The pandemic has profoundly disrupted the stability of the agri-food supply chain, primarily due to the inconsistent supply reaching the market caused by movement restrictions. This economic downturn is influenced by losses along the business supply chain and has prompted a closer examination in this study. The focus is on the specifics of post-harvest losses of watermelons, particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 recovery phase. The watermelon is selected for scrutiny due to its status as the second-largest high-value crop in SSL after papaya (increasing by 142.3% in 2022). This choice indicates that the local production sufficiently satisfies domestic demand and is also available for export. The study reveals that losses contribute to almost 69.4%, resulting in a reduction of 2.0 metric tonnes from the pre-pandemic situation, where losses were around 1.0 to 1.2 metric tonnes. These losses are attributed to delays in distribution, especially at the farm level, due to distribution restrictions and a shortage of labour for harvesting. Overall, these findings aim to provide insights for industry players on how to handle future crises by developing backup plans to reduce losses.

A worldwide indication of the amount of water used in the manufacturing cycle of commodities is called the “Water Footprint.” The entire amount of freshwater used or contaminated throughout a commodity’s manufacturing is known as its “water footprint.” Water consumption mostly refers to the amount of water that plants need during the growth season (green and blue water), whereas water pollution (gray water) is primarily caused by fertilizer seeping from the field. To investigate the effects of varying irrigation and nitrogen dosage levels on vegetative growth characteristics, yield parameters, and chemical contents, an experiment was conducted on garlic plants during the two winter seasons of 2020–2021 and 2021–2022, at the Central Laboratory for Agricultural Climate (CLAC) research site, Dokki, Giza, Egypt. To investigate the effects of varying irrigation levels and nitrogen doses on vegetative growth characteristics, yield parameters, and chemical contents of garlic. The nitrous oxide (N2O) and water footprint (WFP) emissions were estimated using the collected data. Two elements make up the treatments: three main plots with irrigation levels of 80, 100, and 120% of the required water, and three subplots with nitrogen levels of 60, 80, and 100 kg doses, each three duplicated in a split-plot design. The findings demonstrated that under irrigation, the highest vegetative growth parameters, yield parameters, and chemical composition of leaves were observed. The results demonstrated that, at an irrigation level of 120% of the water requirements and 100 kg of nitrogen dose for the garlic plant, the highest vegetative growth characteristics, yield parameters, and chemical contents of leaves were recorded. The relationship between nitrogen doses and irrigation levels reveals that, when combined, 120% irrigation levels and 100 kg of nitrogen dose produced high yield parameters, vegetative growth characteristics, and chemical content in the leaves; this was followed by 100% irrigation levels and 100 kg of nitrogen dose with notable differences between the two. In all measurements, the combination of 80% irrigation levels and a 60kg nitrogen injection yielded the lowest value. Under 120% irrigation and 60 kg of nitrogen fertilizer, the water footprint for the output of fresh and cured garlic was higher, measuring 628 m3/ton and 959 m3/ton, respectively. The maximum emission of N2O with 100 kg of nitrogen and an irrigation level of 80%, the highest N2O emission value for cured garlic yield, was reported at 0.283 kg N2O per ton of cured garlic output, or 84.5 kg CO2/ton. With 100 kg of nitrogen and an irrigation level of 80%, the greatest N2O emission value for fresh garlic output was reported at 0.190 kg N2O per ton, or 56.7 kg CO2/ton.

The article presents the results of research on the development of technology for growing cotton on a ridge with targeted and uniform moistening of the root system of plants, which together contributed to the creation of optimal conditions for machine harvesting of raw cotton by ensuring early maturation (for 2-3 weeks), smooth movement of the machine and high yield. One of the main requirements when preparing a cotton field for machine harvesting is its alignment, which ensures smooth movement of the machine and a stable position of the harvesting machines relative to the treated cotton bushes. To use the developed technology and the sowing unit in farms using drip irrigation systems with the laying of flexible perforated irrigation tapes in the upper part of the ridge along its entire length, comb formation and sowing of cotton seeds are performed simultaneously, which allows leveling the initial sowing on the ridge of the alignment of rows to prepare the field for machine harvesting.

Climate change affects agricultural productivity because it impacts agroclimatic factors such as soil physical, chemical, and biological properties, rainfall, temperature, irradiation, and carbon dioxide concentrations. Climate change’s adverse impacts warrant studies showing how these factors influencing crop productivity can be sustainably managed in an altered climate. This study tested the effectiveness of biochar obtained from pyrolyzed sugarcane leaves collected from the field following mechanical harvesting. The biochar was applied in the soil alone or in combination with NPK fertilizer and planted with Oryza longstaminata. Farmyard manure was included as a common soil amendment to compare the results. Eight treatments were replicated four times and set up in a completely randomized design (CRD) under greenhouse conditions. Watering was done twice daily, and soil samples were taken after four months. During sampling, soil from only three replicates were removed, placed on a canvas and homogenized, and a 500 g each was taken for processing. The samples from the three replicates were mixed again and air-dried for two days, and triplicate (n=3) samples were taken again, placed in separate paper bags per replicate and sent to the laboratory for analysis and measurements using standard analytical procedures. The data from the replicates of the treatments were pooled, averages taken, and analyzed statistically. The results showed biochar application had no significant effect on soil pH, electrical conductivity, organic matter content, and carbon stock even when planted, compared to the effects on water holding capacity, bulk density, and total porosity. Consequently, there was no significant effect on soil nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, and the calcium contents. The results were the opposite when co-application with the chemical NPK fertilizer was made. To a large extent, our results showed biochar interaction is quite effective when co-application is made with another nutrient source, and the findings have implications for the management of sandy loam soil under humid lowland tropical climatic conditions.

Three varieties of local and imported vegetables—eggplant, pepper, and tomatoes—were gathered in Erbil. The heavy metals in vegetables, such as lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), and cadmium (Cd), as well as the health risks they pose in Erbil, were examined using an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (XRF). The FAO/WHO safe limits for the concentration of heavy metals in vegetables were exceeded by the local and imported vegetables, with mean values mg kg-1 ranging from 40-122, 12-32, 15-55, and 3-8, respectively. The majority of the heavy metals under investigation exceed the FAO/WHO acceptable limit values. Estimates of the daily intake of the four main heavy metals (pb, Mn, Zn, and Cd) showed that imported and locally grown vegetables had high Cd consumption (7 and 8 mg kg-1). This study recommends that the Kurdistan region of Iraq and society as a whole be made aware of this issue and that its effects on the environment and public health be taken into consideration.

Salinity remains a major abiotic threat to crop production. The growth and yield performance of five soybean accessions exposed to different salinity levels was evaluated in a pot experiment between July to December 2023 and August to December 2023 at the Screen House of Teaching and Research Station, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design with two factors (accessions and salinity levels) with three replications. The factors were five soybean accessions and five salinity levels (0.64, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, and 10.0 dS/m). Results obtained indicated that seed emergence percentage, plant height, the number of leaves per plant, number of pods per plant, pod weight (g), and grain yield at 12 percent moisture content were significantly (P>0.05) affected by soil salinity at all levels of treatment and the accessions were significantly different to each other. As the soil salinity concentration increases, the performance of the soybean agronomic traits studied reduces. However, the accessions collected Kujama and Zaria performed better compared to other studied accessions across the salinity levels. The results confirmed the detrimental effects of soil salinity on soybean, and improvement towards salt tolerance can begin with accession from Kujama and Zaria

Transplanted (T.) aman rice (Oryza sativa L.) covers the largest cultivated area in Bangladesh while very little information on molecular level characterization of T. aman genotypes persists. The major aim of this study was to dissect molecular characterization and genetic diversity of 25 T. aman rice genotypes using twelve simple sequences repeats (SSRs) markers. The rice genotypes comprised local landraces that were collected from twelve districts of Bangladesh. A total of twelve SSR primer pairs covering all 12 chromosomes of rice were selected for the study. The molecular characterization, genetic diversity, population structure and principal component analysis (PCA) were estimated and the results revealed a total of fifty alleles across 12 loci ranged from 2 (RM411) to 7 (RM252) per locus. The maximum gene diversity exhibited in RM252 (0.7) while the minimum was in RM320 (0.15). The polymorphism information content (PIC) values ranged from 0.14 to 0.67 while RM252 and RM206 identified as the most suitable markers. Clustering based on unweight pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) analysis clustered 25 genotypes into six major clusters (I-VI) with similarity coefficient value of 0.34. Cluster V contained a maximum seven genotypes with 5 sub- groups. Again, the population structure displayed 3 populations namely population 1, 2 and 3. These populations were clustered into the 3 major groups in the Principle Component Analysis (PCA) 2D plot. Here, PC1 and PC2 contributed 32.7% variations. However, the overall hybridization suggested between the genotypes of the population 1 and 3, specifically between clusters I and cluster VI, and between the diverse parents such as, genotypes Bohi Trimota and Ranga, Bohi Trimota and Purple Rice-2, Bohi Trimota and Purple Rice-3. These diverse clusters and genotypes identified through SSR makers are lay foundation of molecular characterization of T. aman rice genotypes in Bangladesh and further marker-assisted studies will be suggested.

Maize (Zea mays L.) is an important cereal crop and okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench) is one of the most nutritious vegetable crops. People of Bangladesh have taken nutrients from these crops. A field experiment was conducted from October 2022 to March 2023 cropping season, at Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh, to evaluate the effects of different cropping patterns on performance of maize-okra mixture and to find out the suitable cropping system. The experiment has consisted of four cropping systems, which consisted of one row of maize alternated with one row of okra (1M:1Ok), one row of maize alternated with two rows of okra (1M:2Ok), one stand of maize alternated with one stand of okra (1sM: 1sOk) and one stand of maize alternated with two stands of okra (1sM: 2sOk), while the sole crops of maize and okra constituted the fifth and sixth cropping pattern. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and three replicates of each treatment. The results of the present study showed that alternating intercropping pattern 1M:1Ok produced the highest yield of maize & okra and the highest land equivalent ratio (LER) value of 1.96 as well as saved the maximum percentage of land (49.14%) compared to other tested intercropping patterns. While, the intercropping system, 1sM: 2sOk explored the lowest in all characters. It may be concluded, therefore, 1M:1Ok could be used as an alternative intercropping pattern in cropping system in Bangladesh. And it is also recommended that further investigation be done to assess the effect of maize and okra intercropping patterns widely in different locations of Bangladesh.

Consortia of 4 bacterial and 4 fungal hydrocarbon-utilizing isolates was analyzed in remediation of water
based oil fields. Bio-augmentation experiments (in situ) were tested in 16 triplicates (excluding the control). The results (after two months of bioremediation) showed that; A consortium of isolates of Pseudomonas
fluorescens-LR134300.1 and Aspergillus fumigatus-KU321562 was able to change the pH from strongly alkaline to almost neutral. A consortium of Kocuria rosea-MK648258 and Aspergillus niger-MK452260 isolates showed high biodegradation and high chloride tolerance. A consortium of Pseudomonas fluorescens LR134300.1 and Penicillium chrysogenum-MK696383.1 isolates showed the highest percentage of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) degradation and could degrade/utilize a range of carbon fractions from C6 to C36. A consortium of isolates of Kocuria rosea-MK648258 and Aspergillus flavus-MH270609.1 showed the highest lead-reducing capacity, while Bacillus subtilies-MK000710 and Penicillium chrysogenum
MK696383-KU321. The consortium extracts mineralized petroleum hydrocarbons as the sole source of energy and carbon, with mineralization rates statistically significant (Pandlt;0.05). The results of the Toxicity Characterization Leaching Procedure (TCLP) test showed that treating the drill cuttings with different consortia of bacterial and fungal strains proved to be a desirable disposal method.

Okra is widely cultivated vegetable crop which has been reducing its quality due to inappropriate utilization of micro-nutrients as well. This research was carried out to investigate the impact of foliar spray of boron and zinc on the growth and yield of the okra ‘Arka Anamika’ variety. The experiment followed a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with seven treatments, including control, 0.2%Zn, 0.2%B, 0.3%Zn, 0.3% B, 0.2%Zn+0.2%B, and 0.3%Zn+0.3%B, replicated three times. Data on various parameters such as plant height, stem diameter, leaf number, number of branches, number of buds, number of fruits, length of fruits, girth of fruits, and yield were collected from sampled plants in each plot. Results indicated significant effects of different fertilizer treatments on these parameters. The highest values for plant height, stem diameter, number of branches, number of buds, fruit length, number of fruits, and yield were observed in T7, which was statistically at par with T6. Conversely, T1 (control) exhibited significantly lower values. The girth of fruits showed no any significant differences even due to various levels of foliar application of boron and zinc, either separately or in combination. Overall, the study suggests that the application of 0.3%Zn+0.3%B may be the most effective for improving the yield and yield parameters of okra.