Pesticides are extensively used in modern agriculture and are an effective and economical way to enhance the yield quality and quantity, thus ensuring food security for the ever-growing population around the globe. Approximately, 2 million tonnes of pesticides are utilized annually worldwide, where China is the major contributing country, followed by the USA and Argentina, which is increasing rapidly. However, by the year 2020, the global pesticide usage has been estimated to increase up to 3.5 million tonnes. Although pesticides are beneficial for crop production point of view, extensive use of pesticides can possess serious consequences because of their bio-magnification and persistent nature. Diverse pesticides directly or indirectly polluted air, water, soil and overall ecosystem which cause serious health hazard for living being. In the present manuscript, an attempt has been made to critically review the global usage of different pesticides and their major adverse impacts on ecosystem, which will provide guidance for a wide range of researchers in this area.

Plants face a variety of abiotic stresses, which generate reactive oxygen species (ROS), and ultimately obstruct normal growth and development of plants. To prevent cellular damage caused by oxidative stress, plants accumulate certain compatible solutes known as osmolytes to safeguard the cellular machinery. The most common osmolytes that play crucial role in osmoregulation are proline, glycine-betaine, polyamines, and sugars. These compounds stabilize the osmotic differences between surroundings of cell and the cytosol. Besides, they also protect the plant cells from oxidative stress by inhibiting the production of harmful ROS like hydroxyl ions, superoxide ions, hydrogen peroxide, and other free radicals. The accumulation of osmolytes is further modulated by phytohormones like abscisic acid, brassinosteroids, cytokinins, ethylene, jasmonates, and salicylic acid. It is thus important to understand the mechanisms regulating the phytohormone-mediated accumulation of osmolytes in plants during abiotic stresses. In this review, we have discussed the underlying mechanisms of phytohormone-regulated osmolyte accumulation along with their various functions in plants under stress conditions.

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Water is polluted by increasing activities of population and the necessity to provide them with goods and services that use water as a vital resource. The contamination of water due to heavy metals (HMs) is a big concern for humankind; however, global studies related to this topic are scarce. Thus, the current review assesses the content of HMs in surface water bodies throughout the world from 1994 to 2019. To achieve this goal, multivariate analyses were applied in order to determine the possible sources of HMs. Among the analyzed HMs in a total of 147 publications, the average content of Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, As and Cd exceeded the permissible limits suggested by WHO and USEPA. The results of the heavy metal pollution index, evaluation index, the degree of contamination, water pollution and toxicity load showed that the examined water bodies are highly polluted by HMs. The results of median lethal toxicity index showed maximum toxicity in As, Co, Cr and Ni in the surface water bodies. Results of ingestion and dermal pathways for adults and children in the current analyzed review showed that As is the major contaminant. Moreover, Cr, Ni, As and Cd showed values that could be considered as a high risk for cancer generation via the ingestion pathway as compared to the dermal route. It is recommended that remediation techniques such as the introduction of aquatic phytoremediation plant species and adsorbents should be included in land management plans in order to reduce human risks.

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