Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is a vital tropical and subtropical fruit crop of significant economic and nutritional importance, yet its production faces severe challenges due to climate change. This paper examines the impacts of climate change on mango phenology, yield, and fruit quality, highlighting disruptions caused by rising temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, and increased frequency of extreme weather events such as droughts and heavy rainfall. These changes affect critical physiological processes, including flowering, fruit set, and carbohydrate metabolism, leading to irregular bearing, reduced yields, and compromised fruit quality such as, size, color, and sweetness. climate-induced stressors exacerbate pest and disease pressures, further threatening production. Adaptation and mitigation strategies, including improved irrigation systems, canopy management, mulching, and the use of micronutrients like zinc and boron, are discussed as practical solutions to enhance resilience. The paper also explores future perspectives, emphasizing precision horticulture, climate-smart agricultural practices, and supportive policy frameworks to ensure sustainable mango production. By integrating advanced technologies, resilient cultivars, and innovative farming practices, this study underscores the potential to mitigate climate change impacts and secure mango production for global food security and farmer livelihoods.

Basmati rice, a premium aromatic variety central to the export economies of India and Pakistan (valued at US$14.17 billion and US$3.96 billion in 2024, respectively), faces severe productivity threats from soil salinity, which affects 20% of irrigated lands globally and causes annual losses of US$27.2 billion. Traditional breeding's slow cycles (6–10 years) hinder rapid adaptation, necessitating innovative approaches. This review explores the integration of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing targeting stress-responsive transcription factors (e.g., NAC, MYB, WRKY families) and negative regulators (e.g., OsARR1, OsARM1) to enhance ion homeostasis, osmotic adjustment, and early maturity with speed breeding (SB) protocols that compress generation times to 4–6 cycles per year via extended photoperiods (22h light/2h dark) and controlled environments. Case studies demonstrate successful introgression of Saltol QTL and editing of OsBADH2 for aroma retention, yielding salt-tolerant lines with EC thresholds up to 8–12 dS/m and 10–15% earlier maturity. Socio-economic analyses highlight potential yield gains of 20–30% in salinized regions, while regulatory frameworks in South Asia emphasize biosafety. This synergistic strategy accelerates climate-resilient Basmati development, ensuring food security and economic stability amid escalating environmental pressures.

Seed germination is a critical stage in a plant’s life cycle and is highly vulnerable to abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, and high temperature, which can severely impair physiological and biochemical processes. Seed priming a controlled pre-sowing hydration treatment has emerged as an effective strategy to improve seed performance under these unfavorable conditions. This review highlights the mechanisms and benefits of different priming techniques, including hydropriming, Osmo priming, hormonal priming, bio-priming, and nano-priming, in mitigating abiotic stress impacts. Primed seeds exhibit enhanced enzymatic activity, antioxidant defense, osmotic regulation, and hormonal balance, resulting in improved germination, seedling vigor, and stress resilience. Under drought conditions, priming promotes osmotic adjustment and antioxidant capacity; under salinity stress, it maintains ion homeostasis and photosynthetic efficiency; and under heat stress, it stabilizes proteins and activates heat shock responses. Recent advancements such as molecular, nano-, and bio-priming demonstrate the potential to enhance crop tolerance and productivity sustainably. Overall, seed priming represents a cost-effective, eco-friendly, and practical approach to strengthen crop resilience and ensure food security under changing climatic conditions.

Terminal heat stress during the grain-filling stage and widespread micronutrient (especially zinc) deficiency poses major threats to global wheat productivity and nutritional security. This study focuses on the marker-assisted introgression of QTLs conferring terminal heat tolerance (early anthesis via Xbarc186 on 4AL, kernel weight via Xgwm190 on 1BS) and high grain zinc concentration (including Gpc-B1/NAM-B1 on 6BS and stable QTLs on 4DS, 6AS, and 7BL) into elite bread wheat backgrounds using marker-assisted backcross breeding (MABB). Foreground selection with tightly linked SSR/SNP/KASP markers, recombinant selection to minimize linkage drag, and background selection for high recurrent parent genome recovery (90–98%) enabled the development of improved lines with enhanced heat resilience and elevated grain zinc (target >45 mg/kg) without compromising yield potential. Physiological mechanisms such as maintained photosynthetic efficiency, antioxidant defense, stay-green trait, and efficient nutrient remobilization underpin the tolerance, while biofortification leverages wild emmer and synthetic hexaploid diversity. Multi-environment evaluations confirm significant improvements in thousand-grain weight, yield stability under late-sown conditions, and grain zinc content. Integration with speed breeding and genomic selection accelerates the development of climate-resilient, nutritionally enriched wheat varieties, offering a sustainable pathway to combat hidden hunger and ensure food security in heat-prone regions.