Soil salinization is a worldwide problem affecting agriculture and the environment. Utilizing saline land by screening and cultivating salt-tolerant crops is an economical and ecological solution. Leaf beet (Beta vulgaris var. cicla) is an important vegetable resource and has certain salt tolerance, but what concentration it can tolerate still remains to be verified. Hence, this work explored the adaptability of leaf beet to salt stress. A soil culture experiment was conducted. By adding NaCl to the soil, the concentrations of 0% (S₀), 0.3% (S₃), 0.5% (S₅) and 0.7% (S₇) NaCl salinity were set to analyze the changes of leaf beet growth (plant height, leaf number and biomass); leaf morphology (leaf area, shape, leaf mass per area (LMA) and tissue density); and leaf physiology (chlorophyll content, leaf relative water content (LRWC), water content at saturation (WCS), water saturation deficit (WSD) and succulence). The results showed that 0.3% NaCl salinity increased LMA and decreased biomass, while the rest were almost the same as the control (S₀). Under 0.5% and 0.7% NaCl salinity, LRWC decreased significantly, while WCS and WSD increased significantly. Under such salt stress, the leaf beet adapted by reducing plant height, delaying the engendering of new leaves, decreasing leaf area, changing leaf shape, maintaining high chlorophyll content, and increasing LMA, tissue density and succulence. With these strategies, the leaf beets survived under salt stress up to 0.7% NaCl salinity with a certain biomass, providing a meaningful exploration for the multi-purpose planting and application of leaf beets on saline soils.

• The maximum enhancement of growth performances was found in lettuce elicited with 10 mmol/L H₂O₂. • H₂O₂ elicitation increased minerals, phenolic compounds, and antioxidant quality of lettuce. • H₂O₂ elicitation increased chlorophyll content and photosynthetic efficiency of lettuce. • The impacts of H₂O₂ elicitation on growth and quality varied among two genotypes of lettuce.

Soil tillage and maize residues return are important practices for tackling and promoting soil quality and improving crop yield in the North China Plain (NCP), where winter wheat production is threatened by soil deterioration. Although maize residues incorporation with rotary tillage (RS) or deep plowing tillage (DS) is widespread in this region, only few studies have focused on rotation tillage. Four practices, namely RT (continuous rotary tillage without maize residues return), RS, DS, and RS/DS (rotary tillage every year and deep plowing interval of 2 years), were evaluated under field conditions lasting a period of 5 years. After a 5-year field experiment, the mean soil bulk density of the 0–30 cm soil layer decreased significantly with RS, DS, and RS/DS, i.e., by 4.19%, 6.33%, and 6.71% compared with RT, respectively. The treatments greatly improved the total soil porosity, soil aggregate size distribution, soil aggregate stability, and the root length density in the 0–30 cm soil layers. Residues return with DS and RS/DS treatments significantly increased the soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) storage in the 0–30 cm soil layer, mainly owed to the increases in the SOC and TN pool associated with the macro-aggregate. A positive trend in the grain yield was noted under both DS and RS/DS conditions, whereas a decreasing tendency was presented in continuous rotary treatments. In summary, RS/DS treatment significantly increased the amount of SOC and TN, improved the particle size distribution of soil aggregates, and thus improved the soil’s physicochemical properties, which is beneficial for wheat to achieve high yields. Our results suggested that RS/DS was a highly efficient practice to improve soil quality and increase crop production in the NCP.