Mostafa Abdelkader

Sustainable plant disease management is essential for maintaining agricultural productivity, environmental health, and global food security. Climate change has increased crop vulnerability to emerging and re-emerging plant diseases, posing significant challenges for agricultural sustainability. Although synthetic chemical pesticides have long been effective for disease control, their extensive use is increasingly questioned because of environmental contamination, pathogen resistance, and potential risks to human and ecosystem health. Consequently, plant disease management (PDM) is shifting toward more sustainable and integrated approaches. Future strategies are expected to incorporate multiple disciplines, including: (i) biological control and microbiome engineering to enhance natural plant defense mechanisms; (ii) advanced molecular and genomic technologies, such as CRISPR/Cas systems, RNA interference (RNAi), and epigenome editing, to develop durable disease resistance; (iii) smart delivery systems for the precise application of antimicrobial compounds and defense elicitors; (iv) nanotechnology-based platforms for the targeted delivery of nutrients, pesticides, and biocontrol agents, improving efficacy while reducing chemical inputs; (v) digital and precision agriculture technologies, including remote sensing, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and artificial intelligence (AI)-based diagnostics, to facilitate real-time disease surveillance and targeted interventions; and (vi) agroecological practices such as crop diversification, soil health restoration, and climate-smart farming to enhance agroecosystem resilience. These innovations aim not only to suppress plant pathogens but also to build sustainable, adaptive, and resilient agricultural systems that address future environmental and biological challenges.

Plants are exposed to various biotic stressors, such as plant pathogens, weeds, and insects, that threaten crop yield. Fungal and bacterial diseases are among the most harmful pathogens, negatively affecting plant growth and development, and resulting in numerous changes in morphophysiological, anatomical, and molecular characteristics. Additionally, insects are a detrimental biotic stress that negatively impacts yield. Morphological characters, such as plant height and leaf area, were significantly reduced under infestations by weeds, pathogens, and insects. Similarly, physiological parameters, including chlorophyll, relative water content, the antioxidative system, and electrolyte leakage, were negatively affected in infected plants. These harmful effects are associated with the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as superoxide and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). These effects can be mitigated with biological treatments, which are a fundamental approach for improving growth characteristics and yield in infected plants while increasing antioxidant defence and ROS scavenging. The application of plant extracts and bioagents improved plant tolerance to specific pathogens. Bioagents, such as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria and some fungi, can play a significant role in enhancing water and nutrient uptake and in regulating hormonal balance in plants under pathogen stress. These treatments improved the anatomical characteristics of infected plants with fungi and bacteria. This review highlights the use of bioagents and biological treatments as eco-friendly strategies to address multiple biotic stresses, particularly plant pathogens, insects, and weeds. The review also discusses the role of these biological treatments for improving morpho-physiological and anatomical characters and enhancing the antioxidant system.

Climate change represents a major global challenge that threatens agricultural productivity, ecosystem stability, and food security by intensifying abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, and extreme temperatures. Solanaceous crops, which are economically and nutritionally important worldwide, are highly sensitive to these stresses, leading to oxidative damage, impaired photosynthesis, and reduced yield and quality. Nanotechnology has emerged as a promising approach to mitigate these adverse effects. Due to their unique physicochemical properties, nanoparticles (NPs) enhance nutrient uptake, improve water-use efficiency, and regulate plant metabolic processes. They also activate antioxidant defense systems, reduce reactive oxygen species (ROS), and improve the delivery efficiency of growth regulators and bioactive compounds. This review synthesizes recent literature on abiotic stress responses in solanaceous crops and evaluates the role of nanoparticles as mitigation strategies, focusing on physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms. The scope includes drought, salinity, and temperature stresses, as well as nano-enabled applications such as nano-carriers and nano-sensors. Overall, nanoparticle applications improve plant tolerance by enhancing antioxidant activity, regulating stress-responsive pathways, and improving resource-use efficiency, thereby contributing to increased crop productivity under climate change conditions. However, challenges related to nanoparticle toxicity and environmental risks remain, emphasizing the need for optimized and safe application strategies. These findings highlight the potential of nanotechnology as a sustainable tool to enhance the resilience and productivity of solanaceous crops under changing climatic conditions. This review highlights that nanoparticles can enhance abiotic stress tolerance in solanaceous crops by improving antioxidant activity, photosynthesis, nutrient uptake, and water-use efficiency under adverse environmental conditions. Overall, nanotechnology represents a promising strategy for sustainable crop production under climate change, although further studies are needed to ensure its environmental safety and long-term applicability. This review provides a comprehensive overview of abiotic stress effects on solanaceous crops and highlights the role of nanoparticles as a sustainable tool to enhance plant tolerance, productivity, and resilience under climate change conditions.

Bean broomrape is one of the most destructive parasitic weeds limiting faba bean production in many Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries. This study aims to investigate the susceptibility of Faba bean genotypes to Bean Broomrape infestation. A field experiment was conducted to evaluate nine Faba bean cultivars with diverse genetic backgrounds. The tested cultivars were Sakha 1, Misr 3, Mariout 2, Giza 429, Giza 843, Giza 716, Nubaria 1, Nubaria 3, and Wadi 1. Giza 429 had the highest plant (73 cm), and Nubaria 1 had the greatest root fresh weight (39.3 g). Giza 429 produced the highest seed yield (3.2 t/ha) and the lowest Bean Broomrape dry weight (40.3 g/m ² ). In contrast, Nubaria 1 was the most susceptible, with severe yield reduction (0.87 t/ha) and high infestation (110.4 g/m ² ). Physio-biochemical analyses revealed that resistant cultivars (Giza 429, Misr 3) had increased antioxidant activity and phenolic content, while showing reduced proline. Tolerant cultivars had larger vascular cylinder diameters, wider xylem vessels, and thicker phloem tissue, which enhances nutrient transport and structural resistance to Bean Broomrape. Susceptible cultivars displayed reduced vascular development and smaller xylem vessel areas. Giza 429 is a promising genetic resource for breeding programs aimed at enhancing tolerance to broomrape. The findings highlight the potential contributions of biochemical defense responses and root anatomical adaptations to tolerance mechanisms in faba bean under O. crenata infestation.

Postharvest loss of tropical fruits remains a significant challenge for food security and sustainability, as their delicate texture and high metabolic activity make them highly susceptible to rapid deterioration through handling and distribution. This study investigates the application of an edible coating technique to reduce loss, deterioration, and spoilage, and to increase the shelf-life of guava fruit. The fruits were immersed in chitosan and edible oils (moringa, lemongrass, marjoram, and rosemary). Chitosan (2%) and 1–2% moringa oil extended the shelf life of fruits by up to 24 days. Moringa oil at 1–2% mitigated the loss in fruit weight compared to 1% chitosan after the 24th day of storage, and the fruits had superior quality attributes (TSS, vitamin C, sugar content). The findings show that 2% chitosan and 1–2% moringa oil were the most effective treatments, reducing weight loss to about 10–25% compared to nearly 50% in untreated fruits and maintaining overall fruit quality. These treatments boosted peroxidase (POD) activity, reaching a peak of 76.47 U/g and keeping hydrogen peroxide (H ₂ O ₂ ) levels low at 24.25 µmol g ^- ¹ FW, signalling strong protection against oxidative stress. On the chemical side, they maintained higher total soluble solids (13.17 °Brix), total sugars (11.36%), and vitamin C (32.49 mg/100 mL), while keeping acidity lower (0.82%). By comparison, lemongrass and marjoram oil treatments were far less effective, showing faster weight loss and oxidative damage levels similar to those of the control group. Chitosan and oil coatings substantially reduce bacteria and yeasts/moulds on guava fruits, and moringa oil treatment improved physio-biochemical characteristics and reduced postharvest disease spoilage. The results highlight that natural coatings, particularly chitosan and moringa oil, not only preserved the physio-biochemical quality of guava but also offered a sustainable, biodegradable solution that can help reduce food loss, limit reliance on synthetic chemicals, and support environmentally responsible postharvest management practices.

Growth regulators have become an effective tool for enhancing the cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants by promoting vegetative development and increasing the accumulation of bioactive metabolites. Benzyladenine (BA), a synthetic cytokinin, is widely recognized for its ability to influence growth and secondary metabolism in ornamental species; however, dose response evaluations under open field conditions remain limited for Tagetes erecta . This study examined the effects of foliar BA applications at 0, 50, 75, and 100 ppm, applied weekly over three intervals, on vegetative growth, pigment composition, antioxidant-related metabolites, and macronutrient status. BA treatments significantly improved all measured parameters relative to untreated plants, with responses showing a clear concentration dependent trend. The 100 ppm treatment produced the most pronounced enhancements, yielding maximum vegetative growth (72.133 cm height, 177.80 g fresh weight, 74.26 g dry weight), highest pigment levels (8.35 mg/100 g FW chlorophyll a, 5.88 mg/100 g FW chlorophyll b, 5.12 mg/100 g FW carotenoids), improved mineral content (3.15% nitrogen, 0.454% phosphorus, 2.92% potassium), and elevated antioxidant properties (25.844% antioxidant activity, 94.2 mg/100 g FW total phenols, 2.884 mg/100 g FW total flavonoids). These findings demonstrate that BA, particularly at 100 ppm, effectively enhances growth performance and secondary metabolite accumulation in T. erecta , providing field-based evidence for the role of cytokinins in optimizing the agronomic and phytochemical potential of this economically important ornamental species.

The research introduces the creation and assessment of a technological strip-tillage and volumetric (3-D) spraying system (TIV) aimed at boosting resource efficiency and environmental sustainability in crop production. This TIV system combines several soil and plant management tasks into one pass, performing 3–4 mechanical tillage operations while ensuring precise agrochemical application. With adjustable cultivation widths, it can adapt to different crop needs, improving soil aeration, moisture retention, and nutrient availability leading to yield increases of up to 20%. Compared to conventional plow-based tillage, the TIV system reduces human-induced soil impact by 1.8 times, improving both economic and ecological outcomes. Its advanced 3-D volumetric spraying feature allows fertilizers and crop protection agents to be applied directly to cultivated plants, reducing drift and off-target contamination. The system ensures a more even droplet distribution across plant layers 30–19% coverage from upper to lower leaves and an extra 28% on stems and leaf undersides outperforming traditional continuous spraying approaches. Field experiments in the Volgograd region (Russia) revealed that strip application technologies could boost ecological efficiency by 20–39%, depending on crop row spacing. These findings demonstrate that the TIV system aligns with regenerative agriculture and green economy principles, supporting high productivity while cutting input costs, chemical use, and environmental pollution. Future developments aim to enhance the TIV’s adaptability for vegetable and melon crops and optimize strip width for various cultivation systems.

The primary worldwide variables limiting plant development and agricultural output are the ever-present threat that environmental stressors such as salt (may trigger osmotic stress plus ions toxicity, which impact on growth and yield of the plants), drought (provokes water stress, resulting in lowering photosynthesis process and growth rate), heavy metals (induced toxicity, hindering physiological processes also lowering crop quantity and quality), and pathogens (induce diseases that may significantly affect plant health beside productivity). This review explores the integrated effects of these stressors on plant productivity and growth rate, emphasizing how each stressor exceptionally plays a role in physiological responses. Owing to developments in technology that outclass traditional breeding methods and genetic engineering techniques, powerful alleviation strategies are vital. New findings have demonstrated the remarkable role of nanoparticles in regulating responses to these environmental stressors. In this review, we summarize the roles and various applications of nanomaterials in regulating abiotic and biotic stress responses. This review discusses and explores the relationship between various types of nanoparticles (metal, carbon-based, and biogenic) and their impact on plant physiology. Furthermore, we assess how nanoparticle technology may play a role in practices of sustainable agriculture by reducing the amount of compounds used, providing them with a larger surface area, highly efficient mass transfer abilities, and controlled, targeted delivery of lower nutrient or pesticide amounts. A review of data from several published studies leads to the conclusion that nanoparticles may act as a synergistic effect, which can effectively increase plant stress tolerance and their nutritional role.

This review delves into the role of plant growth-promoting microbes (PGPMs) in sustainable agriculture by enhancing soil health, improving plant stress tolerance, and controlling diseases. PGPMs, which include bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms, are increasingly recognized as important contributors to promoting eco-friendly agricultural practices. Their ability to improve nutrient availability, stimulate plant growth, and protect crops from environmental stressors makes them a cornerstone for resilient and efficient farming systems. By reducing dependency on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, PGPMs play a vital role in preserving environmental resources, minimizing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and combating climate change’s negative impacts. This article thoroughly explores the complex interactions between PGPMs, soil nutrients, plant pathogens, and abiotic stressors. It also examines how these interactions influence phytohormone production and signaling pathways, ultimately impacting crop growth and development. Furthermore, this review discusses how PGPMs enhance nutrient uptake, modulate plant immune responses, and improve stress resilience, offering a holistic understanding of their multifaceted contributions to farming. By synthesizing current research and highlighting future directions, this review underscores the potential of PGPMs to revolutionize agricultural activities, ensuring food security and environmental sustainability in the face of global challenges.