Considering titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO₂ NPs) role in plant growth and especially in plant tolerance against abiotic stress, a greenhouse experiment was carried out to evaluate TiO₂ NPs effects (0, 50, 100 and 200 mg L⁻¹) on agronomic traits of Moldavian balm (Dracocephalum moldavica L.) plants grown under different salinity levels (0, 50 and 100 mM NaCl). Results demonstrated that all agronomic traits were negatively affected under all salinity levels but application of 100 mg L⁻¹ TiO₂ NPs mitigated these negative effects. TiO₂ NPs application on Moldavian balm grown under salt stress conditions improved all agronomic traits and increased antioxidant enzyme activity compared with plants grown under salinity without TiO₂ NP treatment. The application of TiO₂ NPs significantly lowered H₂O₂ concentration. In addition, highest essential oil content (1.19%) was obtained in 100 mg L⁻¹ TiO₂ NP-treated plants under control conditions. Comprehensive GC/MS analysis of essential oils showed that geranial, z-citral, geranyl acetate and geraniol were the dominant essential oil components. The highest amounts for geranial, geraniol and z-citral were obtained in 100 mg L⁻¹ TiO₂ NP-treated plants under control conditions. In conclusion, application of 100 mg L⁻¹ TiO₂ NPs could significantly ameliorate the salinity effects in Moldavian balm.

Salt stress severely reduces growth and yield of plants. Considering the positive effects of selenium (Se) and chitosan (Cs) separately against abiotic stress, in these experiments, we synthesized chitosan–selenium nanoparticles (Cs–Se NPs) and investigated their ability to reduce the negative effects of salt stress on growth and some biochemical parameters of bitter melon (Momordica charantia). Bitter melon plants were grown at three NaCl salinity levels (0, 50, and 100 mM) and a foliar spray of Cs–Se NPs (0, 10, and 20 mg L⁻¹) was applied. Some key morphological, biochemical, and physiological parameters in leaf samples and essential oil from fruit were measured at harvest. Salinity decreased growth and yield while foliar application of Cs–Se NPs increased these critical parameters. Furthermore, Cs–Se NPs enhanced bitter melon tolerance to salinity by increasing antioxidant enzyme activity, proline concentration, relative water content, and K⁺, and decreasing MDA and H₂O₂ oxidants and Na aggregation in plant tissues. Yield was also improved, as the highest amount of essential oils was produced by plants treated with Cs–Se NPs. Generally, the greatest improvement in measured parameters under saline conditions was obtained by treating plants with 20 mg L⁻¹ Cs–Se NPs, which significantly increased salinity tolerance in bitter melon plants.

The architecture of the inflorescence, the shoot system that bear the flowers, is a main component of the huge diversity of forms found in flowering plants. Inflorescence architecture has also a strong impact on the production of fruits and seeds, and on crop management, two highly relevant agronomical traits. Elucidating the genetic networks that control inflorescence development, and how they vary between different species, is essential to understanding the evolution of plant form and to being able to breed key architectural traits in crop species. Inflorescence architecture depends on the identity and activity of the meristems in the inflorescence apex, which determines when flowers are formed, how many are produced and their relative position in the inflorescence axis. Arabidopsis thaliana, where the genetic control of inflorescence development is best known, has a simple inflorescence, where the primary inflorescence meristem directly produces the flowers, which are thus borne in the main inflorescence axis. In contrast, legumes represent a more complex inflorescence type, the compound inflorescence, where flowers are not directly borne in the main inflorescence axis but, instead, they are formed by secondary or higher order inflorescence meristems. Studies in model legumes such as pea (Pisum sativum) or Medicago truncatula have led to a rather good knowledge of the genetic control of the development of the legume compound inflorescence. In addition, the increasing availability of genetic and genomic tools for legumes is allowing to rapidly extend this knowledge to other grain legume crops. This review aims to describe the current knowledge of the genetic network controlling inflorescence development in legumes. It also discusses how the combination of this knowledge with the use of emerging genomic tools and resources may allow rapid advances in the breeding of grain legume crops.

Background: Salinity is an important global problem with destructive impacts on plants leading to different biochemical and metabolic changes in plants through induced oxidative stress that disturbs metabolism, growth, performance and productivity of plants. Given that putrescine (Put) and carbon quantum dots (CQDs), individually, have promising effects in different plant processes, the idea of their combination in a nano-structure “Put-CQD” lead to its synthesis to evaluate the potential exertion of synergistic effects. The current study aimed to investigate the application of newly-synthesized nanoparticles (NPs) consisting of CQDs and Put in grapevine (Vitis viniferacv. ‘Sultana’) under salinity stress conditions. For this purpose, Put, CQDs and Put-CQD NPs at 5 and 10 mg L^− 1concentrations were applied as chemical priming agents in ‘Sultana’ grapevine 48 h prior salinity stress imposition (0 and 100 mM NaCl).Results: Salinity significantly decreased (P ≤ 0.05) morphological parameters, photosynthetic pigments, chlorophyll fluorescence parameters and membrane stability index. In addition, salinity enhanced MDA, H₂O₂, proline content and antioxidant enzyme activity. Results revealed that Put-CQD NPs, particularly at 10 mg L^− 1concentration, alleviated the destructive impacts of salinity stress by improving leaf fresh and dry weights, K⁺content, photosynthetic pigments, chlorophyll fluorescence and SPAD parameters, proline content, total phenolics and antioxidant enzymatic activities (CAT, APX, GP and SOD), while decreasing Na⁺content, EL, MDA and H₂O₂levels.Conclusion: To conclude, Put-CQD NPs represent an innovative priming treatment that could be effectively applied on grapevine to improve plant performance under salinity stress conditions.