The trace element selenium (Se) is a crucial element for many living organisms, including soil microorganisms, plants and animals, including humans. Generally, in Nature Se is taken up in the living cells of microorganisms, plants, animals and humans in several inorganic forms such as selenate, selenite, elemental Se and selenide. These forms are converted to organic forms by biological process, mostly as the two selenoamino acids selenocysteine (SeCys) and selenomethionine (SeMet). The biological systems of plants, animals and humans can fix these amino acids into Se-containing proteins by a modest replacement of methionine with SeMet. While the form SeCys is usually present in the active site of enzymes, which is essential for catalytic activity. Within human cells, organic forms of Se are significant for the accurate functioning of the immune and reproductive systems, the thyroid and the brain, and to enzyme activity within cells. Humans ingest Se through plant and animal foods rich in the element. The concentration of Se in foodstuffs depends on the presence of available forms of Se in soils and its uptake and accumulation by plants and herbivorous animals. Therefore, improving the availability of Se to plants is, therefore, a potential pathway to overcoming human Se deficiencies. Among these prospective pathways, the Se-biofortification of plants has already been established as a pioneering approach for producing Se-enriched agricultural products. To achieve this desirable aim of Se-biofortification, molecular breeding and genetic engineering in combination with novel agronomic and edaphic management approaches should be combined. This current review summarizes the roles, responses, prospects and mechanisms of Se in human nutrition. It also elaborates how biofortification is a plausible approach to resolving Se-deficiency in humans and other animals.

Crop residues, the byproduct of crop production, are valuable natural resources that can be managed to maximize different input use efficiencies. Crop residue management is a well-known and widely accepted practice, and is a key component of conservation agriculture. The rapid shift from conventional agriculture to input-intensive modern agricultural practices often leads to an increase in the production of crop residues. Growing more food for an ever-increasing population brings the chance of fast residue generation. Ecosystem services from crop residues improve soil health status and supplement necessary elements in plants. However, this is just one side of the shield. Indecorous crop residue management, including in-situ residue burning, often causes serious environmental hazards. This happens to be one of the most serious environmental hazard issues witnessed by the agricultural sector. Moreover, improper management of these residues often restrains them from imparting their beneficial effects. In this paper, we have reviewed all recent findings to understand and summarize the different aspects of crop residue management, like the impact of the residues on crop and soil health, natural resource recycling, and strategies related to residue retention in farming systems, which are linked to the environment and ecology. This comprehensive review paper may be helpful for different stakeholders to formulate suitable residue management techniques that will fit well under existing farming system practices without compromising the systems’ productivity and environmental sustainability.

Wheat is one of the world’s most commonly consumed cereal grains. During abiotic stresses, the physiological and biochemical alterations in the cells reduce growth and development of plants that ultimately decrease the yield of wheat. Therefore, novel approaches are needed for sustainable wheat production under the changing climate to ensure food and nutritional security of the ever-increasing population of the world. There are two ways to alleviate the adverse effects of abiotic stresses in sustainable wheat production. These are (i) development of abiotic stress tolerant wheat cultivars by molecular breeding, speed breeding, genetic engineering, and/or gene editing approaches such as clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas toolkit, and (ii) application of improved agronomic, nano-based agricultural technology, and other climate-smart agricultural technologies. The development of stress-tolerant wheat cultivars by mobilizing global biodiversity and using molecular breeding, speed breeding, genetic engineering, and/or gene editing approaches such as CRISPR-Cas toolkit is considered the most promising ways for sustainable wheat production in the changing climate in major wheat-growing regions of the world. This comprehensive review updates the adverse effects of major abiotic stresses and discusses the potentials of some novel approaches such as molecular breeding, biotechnology and genetic-engineering, speed breeding, nanotechnology, and improved agronomic practices for sustainable wheat production in the changing climate.

According to Indian Institute of Pulses Research Vision document, India’s population is expected to touch 1.68 billion by 2030 and the pulse requirement for the year 2030 is projected at 32 million tonnes with anticipated required annual growth rate of 4.2%. Pigeon pea is an important legume crop cultivated across several countries throughout the tropics and subtropics. They are cultivated in India, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Caribbean, East and West Africa. Commonly known as ‘Arhar’ in Northern India, this protein rich pulse crop has growing demand in Asia. Among the pulses pigeon pea is the second most important kharif grain legume after chickpea in India and grown predominantly under rainfed conditions. The kernels are nutritionally rich containing 20-22% protein. Its cultivation would be able to provide 40-60 kg N/ha to the subsequently grown crop. The leaves and immature stems can be used as a green manure. Fallen leaves can also be used as mulch and thus help to enhance the water holding capacity of soil. Its beneficial effect as an intercrop has also been reported. Sometimes ground dry peas are mixed with wheat flour just to improve the flour quality and its protein content. Additionally, pigeon pea shares a vital part in India’s pulse import and export. Keeping all these in view the present review depicts the various aspects of pigeon pea cultivation and its status in Indian trade on pulse.