In Bangladesh, sweetpotato is the fourth most important source of carbohydrates behind rice, wheat, and potatoes. Potassium is vital for sweetpotato growth, boosting tuber size, sweetness, disease resistance, and yield quality, with deficiencies leading to poor tuber formation and increased stress susceptibility. The present study evaluated the effect of varying dosages of potassium fertilizer (Muriate of Potash, MoP) on the growth, yield, and biochemical qualities of sweetpotato. As a genetic material, BAU sweetpotato-5 was chosen as it is recognized for its high yield, short duration, and nutritional advantages. There were three treatments—full dosage of MoP (321.6 kg ha⁻¹, T₀), half dosage of MoP (160.8 kg ha⁻¹, T₁) and no MoP (T₂). Four replications of a randomized complete block design (RCBD) were used in the experiment. According to analysis of variance, the morphological and biochemical parameters, such as the fresh weight plant⁻¹, number of tuber plant⁻¹, chlorophyll content, total phenolic content, vitamin C, carotenoid, anthocyanin, Zn, and Fe content varied significantly among treatments. The application of the full recommended dosage of MoP resulted in the highest values for several traits, including the fresh weight plant⁻¹, number of tuber plant⁻¹, chlorophyll content, carotenoid, anthocyanin, and Fe content. Conversely, total phenolic content and vitamin C were highest without MoP application. Principal component analysis (PCA) differentiated treatment T₀ from T₁ and T₂ due to higher positive coefficients of the number of leaves at 115 days after transplantation, vine length at 115 days after transplantation, number of branches, stem diameter, fresh weight plant⁻¹, tuber length, tuber diameter, tuber weight, number of tuber plant⁻¹, SPAD, carotenoid, anthocyanin, Fe, and negative coefficients of total phenolic content, vitamin C, and Zn. The findings suggest that potassium is integral to maximizing both yield and key nutritional components in sweetpotato cultivation.

Chilli is a significant horticultural crop in Bangladesh, contributing to spice production and the rural economy. This investigation aimed to evaluate the effect of humic acid and seaweed extracts as bio-stimulants on plant growth, yield, and biochemical properties of chilli (var. Hira 1701 Supreme). There were four treatments in this research: T0 (control), T1 (recommended fertilizer + humic acid), T2 (recommended fertilizer + seaweed extract), and T3 (recommended fertilizer + both seaweed extract and humic acid). The results indicated that T2 possessed the highest values in the most studied parameters, including plant height (60.13 cm), number of leaves (98.75), number of branches (13.25), number of flowers (37.63), fruit length (7.92 cm), seeds per fruit (79.75), yield per plot (1156.5 g), yield per hectare (7.23 ton), plant fresh weight (187.50 g⁻¹ Plant), plant dry weight (41.00 g⁻¹ Plant), vitamin C (177.80 mg 100 g⁻¹ FW), total phenolic content (164.87 mg 100 g⁻¹ FW), total flavonoid content (35.95 mg 100 g⁻¹ FW), crude protein content (8.63%), and total soluble solids content (5.80 °Brix). While T1 and T3 also performed better than the control (T0), T2 consistently outperformed all other treatments. Correlation analysis revealed strong positive associations among yield, plant physiology, and key biochemical traits, indicating their interdependence. Moreover, PCA-based biplot analysis clearly separated the treatments and confirmed that T2 showed a strong correlation with enhanced agronomic performance and superior nutritional quality. These findings show that seaweed extract foliar spray with the recommended fertilizer is superior to humic acid alone for enhancing chilli growth, productivity,

Industrialization has significantly increased the productivity of agriculture but industrial wastes have also increased the contamination of agricultural soils. This is an increasing threat to the food safety, the stability of ecosystems and human health. Certain industrial by-products can provide short-term benefits to soil fertility and crop yields but can also introduce hazardous contaminants to agroecosystems, including heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), microplastics, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and engineered nanoparticles. This review critically synthesizes the global evidence of sources, transport pathways, environmental fate and transfer to the food chain of industrial contaminants in agricultural soils. It emphasizes the paradox of high crop yields in spite of the clandestine build-up of toxic substances that deteriorate soil health, microbial diversity, crop safety and the long term sustainability of agriculture. The major challenges are poor management of industrial waste, lack of monitoring systems, interactions among pollutants, weak regulatory frameworks and limited knowledge about emerging contaminants under changing climatic conditions. The review also includes integrated mitigation measures such as sustainable waste management, innovative soil remediation techniques, phytoremediation, biochar use, precision agriculture and other stronger environmental policies to reduce the accumulation of contaminants and human exposure. Future perspectives emphasize the need for high-throughput monitoring tools, remote sensing, biosensors, digital soil mapping, improved risk assessment frameworks, and interdisciplinary research to better understand contaminant dynamics and develop resilient soil management strategies. In summary, the review emphasizes that sustainable agriculture should be assessed not only by crop productivity but also by soil health, environmental integrity and food safety. In the context of an increasingly industrialized world it is crucial to take a holistic and integrated approach combining scientific innovation with efficient policy implementation and continuous environmental surveillance for the protection of agricultural ecosystems and sustainable food production.