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One of the most popular non-grain crops worldwide is the potato. Pests and diseases, however, cause a 17% reduction in global production. After rice, wheat, and maize, potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) are the fourth most significant crop in the world. The Irish famine of the 1840s was brought on by the illness known as potato late blight, which is still the most detrimental to potato output worldwide and is brought on by the oomycete pathogen Phytophthora infestans. This study used a randomized complete block design during the 2022 growing season at the National Agriculture Research Center (NARC), Islamabad, to effectively control Phytophthora infestans and increase Potato productivity. The inquiry covered a variety of treatments, such as conventional methods, chemical insecticides, biological agents, and a combined strategy. The selected Potato variety, Kuroda, was subjected to careful plot design and management. Sesame crop rotation dramatically decreased the incidence of Phytophthora infestans (42%, severity 2.2). When using chemical pesticides, late blight disease incidence was reduced to 59% and severity to 2.9, demonstrating a reasonable level of effectiveness. The incidence of the disease (34%) and its severity (1.4) significantly decreased after Trichoderma harzianum or Bacillus spp were introduced as a biological agent. Impressively, the combined strategy that included Trichoderma harzianum and Fungazil produced outstanding results with disease incidence at 26% and severity at 1.1. The yield of crops had been impacted in significant ways. The study emphasizes the value of integrated approaches to controlling potato late blight, including methods to increase crop output through chemical, biological, and cultural means. However, difficulties brought on by the condition hinder optimal light intensity and yield. These results indicate the combined strength of chemical and biological agents and emphasize the effectiveness of integrated disease control systems.

https://doi.org/10.52587/JAF050101

Maize is a multi-purpose crop known to be affected by multiple stresses, with intensified impact due to climate change which may pose a threat to global food security. Genetic Engineering provide solution for incorporating resistance and quality related transgenes may provide sustainable yield and overcome hidden hunger under various environmental conditions. Improving the transformation efficiency to achieve various breeding goals of maize is crucial. In this regard, recent articles about plant transformation technologies for the development of maize transgenic lines was reviewed. New breakthrough technologies with improved transgenic efficiency, identification of transgenes to develop biofortified maize varieties provide new resilience for food security. Genetic modification could be induced by protoplast transformation and particle bombardment. Furthermore, Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, targeted genome editing and nanoparticle delivery could enhance maize transformation methods. A thorough understanding of maize genetics, specifically the role of the Opaque-2 gene in protein quality, is essential for producing high-quality protein maize. Breeding programs need to choose optimal parents with sought-after traits and evaluate genetic variation to enhance crop production. The progress in maize transformation technology has the potential to increase maize production, productivity, and quality, which will be advantageous for both farmers and consumers.

https://doi.org/10.52587/JAF050102

Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) with Cas9 systems have proven to be an effective molecular tool for editing the genome in a variety of organisms, including plants. This technology facilitates to introduce desired mutations at precise location within genomes. In addition, this system also eliminates the usage of transgene and vector free editing with desirable modifications. This tool is being successfully used for the development of disease resistant and climate resilient plant genotypes. This technology not only improves the crop production, but also help in understanding the functions of genes linked with different traits. Hence, CRISPR-Cas9 can be a potential source of second green revolution in the field of agriculture. This review mainly focused on different types and sub-types of CRISPR-Cas system, its classifications and successful application in the field of agriculture to develop disease resistant, stress tolerant and to improve nutritional quality in plants.

https://doi.org/10.52587/JAF050103

Groundnut is popular for its versatile usage including direct human consumption as a dry fruit and the production of oil as it has an important nutritional value for human and animal consumption in the form of silage, hay, oil seed cake, etc. Historically, the groundnut fields were prepared by bullock-drawn tillage implements, sown manually or by bullock-drawn drills, intercultural practices with small tools or hoes, harvested, striping, and pods collected manually. Several factors prevent the farming community from adopting modern agricultural technology. Normally farmers in undeveloped countries are hesitant to adopt new technologies. Different technological interventions were made by different researchers in terms of seedbed preparation, sowing, intercultural, plant protection, harvesting and threshing, oil extraction, and butter making to avoid the challenges involved with the traditional method. Therefore, this study presented the results of the technological interventions made by different researchers, and the limitations of these technologies were also identified which can be used by farmers to enhance groundnut production. By using these mechanized technologies, farmers can complete their tasks within time to avoid the losses from late sowing and conventional harvesting practices of groundnut

https://doi.org/10.52587/JAF050104