Nitrogen (N) is an important macro-nutrient required for crop production and is considered an important commodity for agricultural systems. Urea is a vital source of N that is used widely across the globe to meet crop N requirements. However, N applied in the form of urea is mostly lost in soil, posing serious economic and environmental issues. Therefore, different approaches such as the application of urea coated with different substances are used worldwide to reduce N losses. Urea coating is considered an imperative approach to enhance crop production and reduce the corresponding nitrogen losses along with its impact on the environment. In addition, given the serious food security challenges in meeting the current and future demands for food, the best agricultural management strategy to enhance food production have led to methods that involve coating urea with different nutrients such as sulfur (S) and zinc (Zn). Coated urea has a slow-release mechanism and remains in the soil for a longer period to meet the demand of crop plants and increases nitrogen use efficiency, growth, yield, and grain quality. These nutrient-coated urea reduce nitrogen losses (volatilization, leaching, and N2O) and save the environment from degradation. Sulfur and zinc-coated urea also reduce nutrient deficiencies and have synergetic effects with other macro and micronutrients in the crop. This study discusses the dynamics of sulfur and zinc-coated urea in soil, their impact on crop production, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), the residual and toxic effects of coated urea, and the constraints of adopting coated fertilizers. Additionally, we also shed light on agronomic and molecular approaches to enhance NUE for better crop productivity to meet food security challenges.

Soil alkalinity is a severe threat to crop production globally as it markedly retards plant growth. Different techniques are used to mitigate alkaline stress, but priming techniques are considered the most appropriate. The current study was carried out in complete randomized design (CRD) to evaluate the effect of different priming techniques on maize crop grown under different levels of alkalinity stress. The experiment was comprised of different treatments of alkalinity stress (AS) including, control, 6 dS m-1 and 12 dS m-1 and different priming techniques including control, hydro-priming (HP), osmo-priming (OP) with potassium nitrate: KNO3) and redox-priming (RP) with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Results indicated that alkalinity stress significantly reduced plant growth and biomass production and induced severe alterations in physiological attributes and antioxidant activities. Soil alkalinity significantly reduced the root and shoot growth and subsequent biomass production by increasing electrolyte leakage (70.60%), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2: 31.65%), malondialdehyde (MDA: 46.23%) and sodium (Na+) accumulation (22.76%) and reduction in photosynthetic pigments, relative water contents (RWC), total soluble proteins (TSP) and free amino acids, potassium (K+) accumulation. However, priming treatments significantly alleviated the alkalinity-induced toxic effects and improved plant growth. OP (KNO3) remained the top performing. It appreciably improved plant growth owing to the improved synthesis of photosynthetic pigments, better RWC (16.42%), TSP (138.28%), FAA (178.37%), and K+ accumulation (31.385) and improved antioxidant activities (APX and CAT) by favoring the Na+ exclusion and maintenance of optimum Na+/K+. In conclusion, KNO3 priming is an imperative seed priming practice to improve maize growth and biomass production under alkalinity stress.

Lentil is one of the most valuable pulse crops in the world that is enriched with a good quantity of mineral and protein. Sowing methods and irrigation application are an important agronomic consideration to get maximum production of lentil crop. Therefore, this study was conducted in RCBD with a two-factor split plot to determine the impact of various levels of irrigation and sowing methods on the growth and yield of lentil. Crop was sown by three sowing methods; flat, bed and ridge and with four different irrigations levels; I 1 : one irrigation, 60 days after sowing (DAS), I 2 : two irrigations 30 and 60 DAS, I 3 : three irrigations 30, 60 and 90 DAS and I 4 : four irrigations 30, 40, 60 and 80 DAS. The variable irrigation levels and sowing methods significantly affected growth and yield of lentil crop. The maximum plant height (47.66 cm), branches per plant (11.66), pods/plant (85.33), biological yield (5204 kg/ha), 1000 grain weight (20 g) and grain yield (1145.30 kg/ha) were recorded in ridge sowing with three irrigations applied 30, 60 and 90 days after sowing (DAS) and minimum plant height (38.33 cm) branches/plant (5), pods/plant (61.33), biological yield (4820 kg/ha), 1000 grain weight (10 g) and grain yield (809 kg ha -1 ) were recorded in flat sowing with first irrigation applied 60 DAS. The results indicated that ridge sowing method and three irrigation levels are an important practice to get the maximum productivity of lentil crop grown in semi-arid conditions of Faisalabad.