Salt stress is considered as one of the most common abiotic stresses reducing the productivity and fruit quality of crop plants. The present study was carried out to assess the salt tolerance among 15 local squash (Cucurbita maxima Duchesne) landraces. Different salt (NaCl) concentrations of 0, 100, 200 and 300 mM were selected in order to evaluate the response of the study germplasm to salt stress based on 12 agronomic parameters and 3 biochemical traits, proline, malondialdehyde (MDA) and chlorophylls. A varied effect of the salt stress level was observed among the studied landraces based on germination potential, as well as on growth and biochemical parameters at seedling stage. Results showed that all landraces were drastically affected at high stress level with a significant variation in their stress response, indicating the existence of considerable genetic variability. Landraces “746” and “747” were the best performing cultivars across stress levels, whereas “1007”, “1008” and “1009” were the most negatively affected. Based on the tested landrace performance, four landraceswere selected and further evaluated at biochemical level, focusing on the determination of compounds that play a key role in the ability to withstand salt stress. The mean MDA content across landraces was generally increased in stressed plants, as compared to the control treatment; the increase was attributed to a peak in MDA content at specific stress levels. In particular, “746” and “1007” showed the maximum content at 100 mM NaCl, while in landrace “751”, MDA content reached its peak at 300 mM NaCl. In addition, the response of most landraces to salt stress involved an increase in free proline content, with the exception of “746”, with the maximum content being observed either at 200 mM (“748” and “751” landraces) or at 300 mM NaCl, where only “747” expressed the highest content. These findings can be extrapolated into efforts to develop more salt-tolerant squash landraces and exhaust the possibilities of using saline water or soils under changing climate conditions.

Seed potato production often relies on mineral fertilizers. However, biofertilizers offer an eco-friendly, cost-effective means to enhance nutrient uptake, plant growth, yields, and quality while bolstering stress resilience. Two cultivars (‘Spunta’ and ‘Russet’), two in vitro materials as microtubers and plantlets, and four bio-fertilizers were used to produce seed minitubers. These bio-fertilizers included mycorrhiza (T2), microalgae (T3), beneficial bacteria (PGPR) (T4), and vermicompost (T5). Treatment T1, which received 100% mineral nutrients, was used as the control, while the bio-fertilizers were given 40% of the mineral nutrition relative to the control. The study clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of the biofertilizers used in improving plant growth parameters, particularly highlighting the efficacy of vermicompost. The highest seed tuber yield of 173.12 g was obtained from the combination of ‘Spunta’ + microtuber + vermicompost’. In both varieties, in vitro microtubers led to a higher seed yield than in vitro plantlets. In terms of tuber diameter, tuber weight, and tuber number, the performance of the ‘Spunta’ cultivar was significantly higher than that of the ‘Russet’ cultivar. Seed tubers derived from in vitro microtubers had a larger diameter and were heavier than those derived from in vitro plantlets. However, seed tubers produced from in vitro plantlets were of a smaller size but more in number. In in vitro potato seed tuber production, we recommend the use of ‘Spunta’ cultivar and in vitro microtuber, supplementing with vermicompost to enhance yield, size, number curbing costs, and eco-friendliness.

Trace elements in the environmental media contribute to toxicities of different types. Their presence in the arable pedosphere is a human-health risk factor. This study focused on Vicia faba represented by two Tunisian varieties of bean (Mamdouh) and faba bean (Badii). The objective was to analyze the effects of lead, copper and cadmium on their growth, chlorophyll-content and carotenoids-content, as well as the bioaccumulation and translocation factor, at different stages of growth. For each metal, the concentrations the plants were subjected to were 6, 0.3 and 0.03 mg/L of the metal in the compound for lead nitrate, copper nitrate and cadmium acetate, respectively. The analysis was carried out using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer (ICP-MS), encompassing all the parts of the plant. The authors detected a perceptible decrease in the fresh weight of roots and shoots, as well as a drop in the chlorophyll and carotenoid, for all the three heavy metals. Cadmium turned out to be the most toxic of the three metals and copper (which is incidentally an essential micronutrient for plant growth) the least. As far as the bioaccumulation factor was concerned, bean and faba bean exhibited different behaviours, both with regard to the growth stages and the heavy metal absorbed. During the vegetative growth stage, both were accumulators of all the three heavy metals (a translocation factor less than unity). However, in the flowering stage, faba bean was a hyper-accumulator of copper (TF > 1); while the bean plants accumulated a lot of lead in the pods-stage (TF > 1). It is worthwhile to pose new research questions and try to answer them in this study, if legumes are accumulator or hyper accumulator plants in which stage and in where organ accumulate more HMs.

Plants of two potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) varieties ‘Spunta’ (mid-early maturity) and ‘Kensa’ (mid-late maturity) were subjected to three nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) fertilization regimes, with T1 optimal rates (as recommended by the Tunisian Potato Technical Centre), T2 high rates (+25% of T1), and T3 low rates (−25% of T1). Plant growth, yield components, chlorophyll fluorescence (Fo, Fm, Fv/Fm), photosynthetic active radiation (PAR), real evapotranspiration (RET), and biochemical parameters in mature leaves and tubers (total soluble sugars (TSSs) and starch in both leaves and tubers) were evaluated. Our results showed a significant effect of fertilizer rates on plant growth, physiological, yield, and quality traits, as well as on biochemical contents of leaves and tubers, as well as on the variety. The application of high rates (T2) resulted in increased chlorophyll fluorescence (Fo) and high ratios of Fv/Fm, and it reduced Fm and photosynthetic active radiation (PAR). The highest yield per plant (615.4 g of tubers) and average number of tubers/plant (6.44) were observed in cv. ‘Spunta’ subjected to optimal fertilizer rate (T1), while more than 50% of tubers of this variety were classified as size C1 (>50 mm). On the other hand, high rates (T2) increased the yield per plant (436.74 g; approximately 9.3% compared to T1) and the number of tubers per plant (5.70) in cv. ‘Kensa’, with approximately 56% of tubers being classified in the C1 category. High rates also increased sucrose and starch content in tubers, regardless of the variety, without being significantly different from the other fertilization regimes. In conclusion, our results provide important information regarding the effect of fertilization practice on potato growth and yield parameters and the biochemical composition of leaves and tubers. Therefore, it could be suggested that the application of reduced NPK rates (−25% of optimal rates) in mid-early varieties (namely cv. ‘Spunta’) could reduce the production cost without compromising yield and quality components.

In recent years, seed priming has gained interest, with researchers aiming to enhance seed germination and early growth, especially under abiotic stress conditions. In this study, seeds from two squash landraces (Cucurbita maxima Duchesne; i.e., Galaoui large seeds (Galaoui hereafter) and Batati green (Batati hereafter)) were subjected to different priming methods ((a) 0.3% and 0.4% KNO₃ (halopriming); (b) 0.1% and 0.2% GA₃ (hormopriming); (c) inoculation with Trichoderma spp. (T. harzianum, T. viride, and T. virens), Bacillus subtilis, and Pseudomonas fluorescens (biopriming) in order to promote germination parameters and seedling growth under salinity stress (0, 100, and 200 mM of NaCl). Our findings indicate the better performance of primed seeds compared to the untreated ones in terms of germination and seedling growth traits, although a varied response depending on the priming method and the landrace was observed. The highest germination percentage (GP) and the lowest mean germination time (MGT) were observed in 0.4% KNO₃-primed seeds. The positive effects of 0.4% KNO₃ were also depicted in all traits related to seedling growth and the seedling vigor index (SVI), indicating its effectiveness as a priming agent in squash seeds. Under salinity stress conditions, priming with 0.4% KNO₃ significantly improved the germination and seedling growth traits for both landraces, while the application of 0.2% GA₃ at high salinity significantly improved photosynthetic quantum yield (F_v/F_m ratio). Regarding the effects of biopriming in germination and seedling growth traits, our results indicate that T. harzianum and B. subtilis were the most effective bioagents in promoting germination and seedling growth in Galaoui and Batati seeds, respectively. In conclusion, our findings provide important information regarding the practice of using priming and biopriming agents to enhance the germination and seedling growth capacity of squash seeds, as well to mitigate the negative effects of salinity stress at the critical stages of germination and early growth.