Prospective Role of Plant Growth Regulators for Tolerance to Abiotic Stresses

AYMAN E. L. SABAGH; M. A. IQBAL; WAJID NASIM; RAJESH KUMAR SINGHAL; MIRZA HASANUZZAMAN; M. S. ISLAM; MUHAMMAD MUBEEN; DISNA RATNASEKERA; RAM SWAROOP MEENA; MURAT ERMAN; AKBAR HOSSAIN; KHIZER AMANET; ANALÍA LLANES; ARPNA KUMARI; MUHAMMAD ALI RAZA

Plant Growth Regulators

Springer Nature Switzerland AG

Lugar: Cham, Switzerland; Año: 2021; p. 1 - 38

Several climate models predict a sharp decline in crop productivity owing to changing climate across the globe which may jeopardize the food security of increasing population. The arid and semi-arid regions are expected to confront increasing desertifcation due to global warming and fuctuation of rainfall distribution leading to a decrease in the area under plow (Agbola and Ojeleye 2007). Another manifestation of climate change is a severe intensity and more frequent incidence of abiotic stresses especially drought, salinity, heat, and heavy metals toxicities, which are projected to drastically plummet staple crops? productivity. Plant growth regulators (PGRs) have become commercialized in some countries to improve the productivity of crops. These PGRs play essential functions in modulating growth and development of plant by inducing morphological, physiological, and molecular adaptations under stressful environment. Previous studies showed that PGRs bolster plant defense system (Iqbal 2015; EL Sabagh et al. 2019a, b, c) against plant pathogenic bacteria, which need alive cells to fnish their life cycle (Bari and Jones 2009). Wani et al. (2016) studied that plant growth hormone is a signaling molecule of natural origin, recognized to play a vital and complex role in regulating boom, physiology, development, morphology, and response to abiotic stress.This chapter synthesizes and critically evaluates the drastic impact of abiotic stresses especially heat, drought, and salinity on plant growth and development. In addition, PGRs? role in ameliorating the negative effects of abiotic stresses by imparting stress tolerance through morphological, physiological, and biochemical alterations has been objectively analyzed. An attempt through the synthesis of available literature has been made to develop PGRs as an effective and biologically viable tool to cope with abiotic stresses under changing climate leading to bolstering food and nutritional security of populace.