In recent years, much effort has been devoted to understanding the response of plants to various light sources, largely due to advances in industry light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In this study, the effect of different light modes on rocket (Eruca sativa. Mill.) photosynthetic performance and other physiological traits was evaluated using an orthogonal design based on a combination between light intensity, quality, and photoperiod factors. Some morphological and biochemical parameters and photosynthetic efficiency of the plants were analyzed. Plants grew in a closed chamber where three light intensities (160, 190, and 220 μmol m-2 s-1) provided by LEDs with a combination of different ratios of red, green, and blue (R:G:B- 7:0:3, 3:0:7, and 5:2:3) and three different photoperiods (light/dark -10/14 h, 12/12 h, and 14/10 h) were used and compared with white fluorescent light (control). This experimental setup allowed us to study the effect of 9 light modes (LM) compared to white light. The analyzes performed showed that the highest levels of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and carotenoids occurred under LM4, LM3, and LM1, respectively. Chlorophyll a fluorescence measurement showed that the best effective quantum yield of PSII photochemistry Y(II), non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), photochemical quenching coefficient (qP), and electron transport ratio (ETR) were obtained under LM2. The data showed that the application of R7:G0:B3 light mode with a shorter photoperiod than 14/10 h (light/dark), regardless of the light intensity used, resulted in a significant increase in growth as well as higher photosynthetic capacity of rocket plants. Since, a clear correlation between the studied traits under the applied light modes was not found, more features should be studied in future experiments.

Nitrogen (N), the building block of plant proteins and enzymes, is an essential macronutrient for plant functions. A field experiment was conducted to investigate the impact of different N application rates (28, 57, 85, 114, 142, 171, and 200 kg ha −1 ) on the performance of spring wheat (cv. Ujala-2016) during the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 growing seasons. A control without N application was kept for comparison. Two years mean data showed optimum seed yield (5,461.3 kg ha −1 ) for N-application at 142 kg ha −1 whereas application of lower and higher rates of N did not result in significant and economically higher seed yield. A higher seed yield was obtained in the 2017-2018 (5,595 kg ha −1 ) than in the 2018-2019 (5,328 kg ha −1 ) growing seasons under an N application of 142 kg ha −1 . It was attributed to the greater number of growing degree days in the first (1,942.35°C days) than in the second year (1,813.75°C). Higher rates of N (171 and 200 kg ha −1 ) than 142 kg ha −1 produced more number of tillers (i.e., 948,300 and 666,650 ha −1 , respectively). However, this increase did not contribute in achieving higher yields. Application of 142, 171, and 200 kg ha −1 resulted in 14.15%, 15.0% and 15.35% grain protein concentrations in comparison to 13.15% with the application of 114 kg ha −1 . It is concluded that the application of N at 142 kg ha −1 could be beneficial for attaining higher grain yields and protein concentrations of wheat cultivar Ujala-2016.

In order to ensure an ongoing and long-term breeding progress of soybean, stable sources of major quality traits across multi-environments need to be identified. Here, a panel of 135 soybean genotypes was tested in three different Chinese environments, including Beijing, Anhui, and Hainan during the 2017 and 2018 growing seasons to identify stable genotypes for cultivation under varying environmental conditions. The weighted average of absolute scores biplot (WAASB) for the best linear unbiased predictions of the genotype-environment interaction and multi-trait stability index (MTSI) were utilized to determine the stability of the soybeans for seven seed composition traits viz; protein content, oil content, and five fatty acids (palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids). Based on the WAASB index, the following genotypes were identified as stable genotypes for some specific traits; ZDD12828 and ZDD12832 for protein content, WDD01583 and WDD03025 for oil content, ZDD23040 for palmitic acid, WDD00033 for stearic acid, ZDD23822 for oleic acid, ZDD11183 for linoleic acid, and ZDD08489 for linolenic acid. Furthermore, based on MTSI at a selection intensity of 10%, 14 soybean genotypes were selected for their average performance and stability. Overall, the MTSI was shown to be a powerful and simple tool for identifying superior genotypes in terms of both performance and stability, hence, identifying stable soybean genotypes for future breeding programs of quality traits.

The effects of different fertilizers and biofertilizers on crop production to increase plant growth, improve quality and yield components (dry leaves yield, leaf protein, and stevioside) of crops has been extensively studied. However, the combination of both types of fertilizers have rarely been investigated. To explore the effect of different fertilizers and biofertilizers on stevia plant, a two-year field experiment was conducted to investigate the growth response of stevia plants under the influence of nitrogenous fertilizers (NFs) and effective microorganisms (EM). The experiment was laid out in a split-plot design, with EM as the main plot factor (−EM and +EM) and NFs as the subplot factor [control, chemical NFs (Ch-N) and organic NFs (Org-N)]. The results showed that, plants treated with EM and Org-N showed 2-, 2.2-, 2.4-, 2.5-, 3.3- and 3-fold increases in plant height, number of branches, total leaf area, plant fresh weight, plant dry weight and leaf dry yield, respectively, compared to untreated plants. Similarly, plants receiving EM along with Ch-N showed 1.86-, 1.7-, 2.2-, 2.12-, 3-, and 2.72-fold increases in the same traits. Total chlorophyll, protein, N, P, K and sativoside contents were increased by 88.8, 152, 138, 151.5, 43 and 137.5% when EM and Org-N were applied to stevia plants. Application of EM together with Ch-N increased these properties by 0.5, 127.7, 115, 216, 42.6 and 83.8%, respectively in the same traits. Overall, the combined application of NFs and EM improved growth, yield and nutrient accumulation in stevia plants.

Globally, climate change could hinder future food security that concurrently implies the importance of investigating drought stress and genotype screening under stressed environments. Hence, the current study was performed to screen 45 diverse maize inbred lines for 18 studied traits comprising phenological, physiological, morphological, and yield characters under optimum and water stress conditions for two successive growing seasons (2018 and 2019). The results showed that growing seasons and water regimes significantly influenced (p < 0.01) most of the studied traits, while inbred lines had a significant effect (p < 0.01) on all of the studied traits. The findings also showed a significant increase in all studied characters under normal conditions compared to drought conditions, except chlorophyll content, transpiration rate, and proline content which exhibited higher levels under water stress conditions. Furthermore, the results of the principal component analysis indicated a notable distinction between the performance of the 45 maize inbred lines under normal and drought conditions. In terms of grain yield, the drought tolerance index (DTI) showed that Nub60 (1.56), followed by Nub32 (1.46), Nub66 (1.45), and GZ603 (1.44) were the highest drought-tolerant inbred lines, whereas Nub46 (0.38) was the lowest drought-tolerant inbred line. These drought-tolerant inbred lines were able to maintain a relatively high grain yield under normal and stress conditions, whereas those drought-sensitive inbred lines showed a decline in grain yield when exposed to drought conditions. The hierarchical clustering analysis based on DTI classified the forty-five maize inbred lines and eighteen measured traits into three column- and row-clusters, as inbred lines in cluster-3 followed by those in cluster-2 exhibited greater drought tolerance in most of the studied traits. Utilizing the multi-trait stability index (MTSI) criterion in this study identified nine inbred lines, including GZ603, as stable genotypes in terms of the eighteen studied traits across four environments. The findings of the current investigation motivate plant breeders to explore the genetic potential of the current maize germplasm, especially in water-stressed environments.