The growing preference for 'Hass' avocado on a worldwide scale has encouraged the release of new cultivars as well as their evaluation under different soil and climatic conditions. The cultivar 'Carmen Hass', resulting from a spontaneous mutation, achieved excellent performance in Mexico and South Africa, producing fruits earlier than 'Hass' trees and allowing commercialization during periods of high market prices. The objective of this research was to compare the performance of 'Hass' and 'Carmen Hass' avocado trees under the soil and climate conditions of southeast region Brazil. The climate of region is subtropical humid with dry winter. Between the fourth and fifth year after planting, plants were evaluated for flowering (panicles branch-1, percentage of determinate and indeterminate inflorescences), fruit maturation (dry matter content), yield (kg plant-1, fruits plant-1), yield efficiency (kg m-3), morphological characteristics of fruit (weight, length, diameter, length/diameter ratio), and postharvest quality (pulp firmness, occurrence of pulp discoloration, chilling injury, vascular browning, lenticel damage, and skin color change). Fruit size, shape, and postharvest quality were also evaluated in the sixth year after planting. 'Carmen Hass' is a promising alternative for producing 'Hass'-type avocados, reaching physiological maturity sooner and allowing harvesting 15 days earlier than 'Hass'. Its higher proportion of indeterminate inflorescences contributed to greater yields, although resulting in smaller fruits, and no off-blooming was observed under the conditions of this study. Postharvest performance was comparable between cultivars, with 'Carmen Hass' maintaining firmer flesh after 21 days and showing reduced vascular browning after 28 days of storage.

Lentils in Australia are primarily grown in temperate and Mediterranean climates, especially in the southern and western regions of the country. As in other parts of the world, lentil yields in these areas are significantly influenced by factors such as frost, heat, and drought, contributing to variable production. Therefore, selecting appropriate lentil varieties and determining optimal sowing times that align with favourable growing conditions is crucial. Accurate predictions of crop development are essential in this context. Current models mainly rely on photoperiod and temperature to predict lentil phenology; however, they often neglect the impact of soil water on flowering and pod set. This study investigated whether incorporating soil water as an additional factor could improve predictions for these critical growth stages. The modified model was tested using 281 data points from various lentil experiments that examined the timing of flowering (61-147 days) and pod set (77-163 days) across different combinations of location, variety, sowing time, and season. The results indicated that including soil water in the prediction model achieved an R2 value of 0.84 for flowering and 0.83 for pod set. The normalised root mean square error (NRMSE) was 0.07, and Lin's concordance correlation coefficient (LinCCC) was 0.91. The model produced an R2 of 0.88, an NRMSE of 0.05, and a LinCCC of 0.93 flowering compared to the default model, which yielded an R2 of 0.24, an NRMSE of 0.17, and a LinCCC of 0.36 for flowering. A limited sensitivity analysis of the modified model showed that variations in initial soil water and in-season rainfall significantly affected the timing of flowering and pod set. Additionally, we employed a probability framework to assess the crop's vulnerability to the last frost day and early heat stress events during the reproductive stage. This approach provided valuable insights for decision-making to mitigate risks associated with frost and heat stress. Our study suggests that integrating soil water dynamics into lentil phenology models improves the accuracy and precision of predictions regarding the timing of flowering and pod set. These improvements lead to better forecasts, ultimately helping to minimise damage from frost and heat stress during lentil cultivation and can better explain the effect of climate variability.

Drought is among the most damaging climatic hazards affecting crop productivity and nutritional quality. Here, we investigated the influence of Cu-based materials at mitigating drought stress in soybeans (Glycine max) during the reproductive stage in order to elucidate effects on productivity. Commercial copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles (NPs), in-house synthesized copper sulfide (CuS) NPs, and copper sulfate (CuSO4) were foliar applied at 10 mg Cu/L daily for 1 week to soybean that were exposed to water deficit at the onset of flowering, and plants were harvested 5 days after exposure. Drought inhibited flower production by 27% compared to the nondrought treatment. Notably, both CuS NPs and ionic Cu mitigated the drought-induced inhibition of flower production, showing 41.7 and 33.3% improvement. CuS NPs exhibited the most positive impact on restoring shoot biomass, pod biomass, and shoot moisture content, increasing values by 53, 96, and 10%, respectively, compared to the drought control plants. The Cu-based materials maintained photosynthetic parameters under drought conditions and modulated oxidative damage by enhancing reactive oxygen species-scavenging enzyme activities. Furthermore, CuO NP treatment increased shoot and pod Cu levels by 624 and 54%, respectively, compared to the drought control plants. Taken together, these findings suggest that Cu-based materials modulate plant protective mechanisms against drought stress during the flowering stage, offering a potentially important nanoenabled strategy to promote biofortified climate resilient crops.

Damask rose is an important essential oil crop. In the present study, plants were subjected to three different water deficit levels (70, 40, and 10% available water content) for two periods (June-October). Plant phenology, growth, essential oil yield, gas exchange features, membrane stability and major antioxidant defense elements were monitored across two years. Soil water deficit was related to quicker completion of the growth cycle (up to 7.4 d), and smaller plants (up to 49.7%). Under these conditions, biomass accumulation was jointly constrained by decreased leaf area, chlorophyll content, CO2 intake, and photosynthetic efficiency (up to 82.8, 56.9, 27.3 and 68.2%, respectively). The decrease in CO2 intake was driven by a reduction in stomatal conductance (up to 41.2%), while the decrease in leaf area was mediated by reductions in both number of leaves, and individual leaf area (up to 54.3, and 64.0%, respectively). Although the reactive oxygen species scavenging system was activated (i.e., proline accumulation, and enhanced activity of three antioxidant enzymes) by water deficit, oxidative stress symptoms were still apparent. These effects were amplified, as soil water deficit became more intense. Notably, the adverse effects of water deficit were generally less pronounced when plants had been exposed to water severity during the preceding year. Therefore, exposure to water deficit elicited plant tolerance to future exposure. This phenotypic response was further dependent on the water deficit level. At more intense soil water deficit across the preceding year, plants were less vulnerable to water deficit during the subsequent one. Therefore, our results reveal a direct link between water deficit severity and plant tolerance to future water stress challenges, providing for the first time evidence for stress memory in damask rose.

Field experiments were conducted in three successive seasons (2019-2021) to evaluate the effects of four commercial organo-mineral fertilizers with biostimulating action (Hendophyt (R), Ergostim (R), and Radicon (R)) on the vegetative and productive performance of young almond trees (Prunus dulcis, cv. Tuono) grown in a semiarid climate in Southern Italy. Foliar treatments were applied three times during each season (at the swollen bud, beginning of flowering, and fruit set-beginning of fruit growth stages). Both 2020 and 2021 were adversely affected by late frosts, resulting in damage to the flowers and small fruits without any positive effect of the biostimulant applications. In contrast, the results obtained during the normal climate year (2019) indicated that the growth of trunk diameter and shoot length of trees tended to increase in biostimulant treatments compared to those of the control. The number of buds and flowers per unit length of the branch revealed no significant differences among years and all compared treatments. However, in 2019, the fruit set percentage, number, and weight of kernels per tree were significantly higher in the biostimulant treatments compared to those of the control. To this regard, the use of biofertilizers is suitable for maintaining soil fertility and improving crop productivity This information holds significance for almond tree growers.

We integrated experimental and natural gradient field methods to investigate effects of climate change and variability on flowering phenology of 11 subalpine meadow shrub, forb, and graminoid species in Gunnison County, Colorado (USA). At a subalpine meadow site, overhead electric radiant heaters advanced snowmelt date by 16 d and warmed and dried soil during the growing season. At three additional sites, a snow removal manipulation advanced snowmelt date by 7 d without altering growing season soil microclimate. We compared phenological responses to experimental climate change with responses to natural microclimate variability across spatial gradients at small and landscape scales, as well as across a temporal gradient from a separate study. Both manipulations significantly advanced timing of flowering for the group of species and for most species individually, closely paralleling responses of timing to natural spatial and temporal variability in snowmelt date. Snowmelt date singularly explained observed shifts in timing only in the earliest flowering species, Claytonia lanceolata. Among all other species except Artemisia tridentata var. vaseyana, the latest flowering species, a consistent combination of temperature-related microclimate factors (earlier snowmelt date, warmer soil temperatures, and decreased soil degree-days) substantially explained earlier timing. Both manipulations also extended flowering duration for the group of species, similar to species' responses to natural snowmelt variability at small spatial scales. However, only early flowering species displayed consistent, significant changes in duration, with extended duration related to earlier snowmelt or warmer spring soil temperatures. Soil moisture was generally not a significant explanatory factor for either timing or duration of flowering. Best-fit microclimate models explained an average of 82% of variation in timing but only 38% of variation in duration across species. Our research demonstrates the value of comparing and synthesizing results of multiple field methods within a single study. This integrated approach makes it easier to identify robust community-wide trends, as well as species-specific responses of phenology to climate change. The predicted short-term flowering phenology responses to temperature-related aspects of climate change may lead to longer term asynchronies in interspecific interactions, potentially altering population and evolutionary dynamics, community structure, and ecosystem functioning.