Increased demand for quinoa as a functional food has resulted in more quinoa-growing areas and initiatives to increase grain production, particularly in organic agriculture. Quinoa seeds are a superfood with incredible nutritional benefits. They are abundant in secondary metabolites with significant medicinal activity. This report was consequently performed to investigate whether Azolla fliculoides (AE) or moringa leaf extract (MLE) foliar spray can be supplemented as organic extracts to enhance quinoa growth and productivity under organic farming. Three quinoa cultivars, KVL–SRA2 (C1), Chipaya (C2), and Q–37 (C3), were grown organically and subjected to foliar spraying with AE or MLE at a 20% ratio, as well as their combination (AE+MLE). Plant performance of the three cultivars was significantly enhanced by MLE or AE applications as compared with control plants. The highest outputs were obtained by AE+MLE treatment, which significantly increased the seed yield by about 29% as compared with untreated plants. Seed quality exhibited a marked increase in response to AE+MLE that was superior in this regard as it showed higher protein, carbohydrates, saponine, tannins, phenolics, and flavonoids content. The C3-cultivar demonstrated the highest productivity, saponine, and flavonoids levels as compared to the other cultivars. Overall, the current study indicated that foliar spray with AE+MLE could enhance growth and productivity as well as quality and pharmaceutical active ingredients of quinoa cultivars grown under farming conditions.

The major climate-related hazard to worldwide agricultural productivity is drought, which is becoming more common because of ongoing climate change, especially in the arid and semi-arid regions. Herein, we investigated the influence of biochar soil application at 0, (B1), 7.5 ha⁻¹ (B2), and 15 t ha⁻¹ (B3) on the productivity and drought-tolerance indices of wheat (Triticum aestivum L., cv. Sakha 93) grown in sandy soil under irrigation levels of 100 (I1), 80 (I2), and 60% (I3) of crop evapotranspiration (ETc), as well as soil properties based on non-weighing lysimeter units. Increasing water deficiency significantly decreased the actual evapotranspiration (ETa) values. A growing biochar rate caused a significant increase in ETa values, water use efficiency, and wheat productivity compared to the untreated control. Additionally, biochar supplementation revealed an improvement in soil quality as measured by the reduction in the bulk density and hydraulic conductivity with an increase in the total porosity and void ratio of the experimental soil. The correlation analysis exhibited a highly significant and positive correlation (0.98 **) between biological yield and grain yield traits. Therefore, it may be stated that these traits are the most significant components of the evaluated grain yield in wheat plants. The productivity of I1 plants was not significantly different and slightly higher than that of I2 plants. Therefore, it can be recommended that exposed wheat plants cultivated in sandy soil with I2 × B3 treatment significantly provide the highest yield while saving 20% of the irrigation water.

Drought stress constricts crop production around the world. Employing high-yielding cultivars with drought tolerance might be the ideal professional approach to coping with its detrimental outcomes. As a result, the current study was performed to investigate the sensitivity and tolerance of nine wheat genotypes to drought stress. In a randomized block design experiment, nine wheat genotypes were subjected to four water treatments: 100%, 85%, 70%, and 55% of the available water (AW). Four water regimes in two growing seasons were counted as eight environmental zones. The leaf’s water relations and photosynthetic pigment were estimated, as well as growth and yield parameters. Univariate and multivariate statistical approaches, including the new method of multi-trait genotype–ideotype distance (MGIDI), were used for evaluation. The analysis of variance revealed that genotype, environment, and their interactions had a highly significant effect on all traits. The same trend was shown by the additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) analysis of variance for grain yield across the environments. The AMMI biplot study indicated that the G8 genotype is the most stable in terms of water stress. The G7 genotype can withstand droughts up to 55% of the available water, while the G8 and G3 genotypes can withstand droughts up to 70% of the available water. Based on all examined traits, this index was used to identify the stable genotypes G7, G8, and G3, which can therefore be suggested for cultivation during drought conditions. Furthermore, we found a positive correlation between the MGIDI, ANOVA, and tolerance index results, indicating that the same desirable genotypes of G7 and G8 were identified by these procedures as being highly tolerant and stable across a range of soil moisture conditions. Based on MGIDI analysis, we can recommend that the G7 genotype exhibits higher grain yield and yield-related traits with the best drought-tolerant indices.