Plant growth regulators and Rhizobium are actively involved in the regulation of flowering, pod formation, nodulation, and ultimately the growth and yield of legumes. However, very limited information is available on the combined effect of gibberellic acid (GA₃) and Rhizobium on growth attributes and yield of legume crops. This experiment was designed to fill this gap by studying the performance of chickpea under exogenous application of GA₃ (10⁻⁴ and 10⁻⁵ M) alone and in combination with Rhizobium. Exogenous application of GA₃ (10⁻⁵ M) combined with rhizobium inoculation gave the highest values for number of nodules per plant (16) and their dry biomass (0.22 g). Moreover, GA₃ application and seed inoculation with Rhizobium, when applied singly, significantly enhanced chickpea growth. However, the most promising results were obtained by the inoculation of Rhizobium accompanied with GA₃ (10⁻⁵ M). Plant height, grain and stover yield, and chlorophyll contents were enhanced up to 35%, 39%, 21%, and 51%, respectively. Likewise, the bioaccumulation of macronutrients (N, P and K) was maximum in plants receiving both Rhizobium inoculation and GA₃ application. It is concluded that the combined application of Rhizobium and GA₃ has synergistic effects on the growth, yield, and nutrient contents of chickpea.

Spinach is a highly nutritive and medicinally important leafy vegetable cultivated in many countries worldwide. Diversity in the gene pool of a species may affect the adaptability to a new environment as well as to develop new varieties more tolerant to stress and pathogens. To assess the genetic variability of species, morphological traits are considered as the simplest markers. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted to explore the genetic diversity of spinach germplasm from 30 different countries, using agro-morphological traits. Data was based on 21 morphological characters, analyzed by multivariate statistical tools. Plant height, petiole attitude, leaf size, and leaf shape were the characters showing significant variations. Based on geographical distribution, the germplasm of Turkey and China was found to be more diverse, followed by Afghanistan and Pakistan. Results concluded that the studied germplasm possessed an important source of highly diverse agronomic traits that should be conserved for future spinach breeding programs.

Three genotypes of hot pepper were subjected to three different levels of salinity in a pot experiment to study the effect of salt stress on vegetative and reproductive growth of hot pepper along with efficacy of exogeneous application of salicylic acid (SA) and ascorbic acid (AsA) in enabling plant to withstand salinity. Two concentrations (1 and 2 mM) of SA and AsA, both individually and in combination were applied through foliar spray. Salinity stress significantly reduced growth of hot pepper with plant height, root length, and biomass decreasing by up to 73.28%, 74.09%, and 82.57%, respectively as compared to control. Likewise, fruit yield per plant was reduced by 76.44%. Activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) were also affected in response to salinity. Among the treatments, the application of 2 mM SA and 2 mM AsA led to greatest improvements in growth and yield, especially in the genotype SV5232-HY. This study will be helpful for selecting salinity-tolerant genotypes for cultivation in saline-prone areas, and demonstrates the potential of using exogenous compounds to enhance plant resilience against salinity stress.