The growing media is one of the significant elements affecting microgreens’ yield and quality. This experiment investigated the possibility of waste utilization instead of employing peat moss to produce sunflower and water-spinach microgreens. The treatments consisted of peat moss (Control), coconut coir dust (CD), leaf compost (LC), food waste compost (FC), CD:LC = 1:1 <i>v</i>/<i>v</i>, CD:FC = 1:1 <i>v</i>/<i>v</i>, LC:FC = 1:1 <i>v</i>/<i>v</i>, and CD:LC:FC = 1:1:1 <i>v</i>/<i>v</i>. The results proved that the highest yield of sunflower microgreens was observed when cultivated in 1:1 <i>v</i>/<i>v</i> of CD:LC media (10,114.81 g m⁻²), whereas the highest yield of water spinach microgreens was recorded under the treatments of CD, Control, 1:1 <i>v</i>/<i>v</i> of CD:LC, and 1:1:1 <i>v</i>/<i>v</i> of CD:LC:FC media (10,966.67–9800.00 g m⁻²). The biochemical composition of the microgreens varied within the types. Our findings demonstrated that a tendency of an increase in chlorophyll and carotenoid contents depended on the growth of both microgreens under different growing media. All growing media did not cause excess nitrate residue or pathogenic contamination in both microgreens, namely <i>Clostridium perfringens</i>, <i>Salmonella</i> spp., and <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>. In contrast, almost all the growing media resulted in a higher population of <i>Bacillus cereus</i> contamination in both microgreens than the standard set limit, except for sunflower microgreens grown in the control and CD growing media. These findings could suggest that the 1:1 <i>v</i>/<i>v</i> of CD:LC and CD media were the most effective growing media for sunflower and water spinach microgreens, respectively, but further cleaning before consumption is recommended to avoid or reduce the foodborne incidences caused by <i>B. cereus</i> in microgreens.

The Water-Energy-Food nexus (WEF nexus) has emerged as a colossal environmental debate on how to improve the sustainability and resilience of resource systems. This debate has been inclusive of different disciplines and methodological approaches that have improved our understanding of the tight interconnectedness between the resource systems, and have highlighted the need for great coordination across the respective sectors. Following a decade of growing global attention toward WEF nexus-related challenges and opportunities, particularly after the Bonn Conference and World Economic Forum in 2011, the resulting body of academic literature has coined an area of study that mainly relies on decision support tools, models, simulations, stakeholder engagement, and policy analyses for guiding integrative resource planning, governance and policy-making across the WEF sectors. However, 10 years is a short period in the lifespan of a useful paradigm for sustainability, resource security or integrated management-as the WEF nexus is often understood to be. One can expect the WEF nexus to continue motivating a fruitful knowledge production, resulting in innovative perspectives that will arguably have wider implications for our understanding of resource security as well as the global sustainability agenda. This Special Topic invited scientists and experts to provide contributions that synthesize key lessons learned from the WEF nexus literature, expand current knowledge through innovative, cross-cutting approaches, present salient cases or provide policy-relevant reviews. The resulting set of seven highly interesting articles can be introduced in the following three subsets: (1) reviews of the WEF nexus interim insights; (2) examples of emerging topics; (3) policy-relevant integrated frameworks.

Abstract: To enhance water, energy, and food security and promote ecosystems conservation, it is necessary to design policies or solutions capable of addressing cross-sectoral challenges. In this paper, GoNEXUS SEF, an evaluation framework for co-designing and evaluating nexus solutions, is presented. This framework provides guidelines for conducting a nexus-coherence assessment to improve the governance of the water-energy-food-ecosystems nexus. The assessment involves a participatory process that integrates qualitative and quantitative methodologies through systemic approaches. The crucial aspects necessary in the development of methodologies that address the nexus have been identified and considered. The framework was applied to a practical case study, an increase in the irrigation water price in Andalusia—Spain for the horizon of 2030. Case study results revealed that the measure can generate synergies since it favours water savings, irrigation water efficiency and ecosystems conservation. However, trade-offs are observed, mainly undermining the economic development of agriculture in the region. GoNEXUS SEF has proven capable of evaluating nexus solutions by measuring cross-sectoral synergies and trade-offs. It highlights hidden properties and identifies leverage points and key aspects of a complex cross-sectoral system to apply nexus solutions more effectively to promote sustainable development. In addition, the framework can be adapted to fit different case studies, considering their own challenges and their spatial and temporal scales, which gives it a competitive advantage over other methodologies focused on analysing the nexus. Graphical abstarct: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].

The development of decision-making systems based on artificial intelligence can lead to achieving optimal solutions water-land-food nexus. In this paper, an extreme learning machine model was developed with the objective function of wheat production maximization. The constraints defined for this problem are divided into three categories: technical parameters of production in agriculture, climatic stress on water resources and land limits. The water, land and food nexus was simulated using 23 experimental farms in Henan province during the 2021–2022 cultivation year. Root-mean-square error was used as an error criterion, and Pearson's coefficient was incorporated into the decision-making system as a correlation index of variables. Harvest index, length of the growth period, cultivation costs and irrigation water were the criteria to evaluate the impact of the sustainable model. The harvest index and the length of the growth period showed the highest and lowest correlation with the production rate, respectively. Furthermore, the optimal management of irrigation water and cost had the most significant impact on increasing crop production. The method proposed in this paper can be a virtual cropping model by changing the area under cultivation of a crop in the different farms of a study area, which increases yield production. HIGHLIGHTS Extreme machine learning has been used to increase wheat production.; The harvest index, length of growth period, irrigation and cost were the four investigated factors related to the correlation between water and food.; Modeling based on information and intelligent learning could increase agricultural productivity.;

The Water Energy Food nexus is a powerful topic in agricultural systems to elucidate threats to biodiversity conservation and culture. This paper aimed to recapitulate nexus thinking research, focusing on social-ecological transitions of agriculture systems and biodiversity management within the Water-Energy-Food nexus. We developed a systematic review and a bibliometric analysis derived from 529 documents in the Scopus database. The ToS method identified a total of 81 relevant information in the sample of documents (529) categorised into roots (10), trunks (9) and leaves (62). This review paper situates types, focus, and highlights regarding biodiversity and prevalent thematic research areas such as “Food Nexus”, “Environmental Flows”, “Sustainability”, “Transitions”, and “Governance”. Our results suggest that future research should focus on the nexus of “Water-Energy-Food-Biodiversity” and propose a transdisciplinary approach to elucidate the state of sustainability transitions in the agricultural systems at the landscape level. It could increase stakeholder interest in conservation, and sustainability management, to reverse biodiversity losses in ecosystems. © 2023 | Authors would like to thank Instituto de Investigación Alexander von Humboldt in Colombia, and The Transnational Centre for Just Transitions in Energy, Climate and Sustainability- TRAJECTS of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Instituto de Estudios Ambientales, and Faculty of Engineering.

Natural resources are considered the main sources for our life, which include mainly resources of water, energy and food. Along with the explosion of global population, these previous resources under a serious threat that enforce all nations to double the productivity of fresh water, clean energy, and healthy food by more than 50-70%. These increases are not so easy to achieve particularly under climate change. Several approaches are proposed to mitigate the climate change under the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus especially applying nanomaterials (NMs). This review describes the evaluation and implementation of applying NMs under climate change seeks to remedy these problems by analyzing the literature of WEF nexus. The evidence that WEF nexus and climate change are associated with NMs is weak and inconclusive. What is not yet understood is the relative importance of the various factors that might support the global efforts to mitigate climate change and it environmental issues. Much of the available literature on WEF nexus deals with the question of what is the direct and indirect impacts of climate change on WEF resources, but What remains unclear is whether applied NMs is a true representation? The single most striking observation to emerge from the data comparison was several previous studies confirmed the importance of NMs for the environmental problems under certain doses. Thus far, a number of studies to explored the relationships between WEF nexus and climate change after applying NMs are needed. In view of all that has been mentioned so far, one may suppose that applied NMs are cruc

Abstract In this study, melon peel waste was utilized to isolate peroxidase enzyme through three-phase portioning (TPP) and subsequently immobilized onto magnetite nanoparticles for effective bioremediation of phenol pollutants from water. The optimization of TPP parameters ensured maximum activity recovery and enzyme purity. Magnetite nanoparticles were synthesized and used as a substrate for immobilizing the isolated peroxidase, achieving an activity recovery of 157% and a purification fold of 5.2. Protein homogeneity testing confirmed the purity of the peroxidase enzyme. The magnetite nanoparticles had an average diameter of 62 nm, and the immobilization efficiency reached 93% at pH 8 with an enzyme/nanoparticles v/v ratio of 1:9. The immobilized peroxidase demonstrated the ability to degrade 57% of phenol within 3 h and retained 30% relative activity even after five catalytic cycles. This immobilized melon peel peroxidase on magnetite nanoparticles proves to be a robust, enduring, and reusable biocatalyst with potential for various applications, especially in bioremediation processes. Graphical Abstract

Climate change poses a significant threat to agri-food systems. However, individuals involved in agriculture, particularly women and marginalized communities, bear a disproportionate burden of the climate’s unpredictability. This disparity arises from existing structural inequalities, such as women having limited access to resources; unequal sharing of agricultural and household responsibilities; lack of decision-making power; insufficient availability of nutritious food, leading to malnutrition and food insecurity; and heightened vulnerability to climate-related stresses. It is crucial to address these disparities by promoting genderresponsive policies that ensure equal opportunities for women and marginalized communities. This paper examines the policies and schemes at the central level in India within the food, land and water (FLW) sector, aiming to understand the extent to which current policies support gender-transformative efforts, and aiming to identify existing gaps. Additionally, we analyze the allocation of budgets for women and marginalized communities in these policies to identify specific ways in which gender budgeting is implemented for centrallevel policies. Furthermore, we highlight the necessity of improved accounting and meeting budget targets across various schemes that benefit women and marginalized groups.

The occurrence of natural hazards is always associated with severe damage in the agricultural sector, especially in small-scale farming exploitation units. One of the approaches to deal with these damages is to use the approach of water-energy-food (WEF) nexus in the management decisions of these units. Therefore, the present research was carried out with the aim of analyzing the mechanisms of linking water, energy and food in small-scale farming exploitation units in Hamadan province. The statistical sample of the research was 300 active farmers in small-scale farming exploitation units (below 10 hectares) which were determined by the rule of Cochran formula and sampling was done by cluster method. The main research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire, the content validity of which was confirmed by a panel of agricultural experts and faculty members of the Department of Agricultural Development and Management at the University of Tehran. In addition, the reliability of research’s tool was confirmed through internal consistency procedure calculating Cronbach's alpha and CR (Cumulative Reliability) coefficients (Both above 0.7). Data analysis was carried out using SPSSwin25 and SMART PLS 3 software. The results showed that the overall nexus of water-energy and food from the six dual mechanisms of WEF the Energy or Food has received a more significant effect. According to the findings of the research, in order to strengthen the nexus approach of these vital resources, measures such as providing and introducing coherent and multilateral investment packages; providing training to farmers regarding synergy and unbreakable link of three sources in farm management and paying attention to this approach at different levels of the management system, from policy making and planning are suggested for field-level farm management decisions..