Drought Stress in Maize (Zea mays L.)

Drought Stress in Maize (Zea mays L.)
Author: Muhammad Aslam
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 79
Release: 2015-11-20
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319254421

This book focuses on early germination, one of maize germplasm most important strategies for adapting to drought-induced stress. Some genotypes have the ability to adapt by either reducing water losses or by increasing water uptake. Drought tolerance is also an adaptive strategy that enables crop plants to maintain their normal physiological processes and deliver higher economical yield despite drought stress. Several processes are involved in conferring drought tolerance in maize: the accumulation of osmolytes or antioxidants, plant growth regulators, stress proteins and water channel proteins, transcription factors and signal transduction pathways. Drought is one of the most detrimental forms of abiotic stress around the world and seriously limits the productivity of agricultural crops. Maize, one of the leading cereal crops in the world, is sensitive to drought stress. Maize harvests are affected by drought stress at different growth stages in different regions. Numerous events in the life of maize crops can be affected by drought stress: germination potential, seedling growth, seedling stand establishment, overall growth and development, pollen and silk development, anthesis silking interval, pollination, and embryo, endosperm and kernel development. Though every maize genotype has the ability to avoid or withstand drought stress, there is a concrete need to improve the level of adaptability to drought stress to address the global issue of food security. The most common biological strategies for improving drought stress resistance include screening available maize germplasm for drought tolerance, conventional breeding strategies, and marker-assisted and genomic-assisted breeding and development of transgenic maize. As a comprehensive understanding of the effects of drought stress, adaptive strategies and potential breeding tools is the prerequisite for any sound breeding plan, this brief addresses these aspects.

Drought Stress Tolerance in Plants, Vol 1

Drought Stress Tolerance in Plants, Vol 1
Author: Mohammad Anwar Hossain
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 538
Release: 2016-05-25
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3319288997

Abiotic stress adversely affects crop production worldwide, decreasing average yields for most of the crops to 50%. Among various abiotic stresses affecting agricultural production, drought stress is considered to be the main source of yield reduction around the globe. Due to an increasing world population, drought stress will lead to a serious food shortage by 2050. The situation may become worse due to predicated global climate change that may multiply the frequency and duration and severity of such abiotic stresses. Hence, there is an urgent need to improve our understanding on complex mechanisms of drought stress tolerance and to develop modern varieties that are more resilient to drought stress. Identification of the potential novel genes responsible for drought tolerance in crop plants will contribute to understanding the molecular mechanism of crop responses to drought stress. The discovery of novel genes, the analysis of their expression patterns in response to drought stress, and the determination of their potential functions in drought stress adaptation will provide the basis of effective engineering strategies to enhance crop drought stress tolerance. Although the in-depth water stress tolerance mechanisms is still unclear, it can be to some extent explained on the basis of ion homeostasis mediated by stress adaptation effectors, toxic radical scavenging, osmolyte biosynthesis, water transport, and long distance signaling response coordination. Importantly, complete elucidation of the physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms for drought stress, perception, transduction, and tolerance is still a challenge to the plant biologists. The findings presented in volume 1 call attention to the physiological and biochemical modalities of drought stress that influence crop productivity, whereas volume 2 summarizes our current understanding on the molecular and genetic mechanisms of drought stress resistance in plants.

Drought Stress Tolerance in Plants, Vol 2

Drought Stress Tolerance in Plants, Vol 2
Author: Mohammad Anwar Hossain
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 616
Release: 2016-08-24
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3319324233

Drought is one of the most severe constraints to crop productivity worldwide, and thus it has become a major concern for global food security. Due to an increasing world population, droughts could lead to serious food shortages by 2050. The situation may worsen due to predicated climatic changes that may increase the frequency, duration and severity of droughts. Hence, there is an urgent need to improve our understanding of the complex mechanisms associated with drought tolerance and to develop modern crop varieties that are more resilient to drought. Identification of the genes responsible for drought tolerance in plants will contribute to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms that could enable crop plants to respond to drought. The discovery of novel drought related genes, the analysis of their expression patterns in response to drought, and determination of the functions these genes play in drought adaptation will provide a base to develop effective strategies to enhance the drought tolerance of crop plants. Plant breeding efforts to increase crop yields in dry environments have been slow to date mainly due to our poor understanding of the molecular and genetic mechanisms involved in how plants respond to drought. In addition, when it comes to combining favourable alleles, there are practical obstacles to developing superior high yielding genotypes fit for drought prone environments. Drought Tolerance in Plants, Vol 2: Molecular and Genetic Perspectives combines novel topical findings, regarding the major molecular and genetic events associated with drought tolerance, with contemporary crop improvement approaches. This volume is unique as it makes available for its readers not only extensive reports of existing facts and data, but also practical knowledge and overviews of state-of-the-art technologies, across the biological fields, from plant breeding using classical and molecular genetic information, to the modern omic technologies, that are now being used in drought tolerance research to breed drought-related traits into modern crop varieties. This book is useful for teachers and researchers in the fields of plant breeding, molecular biology and biotechnology.

Water Stress and Crop Plants

Water Stress and Crop Plants
Author: Parvaiz Ahmad
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 784
Release: 2016-06-08
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1119054478

Plants are subjected to a variety of abiotic stresses such as drought, temperature, salinity, air pollution, heavy metals, UV radiations, etc. To survive under these harsh conditions plants are equipped with different resistance mechanisms which vary from species to species. Due to the environmental fluctuations agricultural and horticultural crops are often exposed to different environmental stresses leading to decreased yield and problems in the growth and development of the crops. Drought stress has been found to decrease the yield to an alarming rate of some important crops throughout the globe. During last few decades, lots of physiological and molecular works have been conducted under water stress in crop plants. Water Stress and Crop Plants: A Sustainable Approach presents an up-to-date in-depth coverage of drought and flooding stress in plants, including the types, causes and consequences on plant growth and development. It discusses the physiobiochemical, molecular and omic approaches, and responses of crop plants towards water stress. Topics include nutritional stress, oxidative stress, hormonal regulation, transgenic approaches, mitigation of water stress, approaches to sustainability, and modern tools and techniques to alleviate the water stress on crop yields. This practical book offers pragmatic guidance for scientists and researchers in plant biology, and agribusinesses and biotechnology companies dealing with agronomy and environment, to mitigate the negative effects of stress and improve yield under stress. The broad coverage also makes this a valuable guide enabling students to understand the physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms of environmental stress in plants.

Abiotic Stress Alleviation in Plants: Morpho-Physiological and Molecular Aspects

Abiotic Stress Alleviation in Plants: Morpho-Physiological and Molecular Aspects
Author: Diaa Abd El Moneim
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Total Pages: 452
Release: 2023-10-27
Genre: Science
ISBN: 2832537324

Plants are constantly exposed to changing environmental conditions. Abiotic stresses cause adverse effects on plant growth, development, survival, and yield. It is essential to improve plant responses to such environmental conditions to achieve sustainable crop growth, development, and productivity. The activation of plant stress signaling mechanisms is crucial to address the adverse impacts of environmental factors on plant growth and productivity. Phytoprotectants, including signaling molecules, play crucial roles in the activation of plant physiological and molecular mechanisms to withstand the negative effects of abiotic stress on plants. Investigation of physiological, biochemical, and metabolic pathways associated with plant adaptation to abiotic stress will help identify the key players involved in plant abiotic stress tolerance mechanisms. The sensing, signaling, and gene regulatory mechanisms that help plants cope with abiotic stress must be fully explored.

Cassava

Cassava
Author: R. J. Hillocks
Publisher: CABI
Total Pages: 362
Release: 2002
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9780851998831

Cassava is a major tropical tuber crop found throughout the tropics (India, Oceania, Africa and Latin America). Hitherto, there has been no single text covering all aspects of cassava biology, production and utilization. This book fills that gap, representing the first comprehensive research level overview of this main staple crop. Chapters are written by leading experts in this field from all continents. The book is suitable for those working and researching in cassava, in both developed and developing countries, as well as advanced students.

Water, Radiation, Salt, and Other Stresses

Water, Radiation, Salt, and Other Stresses
Author: J. Levitt
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 622
Release: 2015-12-04
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0323163408

Responses of Plants to Environmental Stresses, Second Edition, Volume II: Water, Radiation, Salt, and Other Stresses focuses on the effects of stresses on plants. This book discusses how stresses produce their damaging effects and how living organisms defend themselves against stresses. Organized into six parts encompassing 12 chapters, this edition starts with an overview of the various responses of plants to the severities of all the other environmental stresses, with emphasis on the physical and biological stresses and strains. This text then describes water stress in plants, which arise either from an excessive or from an insufficient water activity in the plant's environment. Other chapters consider the resistance to drought stress of plants. This book discusses as well the effects of flooding, which replaces gaseous air by liquid water. The final chapter deals with the comparative stress responses of plants. This book is a valuable resource for plant biologists.

Plant Stress Physiology

Plant Stress Physiology
Author: Akbar Hossain
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
Total Pages: 420
Release: 2021-01-20
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1839625260

Due to the changing climate, food security for the increasing population has raised a great threat globally. Therefore, it is imperative to find alternate solutions for enhancing agricultural sustainability through plant stress physiology. The concept of plant stress physiology has been well-established over the past 60 years due to the increasing trends of environmental stress. Researchers have found that crop stress physiology has an association with two main areas, one is concerned with agronomy, the other concerned with plant breeding. The contents of the current book emphasize the integration of both breeding and agronomy strategies to ensure agricultural productivity and environmental safety under changing climate.

Plant Tolerance to Environmental Stress

Plant Tolerance to Environmental Stress
Author: Mirza Hasanuzzaman
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 469
Release: 2019-01-10
Genre: Science
ISBN: 135133994X

Global climate change affects crop production through altered weather patterns and increased environmental stresses. Such stresses include soil salinity, drought, flooding, metal/metalloid toxicity, pollution, and extreme temperatures. The variability of these environmental conditions pared with the sessile lifestyle of plants contribute to high exposure to these stress factors. Increasing tolerance of crop plants to abiotic stresses is needed to fulfill increased food needs of the population. This book focuses on methods of improving plants tolerance to abiotic stresses. It provides information on how protective agents, including exogenous phytoprotectants, can mitigate abiotic stressors affecting plants. The application of various phytoprotectants has become one of the most effective approaches in enhancing the tolerance of plants to these stresses. Phytoprotectants are discussed in detail including information on osmoprotectants, antioxidants, phytohormones, nitric oxide, polyamines, amino acids, and nutrient elements of plants. Providing a valuable resource of information on phytoprotectants, this book is useful in diverse areas of life sciences including agronomy, plant physiology, cell biology, environmental sciences, and biotechnology.