Ecological impacts and management strategies of pesticide pollution on aquatic life and human beings.

Pesticide contamination has become a global concern. Pesticides can sorb onto suspended particles and deposit into the sedimentary layers of aquatic environments, resulting in ecosystem degradation, pollution, and diseases. Pesticides impact the behavior of aquatic environments by contaminating organic matter in water, which serves as the primary food source for aquatic food webs. Pesticide residues can increase ammonium, nitrite, nitrate, and sulfate in aquatic systems; thus, threatening ecological environment and human health. Several physical, chemical, and biological methodologies have been implemented to effectively remove pesticide traces from aquatic environments. The present review highlights the potential consequences of pesticide exposure on fish and humans, focusing on the (epi)genetic alterations affecting growth, behavior, and immune system. Mitigation strategies (e.g., bioremediation) to prevent/minimize the detrimental impacts of pesticides are also discussed. This review aims to shed light on the awareness in reducing the risk of water pollution for safe and sustainable pesticide management.

Garlic bioactive substances and their therapeutic applications for improving human health: a comprehensive review.

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is a widely abundant spice, known for its aroma and pungent flavor. It contains several bioactive compounds and offers a wide range of health benefits to humans, including those pertaining to nutrition, physiology, and medicine. Therefore, garlic is considered as one of the most effective disease-preventive diets. Many in vitro and in vivo studies have reported the sulfur-containing compounds, allicin and ajoene, for their effective anticancer, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, immune-boosting, and cardioprotective properties. As a rich natural source of bioactive compounds, including polysaccharides, saponins, tannins, linalool, geraniol, phellandrene, ß-phellandrene, ajoene, alliin, S-allyl-mercapto cysteine, and ß-phellandrene, garlic has many therapeutic applications and may play a role in drug development against various human diseases. In the current review, garlic and its major bioactive components along with their biological function and mechanisms of action for their role in disease prevention and therapy are discussed.

Halotolerant Marine Rhizosphere-Competent Actinobacteria Promote Salicornia bigelovii Growth and Seed Production Using Seawater Irrigation.

Salicornia bigelovii is a promising halophytic cash crop that grows in seawater of the intertidal zone of the west-north coast of the UAE. This study assess plant growth promoting (PGP) capabilities of halotolerant actinobacteria isolated from rhizosphere of S. bigelovii to be used as biological inoculants on seawater-irrigated S. bigelovii plants. Under laboratory conditions, a total of 39 actinobacterial strains were isolated, of which 22 were tolerant to high salinity (up to 8% w/v NaCl). These strains were further screened for their abilities to colonize S. bigelovii roots in vitro; the most promising ones that produced indole-3-acetic acid, polyamines (PA) or 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase (ACCD) were selected for rhizosphere-competency under naturally competitive environment. Three outstanding rhizosphere-competent isolates, Streptomyces chartreusis (Sc), S. tritolerans (St), and S. rochei (Sr) producing auxins, PA and ACCD, respectively, were investigated individually and as consortium (Sc/St/Sr) to determine their effects on the performance of S. bigelovii in the greenhouse. Individual applications of strains on seawater-irrigated plants significantly enhanced shoot and root dry biomass by 32.3-56.5% and 42.3-71.9%, respectively, in comparison to non-inoculated plants (control). In addition, plants individually treated with Sc, St and Sr resulted in 46.1, 60.0, and 69.1% increase in seed yield, respectively, when compared to control plants. Thus, the synergetic combination of strains had greater effects on S. bigelovii biomass (62.2 and 77.9% increase in shoot and root dry biomass, respectively) and seed yield (79.7% increase), compared to the control treatment. Our results also showed significant (P < 0.05) increases in the levels of photosynthetic pigments, endogenous auxins and PA, but a reduction in the levels of ACC in tissues of plants inoculated with Sc/St/Sr. We conclude that the consortium of isolates was the most effective treatment on S. bigelovii growth; thus confirmed by principal component and correlation analyses. To this best of our knowledge, this is the first report about halotolerant rhizosphere-competent PGP actinobacteria thriving in saline soils that can potentially contribute to promoting growth and increasing yield of S. bigelovii. These halotolerant actinobacterial strains could potentially be exploited as biofertilizers to sustain crop production in arid coastal areas.