Makhana (Euryale ferox Salisb.), commonly known as fox nut or gorgon nut, is a high-value aquatic crop with considerable potential for agricultural diversification, value addition, and rural entrepreneurship. Although traditionally cultivated in the wetlands of Bihar and other eastern Indian states, growing interest in alternative and high-income crops has generated attention toward its possible introduction in Punjab. However, several agronomic, environmental, technical, and economic challenges limit its large-scale adoption in the state. These include the scarcity of natural wetland ecosystems, concerns regarding water availability and sustainability, climatic suitability constraints, limited access to quality planting material, labour and skill shortages, weak market linkages, and inadequate region-specific research and extension support. In addition, high establishment costs, production risks, and the absence of organized value chains may restrict commercialization. Nevertheless, recent advances in field-based cultivation techniques, mechanized harvesting and processing technologies, and integrated farming approaches offer new opportunities for adaptation beyond traditional growing regions. Future research should focus on agro-climatic suitability assessment, development of location-specific production technologies, water-use efficiency, varietal improvement, value-chain development, and economic feasibility analysis. With appropriate research support, institutional interventions, and market infrastructure, makhana has the potential to emerge as a niche diversification crop contributing to sustainable agriculture, income enhancement, and agro-industrial development in selected regions of Punjab.

Water scarcity and high evaporative demand constrain horticultural production in semi-arid environments. Plastic mulching and drip irrigation are complementary water-management practices that can improve soil-moisture conservation, irrigation efficiency and crop productivity. Drip irrigation delivers water near the crop root zone, while plastic mulch limits direct evaporation from the soil surface and modifies the soil thermal environment. Published studies in strawberry, tomato, brinjal and other horticultural crops have reported improvements in yield and water-use efficiency under integrated mulch and drip irrigation systems. However, the magnitude of these benefits depends on crop species, mulch properties, irrigation scheduling, soil characteristics and local climatic conditions. This communication examines the potential of integrating plastic mulching with drip irrigation for water-efficient horticultural production under semi-arid conditions. It also highlights the importance of quantifying irrigation water applied, marketable yield, irrigation water productivity and economic returns when evaluating these practices. Although technology offers considerable potential for improving water productivity, appropriate plastic waste collection, recycling and assessment of long-term soil impacts are necessary for sustainable adoption. Site-specific evaluation is therefore essential before recommending the technology across diverse horticultural production systems.

The intensive deployment of synthetic chemical pesticides across modern agroecosystems has underpinned yield stability for decades, but at catastrophic ecological and human health costs. Widespread emergence of pesticide resistance among target arthropods, systemic bioaccumulation across trophic chains, declines in beneficial entomofauna, and endocrine-disrupting toxicities necessitate a paradigm shift toward sustainable crop protection. Natural pesticide alternatives—encompassing botanical extracts, essential oils, microbial biopesticides, semiochemicals, and augmentative macro-biological controls, represent an ecologically integrated framework for pest regulation. This paper investigates the primary classes of natural alternatives, delineating their biochemical and physiological mechanisms of action, comparing their field and laboratory efficacies, evaluating their systemic interactions within agroecosystems, and analyzing current technological innovations that overcome historical limitations related to field stability and photodegradation. By deploying precision formulations, such as nanoencapsulated botanicals and synergistic microbial consortia within holistic Integrated Pest Management (IPM) systems, natural alternatives offer equivalent pest suppression capacity while reducing ecotoxicological footprints and mitigating the evolutionary pressures driving pesticide resistance.