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Rice provides poor yields in acidic soils due to several nutrient deficiencies and metal toxicities. The low availability of phosphorus (P) in acidic soils offers a natural condition for screening genotypes for grain yield and phosphorus utilization efficiency (PUE). The objective of this study was to phenotype a subset of indica rice accessions from 3000 Rice Genome Project (3K-RGP) under acidic soils and find associated genes and alleles. A panel of 234 genotypes, along with checks, were grown under low-input acidic soils for two consecutive seasons, followed by a low-P-based hydroponic screening experiment. The heritability of the agro-morphological traits was high across seasons, and Ward's clustering method identified 46 genotypes that can be used as low-P-tolerant donors in acidic soil conditions. Genotypes ARC10145, RPA5929, and K1559-4, with a higher grain yield than checks, were identified. Over 29 million SNPs were retrieved from the Rice SNP-Seek database, and after quality control, they were utilized for a genome-wide association study (GWAS) with seventeen traits. Ten quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs) for three yield traits and five QTNs for PUE were identified. A set of 34 candidate genes for yield-related traits was also identified. An association study using this indica panel for an already reported 1.84 Mbp region on chromosome 2 identified genes Os02g09840 and Os02g08420 for yield and PUE, respectively. A haplotype analysis for the candidate genes identified favorable allelic combinations. Donors carrying the superior haplotypic combinations for the identified genes could be exploited in future breeding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pregnant women and children are vulnerable to vitamin A deficiency (VAD), which is often compounded by concurrent deficiencies in other micronutrients, particularly iron and zinc, in developing countries. The study investigated the effects of early-life VAD on motor and cognitive development and trace mineral status in a mouse model. C57BL/6J dams were fed either a vitamin A-adequate (VR) or -deficient (VD) diet across two consecutive gestations and lactations. Offspring from both gestations (G1 and G2) continued the same diets until 6 or 9 weeks of age. Behavioral assays were conducted to evaluate motor coordination, grip strength, spatial cognition, and anxiety. Hepatic trace minerals were analyzed. A VD diet depleted hepatic retinoids and reduced plasma retinol across all ages and gestations. Retracted rear legs and abnormal gait were the most common clinical manifestations observed in VD offspring from both gestations at 9 weeks. Poor performance on the Rotarod test further confirmed their motor dysfunction. VAD didn't affect hemoglobin levels and had no consistent effect on hepatic trace mineral concentrations. These findings highlight the critical role of vitamin A in motor development. There was no clear evidence that VAD alters the risk of iron deficiency anemia or trace minerals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peripartum cardiomyopathy is a disease that occurs during or after pregnancy and leads to a significant decline in cardiac function in previously healthy women. Peripartum cardiomyopathy has a varying prevalence among women depending on the part of the world where they live, but it is associated with a significant mortality and morbidity in this population. Therefore, timely diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of this disease from its onset are of utmost importance. Although many risk factors are associated with the occurrence of peripartum cardiomyopathy, such as conditions of life, age of the woman, nutrient deficiencies, or multiple pregnancies, the exact cause of its onset remains unknown. Advances in research on the genetic associations with cardiomyopathies have provided a wealth of data indicating a possible association with peripartum cardiomyopathy, but due to numerous mutations and data inconsistencies, the exact connection remains unclear. Significant insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying peripartum cardiomyopathy have been provided by the theory of an abnormal 16-kDa prolactin, which may be generated in an oxidative stress environment and lead to vascular and consequently myocardial damage. Recent studies supporting this disease mechanism also include research on the efficacy of bromocriptine (a prolactin synthesis inhibitor) in restoring cardiac function in affected patients. Despite significant progress in the research of this disease, there are still insufficient data on the safety of use of certain drugs treating heart failure during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Considering the metabolic changes that occur in different stages of pregnancy and the postpartum period, determining the correct dosing regimen of medications is of utmost importance not only for better treatment and survival of mothers but also for reducing the risk of toxic effects on the fetus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peach production faces significant pre-harvest challenges, including low moisture, nutrient deficiencies, flower drop, physical damage, and surface discoloration, which can limit yield and fruit quality. To mitigate these issues, the present study hypothesized that foliar applications of silicon and zinc could enhance peach growth, yield, and quality due to their known roles in improving stress tolerance, nutrient uptake, and antioxidant activity. Therefore, this research aimed to identify optimal concentrations of silicon and zinc for quality peach production. Ten-year-old peach trees of uniform size were sprayed with four levels of silicon (0%, 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.3%) and zinc (0%, 0.25%, 0.50%, and 0.75%) for two consecutive growing seasons, at the berry and pit hardening stages, using a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The averaged data from the two years showed that the pre-harvest foliar application of silicon significantly improved all yield and quality attributes of peaches. The foliar application of silicon at 0.3% notably enhanced fruit growth, yield, and biochemical attributes. Additionally, the highest fruit growth, yield, and quality of peach fruits were observed at the 0.75% zinc concentration. Maximum antioxidant activity, flavonoid content, proline content, and catalase activity were observed in fruits from plants treated with 0.3% silicon, which were statistically on par with 0.2% silicon. However, peroxidase activity was highest at 0.2% silicon. Regarding zinc levels, antioxidant activity, flavonoid content, proline content, and peroxidase activity were highest in fruits treated with 0.75% zinc, while catalase activity was superior when fruits were sprayed with 0.50% zinc. The interaction between silicon and zinc concentrations was found to be non-significant for most parameters, except for titratable acidity, TSS–acid ratio, ascorbic acid content, antioxidant activity, flavonoid content, and peroxidase activity. In conclusion, the foliar application of 0.3% silicon and 0.75% zinc independently enhanced all yield and quality characteristics of peaches. For the agro-climatic conditions of Peshawar, 0.2% silicon and 0.50% zinc are recommended for optimal peach production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The precise identification of disease traits in the complex sugarcane planting environment not only effectively prevents the spread and outbreak of common diseases but also allows for the real-time monitoring of nutrient deficiency syndrome at the top of sugarcane, facilitating the supplementation of relevant nutrients to ensure sugarcane quality and yield. This paper proposes a human–machine collaborative sugarcane disease detection method in complex environments. Initially, data on five common sugarcane diseases—brown stripe, rust, ring spot, brown spot, and red rot—as well as two nutrient deficiency conditions—sulfur deficiency and phosphorus deficiency—were collected, totaling 11,364 images and 10 high-definition videos captured by a 4K drone. The data sets were augmented threefold using techniques such as flipping and gamma adjustment to construct a disease data set. Building upon the YOLOv8 framework, the EMA attention mechanism and Focal loss function were added to optimize the model, addressing the complex backgrounds and imbalanced positive and negative samples present in the sugarcane data set. Disease detection models EF-yolov8s, EF-yolov8m, EF-yolov8n, EF-yolov7, and EF-yolov5n were constructed and compared. Subsequently, five basic instance segmentation models of YOLOv8 were used for comparative analysis, validated using nutrient deficiency condition videos, and a human–machine integrated detection model for nutrient deficiency symptoms at the top of sugarcane was constructed. The experimental results demonstrate that our improved EF-yolov8s model outperforms other models, achieving mAP_0.5, precision, recall, and F1 scores of 89.70%, 88.70%, 86.00%, and 88.00%, respectively, highlighting the effectiveness of EF-yolov8s for sugarcane disease detection. Additionally, yolov8s-seg achieves an average precision of 80.30% with a smaller number of parameters, outperforming other models by 5.2%, 1.9%, 2.02%, and 0.92% in terms of mAP_0.5, respectively, effectively detecting nutrient deficiency symptoms and addressing the challenges of sugarcane growth monitoring and disease detection in complex environments using computer vision technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review explores the transformative potential of precision agriculture and proximal sensing in revolutionizing crop management practices. By delving into the complexities of these cutting-edge technologies, it examines their role in mitigating the adverse impacts of agrochemical usage while bringing crop health monitoring to a high precision level. The review explains how precision agriculture optimizes production while safeguarding environmental integrity, thus offering a viable solution to both ecological and economic challenges arising from excessive agrochemical application. Furthermore, it investigates various proximal sensing techniques, including spectral imaging, thermal imaging, and fluorescence sensors, showcasing their efficacy in detecting and diagnosing crop health indicators such as stress factors, nutrient deficiencies, diseases, and pests. Through an in-depth analysis of relevant studies and successful practical applications, this review highlights that it is essential to bridge the gap between monitoring sensors and real-time decision-making and to improve image processing and data management systems to fully realize their potential in terms of sustainable crop management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Dry eye disease includes a large variety of different ocular surface diseases. What all have in common is the resulting lubrication deficiency. Although the pathophysiology is multicausal, the common nominator is the threat of normal ocular surface balance and homeostasis. In homeostasis, the close link and interconnection of cellular basic mechanisms is essential for the functionality of the ocular surface. Any challenge threatening homeostasis implies cell stress. The ability of the ocular surfaces (conjunctiva and cornea) to cope and adapt to the resulting stress load decides over the ability to regain homeostasis or to drift to an altered stage of balance, recently identified as allostasis. This review outlines the importance of cellular stress as a key hub of the vicious circle and the importance of the integrated stress response system. Basic considerations for cellular recovery and the potential re-establishment of homeostasis are discussed. Disturbance or insufficiency of the tear film challenges the regulatory systems of the ocular surfaces. The reaction of the surfaces includes temporary mechanisms engaged in the preservation of homeostasis. However, strong or persisting challenges can lead to the potential exhaustion of the coping capacity. This again activates the vicious circle with chronic inflammation and autocatalytic deterioration. Hence, the factors challenging the homeostasis should be addressed in time. Amongst them are a varying osmolarity, constant presence of small lesions at the epithelium, acidification, attrition with mechanical irritation, and onset of pain and discomfort. Each of them and, especially when occurring simultaneously, impose stress on the coping mechanisms and lead to a stress response. Many stressors can culminate, leading to an exhaustion of the coping capacity, outrunning normal resilience. Reaching the limits of stress tolerance leads to the manifestation of a lubrication deficiency as the disease we refer to as dry eye disease (DED). To postpone its manifestation, the avoidance or amelioration of stress factors is one key option. In DED, this is the target of lubrication therapy, substituting the missing tear film or its components. The latter options include the management of secondary sequelae such as the inflammation and activation of reparative cascades. Preventive measures include the enhancement in resilience, recovery velocity, and recovery potential. The capacity to handle the external load factors is the key issue. The aim is to guard homeostasis and to prevent intercellular stress responses from being launched, triggering and invigorating the vicious circle. Considering the dilemma of the surface to have to cope with increased time of exposure to stress, with simultaneously decreasing time for cellular recovery, it illustrates the importance of the vicious circle as a hub for ocular surface stress. The resulting imbalance triggers a continuous deterioration of the ocular surface condition. After an initial phase of the reaction and adaption of the ocular surface to the surrounding challenges, the normal coping capacity will be exhausted. This is the time when the integrated stress response (ISR), a protector for cellular survival, will inevitably be activated, and cellular changes such as altered translation and ribosome pausing are initiated. Once activated, this will slow down any recovery, in a phase where apoptosis is imminent. Premature senescence of cells may also occur. The process of prematurization due to permanent stress exposures contributes to the risk for constant deterioration. The illustrated flow of events in the development of DED outlines that the ability to cope, and to recover, has limited resources in the cells at the ocular surface. The reduction in and amelioration of stress hence should be one of the key targets of therapy and begin early. Here, lubrication optimization as well as causal treatment such as the correction of anatomical anomalies (leading to anatomical dry eye) should be a prime intent of any therapy. The features of cellular stress as a key hub for the vicious circle will be outlined and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The consequences of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in children are connected to possible detrimental impacts on growth, development, psychosocial function, and general well-being. Therefore, the primary management plan in pediatric IBD is to achieve the long-term control of intestinal inflammation while also monitoring potential disease complications and therapeutic adverse effects, where nutritional management is of utmost importance. This review explores the role of dietary supplements as concentrated sources of nutrients with nutritional and/or physiological effects on children with IBD. While dietary supplements are commonly used in pediatric IBD management, their efficacy and, for some of them, safety remain subjects of debate. We provide an overview of the types of dietary supplements available and their potential benefits and risks in pediatric IBD patients. Additionally, we discuss the evidence supporting the use of specific supplements, their mechanisms of action, and considerations for clinical practice. Understanding the role of dietary supplements in pediatric IBD management is crucial for optimizing patient care and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthocyanins are important secondary metabolites in plants, which contribute to fruit color and nutritional value. Anthocyanins can be regulated by environmental factors such as light, low temperature, water conditions, and nutrition limitations. Nitrogen (N) is an essential macroelement for plant development, its deficiency as a kind of nutrition limitation often induces anthocyanin accumulation in many plants. However, there is a lack of reports regarding the effect of nitrogen deficiency on anthocyanin biosynthesis in pears. In this study, we found that N deficiency resulted in anthocyanin accumulation in pear callus and upregulated the expression of anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway structural genes (PyPAL, PyCHS, PyCHI, PyF3H, PyDFR, PyANS, and PyUFGT) and key regulatory factors (PyMYB10, PyMYB114, and PybHLH3). Through analysis of transcriptome data of treated pear callus and RT-qPCR assay, a differentially expressed gene PyNAC42 was identified as significantly induced by the N deficiency condition. Overexpression of PyNAC42 promoted anthocyanin accumulation in "Zaosu" pear peels. Additionally, dual luciferase assay and yeast one-hybrid assay demonstrated that PyNAC42 could not directly activate the expression of PyDFR, PyANS, and PyUFGT. Furthermore, yeast two-hybrid and pull-down assays confirmed that PyNAC42 interacted with PyMYB10 both in vivo and in vitro. Co-expression of PyNAC42 and PyMYB10 significantly enhanced anthocyanin accumulation in "Zaosu" pear peels. Dual luciferase assay showed that PyNAC42 significantly enhanced the activation of PyDFR, PyANS, and PyUFGT promoters by interacting with PyMYB10, which suggests that PyNAC42 can form the PyNAC42-PyMYB10 complex to regulate anthocyanin biosynthesis in pear. Thus, the molecular mechanism underlying anthocyanin biosynthesis induced by N deficiency is preliminarily elucidated. Our finding has expanded the regulatory network of anthocyanin biosynthesis and enhanced our understanding of the mechanisms underlying nutrient deficiency modulates anthocyanin biosynthesis in pear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of nutrient starvation on the growth, biochemical, metabolomic, and biological traits of Lavandula viridis L'Hér and Thymus lotocephalus G. López and R. Morales in vitro cultures. In both species, a reduction in shoot growth and in the production of chlorophyll and carotenoids was observed in cultures grown under nutrient-deficient media (especially Fe and N) compared to those grown under control conditions. The highest levels of hydrogen peroxide and lipid peroxidation, two indicators of oxidative stress, were observed in L. viridis cultures grown under N deficiency and in T. lotocephalus under P and Fe limitation. The results demonstrated that nutrient deficiency led to a 72% and 62% increase in the quantified phenolic compounds in L. viridis and T. lotocephalus, respectively. The highest concentrations of the major compound in both species—rosmarinic acid—were observed in cultures grown under Mg-deficient (60.7 ± 1.0 mg/gDW) and Fe-deficient (50.0 ± 0.4 mg/gDW) conditions in L. viridis and T. lotocephalus, respectively. Furthermore, nutrient starvation enhanced the capacity of green extracts to inhibit three enzymes (tyrosinase, elastase, and hyaluronidase) associated with anti-aging and their antioxidant properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental stress significantly affects plant growth, development, and survival. Plants respond to stressors such as temperature fluctuations, water scarcity, nutrient deficiencies, and pathogen attacks through intricate molecular and physiological adaptations. Epigenetic mechanisms are crucial in regulating gene expression in response to environmental stress. This review explores the current understanding of epigenetic modifications, including DNA methylation, and their roles in modulating gene expression patterns under environmental stress conditions. The dynamic nature of epigenetic modifications, their crosstalk with stress-responsive pathways, and their potential implications for plant adaptation and crop improvement are highlighted in the face of changing environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meat products containing Vitamin D3 (VD3) are an innovative option that could contribute to reducing deficiencies in this micronutrient. Designing nanoemulsions that carry VD3 is the first step in developing functional meat products. Thereby, this study investigated the impact of food components on the nanoemulsion properties. A central composite design was used to study the effects of pea protein (PP, 0.5–2.5%), safflower oil (SO, 5–15%), and salt (0–0.5%) on the nanoemulsion stability (ζ-potential and particle size) and the VD3 retention. Also, the optimized nanoemulsion carrying VD3 was incorporated into a meat matrix to study its retention after cooking. The combination of food components in the optimized nanoemulsion were SO = 9.12%, PP = 1.54%, and salt content = 0.4%, resulting in the predicted values of ζ-potential, particle size, and VD3 retention of −37.76 mV, 485 nm, and 55.1%, respectively. The VD3 that was nanoencapsulated and included in a meat product remained more stable after cooking than the VD3 that was not encapsulated. If a meat product is formulated with 5 or 10% safflower oil, the stability of the nanoencapsulated VD3 is reduced. This research contributes to developing functional meat products carrying nanoencapsulated vitamin D3 in natural food-grade components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As reported by the FAO, in 2022, approximately 735 million people experienced undernourishment, underscoring the critical need for effective strategies to address micronutrient deficiencies. Among these strategies, the mass fortification of staple foods, particularly rice—a dietary staple for half of the global population—has emerged as one of the most effective approaches. Conventional milling processes diminish the nutritional content of rice, necessitating the development of fortification methods to enhance its nutrient profile. This study investigates advanced fortification techniques to improve the nutritional value of rice, focusing on vitamins B1, B2, and B6, with guidelines from the US Institute of Medicine's Dietary Reference Intakes. The results indicate that implementing ultrasonic treatments and optimal soaking conditions (60 °C for 60 min) significantly enhances the absorption of these vitamins. Effective parameters included a concentration of 1500 ppm for vitamin B1 and higher levels for vitamins B2 and B6, with a rice-to-vitamin solution ratio of 1:4. These conditions yielded an absorbed vitamin B1 content of 1050 mg/kg, bringing the fortified rice closer to meeting recommended intake levels. Given the global average daily consumption of 100 g of rice per person, this research demonstrates the feasibility of fortifying rice to address nutrient deficiencies effectively and contribute to improved dietary health worldwide. Further enhancement of vitamin B2 and B6 levels remains essential for optimal fortification, highlighting the potential of fortified rice as a sustainable solution for improving global nutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malnutrition, which includes macro- and micronutrient deficiencies, is common in individuals with allergic dermatitis, food allergies, rhinitis, and asthma. Prolonged deficiencies of proteins, minerals, and vitamins promote Th2 inflammation, setting the stage for allergic sensitization. Consequently, malnutrition, which includes micronutrient deficiencies, fosters the development of allergies, while an adequate supply of micronutrients promotes immune cells with regulatory and tolerogenic phenotypes. As protein and micronutrient deficiencies mimic an infection, the body's innate response limits access to these nutrients by reducing their dietary absorption. This review highlights our current understanding of the physiological functions of allergenic proteins, iron, and vitamin A, particularly regarding their reduced bioavailability under inflamed conditions, necessitating different dietary approaches to improve their absorption. Additionally, the role of most allergens as nutrient binders and their involvement in nutritional immunity will be briefly summarized. Their ability to bind nutrients and their close association with immune cells can trigger exaggerated immune responses and allergies in individuals with deficiencies. However, in nutrient-rich conditions, these allergens can also provide nutrients to immune cells and promote health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nutrient deficiencies are a major cause of yield loss under abiotic stress conditions, so proper nutrient management can reduce the negative effects of stress to some extent. Nutrients can alleviate stress by activating resistance genes, enhancing antioxidant enzyme activity, creating osmoprotectants in cells, reducing reactive oxygen species (ROS) activity, increasing cell membrane stability, synthesizing proteins associated with stress tolerance, and increasing chlorophyll content in leaves. The current review highlights changes in soybean metabolic activity caused by drought stress and changes in vital functions caused by the deficiency of primary (N, K, P) and secondary macronutrients (Ca, Mg, S). The role of macronutrients in reducing the adverse effects of water deficit stress is highlighted. Under stressed conditions, appropriate nutrient management options can be implemented to minimize the effects of drought and ensure good yields. Balanced nutrient fertilization helps activate various plant mechanisms to mitigate the effects of abiotic stresses and improve soybean drought resistance/tolerance. Nutrient management is therefore a viable technique for reducing environmental stress and increasing crop productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lipids are ubiquitous macromolecules that play essential roles in several metabolic processes in plants, such as primary and secondary metabolism, energy storage, and lipid signaling, also being major constituents of membranes. Considering their importance, lipid contents, proportion, and composition are widely modulated in response to environmental conditions, which is even more important under unfavorable conditions such as abiotic stresses. In recent years, technological advances have allowed for the analysis of the global lipid profile, also known as lipidomics, which has emerged as a powerful tool for the comprehensive analysis of the modulation and roles of lipids under different conditions. This review provides a current overview of plant lipidomics research, covering the different lipid classes found in plants, analytical techniques, and the main lipid-related responses under temperature, water, salt, alkali, heavy metal, nutrient deficiency, light, and oxidative stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are well known for enhancing phosphorus uptake in plants; however, their regulating roles in cation transporting gene family, such as natural resistance-associated macrophage protein (NRAMP), are still limited. Here, we performed bioinformatics analysis and quantitative expression assays of tomato SlNRAMP 1 to 5 genes under nutrient deficiency and cadmium (Cd) stress in response to AM symbiosis. These five SlNRAMP members are mainly located in the plasma or vacuolar membrane and can be divided into two subfamilies. Cis-element analysis revealed several motifs involved in phytohormonal and abiotic regulation in their promoters. SlNRAMP2 was downregulated by iron deficiency, while SlNRAMP1, SlNRAMP3, SlNRAMP4, and SlNRAMP5 responded positively to copper-, zinc-, and manganese-deficient conditions. AM colonization reduced Cd accumulation and expression of SlNRAMP3 but enhanced SlNRAMP1, SlNRAMP2, and SlNRMAP4 in plants under Cd stress. These findings provide valuable genetic information for improving tomato resilience to nutrient deficiency and heavy metal stress by developing AM symbiosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The health monitoring of vegetable and fruit plants, especially during the critical seedling growth stage, is essential to protect them from various environmental stresses and prevent yield loss. Different environmental stresses may cause similar symptoms, making visual inspection alone unreliable and potentially leading to an incorrect diagnosis and delayed corrective actions. This study aimed to address these challenges by proposing a segmented regression model and a Mask R-CNN model for detecting the initiation time and symptoms of nutrient stress in cucumber seedlings within a controlled environment. Nutrient stress was induced by applying two different treatments: an indicative nutrient deficiency with an electrical conductivity (EC) of 0 dSm−1, and excess nutrients with a high-concentration nutrient solution and an EC of 6 dSm−1. Images of the seedlings were collected using an automatic image acquisition system two weeks after germination. The early initiation of nutrient stress was detected using a segmented regression analysis, which analyzed morphological and textural features extracted from the images. For the Mask R-CNN model, 800 seedling images were annotated based on the segmented regression analysis results. Nutrient-stressed seedlings were identified from the initiation day to 4.2 days after treatment application. The Mask R-CNN model, implemented using ResNet-101 for feature extraction, leveraged transfer learning to train the network with a smaller dataset, thereby reducing the processing time. This study identifies the top projected canopy area (TPCA), energy, entropy, and homogeneity as prospective indicators of nutritional deficits in cucumber seedlings. The results from the Mask R-CNN model are promising, with the best-fit image achieving an F1 score of 93.4%, a precision of 93%, and a recall of 94%. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of the integrated statistical and machine learning (ML) methods for the early and accurate diagnosis of nutrient stress. The use of segmented regression for initial detection, followed by the Mask R-CNN for precise identification, emphasizes the potential of this approach to enhance agricultural practices. By facilitating the early detection and accurate diagnosis of nutrient stress, this approach allows for quicker and more precise treatments, which improve crop health and productivity. Future research could expand this methodology to other crop types and field conditions to enhance image processing techniques, and researchers may also integrate real-time monitoring systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As sessile organisms, plants cannot survive in harmful environments, such as those characterized by drought, flood, heat, cold, nutrient deficiency, and salt or toxic metal stress. These stressors impair plant growth and development, leading to decreased crop productivity. To induce an appropriate response to abiotic stresses, plants must sense the pertinent stressor at an early stage to initiate precise signal transduction. Here, we provide an overview of recent progress in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying plant abiotic stress sensing. Numerous biomolecules have been found to participate in the process of abiotic stress sensing and function as abiotic stress sensors in plants. Based on their molecular structure, these biomolecules can be divided into four groups: Ca2+-permeable channels, receptor-like kinases (RLKs), sphingolipids, and other proteins. This improved knowledge can be used to identify key molecular targets for engineering stress-resilient crops in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The compositional nutrient diagnosis (CND) method considers the multiple relationships among nutrients and has been proposed to evaluate the nutritional status of plants in place of the univariate and bivariate methods. As it is mathematically based and considers the interactions among all nutrients at the same time, it avoids the errors and trends observed in the calculations of other methods estimating nutritional status, enabling a greater relationship with productivity. The objective of this study was to obtain the CND norms for high-yielding populations of potato crops. For this, 587 samples were used from 21 experimental areas in the state of São Paulo, Brazil to correlate the leaf nutrient contents and the yields of potato crops. Crops with yields higher than 48,993.24 kg ha−1 were considered to have high yields, and the Mahalanobis distance separated the balanced samples from the nutritionally unbalanced ones. Thus, the CND-ilr method generated the norms and classified the 587 samples as nutritionally balanced with a high yield (5% of the total), nutritionally unbalanced with a low yield (92%), nutritionally unbalanced with a high yield (0.3%), or nutritionally balanced with a low yield (2.7%), with accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, NPV, and PPV scores of 96.9, 97.1, 93.6, 64.4, and 99.6%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alicella gigantea, the largest amphipod scavengers found to date, play key roles in the food web of the hadal ecosystem. However, the genetic structure of A. gigantea populations among different trenches has not been reported yet. In this study, SNP (single-nucleotide polymorphism) markers were developed for three A. gigantea geographic populations collected from the southern Mariana Trench (SMT), the central New Britain Trench (CNBT), and the eastern New Britain Trench (ENBT), based on the SLAF-seq (specific locus amplified fragment sequencing) technology. A total of 570,168 filtered SNPs were screened out for subsequent population genetic analysis. Results showed that the inbreeding levels across the three geographic populations were relatively low, and the genomic inbreeding coefficients of the three populations were similar in magnitude. Based on the results of phylogenetic analysis, population structure analysis, and principal component analysis, it is believed that the three A. gigantea geographic populations belong to the same population, and the kinship relationship between the ENBT and CNBT populations is close. Moreover, the differential candidate adaptive sites on the SNPs suggest that there may be variations in metabolic rates among the three geographic populations, possibly linked to differences in food availability and sources in different trenches, ultimately resulting in different survival strategies in A. gigantea populations within distinct trenches. Compared with the Mariana Trench, the New Britain Trench has a richer organic matter input, and it is speculated that the A. gigantea Mariana Trench population may adopt a lower metabolic rate to cope with the harsher environment of nutrient deficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: Anaemia is one of the most common forms of malnutrition globally, with most anaemia cases related to micronutrient deficiency. Diets with higher dietary diversity scores (DDS) are usually nutritionally diverse and could positively impact micronutrient status, including haemoglobin (Hb) concentration improvement. The study aimed to determine DDS and its association with the Hb concentration of Boarding and Day adolescent Senior High School students in Ghana. Materials and Methods: A semi-structured and three 24 h dietary recalls were used to obtain the participants' demographic and diet intake data, respectively. Hb concentration was assessed using a validated portable haemoglobinometer. DDS was evaluated using the Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD-W) approach. Results: A significant difference in the DDS between Boarding and Day students existed. Only 22% of the Boarding students had adequate dietary diversity, whereas 64% of the Day students had adequate dietary diversity. A significantly smaller proportion of the Boarding students consumed nuts and seeds, dairy, flesh foods, eggs, vitamin A-rich vegetables and fruits, other vegetables, and other fruits compared to Day students (p < 0.05, all). No significant difference (p = 0.925) in mean (±SD) Hb concentrations between Boarding (11.9 ± 1.1 g/dL) and Day (11.9 ± 1.1 g/dL) students was found. Additionally, no significant correlation between mean DDS and Hb concentration (p = 0.997) was recorded. Using Hb < 12 g/dL as the determination of anaemia, 55.1% Boarding and 57.8% Day students had anaemia. Conclusions: Low dietary diversity in Boarding students highlighted inadequate nutrition provided by school meals. Strategies to increase meal diversity should be prioritised by stakeholders in Ghana's educational sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on obligate halophytes combining eco-physiological techniques and proteomic analysis are crucial for understanding salinity tolerance mechanisms but are limited. We thus examined growth, water relations, ion homeostasis, photosynthesis, oxidative stress mitigation and proteomic responses of an obligate halophyte Suaeda fruticosa to increasing salinity under semi-hydroponic culture. Most biomass parameters increased under moderate (300 mmol L−1 of NaCl) salinity, while high (900 mmol L−1 of NaCl) salinity caused some reduction in biomass parameters. Under moderate salinity, plants showed effective osmotic adjustment with concomitant accumulation of Na+ in both roots and leaves. Accumulation of Na+ did not accompany nutrient deficiency, damage to photosynthetic machinery and oxidative damage in plants treated with 300 mmol L−1 of NaCl. Under high salinity, plants showed further decline in sap osmotic potential with higher Na+ accumulation that did not coincide with a decline in relative water content, Fv/Fm, and oxidative damage markers (H2O2 and MDA). There were 22, 54 and 7 proteins in optimal salinity and 29, 46 and 8 proteins in high salinity treatment that were up-regulated, down-regulated or exhibited no change, respectively, as compared to control plants. These data indicate that biomass reduction in S. fruticosa at high salinity might result primarily from increased energetic cost rather than ionic toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: Recommendation for including co-supplementation with micronutrients and pro/pre/synbiotics in obesity treatment plans. Micronutrient deficiencies co-occur with obesity throughout the world. While many factors may contribute to this, microbiota dysbiosis is certainly one that has received a lot of attention in recent years. This work aimed to review the current state of knowledge on the role of micronutrients in obesity and the effects of interventions in microbiota on the micronutrient status of humans. Gathered evidence suggested that the supplementation of most of the deficient micronutrients for people with excess weight may have a considerable, positive impact on lipid and glucose homeostasis and a small effect on weight loss. Interestingly, the doses of micronutrient supplementation that allowed for achieving the best results for most of the minerals and vitamins exceeded the tolerable upper intake levels. To avoid negative effects associated with an overdose of vitamins and minerals, applying microbiota interventions could be considered. Pro- and prebiotics were shown to improve the micronutrient status of humans, and several publications indicated that when applied together with vitamins and minerals, they could give greater benefits than each of these treatments alone. Therefore, supplementation with vitamins, minerals, and pro/pre/synbiotics in obesity treatment plans may be recommended; however, further research is required to mitigate risks and optimize the effects achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early detection of plant nutrient deficiency is crucial for agricultural productivity. This study investigated the performance and interpretability of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for this task. Using the rice and banana datasets, we compared three CNN architectures (CNN, VGG-16, Inception-V3). Inception-V3 achieved the highest accuracy (93% for rice and banana), but simpler models such as VGG-16 might be easier to understand. To address this trade-off, we employed Explainable AI (XAI) techniques (SHAP and Grad-CAM) to gain insights into model decision-making. This study emphasises the importance of both accuracy and interpretability in agricultural AI and demonstrates the value of XAI for building trust in these models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore how endophytic microbial compositions in amaranth roots are influenced by various fertilization methods and to determine whether these microbes are associated with amaranthin formation, we conducted an analysis of the endophytic microbial community structure. The roots of amaranth plants subjected to different fertilization treatments—conventional fertilization without potassium (NP), conventional fertilization without phosphorus (NK), conventional fertilization without nitrogen (PK), and balanced fertilization (NPK)—were examined. The results showed that the proportions of Streptomyces, Actinospica, and Burkholderia-Caballeronia-Paraburkholderia in the amaranth roots under the balanced fertilization (NPK) treatment were all greater than those in the amaranth roots under the nitrogen (PK), phosphorus (NK), and potassium (NP) deficiency fertilization treatments. In contrast, the proportions of Phenylobacterium, Acrocalymma, Neocosmospora, Fusarium, Acidovorax, Gibellulopsis, Cladosporium, Dactylonectria, and Gibberella in the amaranth roots under the nutrient deficiency fertilization (NP, NK, and PK) treatments were higher than those in the amaranth roots under the balanced fertilization treatment. Additionally, a significantly positive correlation was found between Streptomyces and the amaranthin content. Furthermore, Acrocalymma, Neocosmospora, and Fusarium exhibited significantly negative correlations with the amaranthin content. The above results suggested that endophytes could easily colonize in amaranth roots as beneficial microorganisms under balanced fertilization conditions. In other words, the balanced fertilization (N, P and K fertilizers are 188.0, 53.0 and 50.0 kg·hm−2, respectively) could recruit more beneficial endogenous microorganisms in amaranth roots for improving their growth and quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) is being considered as a potential replacement for microcrystalline cellulose as a food additive and a source of dietary fiber due to its unique properties. However, studies on the risks of consuming BNC in food are limited, and it is not yet approved for use in food in the US, EU, and Russia. Aim: This study aims to perform a toxicological and hygienic assessment of the safety of BNC in a subacute 8-week administration in rats. Methods: BNC was administered to male Wistar rats in doses of 0, 1.0, 10.0, and 100 mg/kg body weight for 8 weeks. Various parameters such as anxiety levels, cognitive function, organ masses, blood serum and liver biochemistry, oxidative stress markers, vitamin levels, antioxidant gene expression, and liver and kidney histology were evaluated. Results: Low and medium doses of BNC increased anxiety levels and liver glutathione, while high doses led to elevated LDL cholesterol, creatinine, and uric acid levels. Liver tissue showed signs of degeneration at high doses. BNC did not significantly affect vitamin levels. Conclusion: The adverse effects of BNC are either not dose-dependent or fall within normal physiological ranges. Any effects on rats are likely due to micronutrient deficiencies or impacts on intestinal microbiota. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cereal crops are crucial for global food security; however, they are susceptible to various environmental stresses that significantly hamper their productivity. In response, melatonin has emerged as a promising regulator, offering potential benefits for stress tolerance and crop growth. This review explores the effects of melatonin on maize, sorghum, millet, rice, barley, and wheat, aiming to enhance their resilience to stress. The application of melatonin has shown promising outcomes, improving water use efficiency and reducing transpiration rates in millet under drought stress conditions. Furthermore, it enhances the salinity and heavy metal tolerance of millet by regulating the activity of stress-responsive genes. Similarly, melatonin application in sorghum enhances its resistance to high temperatures, low humidity, and nutrient deficiency, potentially involving the modulation of antioxidant defense and aspects related to photosynthetic genes. Melatonin also exerts protective effects against drought, salinity, heavy metal, extreme temperatures, and waterlogging stresses in maize, wheat, rice, and barley crops by decreasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) production through regulating the antioxidant defense system. The molecular reactions of melatonin upregulated photosynthesis, antioxidant defense mechanisms, the metabolic pathway, and genes and downregulated stress susceptibility genes. In conclusion, melatonin serves as a versatile tool in cereal crops, bolstering stress resistance and promoting sustainable development. Further investigations are warranted to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms and refine application techniques to fully harness the potential role of melatonin in cereal crop production systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pearl millet stands as an important staple food and feed for arid and semi-arid regions of India and South Africa. It is also a quick supplier of important micronutrients like Fe and Zn via grain to combat micronutrient deficiencies among people in developing countries. India has notably spearheaded advancements in pearl millet production and productivity through the All India Coordinated Pearl Millet Improvement Project. There were 21 hybrids evaluated over arid and semi-arid ecologies of the western and southern regions of India. AMMI and GGE biplot models were adopted to recommend a specific hybrid for the particular locality. A joint analysis of variation indicated a significant genotype–environment interaction for most of the agronomical and grain micronutrient parameters. Pearson's correlation values dissected the significant and positive correlation among agronomic traits and the negative correlation with grain micronutrient traits. GGE biplot analysis recommended the SHT 106 as a dual-purpose hybrid and SHT 115 as a biofortified hybrid for the grain's Fe and Zn content. SHT 110 and SHT 108 were selected as stable and high grain yield-producing hybrids across all environments and specifically for E1, E2, and E4 as per the Which-Won-Where and What biplot. SHT 109 and SHT 103 hybrids were stable and high dry fodder yield-producing hybrids across all environments. In this study, the Multi-Trait Stability Index (MTSI) was employed to select the most stable and high-performing hybrids for all traits. It selected SHT 120, SHT 106, and SHT 104 for stability and great performance across all environments. These findings underscored the significance of tailored hybrid recommendations and the potential of pearl millet in addressing both food security and malnutrition challenges in various agro-ecological regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roots play a key role in withstanding wheat abiotic stress. In this work, we phenotyped seedling root morphology of two semi-dwarf bread wheat cultivars, the Chinese cv Lankaodali and the Italian cv Rebelde, under the hypothesis that these two genotypes have contrasting root traits and could be used as donors in breeding programs. Root development was compared in a semi-hydroponic screening, where full-strength (FS) vs. half-strength (HS) complete Hoagland's solution represented high and moderate nutrient availability, and a screening comparing HS solution with tap water corresponding to a condition of nutrient starvation. Genotypes were further compared in soil under full watering (100% of field capacity) vs. drought stress (50% of field capacity). Lankaodali outperformed Rebelde by producing 50% more leaf mass and 70% more root mass in FS solution, 125% more leaf mass and 106% more root mass in HS solution, and 65% more leaf mass and 36% more root mass under nutrient starvation. This cv also showed a positive correlation between leaf mass and root length and mass (between r = 0.82–0.9 and r = 0.83–0.87, respectively, p < 0.05). In the soil screening experiment, Lankaodali produced more biomass than Rebelde regardless of water availability, 48% more leaf mass, 32% more root mass, and 31% more absolute rhizosheath mass (average across water availability treatments). Lankaodali proved to be more responsive than Rebelde to both water and nutrient availability. High values of broad-sense heritability—ranging between 0.80 for root mass and 0.90 for length in a hydroponic screen and 0.85 for rhizosheath size in soil—indicate that these traits could be useful for breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perennial grains have been proposed as a soil-healthy alternative to annual grains. Intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium), whose seed is currently sold under the trade name Kernza®, and silflower (Silphium integrifolium), which is in the early stages of domestication at The Land Institute in Central Kansas, lack characterization for their deficiency symptoms. This has complicated attempts to assess the causes of visible stress on plants in the field and the greenhouse. By growing Th. intermedium and S. integrifolium in a set of hydroponic solutions, each containing all but one selected nutrient—including nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, iron, boron, zinc, copper, molybdenum, and manganese—we were able to assess the effects of twelve different nutrient deficiencies across the two species. Visible symptoms were described and documented via photographs. The effects of the deficiencies on height, leaf biomass, root biomass, gas exchange and photosynthesis (silflower), and resin production (silflower) were measured. Calcium, nitrogen, and potassium were found to alter growth responses in intermediate wheatgrass; in silflower, growth, resin production, and photosynthetic traits were affected by many nutrient deficient treatments. Our results suggest that further work addressing how symptoms might look at the time of flowering, seed production, and in the field at different concentrations of key nutrients would help ongoing plant-breeding efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Chalkbrood is a fungal honey bee disease that effects honey bee larvae. It usually does not cause colony death. However, it can weaken the colony by reducing the number of bees and thus reducing chances for colony survival. It is known that poor nutrition can be behind the onset of honey bee diseases. Until now, the mineral content of larvae and mummies and the onset of chalkbrood disease have not been linked. Here, we show that there are differences in the elemental composition of larvae from colonies with different statuses of the chalkbrood disease. Mummies had higher concentrations of macroelements in comparison to apparently typically developed larvae from the same hive, while at the same time they had much lower concentrations of microelements that have known antifungal and antimicrobial activities. It may be that the lack of these elements contributes to the onset of chalkbrood disease. Chalkbrood is a disease of honey bee brood caused by the fungal parasite Ascosphaera apis. Many factors such as genetics, temperature, humidity and nutrition influence the appearance of clinical symptoms. Poor nutrition impairs the immune system, which favors the manifestation of symptoms of many honey bee diseases. However, a direct link between dietary ingredients and the symptoms of chalkbrood disease has not yet been established. We show here that the elemental composition of chalkbrood mummies and healthy larvae from the same infected hives differ, as well as that mummies differ from larvae from healthy hives. Chalkbrood mummies had the highest concentration of macroelements such as Na, Mg, P, S, K and Ca and some microelements such as Rb and Sn, and at the same time the lowest concentration of B, As, Sr, Ag, Cd, Sb, Ba and Pb. Larvae from infected hives contained less Pb, Ba, Cs, Sb, Cd, Sr, As, Zn, Cu, Ni, Co, Mn, Cr, V and Al in contrast to healthy larvae from a disease-free apiary. This is the first study to demonstrate such differences, suggesting that an infection alters the larval nutrition or that nutrition is a predisposition for the outbreak of a chalkbrood infection. Though, based on results obtained from a case study, rather than from a controlled experiment, our findings stress the differences in elements of healthy versus diseased honey bee larvae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unicellular eukaryotes that are capable of phago-mixotrophy in the ocean compete for inorganic nutrients and light with autotrophs, and for bacterial prey with heterotrophs. In this study, we ask what the overall prevalence of eukaryotic mixotrophs in the vast open ocean is, and how the availability of inorganic nutrients, light, and prey affects their relative success. We utilized the Tara Oceans eukaryotic 18S rRNA gene and environmental context variables dataset to conduct a large-scale field analysis. We also performed isolate-based culture experiments to verify growth and nutritional resource relationships for representative mixotrophic taxa. The field analysis suggested that the overall prevalence of mixotrophs were negatively correlated with nutrient concentrations and positively associated with light availability. Concentrations of heterotrophic bacteria as a single variable also presented a positive correlation with mixotrophic prevalence, but to a lesser extent. On the other hand, the culture experiments demonstrated a taxa-specific relationship between mixotrophic growth and nutrition resources, i.e., the growth of one group was significantly dependent on light availability, while the other group was less affected by light when they received sufficient prey. Both groups were capable of growing efficiently with low inorganic nutrients when receiving sufficient prey and light. Therefore, our field analysis and culture experiments both suggest that phago-mixotrophy for ocean eukaryotes is seemingly an efficient strategy to compensate for nutrient deficiency but unnecessary to compensate for light scarcity. This study collectively revealed a close relationship between abiotic and biotic nutritional resources and the prevalence of trophic strategies, shedding light on the importance of light and nutrients for determining the competitive success of mixotrophs versus autotrophic and heterotrophic eukaryotes in the ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micronutrient deficiencies are pervasive in the diets of millions of people in developing countries, calling for effective mitigation measures. The development of biofortified cultivars through breeding holds promise for sustainable and affordable solutions to combat micronutrient deficiencies. Breeding efforts in the past decade have resulted in dozens of biofortified open-pollinated varieties and hybrids adapted to diverse agroecological zones. Advances in genomics and molecular tools enabled rapid identification of maize cultivars enriched with essential micronutrients such as pro vitamin A (PVA), iron (Fe), and zinc (Zn). Leveraging Multi-omics-driven discovery of the genetic factors underlying the vast array of nutritional traits is paramount to mainstreaming breeding for quality traits in the product profile. Molecular breeding schemes, and integrating emerging Omics tools at every stage of the breeding pipeline, are vital to enhancing genetic gain. The recent momentum in elucidating the metabolism of micronutrients should be expanded to novel breeding targets as well as to the simultaneous enhancement of nutritional qualities while curtailing anti-nutritional factors in staple food crops. Harnessing new technologies to establish comprehensive and integrated breeding approaches involving nutrigenomics, genome editing, and agronomic biofortification is crucial in tackling nutritional insecurity. This review highlights the prospect of integrating modern tools in hastening the genetic improvement of nutritionally enriched maize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iron (Fe) deficiency is one of the most common micronutrient deficiencies limiting crop production globally, especially in arid regions due to decreased availability of Fe in alkaline soils. The ATP sulfurylase (ATPS) gene has been reported to participate in regulating various abiotic stresses. Transcriptome data and qRT-PCR analysis revealed that the ATP sulfurylase gene MhATPS1 was notably induced by Fe-deficiency stress. Consequently, MhATPS1 (103410737) was isolated from Malus halliana, and transgenic tobacco and transgenic apple calli were successfully obtained by genetic transformation. Compared with the wild type (WT), transgenic MhATPS1 lines (transgenic tobacco and transgenic apple calli) displayed stronger resistance to Fe-deficiency treatment. To be specific, transgenic plants exhibited better growth, accumulated more Fe2+ content, had higher ferric chelate reductase (FCR) activity, and a greater active oxygen scavenging capacity. Furthermore, transgenic MhATPS1 lines up-regulated the expression of Fe uptake genes under Fe-deficit stress. Additionally, MhATPS1 transgenic lines secreted more H+ content compared to the WT. In summary, these findings indicate that the MhATPS1 gene may play a positive role in Fe-deficiency stress in both tobacco and apple calli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seed coat cracking and green seeds threaten soybean crop production. Seed coat cracking results from a complex interplay of genetic factors, environmental stresses, and crop management practices. Green seeds, linked to water deficit, nutritional deficiencies, and environmental stresses, exhibit reduced quality and viability. The intricate relationships between seed coat integrity and seed permeability, influenced by the lignin content, porosity, and color, play a pivotal role in seed germination, storage potential, and resistance to field stresses. These issues reverberate through the soybean agricultural supply chain. Strategic interventions are crucial to address these abnormalities and ensure soybean productivity. Seed germination and vigor are reduced due to seed coat cracking and green seeds, undermining food security and necessitating additional resources for disease management. The occurrence and identification of green seeds and seeds with cracks in the seed coat were also reported by identifying the genes and QTLs (quantitative trait loci) associated with these characteristics. Herbicides, commonly used in weed management, may offer a strategic approach to mitigating seed coat cracking and green seed occurrence. Understanding the complex interactions between the genetics, environmental factors, and management practices influencing seed abnormalities is essential as global climate change intensifies. This review emphasizes the need for integrated strategies, balanced plant nutrition, and cohesive phytosanitary management to mainly alleviate seed coat cracking and greenish occurrences in soybeans and other plant species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrate (NO3−) and ammonium (NH4+) are the primary forms of nitrogen (N) taken up by plants and can exhibit different effects on plant nutrition, photosynthesis, and growth. The objective was to investigate the influence of nitrate/ammonium proportions (%) on the nutritional status, photosynthetic parameters, and the development of Cedrela odorata seedlings after 150 days of cultivation. We tested six nitrate/ammonium ratios (100/0; 80/20; 60/40; 40/60; 20/80; and 0/100 of NO3− and NH4+, respectively), plus a control treatment (without N supply). Based on the results, the species responds to the supply of N; however, the NO3− and NH4+ proportions did not show any significant effect on plant growth. The deficiency of nitrogen (N) in Cedrela odorata decreases the photosynthetic rate, nutrient absorption, and initial growth of this species. Increasing the proportion of N in the form of nitrate inhibited the absorption of S (sulfur) but did not interfere with the accumulation of N, Ca (calcium), Mg (magnesium), Mn (manganese), Zn (zinc), B (boron), and Cu (copper). Cedrela odorata apparently does not distinguish between nitrate and ammonium in the N absorption process, since the proportions between these forms of N did not affect its photosynthetic rate, nutrient accumulation, or growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The North China Plain has a typical winter wheat–summer corn double-cropping pattern. The effects of nutrient deficiency conditions on the root characteristics and yield of summer corn in the double-cropping system were studied for four years. Long-term monotonous fertilization patterns undermine crop rotation systems and are detrimental to the sustainability of agricultural production. To complement the development of rational fertilization strategies by exploring the response of crop rotation systems to nutrient deficiencies, an experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design consisting of five treatments with three replicates for each treatment: (1) an adequate supply of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers and potash-deficient treatment (T1); (2) an adequate supply of nitrogen and potash fertilizers and phosphorus-deficient treatment (T2); (3) an adequate supply of phosphorus and potash fertilizers and nitrogen-deficient treatment (T3); (4) nutrient-sufficient treatment for crop growth (T4); and (5) no-fertilizer treatment (CK). The results showed that different nutrient treatments had significant effects on the root length density (RLD), root surface area density (RSAD), and root dry weight density (RDWD) in summer corn. At the physiological maturity stage (R6), the root indexes of RLD, RSAD, and RDWD were significantly higher in the 0–20 cm soil layer in T4 compared to CK, with an increase of 86.2%, 131.4%, and 100.0%, respectively. Similarly, in the 20–40 cm soil layer, the root indexes of T4 were 85.7%, 61.3%, and 50.0% higher than CK, with varied differences observed in the other nutrient-deficient treatments. However, there was no significant difference among the treatments in the 40–60 cm layer except for T4, whose root index showed a difference. The root fresh weight and root dry matter in T4, T3, T2, and T1 were increased to different degrees compared with CK. In addition, these differences in root indexes affected the annual yield of crops, which increased by 20.96%, 21.95%, and 8.14% in T4, T2, and T1, respectively, compared to CK. The spike number and the number of grains per spike of T4 were 10.8% and 8.3% higher than those of CK, which led to the differences in summer corn yields. The 1000-kernel weight of T4, T2, and T1 were 9.5%, 8.8%, and 7.4% higher than that of CK, whereas the determining nutrient was nitrogen fertilizer, and phosphorus fertilizer had a higher effect on yield than potassium fertilizer. This provides a theoretical basis for the effect of nutrient deficiency conditions on yield stability in a double-cropping system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Potato biofortification is a comprehensive approach aimed at enhancing the nutritional content of potatoes, addressing widespread nutrient deficiencies and contributing to global food security. This systematic review examines the existing literature on various aspects of potato biofortification, encompassing genetic, agronomic, and biotechnological strategies. The review highlights the nutritional significance of potatoes, emphasizing their role as a staple food in many regions. Genetic approaches to biofortification involve the identification and use of natural variations in potato germplasm to develop varieties with elevated levels of essential nutrients. This includes targeting key micronutrients, such as iron, zinc, and vitamins, through traditional breeding methods. The review explores the genetic diversity within potato germplasm and the potential for breeding programs to develop nutrient-rich varieties. Agronomic practices play a crucial role in potato biofortification, with studies demonstrating the impact of tuber priming and the application of mineral fertilizers on nutrient concentrations in potatoes. The review delves into the intricacies of agronomic biofortification, emphasizing the importance of precise dosages and timing for optimal results. Biotechnological tools, including transgenic and non-transgenic approaches, are discussed in the context of potato biofortification. The review evaluates the efficiency and ethical considerations associated with the development of biofortified transgenic potatoes and emphasizes the significance of non-transgenic approaches in addressing consumer concerns and regulatory barriers. Overall, this systematic review provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of potato biofortification research. It synthesizes findings from diverse studies, offering insights into the potential of biofortified potatoes to address hidden hunger and contribute to improved nutritional outcomes. This review also identifies knowledge gaps and areas for future research, guiding the direction of efforts to harness the full potential of potato biofortification for global food and nutrition security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphate (Pi) starvation is a critical factor limiting crop growth, development, and productivity. Rice (Oryza sativa) R2R3-MYB transcription factors function in the transcriptional regulation of plant responses to various abiotic stresses and micronutrient deprivation, but little is known about their roles in Pi starvation signaling and Pi homeostasis. Here, we identified the R2R3-MYB transcription factor gene OsMYB58, which shares high sequence similarity with AtMYB58. OsMYB58 expression was induced more strongly by Pi starvation than by other micronutrient deficiencies. Overexpressing OsMYB58 in Arabidopsis thaliana and rice inhibited plant growth and development under Pi-deficient conditions. In addition, the overexpression of OsMYB58 in plants exposed to Pi deficiency strongly affected root development, including seminal root, lateral root, and root hair formation. Overexpressing OsMYB58 strongly decreased the expression of the rice microRNAs OsmiR399a and OsmiR399j. By contrast, overexpressing OsMYB58 strongly increased the expression of rice PHOSPHATE 2 (OsPHO2), whose expression is repressed by miR399 during Pi starvation signaling. OsMYB58 functions as a transcriptional repressor of the expression of its target genes, as determined by a transcriptional activity assay. These results demonstrate that OsMYB58 negatively regulates OsmiR399-dependent Pi starvation signaling by enhancing OsmiR399s expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stress-resilient and highly nutritious legume crops can alleviate the burden of malnutrition and food security globally. Here, we focused on cowpea, a legume grain widely grown and consumed in regions at a high risk of micronutrient deficiencies, and we discussed the past and present research on carotenoid biosynthesis, highlighting different knowledge gaps and prospects for increasing this micronutrient in various edible parts of the crop. The literature survey revealed that, although carotenoids are important micronutrients for human health and nutrition, like in many other pulses, the potential of carotenoid biofortification in cowpea is still underexploited. We found that there is, to some extent, progress in the quantification of this micronutrient in cowpea; however, the diversity in content in the edible parts of the crop, namely, grains, pods, sprouts, and leaves, among the existing cowpea genetic resources was uncovered. Based on the description of the different factors that can influence carotenoid biosynthesis and accumulation in cowpea, we anticipated that an integrated use of omics in breeding coupled with mutagenesis and genetic engineering in a plant factory system would help to achieve a timely and efficient increase in carotenoid content in cowpea for use in the food systems in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hyperspectral imaging is an emerging non-invasive technology with potential for early nutrient stress detection in plants prior to visible symptoms. This study evaluated hyperspectral imaging for early identification of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) deficiencies across three greenhouse-grown industrial hemp plant cultivars (Cannabis sativa L.). Visible and near-infrared spectral data (380–1022 nm) were acquired from hemp samples subjected to controlled NPK stresses at multiple developmental timepoints using a benchtop hyperspectral camera. Robust principal component analysis was developed for effective screening of spectral outliers. Partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and support vector machines (SVM) were developed and optimized to classify nutrient deficiencies using key wavelengths selected by variable importance in projection (VIP) and interval partial least squares (iPLS). The 16-wavelength iPLS-C-SVM model achieved the highest precision of 0.75 to 1 on the test dataset. Key wavelengths for effective nutrient deficiency detection spanned the visible range, underscoring the hyperspectral imaging sensitivity to early changes in leaf pigment levels prior to any visible symptom development. The emergence of wavelengths related to chlorophyll, carotenoid, and anthocyanin absorption as optimal for classification, highlights the technology's capacity to detect subtle impending biochemical perturbations linked to emerging deficiencies. Identifying stress at this pre-visual stage could provide hemp producers with timely corrective action to mitigate losses in crop quality and yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) contains abundant nutrients and is considered an economically important edible vegetable. The optimal nutrient levels will increase the productivity and basil quality. However, prominent research on basil regarding the diagnostic nutrient deficiency standard and the corresponding nutrient uptake is still scarce. To this end, the basil plants were hydroponically cultured and subjected to one of 14 nutrient solution treatments, corresponding to the omission of a single nutrient element (designated as -N, -P, -K, -Ca, -Mg, -NH4+, -NO3−, -S, -Fe, -Mn, -B, -Zn, -Mo, and -Cu) and a complete nutrient solution (CS) as the control. The most common nutrient deficiency symptoms were chlorosis, stunted roots and growth, and even leaf necrosis and abscission, in particular of -N, -P, -NO3−, and -Fe. We also found that basil is a NH4+-sensitive species. The photosynthetic capacity (photosynthesis pigments, Fv/Fm ratio, and greenness index) was disturbed to varying degrees when a single nutrient was omitted from the nutrient solution. Additionally, the omission of a specific single nutrient confers significant differences in the tissue nutrients, regardless of the macronutrients and micronutrients considered. Concomitantly, multivariate analysis suggested the correlations among certain important nutrients were distinctly different under different treatments (correlation analysis); the influences of different nutrient deficiencies on the tissue nutrient concentrations showed similarity (principal component analysis). Collectively, the growth, physiological, and biochemical changes studied in this trial not only improved our knowledge for diagnosing nutrient deficiency symptoms for practical cultivation but also provided a comprehensive understanding of the internal nutrient associations in basil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nutrients play important roles in the growth and development of most plant species. However, in perennial trees, the function of nutrients in different genotypes is poorly understood. Three different nutrient levels (low, sufficient, and high nutrient levels) were applied to two contrasting Eucalyptus urophylla cultivars (a high-growth cultivar ZQUA44 and a low-growth cultivar ZQUB15), and growth and expression levels were analyzed. Although the growth traits of both genotypes under nutrient starvation treatment were much lower than under abundant nutrients, tree height, crown width, and biomass of different ZQUA44 tissues were much higher than those of ZQUB15 at all three nutrient levels. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) clustered into six subclusters based on their expression patterns, and functional annotation showed that the DEGs involved in glutathione metabolism and flavonoid biosynthesis may be responsible for nutrient starvation across different genotypes, while the DEGs involved in carotenoid biosynthesis and starch and sucrose metabolism may have a range of functions in different genotypes. The DEGs encoding the MYB-related family may be responsible for nutrient deficiency in all genotypes, while B3 may have different functions in different genotypes. Our results demonstrate that different genotypes may form different pathways to coordinate plant survival when they face abiotic stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When it comes to growing lettuce, specific nutrients play vital roles in its growth and development. These essential nutrients include full nutrients (FN), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). Insufficient or excess levels of these nutrients can have negative effects on lettuce plants, resulting in various deficiencies that can be observed in the leaves. To better understand and identify these deficiencies, a deep learning approach is employed to improve these tasks. For this study, YOLOv8 Nano, a lightweight deep network, is chosen to classify the observed deficiencies in lettuce leaves. Several enhancements to the baseline algorithm are made, the backbone is replaced with VGG16 to improve the classification accuracy, and depthwise convolution is incorporated into it to enrich the features while keeping the head unchanged. The proposed network, incorporating these modifications, achieved superior classification results with a top-1 accuracy of 99%. This method outperformed other state-of-the-art classification methods, demonstrating the effectiveness of the approach in identifying lettuce deficiencies. The objective of this research was to improve the baseline algorithm to complete the classification task with a top-1 accuracy above 85%, a FLOP inferior to 10G, and classification latency below 170 ms per image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NITROGEN LIMITATION ADAPTATION (NLA), a plasma-membrane-associated ubiquitin E3 ligase, plays a negative role in the control of the phosphate transporter family 1 (PHT1) members in Arabidopsis and rice. There are three NLA homologs in the Medicago truncatula genome, but it has been unclear whether the function of these homologs is conserved in legumes. Here we investigated the subcellular localization and the responses of MtNLAs to external phosphate and nitrate status. Similar to AtNLA1, MtNLA1/MtNLA2 was localized in the plasma membrane and nucleus. MtNLA3 has three alternative splicing variants, and intriguingly, MtNLA3.1, the dominant variant, was not able to target the plasma membrane, whereas MtNLA3.2 and MtNLA3.3 were capable of associating with the plasma membrane. In contrast with AtNLA1, we found that MtNLAs were not affected or even upregulated by low-phosphate treatment. We also found that MtNLA3 was upregulated by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis, and overexpressing MtNLA3.1 in Medicago roots resulted in a decrease in the transcription levels of STR, an essential gene for arbuscule development. Taken together, our results highlight the difference between MtNLA homologs and AtNLA1. Further characterization will be required to reveal the regulation of these genes and their roles in the responses to external nutrient status and AM symbiosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune condition that is initiated in genetically susceptible individuals by the exposure of the intestines to gluten, and the early start of symptoms is related to malabsorption. Atypical variants of the illness are often identified in adulthood and are frequently associated with manifestations outside of the intestines, including metabolic osteopathy, anemia, and dermatitis herpetiformis. But also, empirical data suggest a correlation between CD and reproductive abnormalities, including repeated abortions. Infertility and repeated miscarriages frequently manifest in women diagnosed with CD and may serve as the initial clinical indication of a subclinical form. Furthermore, the condition may manifest as amenorrhea, infertility, and the delivery of infants with a low birth weight. Regarding the mechanisms of CD in infertility, along with the anti-tTG action to hinder the invasiveness of trophoblast, these antibodies could damage endometrial angiogenesis, which has been shown in in vitro models with human endometrial cells and in vivo in murine models. Another important aspect is the role of nutrient deficiencies, such as zinc deficiency (connected to impaired hormone production, secondary amenorrhea, and pre-eclampsia) and folic acid, etc. Therefore, our objective was to conduct a comprehensive review of the existing literature pertaining to this specific topic and to elucidate the role of the autoantibodies in its pathogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many inherited metabolic disorders (IMDs), including disorders of amino acid, fatty acid, and carbohydrate metabolism, are treated with a dietary reduction or exclusion of certain macronutrients, putting one at risk of a reduced intake of micronutrients. In this review, we aim to provide available evidence on the most common micronutrient deficits related to specific dietary approaches and on the management of their deficiency, in the meanwhile discussing the main critical points of each nutritional supplementation. The emerging concepts are that a great heterogeneity in clinical practice exists, as well as no univocal evidence on the most common micronutrient abnormalities. In phenylketonuria, for example, micronutrients are recommended to be supplemented through protein substitutes; however, not all formulas are equally supplemented and some of them are not added with micronutrients. Data on pyridoxine and riboflavin status in these patients are particularly scarce. In long-chain fatty acid oxidation disorders, no specific recommendations on micronutrient supplementation are available. Regarding carbohydrate metabolism disorders, the difficult-to-ascertain sugar content in supplementation formulas is still a matter of concern. A ketogenic diet may predispose one to both oligoelement deficits and their overload, and therefore deserves specific formulations. In conclusion, our overview points out the lack of unanimous approaches to micronutrient deficiencies, the need for specific formulations for IMDs, and the necessity of high-quality studies, particularly for some under-investigated deficits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the global rise in food insecurity, micronutrient deficiency, and diet-related health issues, the United Nations (UN) has called for action to eradicate hunger and malnutrition. Grains are the staple food worldwide; hence, improving their nutritional quality can certainly be an appropriate approach to mitigate malnutrition. This review article aims to collect recent information on developing nutrient-dense grains using a sustainable and natural process known as "sprouting or germination" and to discuss novel applications of sprouted grains to tackle malnutrition (specifically undernutrition). This article discusses applicable interventions and strategies to encourage biochemical changes in sprouting grains further to boost their nutritional value and health benefits. It also explains opportunities to use spouted grains at home and in industrial food applications, especially focusing on domestic grains in regions with prevalent malnutrition. The common challenges for producing sprouted grains, their future trends, and research opportunities have been covered. This review article will benefit scientists and researchers in food, nutrition, and agriculture, as well as agrifood businesses and policymakers who aim to develop nutrient-enriched foods to enhance public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary use of the potato is direct consumption. The classification of potatoes into consumption type is made on the basis of the consumption evaluation of hydrothermally treated tubers. Nutrient deficiency in the soil, including Mg, contributes to the inhibition of potato growth and development and negatively affects the cooking characteristics of the tubers. Magnesium and biostimulants are responsible for plant nitrogen management. Thus, it is necessary to control the content of harmful nitrates and toxic nitrites in tubers. In potato production, it is also important to maintain appropriate conditions during storage. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of mineral fertilization with magnesium and a biostimulant preparation during the cultivation of edible potato and long-term storage on the traits determining utility-consumption type and the content of harmful nitrogen compounds in tubers. The study was conducted using the early potato variety Satina. In a three-year (2015–2017) three-factor experiment: evaluation date (immediately after harvest and after six months of storage), soil fertilization with mineral magnesium (0, 30, 60, 90 kg MgO ha−1), the application of an amino acid biostimulant (0, 1.5, 3.0 L ha−1). Five consumption traits of tubers after cooking, determining the utility-consumption type of potato, were determined. In addition, the consumer safety of the potato was determined based on the nitrate and nitrite content of the tubers. The tendency to overcook tubers significantly depended on all the factors used during potato cultivation. In contrast, the texture and structure of tuber flesh after cooking depended only on mineral fertilization with magnesium. The flesh of the tubers after cooking was most tender (1.0 pt) and firm (1.4 pt) after the application of 60 and 90 kg MgO ha−1, respectively. The moisture level of the flesh after cooking was significantly influenced by the interaction of magnesium fertilization with the biostimulant preparation. The factors of the experiment did not modify the utility-consumption type (B/A), while there was a change in the type in relation to that specified by the grower—general utility (B). The applied cultivation technology and long-term storage did not deteriorate the consumer safety of tubers (<200 mg kg−1) in terms of NO3− (max. 112.1 mg kg−1) and NO2− (max. 1.08 mg kg−1) contents. Organoleptic traits: mealiness, moisture, and flesh structure were significantly positively related to the nitrate and nitrite content of tubers immediately after harvesting and to nitrite concentration after long-term storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]