Maize (Zea mays L.) is an important crop grown for food, feed, and energy. In general, maize yield is decreased due to drought stress during the reproductive stages, and, hence, it is critical to improve the grain yield under drought. A field experiment was conducted with a split-plot design. The main factor was the irrigation regime viz. well-irrigated conditions and withholding irrigation from tasseling to grain filling for 21 days. The subplots include six treatments, namely, (i) the control (water spray), (ii) zinc oxide @ 100 ppm, (iii) manganese oxide @ 20 ppm, (iv) nZnO @ 100 ppm + nMnO @ 20 ppm, (v) Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) Nano Revive @ 1.0%, and (vi) zinc sulfate 0.25% + manganese sulfate 0.25%. During drought stress, the anthesis–silking interval (ASI), chlorophyll a and b content, proline, starch, and carbohydrate fractions were recorded. At harvest, the grain-filling rate and duration, per cent green leaf area, and yield traits were recorded. Drought stress increased the proline (38.1%) and anthesis–silking interval (0.45 d) over the irrigated condition. However, the foliar application of ZnO (100 ppm) and nMnO (20 ppm) lowered the ASI and increased the green leaf area, leaf chlorophyll index, and proline content over water spray. The seed-filling rate (17%), seed-filling duration (11%), and seed yield (19%) decreased under drought. Nevertheless, the seed-filling rate (90%), seed-filling duration (13%), and seed yield (52%) were increased by the foliar spraying of nZnO (100 ppm) and nMnO (20 ppm) over water spray. These findings suggest that nZnO and nMnO significantly improve the grain yield of maize under drought stress conditions.

In the era of climate change, declining freshwater availability and rising labour costs are driving the search for alternative management systems to enhance grain yields and meet the demand of a growing global population. Direct-seeded rice (DSR) has emerged as a sustainable alternative to traditional puddled transplanted rice, primarily due to its reduced input requirements, particularly water, as it eliminates the need for continuous field submergence. Simultaneously, it reduces labour requirement as it eliminates the need for a nursery. DSR offers significant advantages, including reduced water use (up to 50 %), lower greenhouse gas emissions, decreased labour dependency, improved soil health and enhanced economic returns. However, its widespread adoption is hindered by several challenges such as poor seedling establishment, high weed pressure, lodging susceptibility and nematode infestations. Recent advances in next-generation breeding strategies, including genome-wide association studies, gene editing, genomic selection and haplotype-based breeding, are increasingly being applied to address these challenges and develop rice varieties for DSR systems. Essential adaptive traits for successful DSR establishment include anaerobic germination potential, early seedling vigour, herbicide tolerance, strong root architecture and lodging resistance. By highlighting the critical role of these traits in DSR adaptation, this review underscores their potential impact and offers insights to advance DSR practices, while outlining the prerequisites for its successful cultivation.

Maize is a versatile crop that is primarily used as human food and animal feed. It is also a fundamental raw material utilized in various industrial products owing to its nutritional value. One of the most harmful abiotic stresses in maize cultivation is drought. A water shortage caused by drought limits crop development and yield because there is less available moisture. Water shortage stress causes restricted stomatal opening, enhanced photorespiration and accelerated photoreduction of oxygen in the chloroplast. Eventually, this causes oxidative damage in maize owing to ROS accumulation. Plants respond to drought stress by producing the phytohormone abscisic acid, closing their stomata, changing gene expression and preserving their osmotic balance. Nano micro fertilizers are a phenomenal tool for drought tolerance when combined with deficit soil moisture in maize. When it is paired with deficit soil moisture, nano micro fertilizers are an incredible weapon for drought tolerance under changing climatic conditions. It aids in keeping maize's green characteristics. The greater advantages of using nano micro fertilizers in maize are retention of chlorophyll, regulation of stomatal openings, the activities of antioxidant enzymes, the proliferation of roots and higher grain filling, which resulted in higher productivity. The development of stay-green character and drought resistance in maize is positively influenced by nano micro fertilizer with suitable form and dose. Under drought conditions, nanomicronutrients play a critical role in controlling physiological processes, reducing oxidative stress and preserving cellular homeostasis. Additionally, every micronutrient acts differently and produces a different physiological response related to drought tolerance.

The stay-green character is a crucial trait linked to delayed leaf senescence, which enables the plant to continue photosynthetic activity for an extended time under early and terminal drought. Reduced water availability causes early leaf senescence, lower chlorophyll content and eventually poor yield in maize. The objectives were to quantify the effects of irrigation regimes, nanocomposite levels physiological parameters, yield attributes and yield of maize. The main plot treatments comprised of well irrigated and withheld irrigation, while the sub plot treatments consisted of different nanoparticles viz., ZnO, MnO, (ZnO + MnO), TNAU nano revive and ZnSO4 + MnSO4. The results revealed that higher dry matter production (5282 and 9891 kg/ha), leaf nitrogen (44.28 and 39.97), grain filling rate, grain filling duration (34.44 days), green leaf area (92.50%) and proline content (0.59 and 1.28 mg g -1) were recorded at tasseling and grain filling stage, respectively under well-irrigated conditions. Foliar spraying of ZnO (100 ppm) and MnO (20 ppm) nanocomposite, registered higher root biomass (24.21 and 32.11 g/plant), leaf nitrogen (44.6 and 39.1), dry matter production, green leaf area, lowest proline content which ultimately resulted in a higher number of cobs/plant, number of grains row/cob, number of grains/grain row, test weight (1000 grains weight), shelling percentage, crop water use (18.79 kg/ha/mm), grain yield (8.20 t/ha), stover yield (12.2 t/ha) and benefit cost ratio of 2.4. Thus, it could be concluded that well-irrigated condition followed by foliar spray with ZnO (100 ppm) and MnO (20 ppm) registered higher growth, yield attributes, yield, and economics.

MAUSAM is officially published by India Meteorological Department. It has a huge scope in the field of meteorology, hydrology and geophysics. This study aimed to analyse the publication pattern and author’s metrics of MAUSAM journal over a period of 15 years in which the journal was indexed continuously in Scopus from 2008. The study is useful to know about the research evolution trends over a period. Data extracted from Scopus database were analyzed using Biblioshiny with R software. The results showed that in the period of 15 years from 2008 to 2022 the journal published 958 documents with 1633 authors during the period which received 3905 citations. The journal has an annual growth rate of 2.94 %. Khole M was the most prolific author with 38 articles. Pai DS paper published in 2014 received the highest citation of 969 citations with India Meteorological Department being the major contributing institution and India is the major contributing country. The top keywords used over the years include rainfall, climate change, trend analysis and temperature.