Increasing human population and changing climate, which have given rise to frequent drought spells, pose a serious threat to global food security, while identification of high yielding drought tolerant genotypes remains a proficient approach to cope with these challenges. To offer a methodology for the evaluation of the drought-tolerant wheat genotypes based on the pheno-physiological traits, a field experiment was executed, entailing four wheat genotypes viz. BARI Gom 26, BAW 1158, BAW 1167, and BAW 1169 and two water conditions viz. control treatment (three times irrigation at 20, 50, and 70 DAS, i.e., 100% field capacity) and stressed treatment (no irrigation during the entire growing season). The results revealed that drought stress drastically reduced the days to booting, heading, anthesis and physiological maturity, relative water content (RWC), chlorophyll content, canopy temperature depression (CTD), and photo-assimilates-spike dry matter (SDM), grains spike⁻¹ and grain yield of all wheat genotypes. In addition, the genotypes BAW 1167 and BARI Gom 26 remained more prone to adverse effects of drought as compared to BAW 1169 and BAW 1158. Furthermore, DS induced biosynthesis of compatible solutes such as proline, especially in BAW 1169, which enabled plants to defend against oxidative stress. It was inferred that BAW 1169 remained superior by exhibiting the best adaptation as indicated by the maximum relative values of RWC, total chlorophyll, CTD, proline content, SDM, grains spike⁻¹, and grain yield of wheat. Thus, based on our findings, BAW 1169 may be recommended for general adoption and utilization in future wheat breeding programs aimed at developing potent drought-tolerant wheat genotypes to ensure food security on a sustainable basis.

Human health risks as a result of consuming pesticide residues in fresh vegetables have drawn serious attention to the scientific community, particularly in developing countries. This study analyzed country bean (Lablab purpureus L.) and eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) for widely used neonicotinoid, synthetic pyrethroid, and dithiocarbamate pesticide residues in order to ensure food safety. The analyzed vegetables contained residues of acetamiprid and cypermethrin in 17% of bean and 13% of eggplant samples, respectively; among them, 3% of bean and 1% of eggplant samples had residues of acetamiprid that were above the maximum residue limits set by the European Union (EU-MRLs). None of the samples for either of the analyzed vegetables contained the residue of thiram and lambda-cyhalothrin. In contrast, 83% of bean and 87% of eggplant samples had no detectable pesticides. Thus, the findings were surprising considering the repeated and overuse of pesticides in vegetables in the investigated areas. However, this outcome supports the general claim of pesticide adulteration in terms of the active ingredients, which is another drawback to ensuring food safety. The non-cancer health risk assessment based on the acute health risk to consumer (aHI) and chronic hazard quotient (HQ) indicates that contaminated vegetables might pose a potential threat to children’s health and alarming for adults. This study reflects the overall scenario of pesticide residues in marketed vegetables of Barishal district of Bangladesh, which could help the consumers to bring awareness, and to take necessary actions by the pesticide suppliers and policymakers.

To mitigate environmental pollution and food contamination caused by inappropriate and excessive herbicide usage, most potent herbicides should be screened to control rice weeds. A research trial was executed for assessing the comparative efficacy of different herbicides to control rice field weeds and to evaluate the toxicity on rice under normal (distilled water) as well as different salinity levels (4 and 8 dS m⁻¹). The study was designed to select the most potent herbicide and its appropriate dose for weed control of rice crop in coastal areas. Fourteen herbicidal treatments were included weed free crop, Pretilachlor (0.25, 0.50, 0.375 and 0.75 kg a.i. ha⁻¹), Propanil + Thiobencarb (0.6 + 1.2, 0.9 + 1.8, 1.2 + 2.4 and 1.8 + 3.6 kg a.i. ha⁻¹), Bensulfuron + MCPA (0.03 + 0.05, 0.045 + 0.075, 0.06 + 0.1 and 0.09 + 0.15 kg a.i. ha⁻¹) and weedy check (control). The results revealed that all tested herbicides in higher than recommended doses for non-saline rice fields were effective in controlling Cyperus iria, Echinochloa colona (salt-tolerant) and Jussiaea linifolia but showed in light injury in rice plants grown in non-saline soils. These higher doses of herbicides recorded severe crop injury under saline conditions indicating their differential efficacy from normal non-saline conditions. Treatments including Pretilachlor (0.375kg a.i. ha⁻¹), Propanil + Thiobencarb (0.9 + 1.8 kg ai/ha), Bensulfuron + MCPA (0.06 + 0.1 kg a.i. ha⁻¹) and Pretilachlor (0.50 kg a.i. ha⁻¹) remained superior in terms of weed control and grain yield production under all salinitylevels at TanjungKarang, Malaysia. It is concluded that herbicides respond differently under saline conditions and optimization of their doses potentially prevent herbicidal injury in rice plants.