GY), and their salt tolerance indices (STIs). All RILs and genotypes were evaluated under the control and 15 dS m−1 for two consecutive years (2019/2020 and 2020/2021). Results showed significant main effects of salinity and genotype as well as their interactions on four plant traits. Significant genotypic differences were also found for all calculated STIs. STIs exhibited moderate to strong relationships with the four plant traits when measured under either the control or salinity conditions and between each other. The principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the most variation among all analyzed variables was explained by the first two PCs, with the PC1 and PC2 explained at 61.8–71.8% and at 28.0–38.2% of the total variation, respectively. The PC1 had positive and strong correlations with the four plant traits measured under salinity conditions and STI, YI, REI, SWPI, MRPI, MPI, GMPI, and HMPI. The PC2 had strong correlations with BY and GY measured under the control conditions and SSI, TOL, RSE, and YSI. The PC1 was able to identify the salt-tolerant genotypes, while the PC2 was able to isolate the salt-sensitive ones. Cluster analysis based on multiple traits organized 64 genotypes into four groups varied from salt-tolerant to salt-sensitive genotypes, with the salt-tolerant group attaining higher value for plant traits under salinity conditions and the STIs related to the PC1. In conclusion, the use of multivariate analysis together with the STIs that evaluated the performance of genotypes under contrasting environmental conditions will help breeders to distinguish salt-tolerant genotypes from salt-sensitive ones, even at the early growth stages of plant development.

Salinity impedes soil and crop productivity in over 900 million ha of arable lands worldwide due to the excessive accumulation of salt (NaCl). To utilize saline soils in agriculture, halophytes (salt-tolerant plants) are commonly cultivated. However, most food crops are glycophytes (salt-sensitive). Thus, to enhance the productivity of saline soils, gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) as well as bio-organic (combined use of organic materials, such as compost and straw with the inoculation of beneficial microbes) amendments have been continuously recognized to improve the biological, physical and chemical properties of saline soils. CaSO4·2H2O regulates the exchange of sodium (Na+) for calcium (Ca2+) on the clay surfaces, thereby increasing the Ca2+/Na+ ratio in the soil solution. Intracellularly, Ca2+ also promotes a higher K+/Na+ ratio. Simultaneously, gypsum furnishes crops with sulfur (S) for enhanced growth and yield through the increased production of phytohormones, amino acids, glutathione and osmoprotectants, which are vital elicitors in plants’ responses to salinity stress. Likewise, bio-organic amendments improve the organic matter and carbon content, nutrient cycling, porosity, water holding capacity, soil enzyme activities and biodiversity in saline soils. Overall, the integrated application of gypsum and bio-organic amendments in cultivating glycophytes and halophytes is a highly promising strategy in enhancing the productivity of saline soils.

Climate change affects fruit crops’ growth and development by delaying fruit ripening, reducing color development, and lowering fruit quality and yield. The irregular date palm fruit ripening in the past few years is assumed to be related to climatic change. The current study aimed to design and validate an automated sensor-based artificial ripening system (S-BARS) combined with ultrasound pretreatment for artificial ripening date fruits cv. Khalas. A sensor-based control system was constructed to allow continuous real-time recording and control over the process variables. The impact of processing variables, i.e., the artificial ripening temperature (ART-temp) and relative humidity (ART-RH) using the designed S-BARS combined with ultrasound pretreatment variables, i.e., time (USP-Time) and temperature (USP-Temp) on the required time for fruit ripening (RT), the percentage of ripened fruits (PORF), the percentage of damaged fruits (PODF), and the electrical energy consumption (EEC) were investigated. The quadratic predictive models were developed using the Box–Behnken Design (B-BD) to predict the RT, PORF, PODF, and EEC experimentally via Response Surface Methodology(RSM). Design Expert software (Version 13) was used for modeling and graphically analyzing the acquired data. The artificial ripening parameter values were determined by solving the regression equations and analyzing the 3D response surface plots. All parameters were simultaneously optimized by RSM using the desirability function. The Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) and the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) between the predicted and actual experimental values were used to evaluate the developed models. The physicochemical properties of the ripened fruit were assessed under the optimization criteria. The results indicated that the pretreated unripe date fruits with 40 kHz ultrasound frequency, 110 W power, and USP-Temp of 32.49 °C for 32.03 min USP-Time under 60 °C ART-Temp and 59.98% ART-RH achieved the best results. The designed S-BARS precisely controlled the temperature and relative humidity at the target setpoints. The ultrasound pretreatment improved the color and density of the artificially ripened date fruits, decreased the RT and EEC, and increased the PORF without negatively affecting the studied fruit quality attributes. The developed models could effectively predict the RT, PORF, PODF, and EEC. The designed S-BARS combined with ultrasound pretreatment is an efficient approach for high-quality ripening date fruits.

Improving soil water holding capacity (WHC) through conservation agriculture (CA)-practices, i.e., minimum mechanical soil disturbance, crop diversification, and soil mulch cover/crop residue retention, could buffer soil resilience against climate change. CA-practices could increase soil organic carbon (SOC) and alter pore size distribution (PSD); thus, they could improve soil WHC. This paper aims to review to what extent CA-practices can influence soil WHC and water-availability through SOC build-up and the change of the PSD. In general, the sequestered SOC due to the adoption of CA does not translate into a significant increase in soil WHC, because the increase in SOC is limited to the top 5–10 cm, which limits the capacity of SOC to increase the WHC of the whole soil profile. The effect of CA-practices on PSD had a slight effect on soil WHC, because long-term adoption of CA-practices increases macro- and bio-porosity at the expense of the water-holding pores. However, a positive effect of CA-practices on water-saving and availability has been widely reported. Researchers attributed this positive effect to the increase in water infiltration and reduction in evaporation from the soil surface (due to mulching crop residue). In conclusion, the benefits of CA in the SOC and soil WHC requires considering the whole soil profile, not only the top soil layer. The positive effect of CA on water-saving is attributed to increasing water infiltration and reducing evaporation from the soil surface. CA-practices’ effects are more evident in arid and semi-arid regions; therefore, arable-lands in Sub-Sahara Africa, Australia, and South-Asia are expected to benefit more. This review enhances our understanding of the role of SOC and its quantitative effect in increasing water availability and soil resilience to climate change.

The primary goal of integrated nutrient management (INM) strategies is to substitute a portion of chemical fertilizers with a more sustainable and environmentally safe organic compost in order to mitigate soil degradation, improve crop production, and protect the environment. Therefore, the present study was conducted to assess the impacts of different INM practices, namely full-dose NPK (T1), compost of cow manure at 5 t ha−1 (T2), compost of poultry manure at 5 t ha−1 (T3), compost of mixed sheep and camel manure at 5 t ha−1 (T4), 50% NPK combined with the mixture of the three types of composts at the rate of 5 t ha−1 (T5) or 10 t ha−1 (T6), and mixture of the three types of composts at the rate of 10 t ha−1 (T7), 15 t ha−1 (T8), or 20 t ha−1 (T9) with or without biofertilizers for each treatment on several physiochemical and biological proprieties of soil and final grain yield of field crops after 2 years of field-scale experiments. The results showed that all INM practices generally significantly (p < 0.05) improved the initial values of all tested soil physiochemical and biological proprieties, whereas improvement was more prominent for the plots treated with T5–T9, compared with those treated with T1–T4. Seed inoculation with biofertilizers also significantly (p < 0.05) increased different soil proprieties by 2.8–12.0%, compared to that of the non-inoculation treatment. Principal component analysis revealed that most soil chemical properties were closely associated with T5–T6 treatments, while most soil physical and biological properties appeared to be more related to T7–T9 treatments. Our results indicated that recycling agricultural wastes into new productive composts and integrating it into appropriate INM practices as shown in T5–T9 treatments may induce favorable changes in soil properties and improve crop production under arid conditions even in the short term.

Due to the increasing concern about climate change and environmental sustainability, the investigation of energy consumption represents a very intriguing and undeniable subject. This study was directed to investigate energy footprints, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and life cycle assessment (LCA) of the main vegetable crops cultivated under open field conditions in southern Egypt. Potato production required the maximum energy amount (112.3 GJ/ha) compared to 76 GJ and 96 GJ for onion and tomato, respectively. Based on energy indices, potato gave (energy ratio > 1; energy productivity > 1; energy profitability > 1; net energy > 0), while onion and tomato production shared the same indicators (energy ratio < 1; energy productivity > 1; energy profitability < 0; net energy < 0). However, GHG emissions generated for producing one ton of potato tubers registered the least amount by 76.0 kg CO2 eq. The same GHG amount was produced by 834 kg of onion bulbs and 940.6 kg of tomato fruits. The emission rates were more a consequence of diesel, followed by inorganic fertilizer and manure. In addition to carbon emissions, every production process causes several other environmental problems, thus a comprehensive analysis of environmental impact categories is required. The openLCA program performed LCA and ten impact categories were considered to transform the inventory data into several indicators. Producing one ton of potato tubers has the least footprint on the environment and the ecosystem, such as global warming (GW)—238.8 kg CO2 eq. t−1; human toxicity (HT)—288.3 kg 1,4-DB eq. t−1; fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity (FAEF)—160.44 kg 1,4-DB eq. t−1; marine aquatic ecotoxicity (MAET)—365,636 kg 1,4-DB eq. t−1; and terrestrial ecotoxicity (TE)—1.18 kg 1,4-DB eq. t−1. The analyses indicated that machinery and diesel fuel had the highest impact on all the studied categories.