Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) is of great economic importance and constitutes one of the model plants for salinity and drought tolerance in the Mediterranean climate. This study aimed to study the physiological responses of Q6 (a quinoa line developed by International Center for Bio-saline Agriculture (ICBA) in cooperation with the National Center for Agricultural Research (NARC), Jordan) grown under in vitro salt-stressing conditions (MS Media plus either 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, or 200 mM of NaCl) and to determine the highest salt level that Q6 plantlets can tolerate. After this, different levels of chemically synthesized silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) (25, 50, and 75 mg/L) were added to the growth MS media to examine if they can boost the mitigation powers of Q6 plantlets against the highest salt level that the Q6 plantlets could tolerate. Data showed that all tested growth parameters were negatively affected by adding NaCl to the media at all levels. Shoot length, proliferation, and fresh and dry weights declined to reach minimum values at 200 mM NaCl when compared to the other NaCl levels. Similarly, chlorophyll, protein, and ion content were negatively affected when exposed to NaCl at all levels, while proline increased significantly with increasing NaCl in the growth media. The addition of Ag NPs resulted in improving the mitigation powers of Q6 plantlets, especially when 75 mg/L Ag NPs were added, as this resulted in a significant improvement in microshoot growth under 200 mM NaCl when compared to the control. Adding 75 mg/L of Ag NPs to 200 mM NaCl improved shoot growth (3.56 cm) when compared to (1.04 cm) obtained plantlets that were grown in 200 mM NaCl alone. Further, other growth parameters were almost doubled by adding 75 mg/L of Ag NPs to 200 mM NaCl when compared to 200 mM NaCl alone. Additionally, adding Ag NPs (especially at the 75 mg/L level) to the media improved total chlorophyll, protein, and ion content while also reducing proline when compared to the control, which indicated an improvement in microshoot tolerance to salt-stressing conditions. These results indicate that adding specific concentrations of Ag NPs improves the growth performance and stress tolerance of Q6 grown under salt-stressing conditions.

Salvia dominica L. is an important wild medicinal plant that grows in Jordan and neighboring countries, and this plant has been suffering from many threats in its wild environment. Therefore, this research aims to establish a comprehensive and sustainable approach via an in vitro propagation and conservation system for the S. dominica L. plant. Axillary buds were used to initiate the in vitro culture on Murashige and Skoog MS media supplemented with 0.5 mg L⁻¹ of GA₃. In vitro shoot proliferation and rooting were experimented on with different concentrations of cytokinins and auxins, respectively. Calli were induced in the dark on excised leaf discs (0.5 cm in diameter), and multiplication was experimented on with different growth regulators. Cryopreservation experiments were applied on the callused segments under different growth conditions via the vitrification technique. A full protocol was achieved for shoot proliferation with 6.3 shoots/explant using 1.2 mg L⁻¹ of thidiazuron (TDZ), while rooting was achieved at 1.5 mg L⁻¹ of NAA with 6.6 functional roots/explant. Acclimatization was completely successful for the rooted plants. The highest callus production with 5.81 g/calli was achieved using 1.5 mg L⁻¹ of benzylaminopurine (BAP). Cryopreservation of the S. dominica calli was successfully achieved when a pure plant vitrification solution (PVS2) was used to dehydrate the calli for 20 min after immersion in the loading solution for 20 min with a 76.6% regrowth percentage. The loading and the plant vitrification solution type and duration were the most critical points in the regrowth of the cryopreserved calli. In conclusion, a successful protocol was set up for the in vitro propagation and conservation of S. dominica calli. This study has prompted us to perform further studies on sustainable in vitro production and conservation of critically endangered medicinal plants to implement a green environment protecting against surrounding threats.

Osmotic stress is one of the main destructive abiotic factors that hinder plant growth and development. In this research, the role of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) in mitigating the negative impact of osmotic stress on in vitro grown Chenopodium quinoa (Quinoa 6 Line; Q6) was investigated to determine whether Ag NPs were able to reduce the negative effects on the in vitro grown cultures of the Q6 line. The explants were subcultured onto a special osmostressing media containing sucrose, sorbitol, or mannitol at different levels (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 mol/L) to mimic the osmotic stressing environment for four weeks. Then, stress physiological responses of in vitro grown Q6 under the induced osmotic stress were investigated to determine the highest stress level that the microshoots could tolerate. Next, Ag NPs; 25, 50, and 75 mg/L were added to the medium that contained the highest stress level of the induced osmotic stress to determine if their addition improved the physiological performance of the Q6 microshoots under the most severe osmotic agent levels. The results revealed that 0.4 mol/L sucrose, 0.3 mol/L sorbitol, and 0.3 mol/L mannitol were the highest stress levels that the microshoots could tolerate. The addition of 75 mg/L Ag NPs to the previous highest stress levels resulted in a significant increase in the following: stem length (SL), leaves number (LN), fresh weight (FW), dry weight (DW), total chlorophyll, protein, calcium (Ca), and phosphorus (P) contents, while it caused a reduction in proline, sodium (Na) ions, and potassium (K) ions. These results indicate that the negative consequences of osmotic stress on Q6 quinoa microshoots could be mitigated by adding specific concentrations of Ag NPs to the culture medium.

Jordan is a highly vulnerable country to the negative impacts of climate change. It’s suffering from unprecedented waves of drought and high temperatures, which threaten mostly rainfed agriculture. Farmers in Madaba Province depend on rainfed agriculture and are, unfortunately extremely, distressed from climate change impacts on their crops. Limited studies have been conducted about climate change impacts on agricultural crops and methods for adaptation from the point of view of Madaba farmers. The aims of this study were to find out the extent of knowledge that Madaba farmers possess about the impacts of climate change on agriculture and what adaptation practices they use, in addition to the challenges they face in this aspect and the solutions that might be helpful to enrich their knowledge to encounter climate change impacts. In this study, 353 farmers from Madaba responded to a questionnaire to determine their trends towards climate change and the adaptation practices they apply to encounter such a problem. The results showed that farmers' knowledge about climate change and the agricultural practices for adaptation was moderate (M= 2.32, M= 2.15, respectively) and came primarily from other farmers' experiences. The results also showed that farmers applied adaptation practices at a moderate level (M= 2.64), while surface tillage and crop rotation were the most frequently used methods to mitigate climate change. Furthermore, data indicated that the lack of government support for farmers was the most significant challenge to applying the adaptation measures. The study also demonstrated that increasing government support for farmers and providing them with training courses were among the most acceptable solutions for addressing the risks of climate change. Finally, the study showed that age and education level played a significant role in the extent to which farmers adopted adaptation methods to mitigate climate change consequences. It is hoped that this study will guide the government and decision-makers to become aware of the most important challenges facing Madaba farmers due to climate change and to exert greater effort in improving and following up on the plans they have prepared to confront these threats to agriculture in a more effective and practical way.

Thymus bovei (Zateer Barry), a native plant species in Jordan, is highly endangered. This thyme species was known for its healing properties. For long-term conservation of T. bovei shoot tips, different cryopreservation methods were examined. For vitrification methods, plant vitrification solution (PVS2) treatment was applied to shoot tips using two phases (60% then 100% concentration) with 10 min each. The highest survival and regrowth percentages (80% and 45%) were obtained using PVS2 for 60 min following cryopreservation. Furthermore, using 2 M glycerol with sucrose at 0.4 M as a loading solution was the best when compared to the results provided by the other combinations of loading solutions (survival 60% and regrowth 30%). In the loading solution and PVS type experiment, explants were treated with 2 M glycerol and 0.4 M, with PVS2 producing the highest results (60% and 30%) of survival and regrowth, respectively, as compared to findings obtained with other loading and PVS solution types. Using encapsulation dehydration methods, survival (85%) and regrowth (50%) rates were attained after incubated in up to three days in sucrose at (0.5 M), then with six hours of dehydration. Finally, cryopreservation using V-cryoplate gave about 85% survival and 40% regrowth rates after treating in PVS2 for 40 min. These findings highlight effective cryopreservation techniques for conserving T. bovei, emphasizing the need for further development and application of these methods to safeguard this valuable species.

Cardiospermum halicacabum is an ornamental plant known for its significant medicinal benefits. It is utilized in the treatment of various ailments, including rheumatism, neurological disorders, and snakebites. However, overgrazing and poor seed germination are the main constraints for C. halicacabum propagation and sustainability. Tissue culture can be applied as an efficient technique for increasing and conserving this plant. In this research, the effect of several growth regulators and pH levels on C. halicacabum micropropagation was investigated. For shoot proliferation growth regulators (Benzyl Amino Purine (BAP), zeatin, and kinetin) at different levels (0.0, 0.4, 0.8, 1.2, 1.6, and 2.0 mg/L) were tested to enhance shoot development in C. halicacabum. Benzyl Amino Purine (BAP) was found to be the most effective hormone for shoot multiplication at (0.8 mg/L) BAP, which produced 3.89 shoots. Meanwhile, pH ranging from 4.0 to 6.0 did not show any significant difference related to in vitro propagation. For rooting, indole acetic acid (IAA), naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), and indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) at (0.0, 0.4, 0.8, 1.2, 1.6, and 2.0 mg/L) were tested. IAA was the best growth regulator used for rooting of C. halicacabum. Most plantlets (90%) were acclimatized under greenhouse conditions. Our data demonstrate a successful in vitro propagation method of C. halicacabum. This would encourage further research work on C. halicacabum, such as investigating its active ingredients and antimicrobial powers.