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Salinity stress is an alarming issue causing a substantial reduction in crop productivity. Waterlogging also limits crop productivity and the extent of both these stresses is increasing due to climate change and global warming. This study investigated the response of Lemongrass and Asparagus grass under salinity stress and waterlogged conditions. The study was comprised of different treatments: control, salinity stress, waterlogged conditions and salinity stress + waterlogged conditions. The results revealed that salinity + waterlogging pressure negatively affected cymbopogan citratus and Asparagus officinalis. The physio-morphological, biochemical attributes, enzymatic antioxidants, and nutrient parameters showed a greater reduction under combined salinity and water waterlogged conditions. Waterlogging caused a marked decrease in root growth, leaves production and plant height of both grasses, compared to the control. Salinity stress also resulted in similar morphological modifications, albeit to a lesser extent. Physiological analysis showed a decline in chlorophyll content and RWC, indicating reduced photosynthetic capacity and water uptake efficiency in response to waterlogging and salinity. Electrolyte leakage, increased significantly under waterlogging and salinity stress, suggesting cellular damage and membrane disruption. C.citratus exhibited greater resilience to waterlogging and salinity compared to A. officinalis. Despite the adverse conditions, C. citratus maintained higher chlorophyll content, RWC, and lower electrolyte leakage, indicating better stress tolerance mechanisms. In conclusion, waterlogging and salinity induced significant morphophysiological modifications in both C. citratus and A. officinalis. However, C. citratus exhibited better tolerance to these stresses, suggesting its potential for cultivation in waterlogged and saline environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate-change-induced variations in temperature and rainfall patterns are a serious threat across the globe. Flooding is the foremost challenge to agricultural productivity, and it is believed to become more intense under a changing climate. Flooding is a serious form of stress that significantly reduces crop yields, and future climatic anomalies are predicted to make the problem even worse in many areas of the world. To cope with the prevailing flooding stress, plants have developed different morphological and anatomical adaptations in their roots, aerenchyma cells, and leaves. Therefore, researchers are paying more attention to identifying developed and adopted molecular-based plant mechanisms with the objective of obtaining flooding-resistant cultivars. In this review, we discuss the various physiological, anatomical, and morphological adaptations (aerenchyma cells, ROL barriers (redial O2 loss), and adventitious roots) and the phytohormonal regulation in plants under flooding stress. This review comprises ongoing innovations and strategies to mitigate flooding stress, and it also provides new insights into how this knowledge can be used to improve productivity in the scenario of a rapidly changing climate and increasing flood intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought stress is an inevitable factor that disturbs the production of plants by altering morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular functions. Breeding for drought tolerance requires a complete understanding of the molecular factors controlling stress-responsive pathways. The plant responds to drought stress by adopting four mechanisms: avoidance, escape, tolerance, and recovery. Traditional plant-breeding tools have been employed to increase tolerance in cotton, but the complexity of drought tolerance has limited the use of these breeding methods. The plant adopts several key strategies against drought stress, such as activating the signaling network and activating molecular factors. Cotton breeders have been engaged in elucidating the molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance in cotton using significant molecular tools such as quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping, transcription factor (TFs) analysis, transcriptome analysis, genome-wide association studies (GWAS), genetic engineering, and CRISPR/Cas9. Breeders have studied the functional description of genes and the interacting pathways accountable for controlling drought tolerance in cotton. Hundreds of genes/QTL have been identified, and many have been cloned for drought tolerance in cotton; however, a complete understanding of these traits still needs more study. This review presents a detailed overview of molecular tools, their application for improving drought tolerance in cotton, and their prospects. This review will help future researchers to conduct further studies to develop drought-tolerant cotton genotypes that can thrive under conditions of water scarcity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tomato is one of the most significant vegetable crops, which provides several important dietary components. Pakistan has a significant low tomato yield compared to other countries because of low genetic diversity and the absence of improved cultivars. The present study aimed to investigate the genetic variability, heritability, and genetic advance for yield and yield-related traits in tomato. For this purpose, eight tomato parents and their 15 crosses or hybrids were evaluated to study the relevant traits. Significant variation was observed for all studied traits. Higher values of the genotypic coefficient of variability (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variability (PCV) were recorded for yield per plant (YP) (kg) (37.62% and 37.79%), as well as the number of fruits per cluster (NFRC) (31.52% and 31.71%), number of flowers per cluster (24.63 and 24.67), and single fruit weight (g) (23.49 and 23.53), which indicated that the selection for these traits would be fruitful. Higher heritability (h2) estimates were observed for the number of flowers per cluster (NFC) (0.99%), single fruit weight (SFW) (g) (0.99%), and yield per plant (YP) (kg) (0.99%). Single fruit weight (SFW) (g) exhibited higher values for all components of variability. High genetic advance as a % of the mean (GAM) coupled with higher heritability (h2) was noted for the yield per plant (YP) (kg) (52.58%) and the number of fruits per cluster (NFRC) (43.91). NFRC and SFW (g) had a highly significant correlation with YP (kg), while FSPC had a significant positive association with YP (kg), and these traits can be selected to enhance YP (kg). Among the 15 hybrids, Nagina × Continental, Pakit × Continental, and Roma × BSX-935 were selected as highyielding hybrids for further evaluation and analysis. These findings revealed that the best performing hybrids could be used to enhance seed production and to develop high-yielding varieties. The parents could be further tested to develop hybrids suitable for changing climatic conditions. The selection of YP (kg), SFW (g), NFC, and NFRC would be ideal for selecting the best hybrids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abiotic stresses are one of the significant threats to soybean (Glycine max L.) growth and yields worldwide. Soybean has a crucial role in the global food supply chain and food security and contributes the main protein share compared to other crops. Hence, there is a vast scientific saddle on soybean researchers to develop tolerant genotypes to meet the growing need of food for the huge population. A large portion of cultivated land is damaged by salinity stress, and the situation worsens yearly. In past years, many attempts have increased soybean resilience to salinity stress. Different molecular techniques such as quantitative trait loci mapping (QTL), genetic engineering, transcriptome, transcription factor analysis (TFs), CRISPR/Cas9, as well as other conventional methods are used for the breeding of salt-tolerant cultivars of soybean to safeguard its yield under changing environments. These powerful genetic tools ensure sustainable soybean yields, preserving genetic variability for future use. Only a few reports about a detailed overview of soybean salinity tolerance have been published. Therefore, this review focuses on a detailed overview of several molecular techniques for soybean salinity tolerance and draws a future research direction. Thus, the updated review will provide complete guidelines for researchers working on the genetic mechanism of salinity tolerance in soybean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The progressive increase in the earth's temperature due to anthropogenic activities is a major concern for humanity. The ensuing heat stress (HS) severely impacts plant growth, endangering ecosystem quality and world food security. Plant growth, physiological processes and final amount of edible products are affected by HS to an extent that reflects the physical damages, physiological commotions and biochemical alterations incurred at various growth stages. Therefore, a better understanding of plant behaviour in response to HS has pragmatic implications for devising counter-measures, alleviation strategies, and for acknowledging the differences between HS and the companion drought stress. Conventional breeding, biotechnological and molecular approaches are used to develop HS tolerant genotypes in plant species bred for food/feed uses. Recent achievements in the omics techniques result in a better knowledge of the molecular mechanisms involved in HS. However, shrewd management of crop practices is still helpful to improve plant resilience to HS. Suitable sowing time, seed priming, bacterial seed treatment, nutrient and water management, exogenous application of osmo-protectants, and conservation of soil moisture are important tools to improve plant behaviour under the critical HS scenarios determined by climate change and global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grain amaranth is a high nutritive value crop and has high adaptability under wide range of climatic conditions. Thus, a field study was conducted for agronomic assessment of exotic grain amaranth accessions under Faisalabad conditions. The experiment comprised of eight accessions i.e., Ames-18027, Ames-18028, Ames-23317, PI-337611, PI-477915, PI-47916, PI-480625 and PI-480663. The experiment was conducted at Agronomic Research Area, Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, during spring season in 2013. The results revealed that maximum emergence count (93.33%), maximum time to panicle emergence (48.33 days), flowering (69.33days), milking (115.67 days) and maturity (130.67) were found in PI-480625, while, minimum values of these parameters were recorded in Ames-23317. Moreover, Ames-18027, also performed better in terms of growth, and recorded maximum branches per panicle (24) tallest panicle (34.33 cm), highest grain (1659.8 kg ha-1) and biological yield (14971 kg ha-1) than the rest of accessions. In conclusion, Ames-18027, PI-337611 performed significant better in terms of growth and economic yield under semiarid conditions of Faisalabad, Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]