Genetically engineered (GE) crops have the potential to contribute to agricultural sustainability, food security, and nutritional enrichment. However, these crops cannot be released for commercial cultivation without undergoing environmental risk assessments (ERA), thus biosafety evaluation. ERA assessments are performed comparatively with their natural non-GE counterparts. As Bangladesh is progressing with GE potato research, the present study aims to collect baseline information on non-GE potato cultivation with an emphasis on current agronomic practices focusing on fertilizer management and farmers\' knowledge base. The survey had three parts, including information on the farmers, information on potato cultivation practices, especially fertilizer use, and lastly, the farmer\'s view on GE potato. From 2020 to 2021, data were collected through interviews with experienced growers in four potato-growing regions, the Central and Mid-East, North-West, Mid-West, and South-East regions (n = 1757) of the country. The study revealed that farmers of all regions used more than the recommended amounts of fertilizer; for instance, 67.1% more nitrogen fertilizer was applied as an extra dose during potato cultivation in Munshiganj (Central and Mid-East) than in the Dinajpur region (North-West). This overuse of nitrogen fertilizer can enhance plant vigor but makes the plants more susceptible to insect attraction and allows pests easier access to the plants. As a result, the excess dose of nitrogen fertilizer in Munshiganj may act as a catalyst to increase the probability of late blight. The findings also showed that 73.6% of farmers observed unexpected flowering in certain potato cultivars, which corresponded to the higher application of phosphate and potassium fertilizers aimed at late blight control. Furthermore, this study reported infestations of Solanaceous weeds, specifically Solanum torvum and Physalis heterophylla, in potato fields. Finally, our findings demonstrated that more than 68.7% of the potato growers intend to adopt disease-resistant GE potato as that may reduce the need for excess fertilizer use and thus reduce cultivation costs.

Choosing appropriate tillage methods and applying the right amount of chemical fertilizers are pivotal for optimizing wheat management and enhancing wheat quality. This study investigated the influence of conservation agriculture and phosphorus levels on nutrient content, yield components, and quality traits of wheat in a corn-wheat rotation. Conducted over five years in field conditions, the study employed a randomized complete block design with tillage treatments (conventional tillage, CT; minimum tillage, MT; and no tillage, NT) and phosphorus levels (no fertilizer use, P0; and 100% fertilizer recommendation, PR) as factors. Soil samples were collected during the fourth year (2021-2022). Results revealed significant impacts of tillage methods and phosphorus levels on wheat straw and grain nutrient composition, yield components, and quality traits. Conventional tillage yielded the highest values for protein content (12%), Zeleny sedimentation volume (20.33 mL), hardness index (45), water absorption (64.12%), and wet gluten content (25.83%). Additionally, phosphorus fertilizer application positively influenced protein percentage, gluten weight, and gluten index. The study highlights the potential of strategic soil management, particularly conventional tillage combined with phosphorus fertilization, to enhance wheat quality and yield. By elucidating these relationships, the findings contribute to optimizing wheat cultivation practices and advancing the development of superior wheat cultivars for baking applications.

There is still considerable controversy about the relative risk of mycotoxin exposure associated with the consumption of organic and conventional cereals. Using validated protocols, we carried out a systematic literature review and meta-analyses of data on the incidence and concentrations of mycotoxins produced by Fusarium, Claviceps, Penicillium, and Aspergillus species in organic and conventional cereal grains/products. The standard weighted meta-analysis of concentration data detected a significant effect of production system (organic vs. conventional) only for the Fusarium mycotoxins deoxynivalenol, with concentrations ∼50% higher in conventional than organic cereal grains/products (p < 0.0001). Weighted meta-analyses of incidence data and unweighted meta-analyses of concentration data also detected small, but significant effects of production system on the incidence and/or concentrations of T-2/HT-2 toxins, zearalenone, enniatin, beauvericin, ochratoxin A (OTA), and aflatoxins. Multilevel meta-analyses identified climatic conditions, cereal species, study type, and analytical methods used as important confounding factors for the effects of production system. Overall, results from this study suggest that (i) Fusarium mycotoxin contamination decreased between the 1990s and 2020, (ii) contamination levels are similar in organic and conventional cereals used for human consumption, and (iii) maintaining OTA concentrations below the maximum contamination levels (3.0 μg/kg) set by the EU remains a major challenge.

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Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the staple food for more than 50% of the world\'s population. Owing to its growth characteristics, rice has more than 10-fold the ability to enrich the carcinogen arsenic (As) than other crops, which seriously affects world food security. The consumption of rice is one of the primary ways for humans to intake As, and it endangers human health. Effective measures to control As pollution need to be studied and promoted. Currently, there have been many studies on reducing the accumulation of As in rice. They are generally divided into agronomic practices and biotechnological approaches, but simultaneously, the problem of using the same measures to obtain the opposite results may be due to the different species of As or soil environments. There is a lack of systematic discussion on measures to reduce As in rice based on its mechanism of action. Therefore, an in-depth understanding of the molecular mechanism of the accumulation of As in rice could result in accurate measures to reduce the content of As based on local conditions. Different species of As have different toxicity and metabolic pathways. This review comprehensively summarizes and reviews the molecular mechanisms of toxicity, absorption, transport and redistribution of different species of As in rice in recent years, and the agronomic measures to effectively reduce the accumulation of As in rice and the genetic resources that can be used to breed for rice that only accumulates low levels of As. The goal of this review is to provide theoretical support for the prevention and control of As pollution in rice, facilitate the creation of new types of germplasm aiming to develop without arsenic accumulation or within an acceptable limit to prevent the health consequences associated with heavy metal As as described here.

Global rice cultivation significantly contributes to anthropogenic methane emissions. The methane emissions are caused by methane-producing microorganisms (methanogenic archaea) that are favoured by the anoxic conditions of paddy soils and small carbon molecules released from rice roots. However, different rice cultivars are associated with differences in methane emission rates suggesting that there is a considerable natural variation in this trait. Starting from the hypothesis that sugar allocation within a plant is an important factor influencing both yields and methane emissions, the aim of this study was to produce high-yielding rice lines associated with low methane emissions. In this study, the offspring (here termed progeny lines) of crosses between a newly characterized low-methane rice variety, Heijing 5, and three high-yielding elite varieties, Xiushui, Huayu and Jiahua, were selected for combined low-methane and high-yield properties. Analyses of total organic carbon and carbohydrates showed that the progeny lines stored more carbon in above-ground tissues than the maternal elite varieties. Also, metabolomic analysis of rhizospheric soil surrounding the progeny lines showed reduced levels of glucose and other carbohydrates. The carbon allocation, from roots to shoots, was further supported by a transcriptome analysis using massively parallel sequencing of mRNAs that demonstrated elevated expression of the sugar transporters SUT-C and SWEET in the progeny lines as compared to the parental varieties. Furthermore, measurement of methane emissions from plants, grown in greenhouse as well as outdoor rice paddies, showed a reduction in methane emissions by approximately 70 % in the progeny lines compared to the maternal elite varieties. Taken together, we report here on three independent low-methane-emission rice lines with high yield potential. We also provide a first molecular characterisation of the progeny lines that can serve as a foundation for further studies of candidate genes involved in sugar allocation and reduced methane emissions from rice cultivation.

Understanding soil property and crop yield responses to variations in land use and topographic gradient is vital for designing targeted soil and agronomic management practices. This study investigated the interrelationships between land use, topographic position, soil properties, and crop yield. Three replicates of three land use types - enset agroforestry, cropland (annual crop), and grazing land - were selected along a toposequence (upper, middle and lower) for the study. A total of 54 composite soil samples were collected and analyzed. Grain yield and above ground biomass were also gathered from the cropland and analyzed. Soil profile descriptions revealed notable variations in soil physical properties, including soil texture, bulk density, color, horizons, and depth among the pedons of the three topographic positions. Clay and silt fractions exhibited significant differences between land uses and topographic positions, while the sand fraction was influenced by topographic position alone. Crop and grazing lands displayed higher clay content compared to the enset field. A decreasing trend in clay fraction was observed from upper to lower topographic positions. The enset field had significantly higher soil pH, OC, TN, and K+ contents than crop field. A significantly higher available P of 16.61 mg kg-1 was measured from lower slope position followed by 14.08 mg kg-1 in middle slope. The upper slope position had the highest exchangeable acidity of 3.09 cmol(+) kg-1), followed by middle slope with 2.77 cmol(+) kg-1), 2.45 cmol(+) kg-1) in the lower slope position. Grain yield and above ground biomass decreased from lower slope to middle slope and upper slope positions. These observed variations in soil properties and crop yield among land uses and topographic positions underscore the necessity for tailored soil management strategies and agronomic practices specific to land use types and the specific localized topographic conditions to optimize agricultural productivity.

Going through the new transitioning era of the \"European Green Deal,\" the search for alternative, non-chemical, disease control methods is essential. Aspergillus bunch rot is considered one of the most important diseases of grapevines resulting in severe yield losses and, major qualitative deterioration of grape products due to the production of mycotoxins. We investigated, in a two-year field study, the impact of agronomic practices like defoliation to enhance grape microclimate (DF), pruning method to reduce grape bunch density (LBD), and irrigation cut-off (NIR), at three developmental stages of grapevine (Pea size berry, Veraison, and Harvest), on (i) grape composition (titratable acidity, pH, and total soluble solids), (ii) on the frequency of occurrence of Aspergillus on grape berries, and (iii) on the overall composition of grape carposphere microbiome. The density of Aspergillus on grape berries was significantly reduced by the applied management practices (DF, LBD, and NIR). Amplicon sequencing analysis showed that both the phenological stage and the agronomic practices employed (particularly NIR and DF) imposed significant changes in the α-diversity and β-diversity of the grape carposphere bacterial and fungal communities. The NIR, LBD, and DF treatments which supported lower Aspergillus populations, network analysis revealed negative co-occurrence patterns between Aspergillus and several bacterial genera (Streptococcus, Rhodococcus, and Melitangium) reported to have antifungal properties suggesting potential natural attenuation mechanisms for the control of Aspergillus. Overall, our study (i) showed that the application of halting of irrigation and thinning of leaves and grape bunches, reduce the occurrence of Aspergillus and hence the incidence of Aspergillus Bunch rot disease and (ii) identified preliminary evidence for interactions of Aspergillus with members of the epiphytic grape bacterial communities that might be involved in the suppression of Aspergilli, an observation which will be further pursued in following studies in the quest for the discovery of novel biological control agents.

The phytomicrobiome plays a crucial role in soil and ecosystem health, encompassing both beneficial members providing critical ecosystem goods and services and pathogens threatening food safety and security. The potential benefits of harnessing the power of the phytomicrobiome for plant disease suppression and management are indisputable and of interest in agriculture but also in forestry and landscaping. Indeed, plant diseases can be mitigated by in situ manipulations of resident microorganisms through agronomic practices (such as minimum tillage, crop rotation, cover cropping, organic mulching, etc.) as well as by applying microbial inoculants. However, numerous challenges, such as the lack of standardized methods for microbiome analysis and the difficulty in translating research findings into practical applications are at stake. Moreover, climate change is affecting the distribution, abundance, and virulence of many plant pathogens, while also altering the phytomicrobiome functioning, further compounding disease management strategies. Here, we will first review literature demonstrating how agricultural practices have been found effective in promoting soil health and enhancing disease suppressiveness and mitigation through a shift of the phytomicrobiome. Challenges and barriers to the identification and use of the phytomicrobiome for plant disease management will then be discussed before focusing on the potential impacts of climate change on the phytomicrobiome functioning and disease outcome.

Rice is a staple food for more than half of the world\'s population, and rice fragrance is a key quality attribute which is highly desired by consumers and attracts premium prices in the international market. There are around 200 volatile compounds involved in rice fragrance, but 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2-AP) has been considered a master regulator of aroma in fragrant rice. Consequently, efforts were made to increase the 2-AP contents in the grain by managing agronomical practices or by using modern functional genomic tools, which successfully converted nonfragrant cultivars to fragrant rice. Furthermore, environmental factors were also reported to influence the 2-AP contents. However, a comprehensive analysis of 2-AP biosynthesis in response to agro-management practices, environmental factors, and the application of functional genomic tools for fragrant rice production was missing. In this Review, we summarize how micro/macronutrients, cultivation practices, amino acid precursors, growth regulators, and environmental factors, such as drought, salinity, light, and temperature, influence the 2-AP biosynthesis to modulate the aroma of fragrant rice. Furthermore, we also summarized the successful conversion of nonfragrant rice cultivars to fragrant rice using modern gene editing tools, such as RNAi, TALENS, and CRISPR-Cas9. Finally, we discussed and highlighted the future perspective and challenges related to the aroma of fragrant rice.