The development of new approaches for sustaining soil quality, leaf health, and maize productivity are imperative in light of water deficit and soil salinity. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and silica nanoparticles (SiNP) are expected to improve soil chemistry leading to improved plant performance and productivity. In this field experiment, water deficit is imposed by three irrigation intervals—12 (I₁), 15 (I₂), and 18 (I₃) days. Plants are also treated with foliar and soil applications (control, PGPR, SiNP, and PGPR + SiNP) to assess soil enzymatic activity, soil physicochemical properties, plant physiological traits, biochemical analysis, nutrient uptake, and productivity of maize (Zea mays L.) plants grown under salt-affected soil during the 2019 and 2020 seasons. With longer irrigation intervals, soil application of PGPR relieves the deleterious impacts of water shortage and improves yield-related traits and maize productivity. This is attributed to the improvement in soil enzymatic activity (dehydrogenase and alkaline phosphatase) and soil physicochemical characteristics, which enhances the plants’ health and growth under longer irrigation intervals (i.e., I₂ and I₃). Foliar spraying of SiNP shows an improvement in the physiological traits in maize plants grown under water shortage. This is mainly owing to the decline in oxidative stress by improving the enzymatic activity (CAT, SOD, and POD) and ion balance (K⁺/Na⁺), resulting in higher photosynthetic rate, relative water content, photosynthetic pigments, and stomatal conductance, alongside reduced proline content, electrolyte leakage, lipid peroxidase, and sodium content under salt-affected soil. The co-treatment of SiNP with PGPR confirms greater improvement in yield-related traits, maize productivity, as well as nutrient uptake (N, P, and K). Accordingly, their combination is a good strategy for relieving the detrimental impacts of water shortage and soil salinity on maize production.

Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has affected health and lifestyle behaviors of people globally. This project aims to identify the impact of COVID-19 on lifestyle behavior of individuals in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region during confinement. Methods: We conducted an online survey in 17 countries (Egypt, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Yemen, Syria, Palestine, Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Iraq, and Sudan) from the MENA region on August and September 2020. The questionnaire included self-reported information on lifestyle behaviors, including physical activity, eating habits, smoking, watching television, social media use and sleep before and during the pandemic. Logistic regression was performed to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on lifestyle behaviors. Results: A total of 5896 participants were included in the final analysis and 62.8% were females. The BMI of the participants was 25.4 ± 5.8 kg/m². Around 38.4% of the participants stopped practicing any physical activities during the confinement (P < 0.001), and 57.1% reported spending more than 2 h on social media (P < 0.001). There were no significant changes in smoking habits. Also, 30.9% reported an improvement in their eating habits compared with 24.8% reported worsening of their eating habits. Fast-food consumption decreased significantly in 48.8% of the study population. This direct/indirect exposure to COVID-19 was associated with an increased consumption of carbohydrates (OR = 1.09; 95% CI = 1.02–1.17; P = 0.01), egg (OR = 1.08; 95% CI = 1.02–1.16; P = 0.01), sugar (OR = 1.09; 95% CI = 1.02–1.16; P = 0.02), meat, and poultry (OR = 1.13; 95% CI = 1.06–1.20; P < 0.01). There was also associated increase in hours spent on watching television (OR = 1.07; 95% CI = 1.02–1.12; P < 0.01) and social media (OR = 1.09; 95% CI = 1.01–1.18; P = 0.03). However, our results showed a reduction in sleeping hours among those exposed to COVID-19 infection (OR = 0.85; 95% CI = 0.77–0.94; P < 0.01). Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with an increase in food consumption and sedentary life. Being exposed to COVID-19 by direct infection or through an infected household is a significant predictor of amplifying these changes. Public health interventions are needed to address healthy lifestyle behaviors during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Salinity is a widespread abiotic stress that devastatingly impacts wheat growth and restricts its productivity worldwide. The present study is aimed at elucidating biochemical, physiological, anatomical, gene expression analysis, and agronomic responses of three diverse wheat genotypes to different salinity levels. A salinity treatment of 5000 and 7000 ppm gradually reduced photosynthetic pigments, anatomical root and leaf measurements and agronomic traits of all evaluated wheat genotypes (Ismailia line, Misr 1, and Misr 3). In addition, increasing salinity levels substantially decreased all anatomical root and leaf measurements except sclerenchyma tissue upper and lower vascular bundle thickness compared with unstressed plants. However, proline content in stressed plants was stimulated by increasing salinity levels in all evaluated wheat genotypes. Moreover, Na+ ions content and antioxidant enzyme activities in stressed leaves increased the high level of salinity in all genotypes. The evaluated wheat genotypes demonstrated substantial variations in all studied characters. The Ismailia line exhibited the uppermost performance in photosynthetic pigments under both salinity levels. Additionally, the Ismailia line was superior in the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase activity (CAT), peroxidase (POX), and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) enzymes followed by Misr 1. Moreover, the Ismailia line recorded the maximum anatomical root and leaf measurements under salinity stress, which enhanced its tolerance to salinity stress. The Ismailia line and Misr 3 presented high up-regulation of H+ATPase, NHX2 HAK, and HKT genes in the root and leaf under both salinity levels. The positive physiological, anatomical, and molecular responses of the Ismailia line under salinity stress were reflected on agronomic performance and exhibited superior values of all evaluated agronomic traits.

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) provides an irreplaceable strategy for commercial exploitation of heterosis and producing high-yielding hybrid rice. The exogenous application of plant growth regulators could improve outcrossing rates of the CMS lines by affecting floral traits and accordingly increase hybrid rice seed production. The present study aimed at exploring the impact of growth regulators such as gibberellic acid (GA₃), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), and naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) on promoting floral traits and outcrossing rates in diverse rice CMS lines and improving hybrid rice seed production. The impact of foliar applications of growth regulators comprising GA₃ at 300 g/ha or GA₃ at 150 g/ha + IAA at 50 g/ha + NAA at 200 g/ha versus untreated control was investigated on floral, growth, and yield traits of five diverse CMS lines. The exogenously sprayed growth regulators, in particular, the combination of GA₃, IAA, and NAA (T3) boosted all studied floral, growth, and yield traits in all tested CMS lines. Moreover, the evaluated CMS lines exhibited significant differences in all measured floral traits. L2, L3, and L1 displayed the uppermost spikelet opening angle, duration of spikelet opening, total stigma length, style length, stigma brush, and stigma width. In addition, these CMS lines exhibited the highest plant growth and yield traits, particularly under T3. Consequently, exogenous application of GA₃, IAA, and NAA could be exploited to improve the floral, growth, and yield traits of promising CMS lines such as L2, L3, and L1, hence increasing outcrossing rates and hybrid rice seed production.

Conservation agriculture helps to mitigate the adverse impacts of conventional practices and intensive cultivation, accordingly enhancing agricultural sustainability. Tillage management and the preceding crop impact the sustainable use of soil resources and ultimately crop growth and productivity. The present study aimed to assess the impacts of the tillage system, cropping system, and their different interactions on soil properties and agronomic performance. No-tillage (NT), reduced tillage (RT), and conventional tillage (CT) were combined with three cropping systems; continuous wheat (wheat/wheat/wheat, W/W/W), lentil/wheat/lentil (L/W/L), and oat/wheat/barley-pea (O/W/BP) during three years crop rotation. The results displayed that the conservative practices (NT and RT) recorded higher soil nutrient content (N, P, K, Ca, and Mg) than conventional tillage (CT). Moreover, NT and RT exhibited higher bulk density (BD) and lower water infiltration rates compared to CT. Besides, NT and RT tended to have higher soil moisture than CT. The cropping system W/W/W displayed higher magnesium content, while W/L/W had higher phosphorous and O/W/BP showed higher sodium values. The mono-cropping system under conventional tillage tended to have lower soil nutrient content compared to the other combinations. The highest wheat aboveground biomass, wheat grain yield, and lentil seed yield were produced by RT and CT compared to NT. Otherwise, the higher emergence of barley-pea was assigned for NT followed by CT and RT.