Low-cost air temperature sensors are an emerging theme in environmental monitoring. These sensors offer the advantage of making microclimate monitoring feasible due to their affordability. However, they are limited by the quality of the data they provide; in many cases, they have been reported to have presented errors in the sensor readings. These errors have been shown to improve after calibration was applied. The lack of a comprehensive understanding of the available calibration techniques, models, and sensor types has led to studies presenting heterogeneity in models and techniques alongside different performance metrics. To address this gap, this study conducted a systematic review following the PRISMA guidelines, reviewing studies from 2015 to 2024 across the databases Web of Science and Scopus, alongside the search engine Google Scholar. The aim was to identify the calibration techniques and models, the commercially available low-cost air temperature sensors used, the performance metrics utilised, and the calibration settings. The findings presented three main categories of calibration models utilised in the collected studies: linear, polynomial, and machine learning. Twenty-two commercially available low-cost sensors were identified, with the DHT22 sensor being the most utilised. Indoor settings were identified as the most preferred for conducting calibrations. Key challenges included limitations in reported results for calibration by the studies, the use of different performance metrics across studies, insufficient studies conducting calibration, and the diversity in sensor types utilised.

Although herbicides are essential for global agriculture and controlling weeds, they impact soil microbial communities and CO₂ emissions. However, the effects of herbicides, tillage systems, and nitrogen fertilisation on CO₂ emissions under different environmental conditions are poorly understood. This review explores how various agricultural practices and inputs affect CO₂ emissions and addresses the impact of pest-management strategies, tillage systems, and nitrogen fertiliser usage on CO₂ emissions using multiple databases. Key findings indicate that both increased and decreased tendencies in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were observed, depending on the herbicide type, dose, soil properties, and application methods. Several studies reported a positive correlation between CO₂ emissions and increased agricultural production. Combining herbicides with other methods effectively controls emissions with minimal chemical inputs. Conservation practices like no-tillage were more effective than conventional tillage in mitigating carbon emissions. Integrated pest management, conservation tillage, and nitrogen fertiliser rate optimisation were shown to reduce herbicide use and soil greenhouse gas emissions. Fertilisers are similarly important; depending on the dosage, they may support yield or harm the soil. Fertiliser benefits are contingent on appropriate management practices for specific soil and field conditions. This review highlights the significance of adaptable management strategies that consider local environmental conditions and can guide future studies and inform policies to promote sustainable agriculture practices worldwide.

Agriculture must balance productivity with greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity, and resource concerns. This study examined how tillage (conventional, CT; minimum, MT), nitrogen fertilisation (0–221 kg N ha⁻¹), and herbicide rates (0–100%) interactively affected soil CO₂ emissions, vegetation vigour, and weed diversity in maize production during 2022. A factorial experiment was conducted on a 1 ha with 40 plots monitored soil temperature, moisture, penetration resistance, normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), weed diversity (Simpson’s Index), and CO₂ emissions (closed-chamber method). Minimum tillage increased soil water retention (9.3 ± 6.5% vs. 5.4 ± 4.3%), soil temperature (28.0 ± 1.5), and compaction (0.6 ± 0.3 vs. 0.1 ± 0.0 MPa), while enhancing weed diversity (0.53–0.80 vs. 0.38–0.67). MT produced higher CO₂ emissions than CT, especially at 147 kg N ha⁻¹ (49.9 ± 15.7 vs. 29.1 ± 11.6 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹), peaking under MT-147 kg N ha⁻¹-H75 (79.4 ± 1.2 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹). NDVI responses varied between tillage systems; under CT, vegetation vigour peaked at 75% herbicide application, while under MT vegetation was more responsive to nitrogen and more sensitive to herbicide, highlighting nitrogen × herbicide interaction trade-offs. Overall, MT enhanced water conservation and weed diversity but increased short-term CO₂ emissions. This study reports first-year, site-specific results from an ongoing multi-year field experiment; therefore, the findings were interpreted as short-term, season-specific responses. This highlights the need for site-specific, climate-smart management that integrates emissions, soil health, biodiversity, and productivity.

Onions (Allium cepa L.) are widely cultivated and consumed vegetable crops around the world. Weed interference is the main limitation to onion production. Onions grow slowly, are short-statured, and are non-branching, which makes them difficult to compete with weeds. The aim of this study was to summarise the literature published between 2020 and 2025 that evaluated the effectiveness of different weed control methods used in onion cultivation using a systematic review following the PRISMA guidelines. Based on the results, pendimethalin and oxyfluorfen were the most used and most effective herbicides. Combining pre- and post-emergence treatments and spraying herbicide mixtures improved weed control efficiency compared with single treatments. Acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitors can adversely affect onions and reduce yield, making them unsuitable for use in onion production. Integrated weed management practises, such as combining herbicides with manual weeding and using plant-based extracts, offer a sustainable approach that can reduce reliance on chemicals. Mechanical weed management is not widely adopted in onion production because its application poses numerous challenges. The future direction of weed management should focus on technological advances in mechanical weed control and the development of bioherbicides to reduce reliance on synthetic herbicides.

The intensive use of chemical fertilisers has reduced nutrient uptake efficiency in plants, mainly due to salinisation. This effect has prompted the investigation of alternative forms of plant nutrient management. One of the promising solutions to this is the use of microbial inoculants, specifically arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and the plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). This systematic review, conducted in accordance with PRISMA 2020 guidelines, analysed 36 peer-reviewed studies published between 2008 and 2025 across 18 countries to assess the effects of inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), both alone and in combination with plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), on maize growth, physiology, and biochemical responses. The main finding was that soil P availability was the primary factor determining whether inoculation was successful. This was especially noted in soils with soil-available P of less than 17 mg P kg⁻¹ of soil. Soil texture and pH also played key roles in both single AMF inoculation and dual AMF-PGPR inoculation. Several studies showed that dual inoculation improved maize stress tolerance by coordinating antioxidant activity, osmotic balance, and hormonal signalling, rather than through simple additive growth effects. Overall, the findings suggest that AMF-based inoculation is most effective when applied strategically in reduced-input, phosphorus-limited, or drought-prone maize systems, rather than as a universal solution. These results support targeting inoculation toward resource-constrained systems where returns are most likely, especially P-deficient soils.

Maize productivity and weed suppression are influenced by the combined use of tillage, nitrogen, and herbicide practices, but integrated evidence on crop and weed community responses to these management factors across growing seasons and tillage contexts remains limited. This study aimed to assess variation in total weed biomass, dicot and monocot weed abundance, dominant weed species, maize aboveground biomass, harvest index, and grain yield under conventional tillage (CT) and minimum tillage (MT), two nitrogen rates (74 and 147 kg N ha⁻¹), and five herbicide programs differing in active ingredient composition and application strategy, and to determine whether the relative importance of nitrogen and herbicide management varied with growing season and tillage context. Rainfed field trials were conducted in northwestern Hungary during the 2023 and 2025 growing seasons, and treatment-associated patterns were evaluated using exploratory analyses conducted separately for each year × tillage combination. In 2023, higher mean grain yield was observed at 147 than at 74 kg N ha⁻¹ under both CT (from 12.25 to 14.96 t ha⁻¹) and MT (from 11.95 to 15.41 t ha⁻¹). In 2025, exploratory ANOVA indicated herbicide-program-associated variation in grain yield under both tillage systems, and the highest yields were observed under the dicamba + nicosulfuron + prosulfuron treatment, reaching (21.02 t ha⁻¹) under CT and (14.82 t ha⁻¹) under MT. Total weed biomass also showed herbicide-program-associated variation in the exploratory analyses in 2025, with the lowest biomass observed under tembotrione in CT (17.56 g m⁻²) and dicamba + nicosulfuron + prosulfuron in MT (22.68 g m⁻²). Patterns of dicot and monocot abundance associated with herbicide program also differed among year × tillage contexts, and the dominant weed species differed between years and tillage systems. Crop biomass and harvest index varied less consistently and depended on year and tillage system. Nitrogen × herbicide interaction terms had exploratory p-values ≥ 0.05 for all response variables. Because treatments were not independently replicated, these non-significant interaction terms should not be interpreted as evidence that biological interactions were absent. Taken together, the observed treatment-associated patterns were linked more closely to nitrogen management in 2023 and herbicide program in 2025, while weed-group responses also varied with year and tillage system. By examining together crop performance and weed community responses, the study suggests that observed responses to nitrogen and herbicide management depended on context rather than being consistent across seasons and tillage systems.