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IN THE ERA of anthropogenic climate change, soil and other compartments of the agroecosystem suffer from various forms of degradation, meaning there is an urgent need for appropriate soil management. Under arid and semi-arid conditions, the degradation of soil and water are particularly severe globally, causing a decline in agricultural productivity. Soil degradation has led to decreased soil quality, global food insecurity, ecosystem health problems, and non-sustainable development issues. Several human activities have worsened soil degradation, especially under global climate change. With growing interest in nanotechnology, can this science offer solutions/approaches to engineer soil and water amendments to overcome soil degradation and water scarcity? What are the possible nanomaterials and their mechanisms that might be used to protect the environment. This study focuses on soil degradation causes and consequences, as well as different management approaches including traditional, geographic information systems and remote sensing, and nano approaches for the management of soil degradation. Soil degradation that may be experienced after the intensive application of nanomaterials is a major concern that urgently needs to be researched. There is also a need to assess the long-term environmental impacts of nanoparticles, which may have potential for leaching and accumulation in soil from which they enter the food chain, causing many problems for human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NATURAL resources are considered the main sources of our life, which include water, energy and food. On the other hand, exponential global human population has place increased stress on such resources and therefore all nations ae enforced to double the productivity of fresh water, clean energy, and healthy food by more than 50-70% to meet their actual needs. These increases are not so easy to be achieved, particularly under climate change. Several approaches are proposed to mitigate the climate change under the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus especially via applying nanomaterials (NMs). This review article describes the evaluation and implementation of applying NMs under climate change in search of suitable proposals to remedy these problems by analyzing the available literature of WEF nexus. The evidences that support the relationship between NMs with WEF nexus and climate change seem weak and/or inconclusive. What is not yet understood is the relative importance of the various factors that might support the global efforts to mitigate climate change and it environmental issues. Many of the available literatures on WEF nexus deal with the question of what are the direct and indirect impacts of climate change on WEF resources, but what remains still unclear is whether applied NMs is a suitable solution or not? The single most striking observation to emerge from the data comparison was several previous studies confirmed the importance of NMs for the environmental problems under certain doses. So far, more studies are needed to explore the relationship between WEF nexus and climate change after applying NMs. In view of all that has been mentioned so far, one may suppose that applied NMs are crucial for conserving WEF resources, but the nanotoxicity is a serious threat should be considered in the further studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WATER scarcity is increasing in the world. There is a need to adopt irrigation management practices that can help to conserve water and sustain crop production in such water-limited areas. Potato productivity is generally influenced by irrigation water levels and irrigation systems, which depend on the soil type. In order to do so, the study aims to assess the vegetation and yield of potato varieties under a smart drip irrigation system to find out the best management of the irrigation scheduling for improving the growth and yield of potato crops. In this concern, two field experiments were conducted in two successive summer seasons of 2020 and 2021 at the experimental farm of the National Research Centre in El-Nubaria, El-Behira Governorate, Egypt, to investigate the effects of four irrigation levels (120, 100, 80 and 60% ETc) under two drip irrigation systems (surface drip irrigation (SDI) and subsurface drip irrigation (SSDI)) on three potato varieties (Spunta, Hermes and Cara). The results indicated that all the studied growth aspects were significantly increased with increasing the irrigation levels applied during both growing seasons, except water use efficiency (WUE) which significantly increased with decreasing irrigation level up to a certain limit. Also, the results showed that SSDI showed superior upon SDI with all vegetative, yield growth characteristics and WUE. Regarding the response of some potato varieties to irrigation systems and levels, results revealed that the highest value for an average tubers weight and yield /plant was recorded with Spunta followed by Cara and Hermes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PHYTOTOXIC effects of propamocarb-HCl pesticide and its Nano form on cucumber plant and their adverse impact on tissue culture of HepG2 line were studied. Nano form was loaded on chitosan nanoparticles (NPs). Significant increase in plant morphological parameters was noticed after the last periods of transplanting. Also, it exhibited significant increases in fruits yield greater than the traditional form. The quality recognized the same pattern. All treatments: Doses, ½ doses, and double doses showed an increase in leave pigments in the case of nano-form treatments greater than the traditional form. Biosafety profile on HepG2 cell lines showed a slight difference with 1.22 folds between the traditional and nano-form. While, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) showed a significant increase, compared to their control. Such a finding provides the advantage of nano-formation on vegetable crops, but it must be coupled with further toxicological studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural sector is a vital source of human well-being that provides the necessities of daily life. A variety of farming systems are utilized in agriculture, such as a wide range of tillage options, no-till, agroforestry, precision farming, organic farming, cover cropping, crop rotations, etc. Each of these farming systems has unique challenges, and nanotechnology has successfully improved on many of them. Agricultural applications of nanotechnology include nanofertilizers, nanopesticides, nanosensors, nanobiotechnology, and nanoremediation. This study focuses on the application of nano-farming technologies to different farming systems. Suggested practices include nano improvement of soil quality, crop nano-protection under biotic stress, nanoremediation of polluted soil and water environments, nanomanagement of agro-wastes, nano-agrochemicals, nano-precision farming, and nanobiotechnology for modern farming. This review also addresses expected problems that may occur due to over application of nanomaterials to farming systems, such as nanopollution and nanotoxicity of agroecosystem compartments. Several dimensions are emphasized in this study, such as green energy, sustainable development, the circular bioeconomy, land biodegradation, pollution, and the one health approach, as essential for the global goals of sustainable development. Nanofarming presents both benefits and obstacles to human life. The exact balance between these benefits and challenges needs more study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SANDY soils are often associated with low fertility due to their physical and chemical properties. Sandy soils have a coarse texture and large pore spaces, which allow water and nutrients to drain quickly, leaving little time for plants to absorb them. Additionally, sandy soils have a low capacity to hold nutrients, which can easily leach out of the soil with excessive watering or rainfall. This makes it difficult for plants to access the nutrients they need to grow and develop properly, leading to nutrient deficiency stress. So, the current study was designated to investigate the responses of pepper and green bean plants to various selenium (Se) forms (Nano and bulk forms) and doses (0.0, 10, 20, 30, and 40 ppm for each form) during the biofortification program under sandy soil conditions.In general, the response of studied vegetable crops had a similar behavior under such studied stress regarding all selected attributes. This response represents in increasing the studied trials of growth, and nutritional status of both crops by increasing the applied nano-Se up to 20 or 30 ppm, while bulk forms of Se at 20 ppm for both crops. The production of biofortified fruits of both green bean and pepper were not only contain high content of Se to prevent the biofortification program, but also increased the all studied attributes of crops. This study seeks to remedy the problems of cultivation of sandy soils under biofortification program by applying both mineral and nano-Se sources with propriety to the biological nano-Se. This study also opened many questions concerning the biofortification program using other vegetable crops under different stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SOIL nutrient deficiency is a real challenge facing the crop production under sandy soils conditions. This challenge has an increase concern all over the world specially to produce biofortified crops for overcome many human health problems like malnutrition. The current study was carried out to evaluate production of biofortified eggplant enriched in selenium (Se) using biological nano-Se and its bulk form under soil nutrient deficiency stress. In general, the applied 30 ppm of bulk Se-fertilizer achieved many studied attributes, whereas the highest applied dose of biological nano-Se (40 ppm) may need higher doses without recoding toxicity on eggplants. Applied bionano Se recorded an increase up to 100% compared to the control in Se content in eggplant fruits, although this increase in both fruit and leaves were not toxic and the mean values of Se content in fruits were lower than leaves in both seasons and both were in the allowable Se content for human diet. To develop a full picture of eggplant biofortification with Se, additional studies will be needed to answer more open questions regarding producing a safe and healthy eggplant for human nutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NUTRIENT deficiency on cultivated plants may lead to human malnutrition when consumes these plants. So, the biofortification is a promising approach in increasing several crops in their contents of essentials nutrients for human health like selenium (Se). The current study focused on using two different sources of Se-fertilizers for biofortifying broccoli under nutrient deficiency stress in sandy soil. The applied doses of selenium in each form were 10, 20, 30, and 40 ppm in the form of mineral and biological nano Se-fertilizers. The vegetative parameters and yield of broccoli were determined. In general, the highest growth and yield components were attained for applying the dose of 30 mg Si L-1 for both the soluble and nano Se-forms. The studied parameters included fresh and dry weight of leaves and broccoli head, head diameter and its length gave the highest values when the dose of 30 ppm from both Se-fertilizers applied. The content of N, P, K, and Se nutrients significantly increased by increasing applied Se-doses till 40 ppm in both Se-fertilizers except P. The harvested yield of head broccoli was obtained after applied dose of 30 ppm in case of both Se-fertilizers, with an increase rate for mineral Se-fertilizer 60.1 and 57.2%, whereas were 51.8 and 47.4% for nano-Se fertilizer for both seasons, respectively. The biological Se-nanofertilizer may be is preferable for a safe biofortification. The most distinguished findings in the current study that producing biofortified broccoli rich in Se for human health can be achieved under grown in sandy soils or nutrient deficiency stress. Further studies are needed to answer more open questions regarding producing a safe and healthy food for human nutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world of mushrooms is very exciting and full of with surprises for the reader. Mushrooms are very important macro-organisms for our agroecosystem, because they are edible and medicinal for human health, on one side, and toxic causing the death of humans, on the other side. Several nutritional, medicinal and pharmaceutical applications of mushrooms are well known besides soil improvement. Mushrooms can improve soil through several approaches such as increasing soil organic matter, controlling soil erosion, improving soil aggregates, enhancing soil nutrition, promoting C, and NPK cycling, and the bioremediation of polluted soils. Like other fungi, mushrooms have strong impacts on soil including both positive and negative. The spent mushroom substrate could be applied to soil as an organic fertilizer or compost, which could increase soil microbial activity and the content of amino acid metabolites in the studied orchard. Mushrooms also could be used as a bioindicator for soil pollution (e.g., toxic elements, heavy metals, organic pollutants, and radioactives/isotopes). Therefore, the main roles of mushrooms in the soil include soil myco-nanoremediation, soil myco-nanomanagement, and soil myco-improvement. This is a call for submission of photographic articles on the roles of mushrooms in soils to publish by Egyptian Journal of Soil Science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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