Agriculture faces significant challenges, including climate change, resource limitations, and land degradation, threatening food security. Traditional practices reliant on chemical inputs are often unsustainable, emphasizing the need for alternative solutions. Synthetic microbial communities (SynComs) are artificially assembled microbial consortia designed to improve plant health, reduce chemical inputs, and enhance soil fertility, responding to the limitations of monoculture systems and synthetic agrochemicals. SynCom holds the transformative potential to drive sustainable agriculture. These consortia can serve as biofertilizers, improving nutrient cycling and stress tolerance. They are also involved in bioremediation, transforming pollutants into non-toxic products, and converting crop residues into valuable bio-based products. Integrating SynComs into agricultural practices has the potential to address environmental challenges, promote sustainable farming, and provide long-term food security and ecosystem health. However, realizing their full capacity requires interdisciplinary research, supportive policy and incentive structures, and engagement with farmers through participatory research and knowledge transfer.

Medicinal plants are used in traditional medicine to treat various diseases. They have been utilized to prevent and cure numerous diseases, the treatment of which is established in conventional knowledge practices. K. parviflora is a perennial plant with numerous medicinal properties. This study seeks to conduct a preliminary investigation of traditional medical treatment using K. parviflora, which has been employed for treating hypertension and promoting longevity through overall good health. In its results, this study shows that K. parviflora contains potential medicinal compounds such as flavonoids, phenolics, tannins, and terpenoids. The preliminary colorimetric detection of the K. parviflora extracts provides high confidence in the positive assessment of traditional medical practice. The present investigation suggests that using colorimetric detection for initial screening is acceptable. However, it is strongly recommended that chromatography be used in chemical concentration analysis for further study.

The cultivation of straw mushroom Volvariella volvacea has a long history and has undergone continuous development. Nevertheless, ongoing research aims to utilize various agricultural wastes to improve biological efficiency. In this study, we investigate a sustainable strategy that promotes the conversion to a circular economy by recycling spent mushroom substrate in new mushroom crops. Our research provides insight into reducing spent mushroom sawdust waste (SMSW) of Pleurotus ostreatus for application in Volvariella volvacea cultivation. We found that the optimal conditions for cultivating V. volvacea were at a temperature of 35.0℃ a humidity of 80-85%, resulting in an average growth rate of 10.60 cm and a total weight of fruit bodies of 0.77 kg, with a biological efficiency of approximately 15.47% within 15 days of cultivation. We discovered that the SMSW could be an alternative substrate for V. volvacea cultivation. Our findings can be applied to improve V. volvacea cultivation and practical applications in agriculture. By involving innovative waste management practices, this article can foster economic growth while preserving the environment for future generations. Therefore, this study contributes to significant socio-economic development and supports green economic policies by discussing the improvements from using SMSW.

Effect of Natural Additives Modification Medium on in vitro Culture of Rhynchostylis gigantea (Lindl.) Ridl. by Tissue Culture Technique

Pesticides have been one of the most extensively used throughout the world. In low- and middle-income countries, pesticides are extensively used in agriculture. Agriculture is Cambodia’s most important economic sector. Around 80% of the population lives in rural areas and is mainly involved in subsistence farming. Cambodian farmers use synthetic pesticides to protect their agricultural products from pest infestation. The increase in agricultural products and the rapid population growth have led to the rise of farming pesticides, which causes concerns about the negative impact on environmental issues and food security in Cambodia. The routes of exposure, toxicity, and pesticide residues in daily food intake are all ambiguous in Cambodia. The scientific reports available in Cambodia could be more extensive and consistent. Therefore, this report provides an overview of the current status of pesticide practices in Cambodia and relates knowledge of pesticide use among local farmers. The contents described the risk assessment of pesticide contamination based on the Cambodian local market. In the same way, the pesticides that farmers use were considered extremely hazardous, highly hazardous, or moderately hazardous by the World Health Organization. This study also discussed the integrated pesticide use management approach and the future perspectives for pesticide practices in Cambodia. The review’s findings raised serious concerns regarding environmental safety and human health. Although some pesticides have been banned, most local farmers still use them for agriculture. The study strongly recommends that the Royal Government of Cambodia be provided with a concrete public health policy on pesticide management and suitable training on pesticide applications.

Azo dyes are commonly used synthetic dyes found in various industrial applications globally. Recently the toxicity of these dyes has attracted the attention of researchers. The effluent from textile processes involving these dyes can have lethal consequences due to their genotoxicity, mutagenicity, and carcinogenicity. Concerns about secondary pollution from the physio-chemical treatment of textile effluents has driven research into biological treatment processes where azo dye effluent undergoes bacterial degradation. Biodecolorization has been presented in this paper as an eco-friendly alternative to physio-chemical treatment. This study focuses on the screening and isolation of effective bacteria for the decolorization of azo dyes from compost residues. Primary screening was able to isolate bacterial strains that demonstrate decolorization of azo dye effluent due to enzymatic activity surrounding each colony. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis identified that this isolated strain had 99.35% similarity with the Bacillus subtilis strain CKCC. Under optimal treatment conditions (37.0°C; pH of 7.0; agitated at 200 rpm, fed with a 0.5% w/v yeast extract), a decolorization efficiency of 89.06 ± 1.09% was achieved after 96.0 h for an initial azo dye concentration of 20.0 mg.L-1. This compares with an efficiency of 78.95 ± 2.51% under static conditions. The B. subtilis CKCC strain has significant potential as a bioresource for effluent treatment in the textile due to its capacity to degrade azo dyes under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions.