Nowadays open field and protected vegetable cultivation practices require and use genotypes which are precisely tailored to their intended growth environments. Variability of this kind provides a rich source of material to uncover molecular mechanisms supporting the necessarily divergent physiological traits. In this study, typical field-optimized and glasshouse-cultivated cucumber F1 hybrids were investigated, and displayed slower growth (‘Joker’) and faster growth (‘Oitol’) in seedlings. Antioxidant capacity was lower in ‘Joker’ and higher in ‘Oitol’, pointing to a potential redox regulation of growth. The growth response of seedlings to paraquat treatment indicated stronger oxidative stress tolerance in the fast-growing ‘Oitol’. To test whether protection against nitrate-induced oxidative stress was also different, fertigation with increasing potassium nitrate content was applied. This treatment did not change growth but decreased the antioxidant capacities of both hybrids. Bioluminescence emission revealed stronger lipid peroxidation triggered by high nitrate fertigation in the leaves of ‘Joker’ seedlings. To explore the background of the more effective antioxidant protection of ‘Oitol’, levels of ascorbic acid (AsA), as well as transcriptional regulation of relevant genes of the Smirnoff–Wheeler biosynthetic pathway and ascorbate recycling, were investigated. Genes related to AsA biosynthesis were strongly upregulated at an elevated nitrate supply in ‘Oitol’ leaves only, but this was only reflected in a small increase in total AsA content. High nitrate provision also triggered expression of ascorbate–glutathion cycle genes with stronger or exclusive induction in ‘Oitol’. AsA/dehydro–ascorbate ratios were higher in ‘Oitol’ for all treatments, with a more pronounced difference at high nitrate levels. Despite strong transcriptional upregulation of ascorbate peroxidase genes (APX) in ‘Oitol’, APX activity only increased significantly in ‘Joker’. This suggests potential inhibition of APX enzyme activity specifically in ‘Oitol’ at a high nitrate supply. Our results uncover an unexpected variability in redox stress management in cucumbers, including nitrate inducibility of AsA biosynthetic and recycling pathways in certain genotypes. Possible connections between AsA biosynthesis, recycling and nitro-oxidative stress protection are discussed. Cucumber hybrids emerge as an excellent model system for studying the regulation of AsA metabolism and the roles of AsA in growth and stress tolerance.

The present study aimed to explore fluctuations in fatty acids and phenolic profiles of olive oil extracted from fruits of Olea ferruginea Royle harvested at green raw and purple ripe stages from the district Zhob, Balochistan, Pakistan. First, fruit sampling was conducted on 26^th June when green olives appeared on trees; second, purple ripe olives were picked on 26^th August. Due to very small size and large pit size, oil is extracted without de-pitting the fruit. High-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) system was used for fatty acid and phenolic profiling of both oil samples. Results showed that fatty acid composition of oil extracted from raw green and ripe purple olives falls in the normal range set for purity criteria for olive oils and olive pomace oils by International Olive Council 2019 except for behenic, caprylic, capric and lauric in both oils and oleic acid and linoleic acid of oil extracted from raw green olives which do fall in standard ranges. Fatty acid composition of the olive oil showed that the oil is rich in monounsaturated fatty acids (range 50.71% in oil of green olives and 58.77% in oil of ripe purple olives), polyunsaturated fatty acids (range 30.45% in oil of raw green olives and 19.32% in oil of ripe purple olives) and saturated fatty acids (range 15.27–18.58% in olive oil obtained from raw green and ripe purple olives). SFAs showed least variation with ripening stages. There was high concentration of total phenolics in oil obtained from green raw olives (33.41 mg kg⁻¹) as compared to oil of ripe purple olives (18.49 mg kg⁻¹⁾. The present study revealed that alpha, beta, gamma and delta tocopherols showed a uniform trend along with ripening of olive fruit, i.e. there is a clear decline in total tocopherol content of olive oil obtained from ripe purple olives. Green raw olives showed high values of α-tocopherol (192.47 mg kg⁻¹), β + γ-tocopherols (233.65 mg kg⁻¹) and δ-tocopherol (1087.48 mg kg⁻¹⁾. The present work concludes that ripening of olive fruit affects chemical composition of olive oil.

The aim of this research work was to evaluate the nutritional worth of some wild edible medicinal plants of District Harnai, Balochistan. Five wild edible medicinal plants (WEMPs) viz., Ficus carica L., Morus alba L., M. nigra L., Olea ferruginea Royle and Pistacia khinjuk Stocks were collected from study area. Proximate and mineral composition of leaf and fruit samples were quantified. Proximate composition revealed that leaf samples contained significant amount of dry matter, ash and protein content in O. ferruginea and fat content and Crude fiber in F.carica, Total carbohydrates and Organic matter in P. khinjuk comparatively. Further data highlighted fruit samples as rich source of organic matter, fat content and total carbohydrate (F.carica), Dry matter (P. khinjuk), Ash and protein content (M. alba) and Crude fiber (M. nigra). Similarly, mineral composition revealed a wide variability of macro and micronutrients in leave and fruit samples of selected WEMPs. The overall results obtained in this study have showed that F. carica and M. alba. may serve as good source of many important macro-nutrients viz., N, Ca, K, Mg, S and P. Whereas, M. alba followed by M. nigra may be considered as an excellent source of essential micro nutrients including Al, B, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni, Sr and Zn. Each selected wild plant manifested variable levels of mineral and proximate compositions representing that all the investigated WEMPs are rich source of nutrients that can fulfil the needs of nutrition while M. alba, M. nigra and F. carica are rich and easily available sources of essential nutrients for human diet.

The annual cumin and perennial fennel are economically important medicinal crops of cold dry regions of Pakistan. We hypothesized that the cumin, which produces 2–3 times less biomass, will respond to lower rates of mixture of biochar with synthetic NPK fertilizer or manure, compared to fennel. The NPK, poultry manure and their mixture with wood-derived or cow manure-derived biochars were applied for three consecutive years. No positive relation between application rate of biochar-mixed fertilizers and yield of both crops was observed over three years of study, except that manure-derived biochar-NPK mixture had a positive relation (R²  = 0.99, P = 0.01) with the yield of fennel only during the third year. Significant positive influences of biochar-based fertilizers compared to control were observed for cumin and fennel of third year cropping. The co-amendment of NPK (0.14 kg ha⁻¹) with manure-derived biochar (6.6 t ha⁻¹) consistently increased the yield of cumin during the first two years of cropping, as opposed to NPK fertilizer. Cumin had a greater seed:stover biomass ratio when it received the co-amendment of wood-derived biochar with NPK or poultry manure. Our findings indicate that there is some potential for biochar-fertilizer amendments to improve the growth of these high-value medicinal crops.

The original version of this Article contained an error in Reference 34, which was incorrectly given as: Eva, H., Masaki, K. & Humio, I. Spontaneous ultraweak light emission from respiring spinach leaf mitochondria. Biochem. Biophys. Acta. 1098, 27–31 (1991). The correct reference is listed below: Hideg, É., Kobayashi, M. & Inaba, H. Spontaneous ultraweak light emission from respiring spinach leaf mitochondria. Biochem. Biophys. Acta. 1098, 27–31. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/ 0005- 2728(91) 90005-9 (1991). The original Article has been corrected.

Biophoton radiation also referred to as ultra-weak photon emission (UPE) is used to denote a spontaneous and permanent photon emission associated with oxidative processes in cells and seems to universally occur in all living systems as a result of the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that are produced under stress conditions. The measurement of this biophoton emission allows for a non-invasive approach in monitoring phenological stages throughout plant development which has direct relevance in agriculture research. In this study, the emission of photons emanating from sunflower (Helianthus annuus, L.) plants exposed to biotic and abiotic stress has been investigated. In healthy plants raised under controlled growth conditions UPE was low whereas in stressed individuals it considerably increased; particularly upon water stress. The kinetics of the signal is shown to reveal an exponential decay with characteristic dynamics, which appears to reflect different physiological states concomitantly setting in upon stress. The dynamics of the signal decay is shown to vary according to the type of stress applied (biotic vs. abiotic) hence suggesting a putative relationship between the kinetic traits of change in the signal intensity-decay and stress. Intriguingly, the determination of the change in the intensity of biophoton emission that ensued in a short time course was possible by using the initial biophoton emission intensity. The predictability level of the equations demonstrated the applicability of the model in a corroborative manner when employing it in independent UPE-measurements, thus permitting to forecast the intensity change in a very accurate way over a short time course. Our findings allow the notion that albeit stress confers complex and complicated changes on oxidative metabolism in biological systems, the employment of biophoton imaging offers a feasible method making it possible to monitor oxidative processes triggered by stress in a non-invasive and label-free way which has versatile applications especially in precision agriculture.