Salt stress negatively affects the growth, development, and yield of horticultural crops. Nitric oxide (NO) is considered a signaling molecule that plays a key role in the plant defense system under salt stress. This study investigated the impact of exogenous application of 0.2 mM of sodium nitroprusside (SNP, an NO donor) on the salt tolerance and physiological and morphological characteristics of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) under salt stress (25, 50, 75, and 100 mM). Salt stress caused a marked decrease in growth, yield, carotenoids and photosynthetic pigments in stressed plants as compared to control ones. Results showed that salt stress significantly affected the oxidative compounds (superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX)) and non-oxidative compounds (ascorbic acid, total phenols, malondialdehyde (MDA), proline, and H₂O₂) in lettuce. Moreover, salt stress decreased nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium ions (K⁺) while increasing Na ions (Na⁺) in the leaves of lettuce under salt stress. The exogenous application of NO increased ascorbic acid, total phenols, antioxidant enzymes (SOD, POD, CAT, and APX) and MDA content in the leaves of lettuce under salt stress. In addition, the exogenous application of NO decreased H₂O₂ content in plants under salt stress. Moreover, the exogenous application of NO increased leaf N in control, and leaf P and leaf and root K⁺ content in all treatments while decreasing leaf Na⁺ in salt-stressed lettuce plants. These results provide evidence that the exogenous application of NO on lettuce helps mitigate salt stress effects.

Pea is an important legume crop because of its higher bioactive compounds, and its seeds are famous as functional foods. However, the yield of pea is still limited because of multiple biotic and abiotic stresses which prevailed during the growth period. Saline conditions significantly hamper pea growth, yield, and quality among abiotic stresses. Salicylic acid is effective for the activation of oxidative, non-oxidative, osmolytes, and metabolites. Hence, the present study was conducted at exogenous application of salicylic acid (control, 1 µM, 2 µM, and 3 µM) to mitigate the adverse effects of salt stress (control, 25 mM, 50 mM, and 100 mM NaCl) in pea plants grown in the year 2019–2020. The aim of the present study was to evaluate pea performance under saline conditions by salicylic acid sprays. Pea growth and yield were significantly decreased at 100 mM NaCl compared with the control and other salinity levels. Moreover, the growth and yield of pea were improved under exogenous application of salicylic acid treatment at 3 µM than others. Quality traits, i.e., carotenoids, ascorbic acid, and phenolic content, were decreased at 100 mM NaCl, and these quality traits were significantly improved under salicylic acid treatment of 3 µM. Chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, photosynthesis, and stomatal conductance were reduced at 100 mM NaCl. In contrast, photosynthetic pigments, photosynthesis, and stomatal conductance were enhanced at 3 µM salicylic acid. The increases in SOD, CAT, POD, and APX were observed at 100 mM NaCl and 3 µM salicylic acid. The current study proved that exogenous application of salicylic acid concentrations had the potential to mitigate the salinity’s adverse effects by maintaining the physiological and metabolic activities of pea plants.

Irrigation of crops with domestic wastewater (DW) is a common practice in developing countries like India. However, domestic wastewater irrigation poses a risk of migration of toxic heavy metals to edible parts of crops, which requires serious measures to prevent their uptake. In this study, the effect of DW irrigation in comparison with Sarbal Lake water (SLW) and borewell water (BW) on soil characteristics and cultivated saffron (Crocus sativus L.) was investigated. For this purpose, samples of water, soil, and saffron (corm, petal, and stigma) were collected from the suburban area of Pampore, Srinagar district, Jammu and Kashmir, India. The results showed that DW irrigation had the maximum significant (p < 0.05) influence on the physico-chemical and nutrient characteristics of the soil, followed by SLW and BW irrigation, respectively. The growth and yield parameters of saffron were also significantly (p < 0.05) increased in the case of DW irrigation as compared to SLW and BW. The quality ranking of the cultivated saffron was found to be in accordance with the ISO standard (III: BW and II: DW and SLW). On the other hand, DW irrigation showed a significant increase in heavy metal contents (mg/kg) of saffron plant parts such as As (0.21–0.40), Cd (0.04–0.09), Cr (0.16–0.41), Cu (7.31–14. 75), Fe (142.38–303.15), Pb (0.18–0.31), Mn (15.26–22.81), Hg (0.18–0.25), Ni (0.74–1.18), Se (0.13–0.22), and Zn (3.44–4.59), followed by SLW and BW. However, the levels of heavy metals did not exceed the FAO/WHO safe limits. Bioaccumulation factor (BAF), dietary intake modeling (DIM<0.006496), health risk assessment (HRI<0.028571), and target hazard quotient (THQ<1) analyses showed no potential health hazard associated with the consumption of saffron irrigated with DW and SLW. Therefore, the results of this study provide valuable insights into the optimization of irrigation sources for saffron cultivation.

Climacteric rise in the rate of respiration and ethylene production in harvested persimmon (Diospyros kaki) fruits leads to early onset of fruit tissue senescence. Therefore, this study was carried out to maintain the quality of stored persimmons by using edible coatings. For this purpose, Aloe vera gel was combined with food hydrocolloids, gum arabic or tragacanth gum, and applied on persimmon fruits that were stored for 20 days at 20 ± 1 °C and 80–85% RH. Biocomposite coatings, compared to control, remarkably reduced weight loss, decay incidence, respiration rate, ethylene production, electrolyte leakage, malondialdehyde, H₂O₂ and superoxide anion content in stored fruits. The use of composite coatings inhibited colour change by reducing the accumulation of total carotenoids, maintained higher antioxidative enzymes activity and suppressed the activity of cell wall degrading enzymes, resultantly preserving cell wall components. Composite coated fruits exhibited the least change in biochemical attributes and higher sensory scores in comparison with non-coated fruits at the end of the storage period. In conclusion, Aloe vera gel/gum arabic was the most effective coating treatment before storing persimmons.

Broccoli is rich in vitamins, antioxidants, minerals, free from calories and fat necessary for a healthy life. The production of broccoli is poor as compared to the developed world because of different biotic and abiotic stress. The nutritional stress is increasing with the passage of time because of low soil fertility and numerous stresses occur in the root zone of plants which reduce the uptake of minerals. Therefore, the current study was conducted on the foliar application of Zn and B to enhance broccoli production with excellent nutritional properties important for human health. Foliar application of Zn + B increased the plant height, stem length, and diameter, number of leaves, leaf length and width, root fresh and dry weight, number of florets, head diameter, and weight, chlorophyll a and b, total chlorophyll, carotenoids, nitrogen and potassium concentration in leaves and head. Stem length and diameter, number of leaves, leaf length and width, root length, number of florets, head diameter, chlorophyll a, phosphorus concentration in leaves and head, and potassium n head. So, the current study improved the growth, yield, and quality of broccoli under foliar application of Zn and B alone and their mixture. It has been concluded that the production and quality of broccoli are enhanced under foliar application of different micronutrients.