Heat stress poses a threat to plants in arid and semiarid regions, leading to soil salinization and plant mortality. Researchers are exploring remedies to alleviate these effects, including using gibberellic acid (GA3) to regulate plant enzymes and antioxidants. Additionally, sodium nitroprusside (SNP) is gaining attention, but its combined effect with GA3 requires further research. To address this gap, we investigated the effects of GA3 and SNP on plants under heat stress conditions. For that, wheat plants were cultivated under 40 °C for 6 h per day (15 days). Sodium nitroprusside (donor of NO and SNP) and gibberellic acid (GA3), respectively, with 100 µM and 5 µg/ml concentrations, were applied as foliar sprays at 10 days after sowing (DAS). Results showed that SNP + GA3 treatment had the highest plant height (4.48% increase), plant fresh weight (29.7%), plant dry weight (87%), photosynthetic rate (39.76%) and stomatal conductance (38.10%), and Rubisco (54.2%) compared to the control. Our findings indicate a significant increase in NO, H₂O₂, TBARS, SOD, POD, APX, proline, GR, and GB that greatly scavenged reactive oxygen species (ROS) for decreasing the adverse effect of stress. Such findings confirmed the efficacy of the combined treatment of SNP + GA3 under high-temperature stress compared to the solitary application of GA3, SNP, and control. In conclusion, using SNP + GA3 is a better strategy for mitigating heat stress in wheat than individual applications. Further research is recommended to validate the effectiveness of SNP + GA3 in other cereal crops. Graphical Abstract

Salinity stress adversely affects agricultural productivity by disrupting water uptake, causing nutrient imbalances, and leading to ion toxicity. Excessive salts in the soil hinder crops root growth and damage cellular functions, reducing photosynthetic capacity and inducing oxidative stress. Stomatal closure further limits carbon dioxide uptake that negatively impact plant growth. To ensure sustainable agriculture in salt-affected regions, it is essential to implement strategies like using biofertilizers (e.g. arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi = AMF) and activated carbon biochar. Both amendments can potentially mitigate the salinity stress by regulating antioxidants, gas exchange attributes and chlorophyll contents. The current study aims to explore the effect of EDTA-chelated biochar (ECB) with and without AMF on maize growth under salinity stress. Five levels of ECB (0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8%) were applied, with and without AMF. Results showed that 0.8ECB + AMF caused significant enhancement in shoot length (~ 22%), shoot fresh weight (~ 15%), shoot dry weight (~ 51%), root length (~ 46%), root fresh weight (~ 26%), root dry weight (~ 27%) over the control (NoAMF + 0ECB). A significant enhancement in chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and total chlorophyll content, photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate and stomatal conductance was also observed in the condition 0.8ECB + AMF relative to control (NoAMF + 0ECB), further supporting the efficacy of such a combined treatment. Our results suggest that adding 0.8% ECB in soil with AMF inoculation on maize seeds can enhance maize production in saline soils, possibly via improvement in antioxidant activity, chlorophyll contents, gas exchange and morphological attributes.

Increasing salinity stress is a significant challenge in agriculture, affecting ~ 20% of irrigated areas worldwide. It can induce osmotic stress, oxidative stress, and nutrient imbalance in plants. Using rhizobacterial species and biochar can be an effective method to overcome this issue. Bacillus pumilus is a rhizobacteria that can enhance plant salt tolerance, facilitate nutrient solubilization in saline soils, and generate stress-alleviating metabolites. On the other hand, nitrilotriacetic acid mixed biochar (NAT-BC) can increase crop yields and mitigate salt stress by improving nutrients and water uptake. That’s why the present study was carried out to explore the combined effect of NAT-BC and Bacillus pumilus on sunflowers in both non-saline and salinity-stress on sunflowers. Four treatments, i.e., 0NAT-BC, Bacillus pumilus, 0.75NAT-BC, Bacillus pumilus + 0.75NAT-BC, were applied in four replications following a completely randomized design (CRD). Results showed that Bacillus pumilus + 0.75NAT-BC caused significant enhancement in sunflower plant height (103%), stem diameter (45%), head diameter (74%), stomatal conductance (60%), and protein content (11%) rate over control under salinity stress. A significant improvement in sunflower chlorophyll a (19%), chlorophyll b (35%), and total chlorophyll (54%) compared to the control confirm the efficacy of Bacillus pumilus + 0.75NAT-BC under salinity stress. It is concluded that applying treatment Bacillus pumilus + 0.75NAT-BC can alleviate salinity stress in sunflowers via improvement in total chlorophyll contents, which was the most representative attribute in the current study. Growers are recommended to apply Bacillus pumilus + 0.75NAT-BC to achieve better sunflower growth under salinity stress.

Introduction. Soyasaponins are triterpenoid glycosides discovered in soybean and have anti-cancer properties. Soyasaponin A was reported to repress estrogen-insensitive breast cancer cell proliferation. This study intends to explore the role of one isomer of soyasaponin A, i.e. soyasaponin Ag (Ssa Ag), in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) development. Material and methods. Bioinformatic databases were used to predict DUSP6 expression in breast cancer (BC) as well as the correlation between the expression of DUSP6 (or MAPK1, MAPK14) with the prognosis of patients with BC. The expression of DUSP6/MAPK signaling-related genes (DUSP6, MAPK1, and MAPK14) in TNBC cell lines was assessed via western blot analysis and RT-qPCR. Levels of cell apoptosis proteins (Bax and Bcl-2) in TNBC cells were assessed via western blot analysis. CCK-8 assay, colony formation assay, and flow cytometry analysis were conducted for the measurement of TNBC cell growth and apoptosis. In vivo xenograft assay was employed for investigating the biological influence of Ssa Ag on tumor growth. Results. The poor prognosis of BC patients was linked to the aberrant expression of DUSP6/MAPK pathway genes. Low expression of DUSP6 or high expression of MAPK1 (or MAPK14) was correlated to poor prognosis. DUSP6 was downregulated while MAPK1 and MAPK14 were upregulated in TNBC cells versus normal cells. Ssa Ag upregulated DUSP6 expression while downregulated MAPK1 and MAPK14 expression, inhibiting the MAPK signaling pathway. Additionally, Ssa Ag promoted in vitro TNBC cell apoptosis and restrained cell growth, and repressed in vivo tumor growth. Conclusions. Ssa Ag inhibited TNBC progression via upregulating DUSP6 and inactivating the MAPK signaling pathway. Introduction. Soyasaponins are triterpenoid glycosides discovered in soybean and have anti-cancer properties. Soyasaponin A was reported to repress estrogen-insensitive breast cancer cell proliferation. This study intends to explore the role of one isomer of soyasaponin A, i.e. soyasaponin Ag (Ssa Ag), in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) development. Material and methods. Bioinformatic databases were used to predict DUSP6 expression in breast cancer (BC) as well as the correlation between the expression of DUSP6 (or MAPK1, MAPK14) with the prognosis of patients with BC. The expression of DUSP6/MAPK signaling-related genes (DUSP6, MAPK1, and MAPK14) in TNBC cell lines was assessed via western blot analysis and RT-qPCR. Levels of cell apoptosis proteins (Bax and Bcl-2) in TNBC cells were assessed via western blot analysis. CCK-8 assay, colony formation assay, and flow cytometry analysis were conducted for the measurement of TNBC cell growth and apoptosis. In vivo xenograft assay was employed for investigating the biological influence of Ssa Ag on tumor growth. Results. The poor prognosis of BC patients was linked to the aberrant expression of DUSP6/MAPK pathway genes. Low expression of DUSP6 or high expression of MAPK1 (or MAPK14) was correlated to poor prognosis. DUSP6 was downregulated while MAPK1 and MAPK14 were upregulated in TNBC cells versus normal cells. Ssa Ag upregulated DUSP6 expression while downregulated MAPK1 and MAPK14 expression, inhibiting the MAPK signaling pathway. Additionally, Ssa Ag promoted in vitro TNBC cell apoptosis and restrained cell growth, and repressed in vivo tumor growth. Conclusions. Ssa Ag inhibited TNBC progression via upregulating DUSP6 and inactivating the MAPK signaling pathway.

The present study characterized the nutrients availability of three rare earth tailings deserted in different time stages in Southern Jiangxi of China, and revealed the influence of the soil nutrient...