With global climate change leading to increasing intensity and frequency of droughts, as well as the growing problem of soil salinization, these factors significantly affect crop growth, yield, and resilience to adversity. Oats are a cereal widely grown in temperate regions and are rich in nutritive value; however, the scientific literature on the response of oat to drought and salt stress has not yet been analyzed in detail. This study comprehensively analyzed the response of oat to drought stress and salt stress using data from the Web of Science core database and bibliometric methods with R (version4.3.1), VOSviewer (version 1.6.19), and Citespace (version6.3.1.0) software. The number of publications shows an increasing trend in drought stress and salt stress in oat over the past 30 years. In the field of drought-stress research, China, the United States, and Canada lead in terms of literature publication, with the most academic achievements being from China Agricultural University and Canadian Agricultural Food University. The journal with the highest number of published papers is Field Crops Research. Oat research primarily focuses on growth, yield, physiological and biochemical responses, and strategies for improving drought resistance. Screening of drought-tolerant genotypes and transformation of drought-tolerant genes may be key directions for future oat drought research. In the field of salt-stress research, contributions from China, the United States, and India stand out, with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Inner Mongolia Agricultural University producing the most significant research results. The largest number of published articles has been found in the Physiologia Plantarum journal. Current oat salt-stress research primarily covers growth, physiological and biochemical responses, and salt-tolerance mechanisms. It is expected that future oat salt research will focus more on physiological and biochemical responses, as well as gene-editing techniques. Despite achievements under single-stress conditions, combined drought and salt-stress effects on oat remain understudied, necessitating future research on their interaction at various biological levels. The purpose of this study is to provide potential theoretical directions for oat research on drought and salt stress.

White clover (Trifolium repens L.) is cultivated worldwide as a forage crop, green manure, and turfgrass, valued for its adaptability and broad distribution. Although numerous studies have investigated the adverse effects of drought stress on white clover growth and yield, a comprehensive bibliometric review has been lacking. To address this gap, we analyzed relevant publications from the Web of Science Core Collection (1990–2024) using VOSviewer (1.6.19.0) and R (4.3.1) software. Our findings reveal a consistent annual increase in research outputs, indicating sustained scholarly efforts to enhance white clover’s drought tolerance. China, New Zealand, Australia, the United States, and France lead in publication volume and maintain active international collaborations. Keyword co-occurrence analysis underscores the importance of phenotypic, physiological, and molecular mechanisms linked to drought resistance, particularly regarding plant growth and yield. Emerging directions include further exploration of transgenic technologies and molecular pathways to bolster white clover’s resilience under water-limited conditions. Overall, these insights offer a theoretical foundation for future research and provide a valuable reference for advancing sustainable agricultural practices in arid and semi-arid environments.

Oat is an important crop widely distributed in temperate zones and is also commonly planted in the karst areas of southwest China. However, due to severe rocky desertification, the complex soil in this area is characterized by high calcium content, alkaline conditions, and drought, which significantly negatively impact the growth of oat seedlings. To study the adaptability of oats to rocky desertification stress at the seedling stage, we investigated the effects of CaCl₂ (0–150 mM), the pH (3–9), and drought stress (PEG-6000 solution at 0 to −0.79 MPa) on seed germination and seedling growth. The results showed that (1) calcium stress had dual effects on seed germination within the range of 5–150 mM CaCl₂. Low concentrations of CaCl₂ (5 mM) promoted the germination potential, germination rate, germination index, and vigor index of oats, as well as the growth and biomass accumulation of radicles in oat seedlings; however, high concentrations of CaCl₂ inhibited these germination parameters. (2) Under drought stress, moderate concentrations of a PEG-6000 solution significantly improved the germination potential and germination rate of oat seeds, but the germination index and vigor index decreased with an increasing PEG-6000 concentration. When the PEG-6000 concentration corresponded to −0.06 MPa, the root growth and fresh weight accumulation of oat seedlings were significantly promoted; however, as the concentration increased to −0.53 MPa and –0.79 MPa, seed germination and seedling growth were significantly inhibited. (3) pH treatments had no significant effect on oat seed germination, but all growth indexes of oats showed a downward trend under alkaline conditions. These results suggest that suitable conditions for oat planting in karst rocky desertification areas are 5 mM CaCl₂, pH levels of 5–8, and drought stress between 0 and −0.32 MPa. This study provides a theoretical basis for oat introduction, cultivation, and stress-resistant breeding in this area.

Understanding how soil acidification and moisture jointly regulate carbon mineralization is particularly important in karst grasslands, where high carbonate content can interfere with CO₂-based measurements. In this study, a controlled incubation experiment was conducted using soils collected from a typical karst grassland in Guizhou Province, China. Two pH levels (4.5 and 6.5) and three moisture levels (30%, 40%, and 60% of field water-holding capacity, WHC) were applied in a full-factorial design following a pre-incubation step to minimize carbonate-derived CO₂ interference. Soil CO₂ efflux, emission rate, and cumulative mineralization were monitored over a 60-day incubation period. Both soil moisture and pH significantly affected carbon mineralization, with a clear interaction between the two factors (p < 0.05). CO₂ efflux peaked during the early incubation stage and declined thereafter, indicating rapid depletion of labile carbon substrates. Across both pH levels, increasing moisture consistently enhanced CO₂ efflux and cumulative mineralization. Under comparable moisture conditions, near-neutral soils (pH 6.5) exhibited higher mineralization rates than acidic soils (pH 4.5). The highest carbon mineralization was observed at 60% WHC under pH 6.5, whereas the lowest occurred at 30% WHC under pH 4.5. These results suggest that moisture availability regulates substrate diffusion and microbial activity, while soil acidification constrains microbial metabolism and enzyme function. Notably, the effect of pH became less pronounced under low moisture conditions, indicating that water limitation can override pH regulation. This study offers a methodological framework for quantifying carbon mineralization in carbonate-rich soils and underscores the necessity of accounting for both physical and chemical limiting factors, as well as the confounding influence of inherent carbonates. Nevertheless, given the exclusive use of a single soil type and controlled laboratory conditions, the findings constitute preliminary evidence and require validation under field conditions and across diverse soil types before broader generalization.