Antagonistic impact on cadmium stress in alfalfa supplemented with nano-zinc oxide and biochar via upregulating metal detoxification.

Eco-toxicological estimation of cadmium induced damages by morpho-physiological and cellular response could be an insightful strategy to alleviate negative impact of Cd in agricultural crops. The current study revealed novel patterns of Cd-bioaccumulation and cellular mechanism opted by alfalfa to acquire Cd tolerance under various soil applied zinc oxide nanoparticles (nZnO) doses (0, 30, 60, 90 mg kg), combined with 2% biochar (BC). Herein, the potential impact of these soil amendments was justified by decreased Cd and increased Zn-bioaccumulation into roots by 38 % and 48 % and shoots by 51 % and 72 % respectively, with co-exposure of nZnO with BC.

Potential of Legume-Brassica Intercrops for Forage Production and Green Manure: Encouragements from a Temperate Southeast European Environment.

Legumes and brassicas have much in common: importance in agricultural history, rich biodiversity, numerous forms of use, high adaptability to diverse farming designs, and various non-food applications. Rare available resources demonstrate intercropping legumes and brassicas as beneficial to both, especially for the latter, profiting from better nitrogen nutrition. Our team aimed at designing a scheme of the intercrops of autumn- and spring-sown annual legumes with brassicas for ruminant feeding and green manure, and has carried out a set of field trials in a temperate Southeast European environment and during the past decade, aimed at assessing their potential for yields of forage dry matter and aboveground biomass nitrogen and their economic reliability via land equivalent ratio.

Beauty will save the world, but will the world save beauty? The case of the highly endangered Vavilovia formosa (Stev.) Fed.

Vavilovia formosa (Stev.) Fed. is a scientifically valuable common ancestor of the plant tribe Fabeae and also important in breeding and agronomy studies of the cultivated Fabeae, but it is close to extinction.