Crop Production Losses Research Articles

EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON AGRICULTURAL CROPS ANDBIODIVERSITY: A REVIEW

Global climate has slowly changed and evolved over the millions of years and has acquired the present-day characteristics. During the past few decades there has been a rise of average temperatures due to excessive emission of green-house gases in the atmosphere by anthropogenic activities. Rainfall patterns also got affected by change in temperature via evapotranspiration and wind velocity. Rise in the temperature is also responsible for loss of biodiversity with an increase in population of pests and pathogens that created a severe problem for the good health and survival of the entire biota. Global climate change is the biggest disaster in the history of human beings that increased the waterborne as well as vector borne diseases like Covid-19 i.e. Corona pandemic. As a consequence, scientists across the world have started to focus on reducing crop production loss and to establish sustainable development. This review gives an assessment of the impact of climate change on agricultural crops, food security and biodiversity.

Geospatial Analysis of Soil Erosion Susceptibility and Causative Factors in Anambra State, South East, Nigeria

Land degradation is a function of soil erosion leading to soil loss and reduction in crop productivity as well as other socio-economic activities. The menace of soil erosion is challenging due to diverse factors including advertent and inadvertent anthropogenic activities. This study looks at soil erosion susceptibility and causative factors in Anambra State, both static and dynamic with the intent of identifying them, investigating spatial variability of soil loss, relate erodibility to soil properties and causative factors to soil erosion. Eight (8) prominent causative factors (CFs), were identified. These causative factors (CFs) were analyzed using ArcGIS 10.2. Sixty (60) soil samples were extracted randomly, analyzed, and tested. The study identified CFs such as Drainage Density, Erosion Density, Lineament Density, Slope Length, Land Surface Temperature, and Rainfall Erosivity, which contribute to Soil Erodibility (K - Factor). Land Surface Temperature, Soil Moisture Index, Rainfall Erosivity, and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index contributed to the loss of 8.97 ton/ha/yr, 9.1288 ton/ha/yr, 1,1134.7 ton/ha/yr, and 0.245 ton/ha/yr respectively to erosion in Anambra State. Conclusively, the dynamic causative factors influence soil susceptibility and trigger erosion in the State.

Determination of Specific Parameters for Early Detection of Botrytis cinerea in Lettuce

In horticulture, the demand for efficient farming processes and food industries increases rapidly. Plant diseases cause severe crop production and economic losses. Therefore, early detection and identification of the diseases in plants are critical. This study aimed to determine the specific parameters for early detection of Botrytis cinerea in lettuce. The lettuce “Little Gem” was inoculated with B. cinerea isolate spore suspension and disc to evaluate the plant response to inner and outer infection, respectively. The non-destructive measurements of leaf spectral reflectance indices and biochemical compounds (phenols, proteins, DPPH, FRAP, chlorophyll, and carotenoids) were used to evaluate the plant physiological response to inoculation with B. cinerea after 12, 18, 36, 60, and 84 h. Our data showed that lettuce responded differently to inner and outer inoculation with B. cinerea. Therefore, the findings of this study allow for the inoculation method to be chosen to determine the early plant response to infection with B. cinerea according to specific leaf spectral reflectance indexes and phytochemicals in further research.

Potential of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria-plant interactions in mitigating salt stress for sustainable agriculture: A review

Soil salinization affecting different crops is one of the serious threats to global food security. Soil salinity affects 20% and 33% of the total cultivated and irrigated agricultural lands, respectively, and has been reported to caused a global crop production loss of 27.3 billion USD. The conventional approaches, such as using salt-tolerant varieties, saline soil scrapping, flushing, leaching, and adding supplements ( e.g ., gypsum and lime), often fail to alleviate stress. In this context, developing diverse arrays of microbes enhancing crop productivity under saline soil conditions without harming soil health is necessary. Various advanced omics approaches have enabled gaining new insights into the structure and metabolic functions of plant-associated beneficial microbes. Various genera of salt-tolerating rhizobacteria ameliorating biotic and abiotic stresses have been isolated from different legumes, cereals, vegetables, and oil seeds under extreme alkaline and saline soil conditions. Rapid progress in rhizosphere microbiome research has revived the belief that plants may be more benefited from their association with interacting diverse microbial communities as compared with individual members in a community. In the last decade, several salt-tolerating plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) that improve crop production under salt stress have been exploited for the reclamation of saline agrosystems. This review highlights that the interaction of salt-tolerating microbes with plants improves crop productivity under salinity stress along with potential salt tolerance mechanisms involved and will open new avenues for capitalizing on cultivable diverse microbial communities to strengthen plant salt tolerance and, thus, to refine agricultural practices and production under saline conditions.

Economics of soil erosion: case study of Ukraine

Purpose. The main objective of this paper is (і) to determinate the economic loss due to crop productivity loss caused by soil erosion in Ukraine, and (іі) to present the results of the econometric modeling of soil erosion impact on the efficiency crop production at the regional and district level. 
 Methodology / approach. This study uses the following methods: expert assessments and monographic (for the assessment of economic losses due to crop productivity loss from spreading soil erosion); graphical (for building three-dimensional graphs); econometric modeling (to develop a mathematical model of the dependence of the gross crop production and income from sales per 100 hectares from the share of eroded arable land in its total area and production costs in crop industry per 100 hectares); abstract-and-logical (for generalization of the research results). To solve the assigned tasks, linear and quadratic econometric models (production functions) were developed using a dataset (і) from 168 observations (on the example of Ukrainian regions for 2010–2016) and (ii) from 189 observations (on the example of districts of Kharkiv region for 2010–2016). This study was conducted in order to test the hypothesis that the increase in the area of eroded arable land has a negative effect on the gross output of crop production.
 Results. Our expert assessment of economic losses due to crop productivity loss from spread of soil erosion on agricultural land in Ukraine is 224 mln USD. The obtained results confirm the hypothesis about the negative relationship between gross crop output and the level of land erosion. The obtained data confirm that an increase in the area of eroded arable land by 1 % leads to a decrease in the gross output of crop production by 0.20 % per 100 hectares of agricultural land in total, and in the third group of the studied subjects (the share of eroded arable land in their total area is more than 50 %) – by 0.61 %, respectively.
 Originality / scientific novelty. For the first time, linear and nonlinear (quadratic) econometric models were developed, which made it possible to carry out quantitative assessment of the impact of the soil erosion and the financial support (production costs in crop industry) per hectare on the formation of the financial results (gross crop output and income) of business entities in Ukrainian agriculture. The provision on the economics of soil erosion was further developed in terms of expert assessment of losses from this type of degradation and confirmation of the effect of the economic law of diminishing returns, which should be taken into account when developing measures for sustainable land management.
 Practical value / implications. The main results of the study can be used for the development, substantiation and implementation of soil protection measures for the sustainable use of agricultural land and/or to informed decision-making at different levels of management concerning restoration of eroded land.

Drought and Subsequent Soil Flooding Affect the Growth and Metabolism of Savoy Cabbage.

An important factor of current climate change is water availability, with both droughts and flooding becoming more frequent. Effects of individual stresses on plant traits are well studied, although less is known about the impacts of sequences of different stresses. We used savoy cabbage to study the consequences of control conditions (well-watered) versus continuous drought versus drought followed by soil flooding and a potential recovery phase on shoot growth and leaf metabolism. Under continuous drought, plants produced less than half of the shoot biomass compared to controls, but had a >20% higher water use efficiency. In the soil flooding treatment, plants exhibited the poorest growth performance, particularly after the “recovery” phase. The carbon-to-nitrogen ratio was at least twice as high, whereas amino acid concentrations were lowest in leaves of controls compared to stressed plants. Some glucosinolates, characteristic metabolites of Brassicales, showed lower concentrations, especially in plants of the flooding treatment. Stress-specific investment into different amino acids, many of them acting as osmolytes, as well as glucosinolates, indicate that these metabolites play distinct roles in the responses of plants to different water availability conditions. To reduce losses in crop production, we need to understand plant responses to dynamic climate change scenarios.

Effects of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria on the molecular responses of maize under drought and heat stresses: A review

Drought and heat are major environmental stresses that continually influence plant growth and development. Under field conditions, these stresses occur more frequently in combination than alone, which magnifies corresponding detrimental effects on the growth and productivity of agriculturally important crops. Plant responses to such abiotic stresses are quite complex and manifested in a range of developmental, molecular, and physiological modifications that lead either to stress sensitivity or tolerance/resistance. Maize ( Zea mays L.) is known for its sensitivity to abiotic stresses, which often results in substantial loss in crop productivity. Bioaugmentation with plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) has the potential to mitigate the adverse effects of drought and heat stresses on plants. Hence, this is considered a promising and eco-friendly strategy to ensure sustainable and long-term maize production under adverse climatic conditions. These microorganisms possess various plant growth-promoting (PGP) characteristics that can induce drought and heat tolerance in maize plants by directly or indirectly influencing molecular, metabolic, and physiological stress responses of plants. This review aims to assess the current knowledge regarding the ability of PGPR to induce drought and heat stress tolerance in maize plants. Furthermore, the drought and heat stress-induced expression of drought and heat stress response genes for this crop is discussed with the mechanisms through which PGPR alter maize stress response gene expression.

Chitosan Nanoparticles Inactivate Alfalfa Mosaic Virus Replication and Boost Innate Immunity in Nicotiana glutinosa Plants.

Plant viral infection is one of the most severe issues in food security globally, resulting in considerable crop production losses. Chitosan is a well-known biocontrol agent against a variety of plant infections. However, research on combatting viral infections is still in its early stages. The current study investigated the antiviral activities (protective, curative, and inactivation) of the prepared chitosan/dextran nanoparticles (CDNPs, 100 µg mL−1) on Nicotiana glutinosa plants. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and dynamic light scattering analysis revealed that the synthesized CDNPs had a uniform, regular sphere shapes ranging from 20 to 160 nm in diameter, with an average diameter of 91.68 nm. The inactivation treatment was the most effective treatment, which resulted in a 100% reduction in the alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV, Acc# OK413670) accumulation level. On the other hand, the foliar application of CDNPs decreased disease severity and significantly reduced viral accumulation levels by 70.43% and 61.65% in protective and curative treatments, respectively, under greenhouse conditions. Additionally, the induction of systemic acquired resistance, increasing total carbohydrates and total phenolic contents, as well as triggering the transcriptional levels of peroxidase, pathogen-related protein-1, and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase were observed. In light of the results, we propose that the potential application of CDNPs could be an eco-friendly approach to enhance yield and a more effective therapeutic elicitor for disease management in plants upon induction of defense systems.

Inhibitory Effect of Chitosan and Phosphate Cross-linked Chitosan against Cucumber Mosaic Virus and Pepper Mild Mottle Virus.

Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) and Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV) causes severe economic loss in crop productivity of both agriculture and horticulture crops in Korea. The previous surveys showed that naturally available biopolymer material – chitosan (CS), which is from shrimp cells, reduced CMV accumulation on pepper. To improve the antiviral activity of CS, it was synthesized to form phosphate cross-linked chitosan (PCS) and compared with the original CS. Initially, the activity of CS and PCS (0.01%, 0.05%, and 0.1% concentration) compound against PMMoV infection and replication was tested using a half-leaf assay on Nicotiana glutinosa leaves. The total number of local lesions represented on a leaf of N. glutinosa were counted and analyzed with phosphate buffer treated leaves as a negative control. The leaves treated with a 0.1% concentration of CS or PCS compounds exhibited an inhibition effect by 40–75% compared with the control leaves. The same treatment significantly reduced about 40% CMV accumulation measured by double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and increased the relative expression levels of the NPR1, PR-1, cysteine protease inhibitor gene, LOX, PAL, SRC2, CRF3 and ERF4 genes analyzed by quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, in chili pepper plants.

Assessing Farmers’ Typologies of Perception for Adopting Sustainable Adaptation Strategies in Bangladesh

The implementation of sustainable adaptation strategies (SASs) is crucial to mitigate climate change impact as well as reduce the loss of natural disasters and increase agricultural crop production. However, current policies and programs based on agricultural incentives are mostly inadequate to increase SASs practices at the farm level. Hence, a deeper understanding of farmers’ ‘perceived typologies to the environmental issue and climate change’ is necessary for implementing SASs to enhance farmers’ ability to adapt at the farm level. This research intends to demarcate farmers in various categories, according to their perceptions on environmental and climate change issues in the northern part of Bangladesh. Principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) were employed to analyze the survey data collected from 501 households in the study area. Farmers were clustered into three types, ‘Ecocentric’, ‘Worried’, and ‘Anthropocentric’, based on their perceived knowledge regarding environmental issues and climate change, which guides the adoption of SASs. The ‘Worried’ cluster showed a high sense of perceived risk of climate change and a significant positive association with the adoption of SASs. By contrast, ‘Ecocentric’ and ‘Anthropocentric’ groups showed a low sense of awareness of climate change and a significant negative association with the adoption of SASs. The findings can assist policymakers in promoting the adoption of SASs based on the farmers’ cluster and thus enhance their resilience.

Nine Mitochondrial Genomes of the Pyraloidea and Their Phylogenetic Implications (Lepidoptera).

Simple SummaryThe Pyraloidea is a large superfamily of Lepidoptera in species composition. To date, the higher-level phylogenetic relationships in this group remain unresolved, and many taxa, with taxonomic positions historically established by morphological characters, need to be confirmed through sequencing of DNA, including mitochondrial genome sequences (mitogenomes). Here, we newly generated nine complete mitogenomes for Pyraloidea that shared identical gene content, and arrangements that are typical of Lepidoptera. The current phylogenetic results confirmed previous multilocus studies, indicating the effectiveness of mitogenomes for inference of Pyraloidea higher-level relationships. Unexpectedly, Orybina Snellen was robustly placed as basal to the remaining Pyralidae taxa, rather than nested in the Pyralinae of Pyralidae as morphologically defined and placed. Our results bring a greater understanding to Pyraloidea phylogeny, and highlight the necessity of sequencing more pyraloid taxa to reevaluate their phylogenetic positions.The Pyraloidea is one of the species-rich superfamilies of Lepidoptera and contains numerous economically important pest species that cause great loss in crop production. Here, we sequenced and annotated nine complete mitogenomes for Pyraloidea, and further performed various phylogenetic analyses, to improve our understanding of mitogenomic evolution and phylogeny of this superfamily. The nine mitogenomes were circular, double-stranded molecules, with the lengths ranging from 15,214 bp to 15,422 bp, which are comparable to other reported pyraloid mitogenomes in size. Gene content and arrangement were highly conserved and are typical of Lepidoptera. Based on the hitherto most extensive mitogenomic sampling, our various resulting trees showed generally congruent topologies among pyraloid subfamilies, which are almost in accordance with previous multilocus studies, indicating the suitability of mitogenomes in inferring high-level relationships of Pyraloidea. However, nodes linking subfamilies in the “non-PS clade” were not completely resolved in terms of unstable topologies or low supports, and future investigations are needed with increased taxon sampling and molecular data. Unexpectedly, Orybina Snellen, represented in a molecular phylogenetic investigation for the first time, was robustly placed as basal to the remaining Pyralidae taxa across our analyses, rather than nested in Pyralinae of Pyralidae as morphologically defined. This novel finding highlights the need to reevaluate Orybina monophyly and its phylogenetic position by incorporating additional molecular and morphological evidence.

Climate vulnerability assessment in semi-arid and arid region of Rajasthan, India: An enquiry into the disadvantaged districts

This paper assesses the district level climate vulnerability in the state of Rajasthan using largescale data on climate and socio-economic variables.More than thirty indicators segregated into four components of exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity and crop production loss were combined to develop a composite index of vulnerability and homogenous districts were clustered into three categories, viz.low, medium and high.Wide inter-district variations were observed across the calculated indices. The result reveals that highest production losses occurred in Ganganagar district followed by Hanumangarh and Bharatpur. Pali was least exposed to the climatic variability, whereas Bundi had the maximum exposure.Jaisalmer rated the maximum sensitivity level. Further, Pratapgarh followed by Jaisalmer and Banswara had the lowest degree of adaptive capacity. On the whole, districts like Hanumangarh, Jaisalmer, Ganganagar, Bundi, Bharatpur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Chittorgarh, Alwar, Baran and Pratapgarh exhibit high level of vulnerability to climatic change. While on the other spectrum Sirohi district was least vulnerable due to lower exposure, sensitivity, crop production loss and high adaptive capacity. The analysis, suggests the need for prioritizing vulnerable areas to arrest regional imbalances by encouraging need/location based interventions for moderating the degree of vulnerability, whilst making agro-ecosystem in Rajasthan resilient to climatic aberrations.

The Economic and Environmental Benefits of Partial Leasing of Agricultural Water Rights

AbstractBalancing out‐of‐stream water demands and ecological instream flows is a difficult challenge in watershed‐scale management. Many watersheds already experience acute and chronic water shortages during average runoff years and may face more frequent and severe droughts in some locations due to climate and demographic change. Water markets may mitigate the economic consequences of shortages, but their potential is limited by the prevalence of all‐or‐nothing irrigate‐or‐fallow crop water use strategies. Irrigation water generally provides diminishing returns for crop productivity, so it may be possible to reduce water application at the margin with only a small loss in crop production, creating water savings that could be leased for other uses. We explore this scenario by combining a crop growth and hydrology (CropSyst) model with an economic model of farm profits and water trading, and apply it to the Walla Walla Basin in Washington State. Our results suggest that partial leasing of water rights through a deficit‐irrigation strategy could economically benefit annual crop growers while meaningfully increasing water availability for stream flow augmentation.

Overseas immigration of fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), invading Korea and Japan in 2019.

The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith), spread rapidly in Africa and Asia recently, causing huge economic losses in crop production. Fall armyworm caterpillars were first detected in South Korea and Japan in June 2019. Here, the migration timing and path for FAW into the countries were estimated by a trajectory simulation approach implementing the insect's flight behavior. The result showed that FAWs found in both South Korea and Japan were estimated to have come from eastern China by crossing the Yellow Sea or the East China Sea in 10–36 h in three series of migrations. In the first series, FAW moths that arrived on Jeju Island during 22–24 May were estimated to be from Zhejiang, Anhui and Fujian Provinces after 1–2 nights’ flights. In the second series, it was estimated that FAW moths landed in southern Korea and Kyushu region of Japan simultaneously or successively during 5–9 June, and these moths mostly came from Guangdong and Fujian Provinces. The FAW moths in the third series were estimated to have immigrated from Taiwan Province onto Okinawa Islands during 19–24 June. During these migrations, southwesterly low‐level jets extending from eastern China to southern Korea and/or Japan were observed in the northwestern periphery of the western Pacific Subtropical High. These results, for the first time, suggested that the overseas FAW immigrants invading Korea and Japan came from eastern and southern China. This study is helpful for future monitoring, early warning and the source control of this pest in the two countries.

Defensive capabilities of contrasting sorghum genotypes against Atherigona soccata (Rondani) infestation.

Plants are equipped with a wide range of defensive mechanisms such as morphophysiological, biochemical, molecular, and hormonal signaling for protecting against insect-pest infestation. The infestation of a devastating pest shoot fly [Atherigona soccata (Rodani)] at seedling stage causes huge loss of sorghum crop productivity. In morphophysiological screening ICSV700, ICSV705, and IS18551 have been categorized as resistant, PSC-4 moderately resistant, SL-44 and SWARNA as susceptible. The present study focused on the role of defensive gene expression and its products viz: superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), glutathione reductase (GR), polyphenol oxidase (PPO), phenyl alanine ammonia lyase (PAL), responsive enzymes, and metabolites restoring redox status in sorghum plants against shoot fly infestation. In both leaf and stem tissue of sorghum genotypes,shoot fly infestation induced SOD, APX, DHAR, GR, PAL, and PPO activities while CAT activity was significantly declined at 15 and 21days after emergence (DAE). IS18551 with resistant behavior showed upregulation of SOD, GR, APX, and DHAR along with accumulation of ascorbate, glutathione enhancing redox status of the plant during shoot fly infestation at later stage of infestation. While SWARNA with susceptible response exhibited enhanced activity of phenylpropanoid pathway enzymes PAL and PPO which in turn increased the levels of secondary metabolites like o-dihydroxyphenol and other phenols deterring the insect to attack the plant. The qRT-PCR data predicted that stress-responsive genes were initially unregulated in SWARNA; however, at 21 DAE, multifold higher expression of SOD, CAT, APX, and PPO (24.8-, 37.2-, 21.7-, and 17.9-fold respectively) in 1S18551 indicates the resistance behavior of this genotype against insect infestation owing to sustainable development capability.

SURVEY OF PLANT PARASITIC NEMATODES IN YAM GROWING BELT OF MOKWA AND MASHEGU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS OF NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

Yam (Dioscorea spp) is one of the staple food for most people in Nigeria and the country account for highest production worldwide. Plant parasitic nematodes are responsible for losses in crop production and quality all over the world. Therefore, the need to survey and identify the types of plant parasitic nematodes within a particular area is important in order to help the yam farmers. The objective of this study was to ascertain the plant parasitic nematodes infecting yams in Mokwa and Mashegu Local Government Areas of Niger State, southern Guinea Savannah of Nigeria. A total number of 30 soil samples were collected randomly using soil auger from both locations during 2019 cropping season. Nematodes were extracted from the soil using decanting and sieving method. Symptoms observed on the field included leaf chlorosis, leaf deformation and stunted growth. Scutellonema 635 Rotylenchus, 80 Meloidogyne 223 and Pratylenchus 89 were the most abundant of yam plant parasitic nematodes in Mokwa as compared to Trichodorus, 57, Aphelenchus 20, Paratylenchus 78, Tylenchus 10, Helicotylenchus 20, Heterodera 20 Xiphenema 10, of the parasitic nematodes while in Mashegu Local Government Areas of Niger State Scutellonema 989, Rotylenchus 110, Meloidogyne 100 and Pratylenchus 517 were the most abundant of yam plant parasitic nematodes in Mashegu as compared to Trichodorus, 25, Aphelenchus 10, Tylenchus 90, Helicotylenchus 58, Heterodera 30, Xiphenema 10, Longidorous. The survey result revealed that plant parasitic nematodes in Mashegu Local Government Areas of Niger State were more abundant than Mokwa Local Government Areas of Niger State. The identified plant parasitic nematodes could be cultured for breeding resistant yam cultivars in order to prevent severe yield losses posed by those plant parasitic nematodes.

Rainfall seasonality and timing: implications for cereal crop production in Ethiopia

Rainfall seasonality and timing are key climatic features affecting crop yield in rainfed agriculture (RFA). We evaluated the dynamics of temporal rainfall attributes – the strength of seasonality, the date of onset, cessation, and duration of the rainy season – over RFA areas across Ethiopia for the period 1981-2010 and explored their impacts on cereal crop production (including maize, teff, sorghum, wheat, barley, millet, oats and rice) between 1995 and 2010. First, we quantified the rainfall seasonality using an entropy-based seasonality index, defined the onset and cessation dates of rainy seasons, computed the rainy season duration, and analyzed their interannual variability and trends. Second, we correlated de-trended total cereal production during the Meher (i.e., long rainy) season (April to September) with the anomalies of the temporal rainfall attributes, and we used a univariate linear regression model to estimate the influence of changes in these attributes on crop production. We show that RFA areas in northern Ethiopia are characterized by a highly seasonal and unimodal rainfall regime. The southern parts of the RFA areas are characterized by less seasonal rainfall of bimodal and erratic nature. Cereal crop production during the Meher season, especially in teff and maize-dominated regions, is found to be correlated to both the onset (median ρ=-0.32 and -0.37, respectively) and duration (ρ=0.34 and 0.19) of the rainy season in the unimodal rainfall regime, whereas it is correlated with the rainfall seasonality (ρ=0.21) in regions with a bimodal rainfall. We estimate that on average over RFA areas, a late-onset and shorter rainy season lead to ∼1.5% and 1.1% crop production losses per pentad (5-day period), respectively.

Differential Transcriptomic Regulation in Sweet Orange Fruit (Citrus sinensis L. Osbeck) Following Dehydration and Rehydration Conditions Leading to Peel Damage.

Water stress is the most important environmental agent that contributes to the crop productivity and quality losses globally. In citrus, water stress is the main driver of the fruit peel disorders that impact the quality and market ability. An increasingly present post-harvest peel disorder is non-chilling peel pitting (NCPP). Non-chilling peel pitting is manifested as collapsed areas of flavedo randomly scattered on the fruit and its incidence increases due to abrupt increases in the environmental relative humidity (RH) during post-harvest fruit manipulation. In this study, we have used a custom-made cDNA microarray containing 44k unigenes from Citrus sinensis (L. Osbeck), covering for the first time the whole genome from this species, to study transcriptomic responses of mature citrus fruit to water stress. In the study, the global gene expression profiles of flavedo from Navelate oranges subjected to severe water stress are compared with those fruits subjected to rehydration stress provoked by changes in the RH during post-harvest, which enhances the development of NCPP. The study results show that NCPP is a complex physiological process that shares molecular responses with those from prolonged dehydration in fruit, but the damage associated with NCPP may be explained by unique features of rehydration stress at the molecular level, such as membrane disorganization, cell wall modification, and proteolysis.

The Contrivance of Plant Growth Promoting Microbes to Mitigate Climate Change Impact in Agriculture.

Combating the consequences of climate change is extremely important and critical in the context of feeding the world’s population. Crop simulation models have been extensively studied recently to investigate the impact of climate change on agricultural productivity and food security. Drought and salinity are major environmental stresses that cause changes in the physiological, biochemical, and molecular processes in plants, resulting in significant crop productivity losses. Excessive use of chemicals has become a severe threat to human health and the environment. The use of beneficial microorganisms is an environmentally friendly method of increasing crop yield under environmental stress conditions. These microbes enhance plant growth through various mechanisms such as production of hormones, ACC deaminase, VOCs and EPS, and modulate hormone synthesis and other metabolites in plants. This review aims to decipher the effect of plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) on plant health under abiotic soil stresses associated with global climate change (viz., drought and salinity). The application of stress-resistant PGPB may not only help in the combating the effects of abiotic stressors, but also lead to mitigation of climate change. More thorough molecular level studies are needed in the future to assess their cumulative influence on plant development.

Transcriptomic profiling of Paulownia elongata in response to heat stress

Rising global temperatures have caused a substantial loss in crop productivity throughout the world. Understanding the fundamental mechanisms underlying tolerance to heat stress in plants has become increasingly relevant, particularly as global warming continues to rise. The goal of our study was to identify and analyze heat stress-induced transcriptomic changes in Paulownia elongata plants. Paulownia elongata are fast growing trees known for their ability to grow in a wide range of temperatures. However, the genes responsible for its thermotolerance have not yet been identified and studied in detail. In our study, we used RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) to analyze changes in gene expression at the transcriptomic level after inducing heat stress and identified 4,435 genes as differentially expressed. Most of the genes found to be upregulated play a critical role in protein binding, unfolding, retention, and transport, suggesting that heat tolerance in plants can be achieved by protecting native proteins. The genes and pathways identified in this study can serve as valuable targets in heat tolerance studies and development of heat tolerant plants. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first in-depth report of heat-induced transcriptome analysis in P. elongata.