Understanding Abiotic Stresses (Environmental Science, Engineering and Technology)

In the current scenario, frequently changing environmental variables such as salinity, excess or insufficient water availability, cold or high-temperature extremes, heavy metal toxicity, and nutrient imbalance have become an unpredictable and severe menace to the worldwide agricultural output. The abiotic stress factors restrict crop plants from reaching their full genetic potential and cause significant loss to agricultural productivity across the globe. In general, the stress factors are complex and multigenic features, affecting plant performance by severely reducing plant growth, development, and ultimately the produce. Plants have evolved efficient defense mechanisms in response to the onset of unfavorable environmental conditions to tolerate stresses through physical adaptation and/or integrated molecular and cellular responses. The detection of stress signals and their transmission is a critical stage in triggering adaptive responses and ensuring plant life. According to transcriptomic and genomic research, abiotic stresses induce many genes with varied functions, and various transcription factors are involved in regulating stress-inducible genes. Abiotic stressors are predicted to exacerbate the severity of plant problems in the coming years. In this book, "Understanding Abiotic Stresses," the editors compiled nine chapters written by subject experts in the field of abiotic stress and plant resistance. This book provides an up-to-date summary of current research on plant abiotic stress signaling. The various chapters in the book provide a state-of-the-art account of the information available. This book also explores how the resulting increase in abiotic stress factors can be dealt with. The result is a must-have hands-on handbook for agricultural biotechnology, abiotic stress tolerance/resistance, academia, and researchers. For the convenience of readers, the whole book is divided into ten chapters. Chapter 1 deals with an overview of the understanding of abiotic stresses responses in plants. Chapter 2 focuses on the new insights on plants against salt resistance strategies. Chapter 3 covers physiological and molecular adaptation strategies on plants during salinity stress. Chapter 4 discusses the role of temperature on physiological responses and adaptation mechanisms in plants. Chapter 5 summarizes the impact of abiotic stress on the nutritional quality of germinated cereal grains. Chapter 6 covers the function of agronomic interventions to combat abiotic stresses in field crops. Chapter 7 mainly covers the role of hydrophilins (boiling-soluble proteins) in abiotic stress resistance capacity in plants. Chapter 8 deals with the influence of waterlogging on the physiology and molecular biology of plants. Chapter 9 discusses the adaptive mechanisms of plants during water-deficit conditions, and Chapter 10 summarizes the impact of plant growth hormones on plants during environmental stresses.