Water, a necessary component of cell protoplasm, plays an essential role in supporting life on Earth; nevertheless, extreme changes in climatic conditions limit water availability, causing numerous issues, such as the current water-scarce regimes in many regions of the biome. This review aims to collect data from various published studies in the literature to understand and critically analyze plants’ morphological, growth, yield, and physio-biochemical responses to drought stress and their potential to modulate and nullify the damaging effects of drought stress via activating natural physiological and biochemical mechanisms. In addition, the review described current breakthroughs in understanding how plant hormones influence drought stress responses and phytohormonal interaction through signaling under water stress regimes. The information for this review was systematically gathered from different global search engines and the scientific literature databases Science Direct, including Google Scholar, Web of Science, related studies, published books, and articles. Drought stress is a significant obstacle to meeting food demand for the world’s constantly growing population. Plants cope with stress regimes through changes to cellular osmotic potential, water potential, and activation of natural defense systems in the form of antioxidant enzymes and accumulation of osmolytes including proteins, proline, glycine betaine, phenolic compounds, and soluble sugars. Phytohormones modulate developmental processes and signaling networks, which aid in acclimating plants to biotic and abiotic challenges and, consequently, their survival. Significant progress has been made for jasmonates, salicylic acid, and ethylene in identifying important components and understanding their roles in plant responses to abiotic stress. Other plant hormones, such as abscisic acid, auxin, gibberellic acid, brassinosteroids, and peptide hormones, have been linked to plant defense signaling pathways in various ways.

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Bacterial contamination is a serious problem in plant tissue culture procedures. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the potential of nano silver (NS) to remove bacterial contaminants of valerian nodal explants. This experiment was conducted as a completely randomized design in a factorial arrangement with four replications and each replicate with ten explants. Treatments involved NS at two stages (before and after surface sterilization along with control) with three rates (25, 50 and 100 mg l -1 ) at three times of soaking (30, 60 and 180 min). Explants were cultured on MS medium supplemented with 5 mg l -1 Kin and 0.1 mg l -1 NAA. Results showed that using 100 mg l -1 of NS solution after surface sterilization resulted in the highest percentage (89%) of disinfected explants. Nano silver solution did not affect the characters measured. On the basis of the data obtained in this experiment, it was concluded that NS had a good potential for removing of the bacterial contaminants in plant tissue culture procedures. As this is the first report on application of NS in in vitro culture techniques, further investigations on other plant species are needed to clarify the effectiveness of NS for the removal of bacterial contaminants in tissue culture of other crops.

The advancement within the food and nutrition sector has resulted in the development of a special category of food, particularly referred to as “superfoods”. Superfoods are special kind of foods capable of exhibiting different positive effects involving prevention of different ailments, provide impetus to the immune system, and essential macro- and micro-nutrients in ample quantities. Nowadays, these are gaining considerable attention due to the increased health consciousness of consumers. In contrast to their exceptional health or even medicinal benefits, which are based on their long history of use, the concept of superfoods is still little understood. The category of superfoods mainly comprises different types of fruits, vegetables, grains, etc. This review sheds light on the nutritional composition as well as the possible intervention in the prevention of various chronic ailments of some significant superfoods. This manuscript could help consumers to use superfoods as part of their diet more often and very effectively.

Peppermint (Mentha × piperita L.) infusion is one of the main important sources of antioxidants. This antioxidant property can be enhanced by using elicitors and inducing abiotic stress. This study was conducted to evaluate the foliar application of Methyl Jasmonate (50 µM) and water deficit stress (no stress, mild stress and moderate stress as 100, 75 and 50% of field capacity, respectively) and their interactions on cultivated peppermint on plant growth, secondary metabolite and antioxidant capacity of infusions made under different treatment. Water deficit stress treatments increased flavonoid contents and total phenolic as well as antioxidant capacity significantly. Some phenolic compound such as luteolin, naringenin, coumaric acid, and quercetin were detected only in some drought and Methyl Jasmonate treatments. Also, fewer amino acids such as L-serine, Threonine, 4-aminobutiric acid, 5-oxo-L-proline and unsaturated fatty acids were identified. Also, foliar application of 50 µM Methyl Jasmonate treatment improved plant growth parameters and metabolite profile such as carbohydrates and amino acids in non-stress and stress conditions. Therefore, inducing water stress and applying MeJA is recommended to enhance the biologic properties of peppermint and improve bioactive compounds and the antioxidant capacity of peppermint infusions.

This review paper highlights about Medical Cannabis sativa (Marijuana or drug type) containing psychoactive molecule, Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) as a part of educational awareness programme in India. Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica were originally a native of India growing as a wild notorious noxious weed in the Indian Himalayan region. Marijuana (Charas, Ganja and Bhang in India) is a mind-altering (psychoactive) drug, produced by the Cannabis sativa plant. Marijuana (Charas, Ganja or Bhang drink in India) is an illicit drug containing very high levels (25-35%) of narcotic psychoactive molecule, Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) is banned and prohibited in India. Import, export, local sales and cultivation of Cannabis are illegal and prohibited in India. Phytocannabinoids (Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol-Δ9-THC, and Cannabidiol- CBD) have attained a global attention recently due to the therapeutic potentials in Parkinson’s disease, Schizophrenia, cancers, pain, anxiety, depression other neurological disorders as well as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of Epidiolex for Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gauss Syndrome. Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) is known as the substance that makes a person feel a “high,” while Cannabidiol (CBD) often promotes a feeling of relaxation. However, the adverse effects of Marijuana (medicinal cannabis) comes from studies of recreational users of marijuana led to the impaired short-term memory; impaired motor coordination; altered judgment; and paranoia or psychosis at high doses. The quality control of Cannabis products, contamination and adulteration of Cannabis products in Cannabis industry is another major issue. Therefore, a detailed study with clinical trials is warranted and this knowledge should be shared and explained to the customers.

Magnetopriming has emerged as a promising seed-priming method, improving seed vigor, plant performance and productivity under both normal and stressed conditions. Various recent reports have demonstrated that improved photosynthesis can lead to higher biomass accumulation and overall crop yield. The major focus of the present review is magnetopriming-based, improved growth parameters, which ultimately favor increased photosynthetic performance. The plants originating from magnetoprimed seeds showed increased plant height, leaf area, fresh weight, thick midrib and minor veins. Similarly, chlorophyll and carotenoid contents, efficiency of PSII, quantum yield of electron transport, stomatal conductance, and activities of carbonic anhydrase (CA), Rubisco and PEP-carboxylase enzymes are enhanced with magnetopriming of the seeds. In addition, a higher fluorescence yield at the J-I-P phase in polyphasic chlorophyll a fluorescence (OJIP) transient curves was observed in plants originating from magnetoprimed seeds. Here, we have presented an overview of available studies supporting the magnetopriming-based improvement of various parameters determining the photosynthetic performance of crop plants, which consequently increases crop yield. Additionally, we suggest the need for more in-depth molecular analysis in the future to shed light upon hidden regulatory mechanisms involved in magnetopriming-based, improved photosynthetic performance.

Increasing world temperatures are bringing about climate changes creating abiotic stress in plants. Date palm offshoot leaves (Khadrawi cv.) were analyzed for chlorophyll Chl a, Chl b, Total Chl, Chl a/b ratio, anthocyanin and carotenoid subject to salinity, drought and temperature stress under field conditions. Results demonstrated that drought and salinity stress accompanied by high temperatures in July and August significantly reduced the Chl a, Chl b, and Total Chl relative to the control. Anthocyanins, carotenoids, hydrogen peroxide, and malondialdehyde were markedly higher in July and August (45 ºC), whereas September showed lower values in these substances. Temperature reduction to 35 °C accompanied by drought or salinity stress, brought about a critical increment in relative water content and a decrease in electrolyte leakage. Although the impact of drought and salinity stress continued, the reduced temperatures in September resulted in a reduction of abscisic acid and proline concentration. Cluster analysis showed the two groups. In this first group, the significant similarity between the treatments is illustrated by the influence of the high temperature of 43–45 ºC. Recovery of photosynthesis following low-temperature, for the most part, determines plant flexibility to water deficiencies and salinity. Thermal stress, associated with salinity or drought stress is more damaging to the photosynthetic pigments than any single factor.