Plant parasitic nematodes cause major crop losses worldwide. Some of these nematodes have sophisticated mechanisms to invade the roots of important agricultural crops such as wheat, sugarcane and soybean. This review provides a summary of how root-knot, cyst and root-lesion nematodes infect the plant roots, as well as the different approaches used to control and manage these nematodes in Australian agricultural soils.

Glyceollins and isoflavones are soybean-derived phytoalexins in response to Phytophthora sojae that causes stem and root rot on soybeans worldwide. To understand the function of Gm4CL, we analysed and found that GmPI4L improves defence against P. sojae by enhancing glyceollins and isoflavones content. This study provides the theoretical foundation for clarifying the mechanism of the phenylpropanoid pathway in disease resistance in soybean.

Wounding-induced electrical signals cause a systemic photosynthetic response in plants. We investigated the influence of electrical signals on photosynthesis and a photochemical reflectance index, which is widely used in remote sensing of plants. Changes in photosynthesis and the index were strongly connected. Thus the photochemical reflectance index can be used in remote sensing of the systemic photosynthetic response in higher plants.

Low temperature is a prominent limiting factor for tropical originated crop production in temperate regions, particularly during cool-season production. The diverse response of rootstocks physiology and metabolism were studied when exposed to aeroponically different temperature regimes at the root zone. The tolerance of grafted bell pepper demonstrated high sink potential contributing to milder reduction of photosynthesis and transpiration during treatment. GC-MS metabolite profiling showed enhance metabolism in leaves, as well as in the roots.

Drought and nitrogen availability are two important environmental factors that affect plant growth and global distribution of plants. We examined the effect of nitrogen on physiological characters of maize seedlings under drought stress and find that moderate nitrogen supply increases plant resistance to drought stress. These findings are important for guiding the agricultural use of nitrogen fertilisers.

Hydroponic systems could be a reliable, versatile and sensitive method to investigate the plant responses to the nanoparticle exposure. As ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) and bulk forms possess unique physicochemical characteristics, they are globally used in different industries and may influence plant growth in the environment. As an extensive investigation of the effect of both ZnO NPs and bulk form ZnO on various morphological, physiological and anatomical features of tobacco plants, the present study pinpoints the responses compatible with ZnO-induced stress.

Roots play an important role in dehydration and either soil-related nutrient deficiency or toxicity responses, which may be alleviated by transgenic plants. We evaluated OsAER1 root-specific promoter in transgenic rice and identified cis-acting elements controlling the expression. OsAER1 promoter may have implications in the development of transgenic crops requiring root-specific gene expression aimed at improving responses to dehydration, nutrient deficiency or toxicity stress.