Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis is integral to sustainable agriculture and enhances plant resilience to abiotic and biotic stressors. Through their symbiotic association with plant roots, AM improves nutrient and water uptake, activates antioxidant defenses, and facilitates hormonal regulation, contributing to improved plant health and productivity. Plants release strigolactones, which trigger AM spore germination and hyphal branching, a process regulated by genes, such as D27, CCD7, CCD8, and MAX1. AM recognition by plants is mediated by receptor-like kinases (RLKs) and LysM domains, leading to the formation of arbuscules that optimize nutrient exchange. Hormonal regulation plays a pivotal role in this symbiosis; cytokinins enhance AM colonization, auxins support arbuscule formation, and brassinosteroids regulate root growth. Other hormones, such as salicylic acid, gibberellins, ethylene, jasmonic acid, and abscisic acid, also influence AM colonization and stress responses, further bolstering plant resilience. In addition to plant health, AM enhances soil health by improving microbial diversity, soil structure, nutrient cycling, and carbon sequestration. This symbiosis supports soil pH regulation and pathogen suppression, offering a sustainable alternative to chemical fertilizers and improving soil fertility. To maximize AM ’s potential of AM in agriculture, future research should focus on refining inoculation strategies, enhancing compatibility with different crops, and assessing the long-term ecological and economic benefits. Optimizing AM applications is critical for improving agricultural resilience, food security, and sustainable farming practices.

The role of modified biochar in enhancing phosphorus (P) availability is gaining attention as an environmentally friendly approach to address soil P deficiency, a global agricultural challenge. Traditional phosphatic fertilizers, while essential for crop yield, are costly and environmentally detrimental owing to P fixation and leaching. Modified biochar presents a promising alternative with improved properties such as increased porosity, surface area, and cation exchange capacity. This review delves into the variability of biochar properties based on source and production methods and how these can be optimized for effective P adsorption. By adjusting properties such as pH levels and functional groups to align with the phosphate’s zero point of charge, we enhance biochar’s ability to adsorb and retain P, thereby increasing its bioavailability to plants. The integration of nanotechnology and advanced characterization techniques aids in understanding the structural nuances of biochar and its interactions with phosphorus. This approach offers multiple benefits: it enables farmers to use phosphorus more efficiently, reducing the need for traditional fertilizers and thereby minimizing environmental impacts, such as greenhouse gas emissions and P leaching. This review also identifies existing research gaps and future opportunities for further biochar modifications. These findings emphasize the significant potential of modified biochar in sustainable agriculture.

Global warming poses a significant threat to plant ecosystems and agricultural productivity, primarily through heat stress (HS), which disrupts photosynthesis, respiration, and overall plant metabolism. Epigenetic modifications, including DNA methylation, histone modifications, and RNA modifications, enable plants to dynamically and heritably adjust gene expression in response to environmental stressors. These mechanisms not only help plants survive immediate stress but also confer stress memory, enhancing their resilience to future HS events. This review explores the mechanisms underlying plant thermotolerance, emphasizing the critical role of epigenetic regulation in adapting to HS. It also highlights how DNA methylation modulates stress-responsive genes, histone modifications facilitate transcriptional memory, and RNA modifications influence mRNA stability and translation. Recent advancements in genome editing technologies, such as CRISPR-Cas9, have enabled precise modifications of epigenetic traits, offering new avenues for breeding climate-resilient crops. The integration of these modern tools with traditional breeding methods holds significant promise for developing crops with enhanced thermotolerance. Despite the potential, challenges such as the stability and heritability of epigenetic marks and the complex interplay between different epigenetic modifications need to be addressed. Future research should focus on elucidating these interactions and identifying reliable epigenetic markers for selection. By leveraging the insights gained from epigenetic studies, we can develop innovative breeding strategies to improve crop resilience and ensure sustainable agricultural productivity in the face of global warming. This review underscores the importance of epigenetic regulation in plant adaptation to heat stress and its potential to revolutionize crop breeding, offering a pathway to secure food production and sustainability under changing climatic conditions.

Drought is one of the most critical environmental factors constraining maize production. When it occurs at the flowering stage, serious yield losses are caused, and often, the damage is irretrievable. In this study, anthesis to silk interval (ASI), plant height (PH), and ear biomass at the silking date (EBM) of 279 inbred lines were studied under both water-stress (WS) and well-water (WW) field conditions, for three consecutive years. Averagely, ASI was extended by 25.96%, EBM was decreased by 17.54%, and the PH was reduced by 12.47% under drought stress. Genome-wide association studies were carried out using phenotypic values under WS, WW, and drought-tolerance index (WS-WW or WS/WW) and applying a mixed linear model that controls both population structure and relative kinship. In total, 71, 159, and 21 SNPs, located in 32, 59, and 12 genes, were significantly (P < 10⁻⁵) associated with ASI, EBM, and PH, respectively. Only a few overlapped candidate genes were found to be associated with the same drought-related traits under different environments, for example, ARABIDILLO 1, glycoprotein, Tic22-like, and zinc-finger family protein for ASI; 26S proteasome non-ATPase and pyridoxal phosphate transferase for EBM; 11-ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, uncharacterised, Leu-rich repeat protein kinase, and SF16 protein for PH. Furthermore, most candidate genes were revealed to be drought-responsive in an association panel. Meanwhile, the favourable alleles/key variations were identified with a haplotype analysis. These candidate genes and their key variations provide insight into the genetic basis of drought tolerance, especially for the female inflorescence, and will facilitate drought-tolerant maize breeding.

Pakistan is one of the most severely affected countries by Global climate change, it is an agriculture based country and its economy (21%) mainly depend on agriculture production. Wheat is the major staple food crop in Pakistan and takes key position in the national economy. It contribute 12.5% share in agriculture and 2.9% in the country’s GDP. Frequent droughts and scarcity of the water severely affecting the wheat production. To fulfill the feed requirements of rapidly growing population, it is necessary to explore the advanced genetic resource that can be able to perform better in changing climate. Six wheat genotypes were tested for their early seedling and physiological performance under different water stress environments. The seeds of six wheat genotypes (Khirman, Chakwal-86, MSH-36, DH-3/48, NIA Amber and NIA-10 10/8) were tested for physiological characterization under pot house experiment for individual genotypic response to water stress. The variance of analysis shows two-way interaction water stress [Control (normal four irrigations) and terminal drought (Soaking dose) and wheat genotypes (P≤ 0.05). Seven physiological indices, including Proline content, Glycine-betaine, Total sugars, Total chlorophyll, Nitrate Reductase Activity ((NRA), Potassium (K+) content, and Osmotic potential (OP) were used to evaluate the drought tolerance of six wheat genotypes. From the current data it was illustrated that, MSH-36 and DH-3/48 exhibited the tolerance followed by, Khirman and Chakwal-86 by maintaining their osmotic potential and accumulation of higher proline and glycine-betaine content that helpful for plant to enhancing their tolerance under water stress and to maintain their growth and development, whereas NIA Amber and NIA-10 10/8 are the drought sensitive genotypes as they could not maintain their osmotic potential under drought stress environment.

Grafting is an ancient agricultural technique that is frequently used to enhance the performance of horticultural plants, including vegetables and woody fruit trees. For successful grafting, genotypes of the compatible scion (the upper part) and the rootstock (the lower part) must interact. Molecular signals, including nutritional and hormonal signals, proteins, and messenger RNAs (mRNAs), are known to be transferred from the rootstock to the scion and vice versa. Nonetheless, there are still numerous mysteries regarding artificial grafts, including the occurrence of genetic/epigenetic alterations due to exchanges between the graft partners, and the long-term ramifications of these alterations on the phenotype are unknown. Recent studies on the interactions between rootstocks and scions suggest that grafting responses have an epigenetic component. In this review, we focus on the current knowledge of epigenetic consequences following grafting. Epigenetic regulations are known to regulate chromatin architecture, alter gene expression, and affect cellular function in plants. Mobile small RNAs, for example, have been shown to modify the DNA methylation pattern of the recipient partner across the graft union. More recently, mRNA 5-methylcytosine (m⁵C) modification has been shown to elucidate the long-distance transport mechanism of grafting in Arabidopsis thaliana. We also discuss how grafts can cause heritable epigenetic alterations that result in novel plant phenotypes, and how this might help increase horticultural crop quality, yield, and stress resistance in the context of climate change.