Utilizing environmentally friendly techniques for pathogen control in agriculture is a sustainable and eco-friendly approach to managing crop diseases. These techniques leverage the natural environment and ecosystem dynamics to reduce pathogen pressure, minimize the use of chemical inputs, and promote long-term agricultural productivity. Key strategies include crop rotation, intercropping, and maintaining biodiversity, all of which disrupt pathogen life cycles and enhance soil health. Biological control, such as introducing natural antagonists like beneficial fungi or bacteria, suppresses pathogen populations while promoting plant resilience. Additionally, practices such as mulching, soil solarization, and water management optimize environmental conditions to limit the development and spread of pathogens. These techniques also contribute to integrated pest management by providing sustainable, cost-effective solutions that reduce chemical dependency and mitigate climate change and other environmental impacts. This review discusses the importance of utilizing environmentally friendly techniques, highlighting their advantages, practical challenges, and limitations in different agro-ecological settings, and their role in advancing sustainable agriculture.

The use of alternative feed ingredients from the Agro-industry could be an efficient tool to improve the sustainability of dairy cow production. Since the richness in polyphenols, olive oil pomace (OOP), produced during olive oil milling, seems a promising by-product to ameliorate milk's nutritional value. The aim of this study was to test the use of OOP produced by means of a new technology (biphasic with stone deprivation) in dairy cow feeding strategy to evaluate the effect on animal performances, rumen microbiota, biohydrogenation processes and milk quality by a multidisciplinary approach. Forty multiparous Italian-Friesian dairy cows, at middle lactation, were randomly allotted into two homogenous groups and fed respectively a commercial diet (CON) and the experimental diet (OOPD) obtained by adding OOP to CON as partial replacement of maize silage. The two diets were formulated to be isoproteic and isoenergetic. The same diets were tested also in an in vitro trial aimed to evaluate their rumen degradability (% DEG). The dietary supplementation with OOP did not affect DM intake, rumen % DEG and milk production. The milk's nutritional quality was improved by increasing several important functional fatty acids (FAs; i.e., linoleic acid, conjugated linoleic acid, oleic acid, vaccenic acid). This finding was related to a decrease in rumen liquor biohydrogenation rate of unsaturated FAs. The stochiometric relation between volatile FA production in the rumen and methanogenesis suggested that OOP lowers the methane potential production (CON = 0.050 mol/L vs OOPD = 0.024 mol/L, SEM = 0.005, P = 0.0011). Rumen microbiota and fungi community did not be strongly altered by OOP dietary inclusion because few bacteria were affected at the genus level only. Particularly, Acetobacter, Prevotellaceae_UCG-004, Prevotellaceae_UCG-001, Eubacterium coprostanoligenes, Lachnospira, Acetitomaulatum, Lachnospiraceae_NK3A20 group were more abundant with OOPD condition (P < 0.05). Data reported in this study confirm that the use of OOP in dairy cow feeding can be an interesting strategy to improve milk nutritional quality increasing functional FA content without compromising the rumen degradability of the diet or causing strong perturbation of rumen ecosystem and maintaining animal performances.

Spittlebugs are xylem-sap feeding insects that can exploit a nutrient-poor diet, thanks to mutualistic endosymbionts residing in various organs of their body. Although obligate symbioses in some spittlebug species have been quite well studied, little is known about their facultative endosymbionts, especially those inhabiting the gut. Recently, the role played by spittlebugs as vectors of the phytopathogenetic bacterium Xylella fastidiosa aroused attention to this insect group, boosting investigations aimed at developing effective yet sustainable control strategies. Since spittlebug nymphs are currently the main target of applied control, the composition of gut bacterial community of the juveniles of Philaenus spumarius and Lepyronia coleoptrata was investigated using molecular techniques. Moreover, bacteria associated with their froth, sampled from different host plants, were studied. Results revealed that Sodalis and Rickettsia bacteria are the predominant taxa in the gut of P. spumarius and L. coleoptrata nymphs, respectively, while Rhodococcus was found in both species. Our investigations also highlighted the presence of recurring bacteria in the froth. Furthermore, the foam hosted several bacterial species depending on the host plant, the insect species, or on soil contaminant. Overall, first findings showed that nymphs harbor a large and diverse bacterial community in their gut and froth, providing new accounts to the knowledge on facultative symbionts of spittlebugs.

Tripartite interaction among arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), small grain cereals—including wheat, barley, oats, and rye—and pathogenic organisms constitute a highly complex ecological system with major implications for plant health, productivity and resilience. AMF colonization increases nutrient acquisition, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen, while concurrently priming host defense mechanisms that increase resistance to a broad spectrum of pathogens. These benefits, however, are strongly context-dependent and modulated by AMF species composition, host genotype, soil characteristics, and environmental conditions. AMF activate resistance pathways and modulate the rhizosphere microbiome, underscoring their central role in shaping plant–pathogen dynamics. Importantly, the relevance of these interactions extend beyond crop protection and yield stability to encompass food security and sustainability goals aligned with the One Health framework, which recognizes the interconnectedness of plant, environmental, and human health. Field implementation of AMF-based strategies has the potential to reduce reliance on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, thereby promoting sustainable cereal production, restoring soil biodiversity, and enhancing ecosystem services, with downstream benefits for human nutrition and environmental safety. This review integrates current knowledge on AMF–cereal–pathogen interactions, synthesizing mechanistic advances and applied perspectives while identifying critical knowledge gaps that must be addressed to effectively deploy AMF in resilient and sustainable agroecosystems within a One Health context.