Reliance on inorganic fertilizers with less or no use of organic fertilizers has impaired the productivity of soils worldwide. Therefore, the present study was conducted to quantify the effects of integrated nutrient management on rice yield, nutrient use efficiency, soil fertility, and carbon (C) sequestration in cultivated land. The experiment was designed with seven treatments comprising of a zero input control, recommended inorganic fertilizers (RD), poultry manure (PM) (5 t ha⁻¹) + 50% RD, PM (2.5 t ha⁻¹) + 75% RD, vermicompost (VC) (5 t ha⁻¹) + 50% RD, VC (2.5 t ha⁻¹) + 75% RD, and farmers’ practice (FP) with three replications that were laid out in a randomized complete block design. The highest grain yield (6.16–6.27 t ha⁻¹) was attained when VC and PM were applied at the rate of 2.5 t ha⁻¹ along with 75% RD. Uptake of nutrients and their subsequent use efficiencies appeared higher and satisfactory from the combined application of organic and inorganic fertilizers. The addition of organic fertilizer significantly influenced the organic carbon, total carbon, total nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, soil pH, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, calcium, and magnesium contents in post-harvest soil, which indicated enhancement of soil fertility. The maximum value of the organic carbon stock (18.70 t ha⁻¹), total carbon stock (20.81 t ha⁻¹), and organic carbon sequestration (1.75 t ha⁻¹) was observed in poultry manure at the rate of 5 t ha⁻¹ with 50% RD. The soil bulk density decreased slightly more than that of the control, which indicated the improvement of the physical properties of soil using organic manures. Therefore, regular nourishment of soil with organic and inorganic fertilizers might help rejuvenate the soils and ensure agricultural sustainability.

Salinity affects and limits the yield potential of pulse crops. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the salinity-induced physiological response of field peas by estimating the germination rate (%), accumulation of biomass, relative water content, and seedling vigor and salt tolerance index. The treatments included four salinity levels (NaCl) (i.e., 0 (control), 8, 12, and 16 dS m⁻¹, respectively) and eight field pea genotypes (i.e., BD4175, BD4182, BD4225, BD6944, BD4176, BD4193, BD4493, and BD4496). All treatments were arranged in a factorial completely randomized design and repeated four times. Results indicated that the percentage and rate of germination, percentage reduction of fresh and dry weight, relative water content, seedling vigor index, and salt tolerant index of all genotypes of field peas were influenced significantly by the different levels of salinity. The radicle and plumule of all field pea genotypes were damaged by applying 12 and 16 dS m⁻¹ salt stress. However, among these eight pea genotypes, two genotypes, namely BD4175 and BD4225, performed better under the 8 dS m⁻¹ level of salinity and these two genotypes may be recommended for cultivation in field conditions of saline coastal areas of Bangladesh, and can also be used in future breeding programs for the development of salt-tolerant pea cultivars.

Drought stress provokes plants to change their growth pattern and biochemical contents to overcome adverse situations. Soybean was grown under 40 (drought) and 80% (control) of field capacity (FC) to determine the morpho-physiological and biochemical alterations that occur under drought conditions. The experiment was conducted following a randomized complete block design with three replications. The results showed that drought exerted detrimental effects on photosynthetic attributes, leaf production, pigment and water content, plant growth, and dry matter production of soybean. However, drought favored producing a higher amount of proline and malondialdehyde in soybean leaf than in the control. The pod and seed production, grain size, and seed yield of soybean were also adversely affected by the drought, where genotypic variations were conspicuous. Interestingly, the studied morpho-physiological and biochemical parameters of AGS383 were minimally affected by drought. This genotype was capable of maintaining healthier root and shoot growth, greater leaf area, preserving leaf greenness and cell membrane stability, higher photosynthesis, absorbing water and sustaining leaf water potential, and lower amount of proline and malondialdehyde production under drought conditions. The heavier grains of AGS383 make it out yielder under both growth conditions. Considering the changes in morpho-physiological, biochemical, and yield contributing parameters, the genotype AGS383 could be cultivated as a relatively drought-tolerant, high-yielding soybean variety. Further study is needed to uncover the genes responsible for the adaptation of AGS383 to drought-stress environments, and this genotype might be used as parent material in a breeding program to develop a high-yielding, drought-tolerant soybean variety.

Fruits is a scientific journal for original articles and reviews on fruit crops in temperate, Mediterranean, subtropical and tropical regions

Elevated atmospheric heat is considered as one of the bottlenecks for global wheat production. Screening potential wheat genotypes against heat stress and selecting some suitable indicators to assist in understanding thermotolerance could be crucial for sustaining wheat cultivation. Accordingly, 80 diverse bread wheat genotypes were evaluated in controlled lab condition by imposing a week-long heat stress (35/25 ^°C D/N) at the seedling stage. The response of heat stress was evaluated using multivariate analysis techniques on 20 morpho-physiological traits. Results showed significant variations in the studied traits due to the imposition of heat stress. Eleven seedling traits that contributed significantly to the genotypic variability were identified using principal component analysis (PCA). A substantial correlation between most of the selected seedling attributes was observed. Hierarchical cluster analysis identified three distinct clusters among the tested wheat genotypes. Cluster 1, consisting of 33 genotypes, exhibited the highest tolerance to heat stress, followed by Cluster 2 (18 genotypes) with moderate tolerance and Cluster 3 (29 genotypes) showing susceptibility. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) approved that nearly 93 % of the wheat genotypes were appropriately ascribed to each cluster. The squared distance analysis confirmed the distinct nature of the clusters. Using multi-trait genotype-ideotype distance index (MGIDI), all 12 identified tolerant genotypes (BG-30, BD-468, BG-24, BD-9908, BG-32, BD-476, BD-594, BD-553, BD-488, BG-33, BD-495, and AS-10627) originated from Cluster 1. Selection gain in MGIDI analysis, broad-sense heritability, and multiple linear regression analysis together identified shoot and root dry and fresh weights, chlorophyll contents (a and total), shoot tissue water content, root-shoot dry weight ratio, and efficiency of photosystem II (PS II) as the most vital discriminatory factors explaining heat stress tolerance of 80 wheat genotypes. The identified genotypes with superior thermotolerance would offer resourceful genetic tools for breeders to improve wheat yield in warmer regions. The traits found to have greater contribution in explaining heat stress tolerance will be equally important in prioritizing future research endeavors.

Soil texture is an independent and innate soil property and other dynamic soil properties such as electrical conductivity (EC), organic carbon (OC) content and cation exchange capacity (CEC) are mostly dependent on it. An attempt was made to develop a model for numerically simulating soil texture and also to construct relationships of the developed model with other soil properties. Hypothetical data of particle size distribution and our data were used to justify and validate the newly defined indices. Scatter diagrams showed good association between the indices and hypothetical data of soil separates. Moreover, similar trends were observed between the line charts of USDA soil textural class codes and the indices. Strong correlations (r = 0.78–0.96) were found between the indices and soil separates (sand, silt and clay) for our data. However, the indices demonstrated moderate correlations (r = –0.34 to –0.55) with EC and OC of the soils. Strong nonlinear relationships were found between CEC and the three indices (R2 = 0.699, R2 = 0.732 and R2 = 0.672 (all P < 0.001). Furthermore, the variability of EC, OC and CEC within a single USDA textural class and customised textural index groups were described using the developed model. The developed indices showed excellent fitness for simulation of soil texture and demonstrated an extended applicability in terms of their relationships with soil properties related to soil texture, which will help in constructing digital soil maps.