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The study, consisting of two independent experiments, was conducted to evaluate the role of seed priming with ascorbic acid (AsA) in drought resistance of wheat. In the first experiment, seeds of wheat cultivars Mairaj‐2008 and Lasani‐2008 were either soaked in aerated water (hydropriming) for 10 h or not soaked (control). In the second experiment, seeds of same wheat cultivars were soaked in aerated (2 mm) AsA solution (osmopriming) or water (hydropriming) for 10 h. In both experiments, seeds were sown in plastic pots (10 kg) maintained at 70 % and 35 % of water‐holding capacity designated as well watered and drought stressed, respectively. Both experiments were laid out in a completely randomized design with six replications. Drought caused delayed and erratic emergence and disturbed the plant water relations, chlorophyll contents and membranes because of oxidative damage; however, root length in cultivar Lasani‐2008 was increased under drought. Hydropriming significantly improved the seedling emergence and early growth under drought and well‐watered conditions; however, improvement was substantially higher from osmopriming with AsA. Similarly, osmopriming with AsA significantly improved the leaf emergence and elongation, leaf area, specific leaf area, chlorophyll contents, root length and seedling dry weight. Owing to increase in proline accumulation, phenolics and AsA, by seed priming with AsA, plant water status was improved with simultaneous decrease in oxidative damages. These improved the leaf emergence and elongation, and shoot and root growth under drought. However, there was no difference between the cultivars in this regard. In conclusion, osmopriming with AsA improved the drought resistance of wheat owing to proline accumulation and antioxidant action of AsA and phenolics, leading to tissue water maintenance, membrane stability, and better and uniform seedling stand and growth.

Global warming promotes soil calcification and salinization processes. As a result, soil phosphorus (P) is becoming deficient in arid and semiarid areas throughout the world. In this pot study, we evaluated the potential of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) for enhancing the growth and P uptake in maize under varying levels of lime (4.8%, 10%, 15% and 20%) and additional P supplements (farmyard manure, poultry manure, single super phosphate and rock phosphate) added at the rate of 45 mg P2O5 kg−1. Inoculation and application of P as organic manures (Poultry and farm yard manures) improved maize growth and P uptake compared to the control and soils with P applied from mineral sources. Liming adversely affected crop growth, but the use of PSB and organic manure significantly neutralized this harmful effect. Mineral P sources combined with PSB were as effective as the organic sources alone. Furthermore, while single supper phosphate showed better results than Rock phosphate, the latter performed comparably upon PSB inoculation. Thus, PSB plus P application as organic manures is an eco-friendly option to improve crop growth and P nutrition in a calcareous soil under changing climate.

In this study, we synthesized hierarchical CuO nanoleaves in large-quantity via the hydrothermal method. We employed different techniques to characterize the morphological, structural, optical properties of the as-prepared hierarchical CuO nanoleaves sample. An electrochemical based nonenzymatic glucose biosensor was fabricated using engineered hierarchical CuO nanoleaves. The electrochemical behavior of fabricated biosensor towards glucose was analyzed with cyclic voltammetry (CV) and amperometry (i–t) techniques. Owing to the high electroactive surface area, hierarchical CuO nanoleaves based nonenzymatic biosensor electrode shows enhanced electrochemical catalytic behavior for glucose electro-oxidation in 100 mM sodium hydroxide (NaOH) electrolyte. The nonenzymatic biosensor displays a high sensitivity (1467.32 μA/(mM cm2)), linear range (0.005–5.89 mM), and detection limit of 12 nM (S/N = 3). Moreover, biosensor displayed good selectivity, reproducibility, repeatability, and stability at room temperature over three-week storage period. Further, as-fabricated nonenzymatic glucose biosensors were employed for practical applications in human serum sample measurements. The obtained data were compared to the commercial biosensor, which demonstrates the practical usability of nonenzymatic glucose biosensors in real sample analysis.

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