BookMirza Hasanuzzaman, Khalid Rehman Hakeem, Kamrun Nahar, Hesham F. Alharby, editors.
Summary: Plants have to manage a series of environmental stresses throughout their entire lifespan. Among these, abiotic stress is the most detrimental; one that is responsible for nearly 50% of crop yield reduction and appears to be a potential threat to global food security in coming decades. Plant growth and development reduces drastically due to adverse effects of abiotic stresses. It has been estimated that crop can exhibit only 30% of their genetic potentiality under abiotic stress condition. So, this is a fundamental need to understand the stress responses to facilitate breeders to develop stress resistant and stress tolerant cultivars along with good management practices to withstand abiotic stresses. Also, a holistic approach to understanding the molecular and biochemical interactions of plants is important to implement the knowledge of resistance mechanisms under abiotic stresses. Agronomic practices like selecting cultivars that is tolerant to wide range of climatic condition, planting date, irrigation scheduling, fertilizer management could be some of the effective short-term adaptive tools to fight against abiotic stresses. In addition, "system biology" and "omics approaches" in recent studies offer a long-term opportunity at the molecular level in dealing with abiotic stresses. The genetic approach, for example, selection and identification of major conditioning genes by linkage mapping and quantitative trait loci (QTL), production of mutant genes and transgenic introduction of novel genes, has imparted some tolerant characteristics in crop varieties from their wild ancestors. Recently research has revealed the interactions between micro-RNAs (miRNAs) and plant stress responses exposed to salinity, freezing stress and dehydration. Accordingly transgenic approaches to generate stress-tolerant plant are one of the most interesting researches to date. This book presents the recent development of agronomic and molecular approaches in conferring plant abiotic stress tolerance in an organized way. The present volume will be of great interest among research students and teaching community, and can also be used as reference material by professional researchers.
Contents:
Intro; Foreword; Preface; About the Book; Contents; Editors; Contributors; About the Editors; Maize Production Under Salinity and Drought Conditions: Oxidative Stress Regulation by Antioxidant Defense and Glyoxalase Systems; Introduction; General Situation of Maize Production Under Salinity and Drought; Oxidative Stress in Maize; Antioxidative Defense Mechanisms; Superoxide Dismutase; Catalase; Peroxidase; Ascorbate Peroxidase; Glutathione Peroxidase; Glutathione Reductase; Monodehydroascorbate Reductase; Dehydroascorbate Reductase; Glutathione S-Transferases Effect of Salinity on Chlorophyll and CarotenoidsEffect of Salinity on Photosynthesis; Effect of Salinity on Nutrients; Effect of Salinity on Na+ and K+ Concentration in Plant and Its Relation with Salinity Tolerance; Effect of Salinity on Osmolites and Osmoprotectants; Effect of Salinity on Proline Content in Plants; Effect of Salinity on Cell Membrane Stability; Salinity Tolerance in Plants; Salt Tolerance Mechanisms; Salinity Tolerance at the Whole Plant; Salinity Tolerance at Molecular Level; Salinity Tolerance at the Cellular Level; Screening Methods for Salinity Tolerance Methylglyoxal Detoxification EnzymesNonenzymatic Antioxidants; Ascorbic Acid; Glutathione; Osmoregulation and Osmoprotection; Conclusion; References; Plants Behavior Under Soil Acidity Stress: Insight into Morphophysiological, Biochemical, and Molecular Responses; Introduction; Soil pH and Acidic Soil; Causes; Worldwide Distribution; Nutrient Imbalance and Toxicity Due to Acidity; Biogeography of Plants in Relation to Acidic Soil; Effects of Soil Acidity Stress on Plants; Germination and Seedling Emergence; Vegetative Stage; Reproductive Stage; Yield Attributes and Yield Physiological Responses of Plants to Acidity StressMembrane Integrity; Photosynthetic Machinery; Water Relations and Transpiration; Oxidative Damages; Antioxidative Defense; Mechanisms of Acid Stress Tolerance in Plants; Conclusion and Future Perspectives; References; Salinity: A Major Agricultural Problem-Causes, Impacts on Crop Productivity and Management Strategies; Introduction; Causes of Salinity and General Effects; Effects of Salinity on Crops; Salinity Management Approaches; Modifications in Agricultural Practices Seed Priming and Plant Growth Promoting Bacteria (Bio-Priming) for Salinity ManagementConclusions; References; Salinity Stress Tolerance in Plants: Physiological, Molecular, and Biotechnological Approaches; Introduction: An Overview on Salinity; Definition of Salinity; Types of Salinity and Its Causes; Primary or Natural Salinity; Secondary Salinity or Salinity Created by Humans; Problems Caused by Salinity in Plants; Effects of Salinity; Effect of Salinity on Plant Germination; Effects of Salinity on Plant Morphology; Effect of Salinity on Vegetative Growth