Aroma is one of the main characteristics that guide rice purchases worldwide. Aromatic rice varieties are generally less adapted to biotic and abiotic stresses. Among the abiotic constraints, drought stress causes considerable yield losses. This review describes advances in breeding for aroma and drought tolerance in rice and investigates the possibility of combing these traits in one variety. Some of the major quantitative trait loci that have been discovered for drought tolerance were recently introgressed into aromatic varieties. However, more details on the performance of developed lines are still needed. Furthermore, there are not yet any published reports on the release of aromatic drought-tolerant rice varieties.

Drought is among the major abiotic stresses on rice production that can cause yield losses of up to 100% under severe drought conditions. Neither of the rice varieties currently grown in Burundi can withstand very low and irregular precipitation. This study identified genotypes that have putative quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with drought tolerance and determined their performance in the field. Two hundred and fifteen genotypes were grown in the field under both drought and irrigated conditions. Genomic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was extracted from rice leaves for further genotypic screening. The results revealed the presence of the QTLs qDTY12.1, qDTY3.1, qDTY2-2_1, and qDTY1.1 in 90%, 85%, 53%, and 22% of the evaluated genotypes, respectively. The results of the phenotypic evaluation showed a significant yield reduction due to drought stress. Yield components and other agronomic traits were also negatively affected by drought. Genotypes having high yield best linear unbiased predictions (BLUPs) with two or more major QTLs for drought tolerance, including IR 108044-B-B-B-3-B-B, IR 92522-45-3-1-4, and BRRI DHAN 55 are of great interest for breeding programs to improve the drought tolerance of lines or varieties with other preferred traits.

Seed-borne fungi are solemn and deleterious pathogens capable of causing significant losses of quantity and quality losses in maize seeds and seedlings. They infect the crop at all points of the production chain from farms to stores. A yield loss of up to 50% can be encountered. Currently, chemical control of the disease is being implemented, though it is accompanied by several negative effects. This study aimed at identifying seed-borne fungi of maize and effective management options. A deep-freezing blotter method and morphological identification of the fungal species were implemented. The seed-borne fungi detected were Fusarium verticillioides, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium spp., Rhizopus spp., and Curvularia spp. However, in farmer-saved seeds, fungal incidences were significantly higher (p < 0.01) than in certified seeds. To identify more effective management options, the efficacy of water and ethanol-extracted bio-fungicides from three plant species, namely, neem (Azadirachta indica), ginger (Zingiber officinale), and coffee (Coffea arabica) were evaluated. From in vitro assays, ethanol-extracted bio-fungicides have a 100% inhibitory effect on fungal growth, whilst the inhibitory effects of water-extracted bio-fungicides are 55.88% (Azadirachta indica) and 46.31% (Zingiber officinale), followed by 5.15% (Coffea arabica). For the case of an in vivo assay, maize seeds treated with water-extracted bio-fungicides have higher seed germination and seedling vigor percentages. For germination, seeds treated with water-extracted bio-fungicides have higher percentages (neem and ginger (90%) followed by coffee (72.5%)) than ethanol-extracted bio-fungicides (neem (0%), ginger (2.5%), and coffee (0%)). A similar observation is made for seedling weight. Therefore, the tested water-extracted bio-fungicides can be used in treating seeds before sowing them. Further studies on effective methods of extracting bioactive compounds, and improving their shelf life, are recommended.

Cotton is an important commodity in various industries across the globe; however, cotton yield is adversely affected by the existence of pathogenic fungi included Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. vasinfectum (FOV), the causative of Fusarium wilt (FW), which is among the major disease threatening cotton production in Tanzania. In this study the screening of 25 selected varieties resistance to FOV were done under greenhouse conditions by inoculating the emerged cotton seedlings with 1.0 x 108 conidia/ml of F. oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum using root cut dip method. The fusarium wilt disease was evaluated based on foliar symptoms (disease severity scaling and vascular coloration). Out of 25 evaluated cotton candidates, three candidates F 135, HC-B4-75 and UK 66 were significantly higher resistant with lower disease severity than others, while QUIT122, IL85, PSF2-1-1 and UK91 have significantly low resistance.

Citral is the principal monoterpene aldehyde responsible for the characteristic aroma, quality, and industrial value of Cymbopogon species. Despite rapid advances in transcriptomic, metabolomic, and biochemical research, the extent of experimental support for different stages of citral biosynthesis and their relevance to crop improvement remain unclear. This structured scoping review followed the PRISMA-ScR framework to characterize current evidence on citral biosynthetic pathways, functional validation of pathway components, regulatory mechanisms, environmental regulation, and implications for breeding and biotechnology. Eighty-four eligible publications were evaluated using a Pathway–Validation–Environment Interaction Matrix and an Evidence Maturity Index, which assessed the strength of experimental evidence across pathway components. The evidence synthesis showed that precursor supply pathways, particularly the methylerythritol phosphate pathway and geranyl diphosphate-associated steps, have received extensive research attention, although many conclusions remain based on transcript abundance rather than direct functional validation. Geraniol formation represents one of the most experimentally supported stages, with evidence from biochemical assays, localization studies, and functional analyses. Recent studies have improved understanding of terminal oxidation reactions through enzyme characterization and transient functional approaches. However, regulatory networks, metabolic flux control, chemotype stability, and genotype-to-phenotype relationships remain insufficiently characterized. Environmental conditions, genotype effects, harvest practices, and post-harvest handling influence citral accumulation through interactions between metabolic regulation and plant physiology. Future research should prioritize functional genomics, enzyme kinetics, metabolic flux analysis, regulatory network validation, and integrated multi-omics approaches. This evidence framework supports improved understanding of citral biosynthesis and informs breeding strategies, metabolic engineering, and quality standardization of Cymbopogon essential oils.