To ensure global food security and sustainable agricultural productivity in the coming years, modern technology is essential. It can boost food production, increase resilience to agroclimatic disruptions, and maintain healthy agroecosystems. Pesticide use is widely considered unsustainable due to inefficient application, high energy and water consumption, and potential harm to agroecosystems. Engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) present a promising alternative to traditional pesticides by enabling targeted delivery and controlled release of active ingredients (AIs), thereby enhancing pesticidal efficacy and efficiency. This review examines how nanopesticides, which enhance crop defense and directly target pathogens much like optimal plant nutrition, can be used to manage agricultural pests and improve yields. Nanopesticides offer several benefits, including improved crop yield and quality, enhanced foliar adhesion, and targeted delivery of active ingredients (AIs) to reduce damage from biotic and abiotic stressors. This article finds that while nanopesticides are more effective and sustainable than traditional pesticides, they may also pose greater ecological risks. Therefore, further research is needed to fully understand these potential detrimental impacts. By boosting crop yields, these benefits promote sustainable agriculture and enhance global food security.

Saline soil and drought are among the most devastating abiotic stresses constraining sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) production globally, with soil salinity affecting over 1,125 Mha worldwide and drought causing severe yield losses in tropical and subtropical agroecosystems. As a glycophytic C4 crop supplying ~80% of the world’s sugar, sugarcane is particularly vulnerable, with threshold salinity tolerance at a mere 1.7 dS m–1 electrical conductivity (EC). This review integrates recent developments in the physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses of sugarcane during stress conditions. Under salinity, photosynthetic CO2 efficiency, chlorophyll integrity, source–sink partitioning, reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism, phytohormone signaling, and osmolyte accumulation are altered based on the sugarcane cultivars and cultivation regions. Under drought, stomatal regulation, root hydraulics, abscisic acid (ABA) cascades, and the expression of dehydrin and late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins govern tolerance. At the molecular level, ion-transporter genes (SOS pathway), DREB/ERF transcription factors, aquaporins, and small RNAs constitute central regulatory hubs. Mitigation strategies, including agronomic interventions, exogenous osmoprotectants, plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, biochar amendment, and advanced breeding tools such as CRISPR/Cas9, marker-assisted selection, and transgenic approaches, are comprehensively discussed for sustainable sugarcane production.

The 20 S proteasome is an evolutionarily conserved and essential protein complex in plant cells, consisting of α and β subunits organized into stacked ring structures, and it plays a central role in maintaining protein quality control, regulating signaling pathways and the cell cycle, and enabling cellular responses to environmental stress. However, our understanding of the 20 S proteasome gene family in sugarcane is still limited. In this study, a comprehensive genome-wide analysis of the 20 S proteasome gene family was performed in Saccharum spontaneum (AP85-441), including chromosomal localization, gene structure, conserved motif composition, phylogenetic relationships, and expression profiling. A total of 57 of 20 S proteasome genes were identified, comprising 28 α-subunit (ScPA) and 29 β-subunit (SsPB) genes distributed across 20 chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis grouped these genes into seven clades and revealed a high degree of sequence homology with corresponding genes from rice and sorghum. The conserved motif and cis-element analyses revealed that ScPAs and SsPBs genes were involved in hormone signaling pathways such as ethylene (ET) and abscisic acid (ABA), as well as abiotic stress responsiveness. The analysis of RNA-seq and protein-seq datasets demonstrated that the 57 20 S proteasome genes exhibited distinct expression patterns across leaves, stems, and roots, and were involved in responses to cold stress, ET, and ABA. Additionally, the cultivar GT28 was used to clone the SoPAA1 (GenBank accession KC794940) gene, which codes for a 247-amino acid protein and showed higher levels of expression in the cold-tolerant cultivar than in the cold-sensitive cultivar. These findings show that SoPAA1 is a key positive regulator of the cold stress response, and it provides a promising candidate gene for breeding cold-resistant sugarcane.

Silicon (Si) is a relatively novel element that has found widespread application in various fields. Gibberellic acid (GA3) is known to induce different physiological traits in a variety of plants. While Si and GA₃ independently improve plant performance, their interactive mechanisms and potential synergy are poorly understood. In the present study, different treatments of GA3 (0, 10, 20, 50, 75 and 100 ppm) and Si (50 ppm) were applied as foliar and soil irrigation on sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L. cv. GT55) plants at specific time intervals, such as 60 and 90 days. The result findings indicated that the application of foliar and soil irrigation containing GA3 and Si notably enhanced and/ or stabilized enzymatic and non-enzymatic activities, i.e., soluble protein, catalase, peroxidase, ascorbate peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione reductase, hydrogen peroxide, lipid peroxidation, proline, ascorbate, glutathione, oxidized glutathione, glutathione-S-transferase, dehydroascorbate, and plant hormones, such as indole-3-acetic acid, abscissic acid, and gibberellic acid in sugarcane plant leaves and roots after foliar and soil irrigation application. The results showed that the interactive applications of GA3 and Si were not harmful to sugarcane plants, and positively affected their growth and development. The simultaneous application of Si and GA₃ is a safe and highly effective strategy to upregulate sugarcane growth and metabolic regulation. This innovative approach presents sustainable technology to enhance crop productivity and contribute to global food security goals without relying on conventional chemical inputs.

Plants face a variety of abiotic stresses that can severely impact agricultural productivity and crop quality. Traditional methods, such as use of chemical inputs and resistant crop varieties, have had limited success, especially when suffering from multiple environmental stresses. Rhizobacteria with growth-promoting properties exhibit considerable diversity and inhabit the root zone of plants, thereby imparting multifaceted advantages to their host organisms. These bacteria can directly enhance plant performance by aiding in nutritional uptake, regulating phytohormones and mitigating the adverse impacts of stresses. Plant-associated rhizobacteria have been identified as a sustainable, eco-friendly biostimulant with potential to increase crop yield and abiotic stress tolerance capacity. Integrating these beneficial microbes into agricultural systems can reduce reliance on hazardous chemicals while improving the overall adaptability of agroecosystems to withstand adverse agroclimatic conditions. This review summarizes the recent advancements in understanding how beneficial microbes enhance plant stress tolerance, including direct nutritional support, phytohormone regulation, and induced systemic defences. PGPR-based biotechnologies employing bioinoculants provide better solutions for sustainable agriculture, reducing reliance on anthropogenic agrochemicals. This paper also aims to highlight the potential use of eco-friendly bioinoculants enhancing agricultural yield, ensuring sustenance food security and safety in the era of climate change.

Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) faces significant challenges in China, including labor-intensive cultivation, low yields, and environmental stresses. Enhancing root development and stress tolerance through phytohormones and molecular breeding is a promising approach to boosting productivity. Indole-3-butyric acid is a phytohormone known for promoting root development and stress resistance. However, its effects on sugarcane root development under low temperature remain poorly understood. This study demonstrated that IBA markedly promoted root initiation, elongation, and biomass under low temperature, and significantly increased the levels of phytohormones, including GA3, ABA, JA, IAA, and ZT, suggesting the activation of multiple signaling pathways. Transcriptome analysis revealed numerous differentially expressed genes related to metabolic pathways such as glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, and glutathione metabolism. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis identified core gene modules correlated with phytohormone activities, highlighting their role in the IBA-mediated stress response. Eleven core genes, including GSTU6, FAR1, and BCAT3, and nine hub genes, such as Ub-CEP52-1 and ACS1, were identified as critical components for IBA-induced root development and stress mitigation. These findings provide insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying IBA-induced root development and stress tolerance in sugarcane, offering candidate genes for breeding high-yield, stress-tolerant varieties and demonstrating IBA’s potential as a strategy to enhance productivity under challenging conditions.

The mechanization in sugarcane cultivation is required to improve the performance of sugarcane production capacity in China. The mechanization process is very substantial because it can enhance the production of agricultural land. There is an urgent need to breed advance sugarcane cultivars for mechanization process. In this article, cross-breeding was carried out using YT01-23 (female parent) and ROC22 (male parent) cultivars, and "five nursery system" was applied. The new sugarcane cultivar Guitang 10-2018 (GT10-2018) was comprehensively assessed through regional demonstrations in the Guangxi province, China. Morphological and production responses of Guitang 66 (GT66) cultivar were observed. It concluded that GT66 is a medium to medium-large stem cultivar with early maturity, better ratoon, stress tolerance, and mechanization-friendly approaches. The average yield of ratoons planted in the first and second (2018 and 2019) year was found about 86,537 kg/ha. The production capacity enhanced at 11.37% compared to ROC22 cultivar. The average sucrose content was found 14.35% in November-December, and 15.10% in the month of March. The average sucrose content was found optimum in GT66 than ROC22. The yield of newly planted sugarcane was 86,717 kg/ha lower than ROC22 (0.64%) in the first year. The average sugar content was found 11,619 kg/ha lower than ROC22. The average ratoon yield was 87,196 and 86,447 kg/ha, enhanced 11.58 and 26.62% compared to ROC22 in 2018 and 2019 cropping season. The average sugar content was 11,574 and 14,588 kg/ha (increase 5.42 and 26.98%). The average sugarcane fibre content was 12.18%, which is 0.08% lower than ROC22. The growth, development and production performance of GT66 was more significant during the regional field demonstrations, and it has strong production capacity. The current sugarcane production and cultivation strategies are suitable for sugarcane plantation sustainable development in Guangxi province, China.

Exogenous hormones play a crucial role in regulating plant growth, development, and stress tolerance. However, the effects of exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) on sugarcane seedlings under water stress remain poorly understood. Here, in this study, a pot experiment was conducted on sugarcane seedlings 4 weeks after transplanting, employing three treatments: control (normal growth), drought (water stress), and drought + ABA (foliar application of 100 μM ABA before water stress). The main objectives of this research are to understand the effects of exogenous ABA on sugarcane seedlings under water stress conditions and to assess the changes in antioxidant enzyme activity and phytohormone levels in response to exogenous ABA. Water stress was induced in the solution culture by adding 25% (w/v) polyethylene glycol (PEG) 6000 to the Hoagland solution. Leaf samples were collected at 3, 6, and 9 days after treatment, and the photosynthetic and biochemical responses of ABA-treated plants to drought stress were investigated. The indole acetic acid (IAA) activity of the ABA-treated drought plants is compared to that of drought plants. Moreover, the endogenous ABA levels of the ABA-treated drought plants were significantly enhanced by 42.2, 39.9, and 42.3% at 3, 6, and 9 days, respectively, compared to those of drought plants. Additionally, the proline content of the ABA-treated drought plants significantly increased by 45 and 80% at 6 and 9 days, respectively, compared to that of drought plants. The expression of the catalase 1 (CAT1) gene was increased in the ABA-treated drought plants by 2.1-fold, 0.7-fold, and 1.37-fold at 3, 6, and 9 days, respectively, compared to that in drought plants. Similarly, the expression of superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and ascorbate peroxidase genes of the ABA-treated drought plants also increased compared to those of the drought plants. In conclusion, foliar application of ABA mitigated the negative effects of water shortage of sugarcane plants under water stress. Applying ABA improved the antioxidant defense system of sugarcane plants under drought stress, thereby enhancing their photosynthetic activities and productivity.

Defoliation is a primary agronomic traits, its variation depends on different plant species or cultivars. The present article assess the leaf morphological responses, oxidative metabolites and enzymatic activities at sheath base of sugarcane cultivars during defoliation stage of plant leaves. The mature leaf sheath of GT47 strongly wrapped to the stem, and no stem was exposed. The upper and lower edges of the immature fusing abscission zone were parallel, and slightly lower browning area (+ 3 to + 7 leaf position). The ROC22 cultivar was monitored highest leaf sheath-based cellulose and lignin content, followed by GT60 and GT47. Peroxidase activity was higher in leaf sheath base edge (ROC22) as compare to other cultivars. The malondialdehyde content was found highest in GT60, followed by ROC22, and GT47. The exo-beta-1,4-glucanase/ cellobiohydrolase activity was found highest in the margin of GT47 than lateral and medial axis of ROC22 and GT60. The axis activity increased exponentially, and ROC22 gradually decreased from the periphery of the mid-axis and lower than GT47 and GT60 in the lateral and mid-axis of leaf. In conclusion, the mature leaves are easy to defoliate mainly loose leaf sheaths, large leaf sheath inclination angles, more deformation during the growth period of the abscission zone, early with large cracks, and slow browning process. Leaf sheaths with high fibre and lignin content showed significant hardness and thickness. The sugarcane cultivars showed positive correlation between peroxidase and malondialdehyde content with the browning process at the base of mature leaf sheaths.

Sustainable food security and safety are major concerns on a global scale, especially in developed nations. Adverse agroclimatic conditions affect the largest agricultural-producing areas, which reduces the production of crops. Achieving sustainable food safety is challenging because of several factors, such as soil flooding/waterlogging, ultraviolet (UV) rays, acidic/sodic soil, hazardous ions, low and high temperatures, and nutritional imbalances. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are widely employed in in-vitro conditions because they are widely recognized as a more environmentally and sustainably friendly approach to increasing crop yield in contaminated and fertile soil. Conversely, the use of nanoparticles (NPs) as an amendment in the soil has recently been proposed as an economical way to enhance the texture of the soil and improving agricultural yields. Nowadays, various research experiments have combined or individually applied with the PGPR and NPs for balancing soil elements and crop yield in response to control and adverse situations, with the expectation that both additives might perform well together. According to several research findings, interactive applications significantly increase sustainable crop yields more than PGPR or NPs alone. The present review summarized the functional and mechanistic basis of the interactive role of PGPR and NPs. However, this article focused on the potential of the research direction to realize the possible interaction of PGPR and NPs at a large scale in the upcoming years.

The mutualistic plant rhizobacteria which improve plant development and productivity are known as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). It is more significant due to their ability to help the plants in different ways. The main physiological responses, such as malondialdehyde, membrane stability index, relative leaf water content, photosynthetic leaf gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence efficiency of photosystem-II, and photosynthetic pigments are observed in plants during unfavorable environmental conditions. Plant rhizobacteria are one of the more crucial chemical messengers that mediate plant development in response to stressed conditions. The interaction of plant rhizobacteria with essential plant nutrition can enhance the agricultural sustainability of various plant genotypes or cultivars. Rhizobacterial inoculated plants induce biochemical variations resulting in increased stress resistance efficiency, defined as induced systemic resistance. Omic strategies revealed plant rhizobacteria inoculation caused the upregulation of stress-responsive genes—numerous recent approaches have been developed to protect plants from unfavorable environmental threats. The plant microbes and compounds they secrete constitute valuable biostimulants and play significant roles in regulating plant stress mechanisms. The present review summarized the recent developments in the functional characteristics and action mechanisms of plant rhizobacteria in sustaining the development and production of plants under unfavorable environmental conditions, with special attention on plant rhizobacteria-mediated physiological and molecular responses associated with stress-induced responses.

This paper introduces the status of the sugar industry in China, especially the production of sugarcane, sugarbeet and sugar, as well as achievements in sugarcane breeding, farming technology exploitation and value chain-added by-product development. In recent years, China has planted about 1.6–1.8 Mha of sugar crops and produces about 9–11 MT of sugar, with about 85–91

Sugarcane is the most important sugar crop and one of the leading energy-producing crops in the world. Ratoon stunting disease (RSD), caused by the bacterium Leifsonia xyli subsp. xyli, poses a huge threat to ratoon crops, causing a significant yield loss in sugarcane. Breeding resistant varieties is considered the most effective and fundamental approach to control RSD in sugarcane. The exploration of resistance genes forms the foundation for breeding resistant varieties through molecular technology. The pglA gene is a pathogenicity gene in L. xyli subsp. xyli, encoding an endopolygalacturonase. In this study, the pglA gene from L. xyli subsp. xyli and related microorganisms was analyzed. Then, a non-toxic, non-autoactivating pglA bait was successfully expressed in yeast cells. Simultaneously the yeast two-hybrid library was generated using RNA from the L. xyli subsp. xyli-infected sugarcane. Screening the library with the pglA bait uncovered proteins that interacted with pglA, primarily associated with ABA pathways and the plant immune system, suggesting that sugarcane employs these pathways to respond to L. xyli subsp. xyli, triggering pathogenicity or resistance. The expression of genes encoding these proteins was also investigated in L. xyli subsp. xyli-infected sugarcane, suggesting multiple layers of regulatory mechanisms in the interaction between sugarcane and L. xyli subsp. xyli. This work promotes the understanding of plant–pathogen interaction and provides target proteins/genes for molecular breeding to improve sugarcane resistance to L. xyli subsp. xyli.

Sugarcane smut, a serious disease caused by the fungus Sporosorium scitamineum, can result in 30% to 100% cane loss. The most affordable and efficient measure of preventing and handling sugarcane smut disease is to select disease-resistant varieties. A comprehensive evaluation of disease resistance based on the incidence of smut disease is essential during the selection process, necessitating the rapid and accurate identification of sugarcane smut. Traditional identification methods, which rely on visual observation of symptoms, are time-consuming, costly, and inefficient. To address these limitations, we present the lightweight sugarcane smut detection model (YOLOv5s-ECCW), which incorporates several innovative features. Specifically, the EfficientNetV2 is incorporated into the YOLOv5 network to achieve model compression while maintaining high detection accuracy. The convolutional block attention mechanism (CBAM) is added to the backbone network to improve its feature extraction capability and suppress irrelevant information. The C3STR module is used to replace the C3 module, enhancing the ability to capture global large targets. The WIoU loss function is used in place of the CIoU one to improve the bounding box regression’s accuracy. The experimental results demonstrate that the YOLOv5s-ECCW model achieves a mean average precision (mAP) of 97.8% with only 4.9 G FLOPs and 3.25 M parameters. Compared with the original YOLOv5, our improvements include a 0.2% increase in mAP, a 54% reduction in parameters, and a 70.3% decrease in computational requirements. The proposed model outperforms YOLOv4, SSD, YOLOv5, and YOLOv8 in terms of accuracy, efficiency, and model size. The YOLOv5s-ECCW model meets the urgent need for the accurate real-time identification of sugarcane smut, supporting better disease management and selection of resistant varieties.