Purpose: Consumers are giving greater attention to the selection of food due to the improvement in income and urbanization. Meanwhile, in recent years, the vegetables' farmers in Malaysia have been reported using an excessive quantity of pesticides. The vegetables exported to Singapore and China have been rejected in 2018 and 2017 due to the presence of excessive levels of pesticides. Such incidences have created massive concern to improve the safety standard of the vegetable industry. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate consumers' willingness to pay for food safety attributes of tomato.Design/methodology/approach: Discrete choice experiments has been used, and 490 respondents have completed the survey.Findings: Results suggested that consumers were willing to pay RM4.18 more for wholesome tomato relative to slightly damage tomato. Consumers also were willing to pay RM2.75 more for organic tomato relative to inorganic tomato. They were also willing to pay RM2.30 and RM1.29 more for certified and tomato sold at supermarket relative to uncertified and tomato sold at the wet market, respectively. The willingness to pay for safety attributes of tomato also varied according to the income, age and education level of the consumers.Research limitations/implications: If the farmers can respond effectively to the changes in consumers demand, it can be translated into business opportunities.Originality/value: This research able to provide relevant information related to the consumers' willingness to pay for food safety attributes of tomato in Malaysia.

Effective water and soil management is crucial for crop productivity, particularly in rice cultivation, where poor soil quality and water scarcity pose challenges. The response of deeper-rooted rice grown in soils amended with different soil amendments (SAs) to Internet of Things (IoT)-managed alternate wetting and drying (AWD) irrigations remains undetermined. This study explores the effects of various SAs on DRO-1 IR64 rice plants under IoT-based soil moisture monitoring of AWD irrigation. A greenhouse experiment executed at the Tokyo University of Agriculture assessed two water management regimes—continuous flooding (CF) and AWD—alongside six types of SAs: vermicompost and peat moss (S + VC + PM), spirulina powder (S + SPP), gypsum (S + GS), rice husk biochar (S + RHB), zeolite (S + ZL), and soil without amendment (S + WA). Soil water content was continuously monitored at 10 cm depth using TEROS 10 probes, with data logged via a ZL6 device and managed through the ZENTRA Cloud application (METER GROUP Company). Under AWD conditions, VC + PM showed the greatest decline in volumetric water content due to enhanced root development and water uptake. In contrast, SPP and ZL maintained consistent water levels. Organic amendments like VC + PM improved soil properties and grain yield, while AWD with ZL and GS optimized water use. Strong associations exist between root traits, biomass, and grain yield. These findings highlight the benefits of integrating SAs for improved productivity in drought-prone rice systems.

Oil flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) is a valuable agricultural crop with potential uses in industries including oil production, nutrition, and medicine. It has a good reputation in Afghanistan as an oil crop. The objective of the current research was to compare the most significant morphological parameters and fatty acid compositions of some local oilflax. The study used a randomized complete block design and was conducted on the research and experimental farm of Parwan University's (REFPU) Faculty of Agriculture in Parwan, Afghanistan, during the 2022 growing season. In this experiment, four seed samples from various regions of Afghanistan [Parwan (V1), Badakhshan (V2), Baghlan (V3), and Kunduz (V4)] were used. The results showed no significant difference between the local varieties on all growth parameters except for the number of seeds per capsule (NSC) and the weight of a thousand seeds (WTS). The maximum NSC was significantly observed in the V1 (10.8), followed by the V3 (7.13) and the V4 (7.33), and the lowest was recorded in the V2 (6.7). The heaviest WTS were significantly produced by V1 (9 gr) compared to V2 (4.67 gr), V3 (5.67 gr), and V4 (4.67 gr). Also, there was not a noticeable difference in the concentration of linoleic acid (LA) and linolenic acid (LLA) between the varieties. Each of the studied local varieties can be used because of their similar performance.

Drought reduces soil moisture and impairs root function, posing a significant threat to rice production in arid regions. The influence of soil amendments on early rice root development under semi-dry cultivation remains insufficiently characterized, especially when assessed using non-destructive rhizotron techniques. This study employed a scanner-based rhizotron system to evaluate early root responses of rice seedlings to six amendments under semi-dry irrigation: vermicompost and peat moss, spirulina powder, gypsum, rice husk biochar, zeolite, and an unamended control. The vermicompost plus peat moss (VC+PM) treatment demonstrated the highest water-holding capacity (26%), root projected area (9.60 cm² plant⁻¹), and root surface area (84.79 cm² plant⁻¹). VC+PM also promoted extensive lateral branching (233 secondary and 1709 tertiary roots) and the greatest total lateral root length (363.09 cm plant⁻¹), resulting in superior biomass (shoot: 140.00 mg plant⁻¹; root: 56.70 mg plant⁻¹) and the lowest root-to-shoot ratio (0.90). These improvements are attributed to the enhanced moisture retention of peat moss and the nutrient and phytohormone contributions of vermicompost. In contrast, rice husk biochar exhibited the lowest water-holding capacity (14%), while other amendments produced moderate or limited effects. The results establish a direct relationship between improved soil water retention and early-stage drought-avoidant root development. The combination of VC and PM emerges as a promising approach to enhance root plasticity and seedling establishment in water-saving rice systems. As this study was conducted under controlled rhizotron conditions and limited to the seedling stage (20 days after sowing), future research should prioritize multi-season field trials to assess yield translation and economic feasibility assessments to support farmer adoption.