Mycotoxins represent an assorted range of secondary fungal metabolites that extensively occur in numerous food and feed ingredients at any stage during pre- and post-harvest conditions. Zearalenone (ZEN), a mycotoxin categorized as a xenoestrogen poses structural similarity with natural estrogens that enables its binding to the estrogen receptors leading to hormonal misbalance and numerous reproductive diseases. ZEN is mainly found in crops belonging to temperate regions, primarily in maize and other cereal crops that form an important part of various food and feed. Because of the significant adverse effects of ZEN on both human and animal, there is an alarming need for effective detection, mitigation, and management strategies to assure food and feed safety and security. The present review tends to provide an updated overview of the different sources, occurrence and biosynthetic mechanisms of ZEN in various food and feed. It also provides insight to its harmful effects on human health and agriculture along with its effective detection, management, and control strategies.

Marijuana, or Cannabis sativa L., is a common psychoactive plant used for both recreational and medicinal purposes. In many countries, cannabis‐based medicines have been legalized under certain conditions because of their immense prospects in medicinal applications. With a comprehensive insight into the prospects and challenges associated with the pharmacological use and global trade of C. sativa, this mini‐review focuses on the medicinal importance of the plant and its legal status worldwide; the pharmacological compounds and its therapeutic potential along with the underlying public health concerns and future perspective are herein discussed. The existence of major compounds including Δ9‐tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9‐THC), cannabidiol, cannabinol, and cannabichromene contributes to the medicinal effects of the cannabis plant. These compounds are also involved in the treatment of various types of cancer, epilepsy, and Parkinson's disease displaying several mechanisms of action. Cannabis sativa is a plant with significant pharmacological potential. However, several aspects of the plant need an in‐depth understanding of the drug mechanism and its interaction with other drugs. Only after addressing these health concerns, legalization of cannabis could be utilized to its full potential as a future medicine.

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Citrinin (CIT) is a mycotoxin produced by different species of Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Monascus. CIT can contaminate a wide range of foods and feeds at any time during the pre-harvest, harvest, and post-harvest stages. CIT can be usually found in beans, fruits, fruit and vegetable juices, herbs and spices, and dairy products, as well as red mold rice. CIT exerts nephrotoxic and genotoxic effects in both humans and animals, thereby raising concerns regarding the consumption of CIT-contaminated food and feed. Hence, to minimize the risk of CIT contamination in food and feed, understanding the incidence of CIT occurrence, its sources, and biosynthetic pathways could assist in the effective implementation of detection and mitigation measures. Therefore, this review aims to shed light on sources of CIT, its prevalence in food and feed, biosynthetic pathways, and genes involved, with a major focus on detection and management strategies to ensure the safety and security of food and feed.

Background Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) has been used in agriculture for a long time because of its insecticidal proteins which make it a valuable environment-friendly biopesticide. However, its use is not only limited to insecticidal properties. Current and previous studies indicate its potential as a biofertilizer for promoting plant growth, the development of transgenic plants, and others. It is the presence of δ-endotoxins, especially cry protein, which attributes the insecticidal property to the bacteria. Besides, there are some vegetative and secreted insecticidal proteins that exert their toxic activity towards specific species. Main body of abstract The present review briefly provides an overview of the Bt uses and application as a biocontrol agent against insect pest for sustainable agriculture. Historical development of Bt as biocontrol, classification of various cry proteins, their mechanisms of actions against different insect-pest, and incorporation of cry genes in the plant for developing transgenic Bt plants such as Bt cotton, potato, and maize. Applications of Bt as biofertilizer and the various bioformulations as biopesticide are also described. Short conclusion Uses of harmful pesticides and chemical cause various health issues and environmental problem; therefore, the Bt served as the best alternative to overcome the above issue. Also, we aim to explore the potential as plant growth-promoting potential and solubilization of minerals and the uses as a biofertilizer, keeping the high specificity and environmental safety of Bt. Its various formulations are commercially available and considered an efficient alternative to chemical pesticides.

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: Tinospora cordifolia (Giloy) is a medicinal plant used in folk and Ayurvedic medicines throughout India since ancient time. All the parts of the plant are immensely useful due to the presence of different compounds of pharmaceutical importance belonging to various groups as alkaloids, diterpenoid lactones, glycosides, steroids, sesquiterpenoid, and phenolics. These compounds possess pharmacological properties which makes it anti-diabetic, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, hepatoprotective, and immuno-modulatory. However, due to the increasing population, there is an inadequate supply of drugs. Therefore, this review focuses on the phytochemistry, ethnopharmacology, clinical application and its conservation strategies so that the plant can be conserved for future generations and utilized as an alternative medicine as well as to design various pharmacologically important drugs.

Superficial mycoses are the fungal infections restricted to the outermost non-living layers of the skin and its appendages viz., hair and nails. Their prevalence rate has been reported to be 20%-25% 1 and vary with respect to occupational groups, gender, age group, etc. These infections are more common in tropical as well as subtropical countries where heat, humidity and other favourable conditions aid in their acquisition and maintenance. Although superficial mycotic infections are usually limited to the skin and mucous membranes, these infections are hardly life-threatening but they have importance because of their worldwide distribution, morbidity and transmission from one person/animal to another.Over the last decades, it has been observed that an increasing number of non-dermatophytic fungi, like, Alternaria, Aspergillus, Chaetomium, Curvularia, Fusarium, Penicillium, Scopulariopsis and Trichosporon, have also emerged as causal agents of superficial mycoses in humans, producing almost clinically similar lesions as caused by dermatophytes. 2,3 Although both dermatophytes and non-dermatophytes have been known to cause superficial mycoses all over the world, their incidence, distribution, prevalence, epidemiology, clinical manifestation and target hosts may vary from region to region. 4,5 In this review, more emphasis has been provided on information related to skin and hair infections.