Challenges to Safe Wheat Storage

There are enormous challenges facing wheat storage, which is the most important crop in existence. Wheat is one of the most famous and important plants in human history. There is no country in the world that does not give up wheat yields. Countries of the world vary and differ in their production and consumption of that important plant. Since ancient times, humans have stored wheat grain in special places. Storage areas were developed until the current silos were reached. With large quantities of wheat stored in silos, there are many challenges to the healthy environment of storage. One of the most important challenges facing quality of wheat stored in silos is the spread of conidia and spores of many dangerous fungi on wheat grains. One of studies conducted by the authors proved presence of some of notorious fungi on and inside wheat mass stored in the silo under study. Aspergillus flavus, A. niger, Circinella umbellata, Gliocladium sp., Penicillium frequentans, P. islandicum, and Ulocladium atrum were isolated from wheat samples. All seven isolated fungi demonstrated their ability to analyze human red blood cells with different strengths. These results are consistent with previous studies that confirm the seriousness of presence of these fungi on the health of dealers and exposers especially with bad storage and humidity

Olive-Pressed Solid Residues as a Medium for Growing Mushrooms and Increasing Soil Fertility

Organic fertilizer is the core of organic farming, which represents the most important way to provide crops and agricultural products that are safe and free of any chemical components and pesticides. From this point of view, the purpose of this study is to provide a source of organic fertilizers which was formerly an environmental problem. The northwestern region of Saudi Arabia is flourishing with olive production, leaving huge amounts of residues called olive press cake (OPC). These wastes are a major environmental pollution despite their good content of carbohydrates, protein, oil and cellulose alongside phenols and lignin. We tested the cultivation of Gliocladium roseum, Pythium oligandrum and Trichoderma harzianum and the mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus on OPC in order to reduce the high percentage of phenols that impede the germination of some plant seeds. Gliocladium roseum, Pythium oligandrum and Pleurotus ostreatus were able to reduce the percentage of phenols to more than 40% and thus support germination of seeds of Eruca sativa. This study gave than one benefit: firstly, reducing phenols that impede the germination of seeds. Secondly, Gliocladium roseum and Pythium oligandrum work against some plant diseases and also produce plant-like hormones that increase growth of plants

Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Crop Plants: Role of Phytohormones

Crop plants are encountered by various abiotic pressures which limit their growth and development. Stresses such as drought, heat, pathogen attack, heavy metal, salinity, and radiations impose negative effect on crop plants. The reduction in crop productivity in the current era of climate change is compromising the efforts/strategies used for sustainable agricultural practices. Therefore, plant stress physiologists are engineering plants with suitable exogenous signaling elicitors to engineer tolerance to various stresses. In the present chapter, an appraisal has been made in the “Introduction” section to first assess the damages caused by various abiotic stresses in crop plants. In the second section, we attempt to summarize the role of various plant hormones, namely, salicylic acid (SA), brassinosteroids (BRs), ethylene (ET), and methyl jasmonate (MJ) in enhancing abiotic stress tolerance. The current concept may lead to the development of strategies for unraveling the underlying mechanisms of plant hormone-mediated abiotic stress tolerance in crop plants

Role of calcium and magnesium on dramatic physiological and anatomical responses in tomato plants

Minerals are the fundamental source of nutrients for plant functions such as photosynthesis, ATP currency, cellular respiration, metabolic activities, defense mechanisms, and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stressors. Minerals are the most significant component of plant nutrition and applying these minerals supplements can increase fruit output. The study’s main aim was to make agricultural farming easier by foliar applying newly created nutrients like Lebosol-calcium and Magnesium. The four treatments: To (Control), T1 (Lebosol-Mg-Plus, 3 ml/L), T2 (Lebosol-Ca-Forte, 3 ml/L), and T3 (Lebosol-Mg-Plus and Lebosol-Ca-Forte, 3 ml/L) was applied as foliar spray to the seedlings of tomato. It was found that T3 substantially enhanced tomato’s morphological features and yield. The treatment T3 significantly increased total soluble protein, chlorophyll content, and antioxidant enzyme activity. Furthermore, the foliar application of T3 considerably improved phenolic and ascorbic acid contents. The general anatomical features of the leaf, stem, and roots of tomato were qualitatively affected by the treatments. Application of Lebosol-Ca provided the highest total thickness of lamina, number of vessel elements, total phloem area, chlorenchyma layer, total area of vessel elements, xylem ratio, and increased palisade layer thickness, vessel diameter. Furthermore, T3 treatment showed a diverse impact on the internal structure of tomato organs, with palisade and spongy parenchyma growing to maximum values and vessel diameters expanding. T3 had also posed remarkable alterations in morpho-physiological, biochemical, and anatomical aspects in tested plants

Impact of Combined Heat and Drought Stress on the Potential Growth Responses of the Desert Grass Artemisia sieberi alba: Relation to Biochemical and Molecular Adaptation

Artemisia sieberi alba is one of the important plants frequently encountered by the combined effect of drought and heat stress. In the present study, we investigated the individual and combined effect of drought and heat stress on growth, photosynthesis, oxidative damage, and gene expression in A. sieberi alba. Drought and heat stress triggered oxidative damage by increasing the accumulation of hydrogen peroxide, and therefore electrolyte leakage. The accumulation of secondary metabolites, such as phenol and flavonoids, and proline, mannitol, inositol, and sorbitol, was increased due to drought and heat stress exposure. Photosynthetic attributes including chlorophyll synthesis, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, photosynthetic efficiency, and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters were drastically reduced due to drought and heat stress exposure. Relative water content declined significantly in stressed plants, which was evident by the reduced leaf water potential and the water use efficiency, therefore, affecting the overall growth performance. Relative expression of aquaporin (AQP), dehydrin (DHN1), late embryogenesis abundant (LEA), osmotin (OSM-34), and heat shock proteins (HSP70) were significantly higher in stressed plants. Drought triggered the expression of AQP, DHN1, LEA, and OSM-34 more than heat, which improved the HSP70 transcript levels. A. sieberi alba responded to drought and heat stress by initiating key physio-biochemical and molecular responses, which were distinct in plants exposed to a combination of drought and heat stress