Expected climatic changes likely elicit serious challenges for crop production. Therefore, it is indispensable to investigate the response of crop growth parameters and yield under temperature variability environments. The current experiment on chilli pepper growth was conducted in a field, rain-shelter plastic house, and plastic greenhouse, with accumulated temperatures of 2832 °C, 2967 °C, and 3105 °C in 2017; and 2944 °C, 3091 °C, and 3168 °C in 2018 growing seasons. Based on soil analysis, 132.7 kg ha⁻¹ (1× of livestock manure compost as an optimum and 265.4 kg ha⁻¹ (2×) as a double amount of organic matter were applied to each simulated temperature condition. The results showed that organic manure application favorably affects the growth attributes and nutrient uptake of chilli pepper with the highest values found in the plastic greenhouse, followed by the rain-shelter house, over the open field cultivation condition. The highest growth of chilli pepper was at the 2× rate of organic manure application, whereas the highest yield was found at the 1× rate of organic manure application. The application of organic manure at the 1× rate in the greenhouse increased root, shoot, and fruit dry weights of chilli pepper by 21.4%, 52.4%, and 79.7%, respectively, compared to the control values. These results indicate that the rational use of organic amendments might be the best solution for chilli pepper production under variable climate conditions.

A field experiment was conducted during two consecutive growing seasons (2013 and 2014) to evaluate the effects of inoculations with Rhizobium and Azotobacter on the growth and yield of two chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) varieties under saline (5.8 dS m⁻¹) arid condition. The single treatment of either Rhizobium or Azotobacter exhibited to promote the growth of chickpea to some level, however, co-inoculation produced more effects and increased the shoot dry weight (30.3 and 26.4%), root dry weight (17.5 and 26.3%), nodule number (79.1 and 43.8 piece per plant), nitrogen content in roots (9.62 and 10.9%), in shoots (12.6 and 8.3%) and seed protein (7.1 and 4.3%) in both Flip06-102 and Uzbekistan-32 chickpea varieties compared to the control. Our studies showed that the highest yield response of 429 (27.9%) and 538 (23.9%) kg ha⁻¹ over the control was revealed by the co-inoculation with Rhizobium and Azotobacter inoculants in Flip 06-102 and Uzbekistan-32, respectively. A new introduced Flip 06-102 chickpea variety was more salt tolerant and had higher root nodulation than the local Uzbekistan-32 chickpea variety. Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) contents in the shoots and roots were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in the co-inoculated treatment, while plant sodium (Na+) concentration was the lowest for both chickpea varieties exhibiting co-inoculation alleviated the detrimental effects of salinity. Therefore, the co-inoculation of Rhizobium plus Azotobacter could be applied to improve the vegetative growth and yield of chickpea and to alleviate the effects of salt stress.

Bioactive herbicidal compounds produced by soil microorganisms might be used to creating a bioherbicide for biological weed control. A total of 1,300 bacterial strains were isolated and screened for herbicidal activity against grass and broadleaf weeds. Among primarily selected 102 strains, the herbicidal activity of bacterial fermentation broths from the following three isolates strain-101, strain-128, and strain-329 reduced the growth of D. sanguinalis by 66.7%, 78.3%, and 100%, respectively as compared with control. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequencing determined that the strain-329 has 99% similarity to Streptomyces anulatus (HBUM 174206). The potential bioherbicidal efficacy of Streptomyces strain-329 was tested on grass and broadleaf weeds for phytotoxic activity through pre- and post-emergence applications. At pre-emergence application, the phytotoxic efficacy to D. sanguinalis and S. bicolor on seed germination were 90.4% and 81.3%, respectively at the 2x concentration, whereas in the case of Solanum nigrum, 85.2% phytotoxic efficacy was observed at the 4x concentration. The efficacy of Streptomyces strain-329 was substantially higher at post-emergence application, presenting 100% control of grass and broadleaf weeds at the 1x concentration. Two herbicidal compounds coded as 329-C1 and 329-C3 were extracted and purified by column chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography methods. The active compound 329-C3 slightly increased leaf electrolytic leakage and MDA production as concentration-dependent manner. These results suggest that new Streptomyces sp. strain-329 produced bioherbicidal metabolites and may provide a new lead molecule for production an efficient bioherbicide to regulate grass and broadleaf weeds.

Micronutrient additives for sugar beet growth and development are very important, especially in the alkaline Egyptian soil. A two-year (2017 and 2018) field experiment was conducted in the Sakha Agricultural Research Station of Agricultural Research Center, Egypt, to study the effect of the foliar treatments with micronutrients including zinc (Zn) at rates of 50 and 100 mg L⁻¹, boron (B) at rates of 50 and 100 mg L⁻¹, and molybdenum (Mo) at rates of 20 and 40 mg L⁻¹ on the morphological and physiological features as well as root characteristics of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.). Results showed that the Zn, B, and Mo foliar treatments at the two concentrations increased the growth parameters of roots, that is, root diameter, root length, root fresh weight, and root dry weight. Likewise, the foliar applications with Zn, B, and Mo at the two applied concentrations significantly increased nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg) contents in the treated sugar beet leaves and roots. The high concentration of Zn (100 mg L⁻¹) and Mo (40 mg L⁻¹) yielded the highest of sucrose percentage, TSS percentage, purity percentage, sugar yield, root yield, and improved yield quality as well. The foliar treatments with Zn at a rate of 100 mg L⁻¹ and Mo a rate of 40 mg L⁻¹ showed a high capacity for enhancing growth and yield characteristics of sugar beet in the alkaline Egyptian soil probably due to balancing nutrients uptake and translocation.

Climate resilience of the C₃ halophyte Chenopodium quinoa Willd potentiates its production in drought and salt-prone areas. A two-year field experiment was laid out in completely randomized block designs with three replications to test the adaptability of this crop to abiotic stresses, grain yield and nutritional quality in marginal areas of the Aral Sea basin. The vegetation cycle of the investigated five quinoa lines ranged between 107–133 days based on genotype characteristics. Q5 and Q3 lines had early ripening ability of (107 and 113 days), higher seed weight (2.7 and 2.35 g/1000 seeds), better seed germination (68.3 and 56.7%) associated with stress tolerance. All these features reflected in high yield potential of Q5 and Q3 genotypes, exhibiting average grain yields of 2537.8 and 2361.7 kg ha⁻¹, respectively. The lowest yield was recorded in Q1 with an average yield of 1551.3 kg ha⁻¹. Nutrition features were similar in the tested quinoa genotypes; however, the highest protein, lignin and lipid contents were recorded in Q5 genotype. Q3 and Q5 genotypes showed higher salinity tolerance than other genotypes when different concentrations (0–500mM) of NaCl and MgSO₄ exposed under laboratory conditions. Implementation of innovative technology in cultivation, harvesting, storage and processing will help incorporate quinoa into the Aral Sea Basin's agricultural development and scale up as an alternate crop for food and feed.

Along with pharmacological applications due to bioactive elements such as flavonoids and glycyrrhizin, licorice has positive influences on the rehabilitation, rejuvenation, and management of salt-affected degraded lands in arid regions. These features made this plant widely appreciated worldwide when climate change is showing detrimental impacts for crop production and food security. However, a growing demand followed by irrational harvesting of wild licorice plants has led to substantial dwindling of its natural habitat. There is an increasing need to protect the plant biodiversity since sustainability can be a problem with wild harvesting. Therefore, it is important to investigate cultivation technologies of licorice under harsh environments, while this plant can adapt to a wide range of climates. Thus, in this review, we studied, analyzed and summarized the literature on licorice cultivation methods counteracting the most common environmental stresses in the Aral Sea region. Particularly, the current knowledge was rationalized regarding on cultivation technologies for alleviating salt stress thereby improving crop production. We also highlighted that future research directions on licorice breeding and genomics that might facilitate to produce more resilient and sustainable licorice genotypes to renovate agricultural productivity under disastrous ecology and climate change of the arid regions. Whereas this area possesses all prerequisite conditions needed for successful cultivation of the alternative cash crop.