Grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) are highly valuable crops enriched with minerals, vitamins, phenolics, and antioxidants required for daily human activities and to prevent cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The objective of this study was to elucidate the physicochemical and mineral evaluation of seven neglected local grape cultivars (‘Kishmish’, ‘Sra Kishmish’, ‘Askari’, ‘Sahibi’, ‘Haita’, ‘Sundar Khani’ and ‘Toran’) growing in Baluchistan, as it can help in future breeding, processing, and species conservation. Therefore, these cultivars were evaluated for different physical, biochemical, and availability of macro– and micro–mineral contents. In physical evaluation, the local cultivar ‘Haita’ showed maximum bunch length (19.72 cm) and bunch width (11.88 cm), while the highest bunch weight (527.33 g) was recorded in ‘Sahibi’. Similarly, significant differences were noted in biochemical traits, and maximum total soluble solids (24.76%) and titratable acidity (1.58%) were observed in ‘Sundar Khani’, while the highest vitamin C (26.17 mg 100 g–1), total sugars (30.26%) in Sundar Khani, and nonreducing sugars (8.79%) were recorded in ‘Haita’. The cultivars growing in Balochistan also showed variations in phenolics (113.79–346.50 mg GAE L–1) and antioxidants (85.77– 90.87%). Likewise, the concentrations of macro- and microelements were also highly variable in these cultivars. Overall, among these cultivars, ‘Toran’ performed better in the agroclimatic conditions of Balochistan, as it has high yield attributes such as berry length, width, and weight. Moreover, it was also enriched with total soluble solids, antioxidants, and calcium contents.

Cover crops are increasingly used by growers in the United States as an effective approach to enhance soil health. The interactions between cover crops and soil microbiomes have been studied extensively; however, research evaluating the impact of cover crops on rhizosphere microbial communities in tree crop systems, particularly under nutrient-limited field soils in Florida, remains limited. To address these knowledge gaps, a three-year field study was conducted to evaluate the effects of cover crop mixtures on soil bacterial and fungal communities in orchards of different citrus species and cultivars across seasons. The trial included ‘Star Ruby’ grapefruit trees grafted on ‘US-942’, ‘Bearss’ lemon trees grafted on ‘Sour Orange’, and ‘OLL-8’ sweet orange trees grafted on ‘US-942’ rootstock in a randomized complete block design comparing conventional management (no cover crop-control) with cover crop treatments. Bacterial community composition showed consistent taxonomic patterns across cultivars and treatments, with Proteobacteria consistently the most abundant phylum across grapefruit, lemon, and orange orchards, followed by Actinobacteriota, Acidobacteriota, and Firmicutes. Despite this overall stability, cultivar was the strongest determinant of bacterial community structure. Additionally, functional analysis revealed significant treatment-associated shifts in predicted guilds related to nitrogen transformations, carbon metabolism, sulfur oxidation, and manganese oxidation. In contrast, fungal community composition and predicted functional profiles were primarily structured by season, with limited effects of cultivar and cover cropping. Fungal communities were consistently dominated by Ascomycota across orchards, sampling dates, and treatments.