In the recent years plants are subjected to a variety of abiotic and biotic challenges at once. As a result of co-evolving with various pressures, plants have developed a wide variety of carefully calibrated responses to withstand them. It is proposed that the primary convergent sites of abiotic and biotic stress interactions are reactive oxygen species and phytohormones. Numerous genes, particularly regulatory genes that encode kinases and transcription factors, have been found to be implicated in cross-tolerance in recent investigations. The impacts of plastic contamination on soil and plants have drawn increasing attention in recent years. The impact of dryness on soil and plants may be influenced by plastic, which can change the amount of water in the soil. In areas with limited water availability, plastic pieces had more detrimental impacts on soil water content, and the texture of the soil influenced how this response manifested. On the other hand, the growth of plants was benefited by increasing plastic concentration. Aquatic ecosystems have received a lot of attention, but terrestrial ecosystems have also been identified as "major sinks" of plastic waste. A significant amount of plastic is introduced into terrestrial habitats through agricultural activities, where mulching foils are widely used. Mulching foils are thick plastic sheets that are spread over the soil to prevent weed development, minimise evaporation, maintain temperature, and improve crop germination. Due to the inherent disparities in water retention between sand- and clay-rich soils, soil texture may act as a buffer between the impacts of plastic on soil water content. The spatial organisation of soil aggregates and pore networks is determined by soil texture, which has an impact on soil water content as well as the flow of water and nutrients in soils. Viral infection and microbiota death have a variety of effects on the metabolism, evolution, and biogeochemical cycles of hosts. Heterogeneity exists in soils on the physical, chemical, and biological levels. In addition to supporting a diverse landscape of edaphic characteristics, the complex network of aggregates and pore spaces that makes up the soil matrix also limits the movement of microbes. The spatial organisation of microbial diversity is frequently caused by these environmental gradients and dispersal constraints.  Soil trophic networks and their contributions to the biogeochemical processes in these ecosystems may be impacted by predicted changes in precipitation patterns brought on by climate change. Reduced precipitation can alter the composition of the soil bacterial population, according to research with rainfall manipulation. It is unknown if these changes are related to modifications in the soil virosphere, but new observations point to water availability as a potential key factor in the formation of soil viral communities.

Regards

Managing Editor

Larry Taylor

Agricultural and Biological Research