Agricultural and Biological Sciences, Agronomy and Crop Science
5
Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
Nano-fertilizers for climate-smart agriculture: resource efficiency across soil-plant-environment systems Md Asadujjaman Rasel, Sayma Salam, Md. Moshiul Islam Climate Smart Agriculture, 2026 Climate change is intensifying constraints on agricultural productivity by amplifying nutrient losses, yield instability, and environmental degradation. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) seeks to address these challenges by integrating productivity, resilience, and sustainability; however, conventional fertilizer practices remain inefficient and environmentally burdensome. Recent advances in nano-fertilizer technologies offer new opportunities to improve nutrient management within CSA frameworks. Nano-fertilizers enhance nutrient delivery through controlled release, improved uptake, and targeted translocation, leading to higher nutrient use efficiency, improved crop performance, and greater tolerance to abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, and temperature extremes. At the soil scale, nano-enabled formulations influence nutrient retention, microbial activity, and biogeochemical cycling, while at the environmental scale, they reduce nutrient leaching and mitigate emissions of nitrous oxide and ammonia. At the same time, concerns related to environmental fate, ecotoxicological effects, and long-term nanoparticle accumulation highlight the need for cautious deployment. The emerging integration of nano-fertilizers with precision agriculture, digital sensing, and artificial intelligence further strengthens their potential for adaptive nutrient management under climate variability. Overall, nano-fertilizers represent a promising component of climate-smart nutrient strategies, provided that their adoption is supported by field-scale validation, environmentally sound design, and appropriate regulatory oversight. • Nano-fertilizers improve nutrient use efficiency through controlled nutrient release. • Tolerance to drought, salinity, and heat stress is strengthened by nano-fertilizers. • Agricultural productivity, resilience, and sustainability can be enhanced by nano-fertilizers. • Nano-fertilizers can reduce N 2 O and NH 3 emissions in climate-smart farming systems. • Long-term safety, ecotoxicity, and regulation remain key adoption challenges.
Insights into drought tolerance in sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) focusing on adaptive mechanisms and mitigation approaches Tasfiqure Amin Apon, Aysha Siddika Jarin, Tamima Akter Shorna, Md. Asadujjaman Rasel, Al Rahat, et al. Climate Smart Agriculture, 2026 Drought stress is a major environmental factor limiting global sugar beet production. Water deficit impairs photosynthesis, disrupts osmotic balance, induces oxidative stress, and disturbs source–sink relationships, ultimately leading to inhibited root growth, reduced sucrose accumulation, and decreased overall yield. In response to drought stress, sugar beet initiates a series of adaptive mechanisms. Morphologically, it develops deeper roots and reduces leaf area to optimize water uptake and conservation. Physiologically and biochemically, it accumulates osmoregulatory compounds such as proline and glycine betaine to maintain cellular turgor and enhances the activity of antioxidant enzymes to mitigate oxidative damage. At the molecular level, drought tolerance involves the induction of stress-responsive genes and transcription factors including DREB (dehydration-responsive element-binding) proteins, MYB (myeloblastosis) factors, NAC transcription factors (e.g., NAM (no apical meristem), ATAF (Arabidopsis transcription activation factor), and CUC (cup-shaped cotyledon)), and WRKY transcription factors, as well as signaling molecules such as abscisic acid and aquaporins. In addition to these inherent tolerance mechanisms, external management practices can enhance drought resistance. These include optimized irrigation scheduling, soil amendments such as biochar and vermicompost, foliar application of plant hormones (e.g., abscisic acid, gibberellic acid, and jasmonic acid), and the use of nanoparticles such as fullerenol and silicon. However, the efficacy of nanoparticles is strongly dose-dependent. This review synthesizes current knowledge on drought responses in sugar beet, identifies key research gaps, and proposes strategies to alleviate drought stress, with an emphasis on morpho-physiological, biochemical, and molecular adaptations. It aims to provide a theoretical foundation for developing drought-tolerant sugar beet cultivars and formulating sustainable production strategies under changing climatic conditions.
Water Relation, Gas Exchange Characteristics and Yield Performance of Selected Mungbean Genotypes under Low Soil Moisture Condition Tahmina Tamanna, Md. Moshiul Islam, Arpita Roy Chaity, Shahjadi-Nur-Us Shams, Md. Asadujjaman Rasel, M. Moynul Haque, Md. Giashuddin Miah, Saud Alamri, Yoshiyuki Murata Agronomy, 2023 Among the environmental constraints, the growth and yield of crops are seriously impaired by moisture stress. With this view, an experiment was conducted to observe genotypic differences in water relation, gas exchange characteristics and yield performance of mungbean under low soil moisture conditions. Experimental variables consisted of five drought tolerant genotypes (G88, G108, G141,varietiesG186), one susceptible genotype (G43) and two standard check variety (BU mug 5, Binnamoog-8) which assigned to two moisture regimes viz., water regime A ((80 to 90% field capacity (FC)) and water regime B (40 to 50% FC). Results showed that water saturation deficit, water uptake capacity and transpiration rate were the lowest in tolerant genotypes G88 followed by genotypes G141, while those were the highest in susceptible genotype G43 under low soil moisture conditions. Contrarily, the highest amount of relative water content and water retention capacity were found in tolerant genotypes G141, G108 and G88 and the lowest was recorded in susceptible genotype G43 under low soil moisture conditions. In the case of the photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance, the tolerant genotype G141, G88 and G108 showed the higher values at moisture stress condition. The highest total chlorophyll content and proline content were also found in tolerant genotype G88 followed by G141 and G108, and the lowest was found in susceptible genotype G43 under moisture stress conditions. Irrespective of genotypes, moisture stress significantly decreased the yield attributes and yield of mungbean genotypes. However, the highest seed yield per plant (12.11 g) was found in tolerant genotype G88 under low soil moisture conditions because of its lowest reduction rate of yield attributes under moisture stress. Similar responses were also observed in tolerant genotypes G141 and G108. Therefore, the genotypes G88, G108 and G141 showed better performance in the case of water relation and gas exchange characteristics which might be contribute to higher yield of those genotypes.
Salicylic Acid Improves Agro-Morphology, Yield and Ion Accumulation of Two Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Genotypes by Ameliorating the Impact of Salt Stress Syeda Afia Fairoj, Md. Moshiul Islam, Md. Ariful Islam, Erin Zaman, Milia Bente Momtaz, Md. Saddam Hossain, Nilufar Akhtar Jahan, Shahjadi-Nur-Us Shams, Tahmina Akter Urmi, Md Asadujjaman Rasel, Md. Arifur Rahman Khan, Mohammed Zia Uddin Kamal, G. K. M. Mustafizur Rahman, Md. Nasimul Bari, M. Moynul Haque, Yoshiyuki Murata Agronomy, 2023 Wheat growth, development and yield are severely affected by a wide range of abiotic stresses, and salt stress is a vital and increasing abiotic stress. Salicylic acid (SA) is a phenolic phytohormone involved in plant physiological processes. Hence, we have conducted an experiment to explore the roles of exogenous SA in mitigating salt stress in two wheat genotypes. There were eight treatments comprising (i) control, (ii) 0.5 mM SA, (iii) 1.0 mM SA, (iv) 1.5 mM SA, (v) salinity (12 dS m−1), (vi) salinity + 0.5 mM SA, (vii) salinity + 1.0 mM SA and (viii) salinity + 1.5 mM SA with two wheat genotypes viz G 200-4 and BARI gom-25. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with five replications. During the vegetative stage, salt stress significantly reduced the relative water content (RWC), photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and growth characteristics of both wheat genotypes, while the exogenous application of SA in salt-stressed plants significantly improved the RWC, gas exchange activities and growth performance of both the genotypes. The leaf chlorophyll content was also degraded due to salinity treatment, although it was mitigated by the exogenous application of SA. The imposition of salt significantly reduced the number of days required for maturity, yield-contributing characteristics and the yield of both the wheat genotypes. Salt stress also significantly increased Na+ concentrations and the Na+/K+ ratio, while the K+ concentrations was decreased significantly in both the wheat genotypes. However, the exogenous application of SA in salt-stressed plants significantly reduced the salt stress effects and increased the growth and yield of wheat genotypes by enhancing RWC, gas exchange activities and photosynthetic pigments and maintaining lower Na+ concentrations and a Na+/K+ ratio. Therefore, the findings of this study suggested that the exogenous application of SA improved the salt tolerance of both wheat genotypes.
