Vijay Pratap Singh

Sheo Mohan Prasad

Parvaiz Ahmad

Durgesh Kumar Tripathi

Devendra Kumar Chauhan

In the present era, rapid industrialization and urbanization has resulted in unwanted physiological, chemical, and biological changes in the environment that have harmful effects on crop quality and productivity. This situation is further worsened by the growing demand for food due to an ever increasing population. This forces plant scientists and agronomists to look forward for alternative strategies to enhance crop production and produce safer, healthier foods. Biotic and abiotic stresses are major constraints to crop productivity and have become an important challenge to agricultural scientists and agronomists due to the fact that both stress factors considerably reduce agriculture production worldwide per year. Silicon has various effects on plant growth and development, as well as crop yields. It increases photosynthetic activity, creates better disease resistance, reduces heavy metal toxicity, improves nutrient imbalance, and enhances drought tolerance. Silicon in Plants: Advances and Future Prospects presents the beneficial effects of silicon in improving productivity in plants and enhancing the capacity of plants to resist stresses from environmental factors. It compiles recent advances made worldwide in different leading laboratories concerning the role of silicon in plant biology in order to make these outcomes easily accessible to academicians, researchers, industrialists, and students. Nineteen chapters summarize information regarding the role of silicon in plants, their growth and development, physiological and molecular responses, and responses against the various abiotic stresses.

Advances and Future Prospects

Silicon in Plants

Saiema Rasool

Emerging Technologies and Management of Crop Stress Tolerance: Volume 1 - Biological Techniques presents the latest technologies used by scientists for improvement the crop production and explores the various roles of these technologies for the enhancement of crop productivity and inhibition of pathogenic bacteria that can cause disease. This resource provides a comprehensive review of how proteomics, genomics, transcriptomics, ionomics, and micromics are a pathway to improve plant stress tolerance to increase productivity and meet the agricultural needs of the growing human population. This valuable resource will help any scientist have a better understanding of environmental stresses to improve resource management within a world of limited resources. Includes the most recent advances methods and applications of biotechnology to crop science Discusses different techniques of genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics and nanotechnology Promotes the prevention of potential diseases to inhibit bacteria postharvest quality of fruits and vegetable crops by advancing application and research Presents a thorough account of research results and critical reviews

Volume 1-Biological Techniques

Emerging Technologies and Management of Crop Stress Tolerance

Sumira Jan

Ecometabolomics: Metabolic Fluxes versus Environmental Stoichiometry focuses on the interaction between plants—particularly plants that have vigorous secondary metabolites—and the environment. The book offers a comprehensive overview of the responses of the metabolome of organisms to biotic and abiotic environmental changes. It includes an introduction to metabolomics, summaries of metabolomic techniques and applications, studies of stress in plants, and insights into challenges. This is a must-have reference for plant biologists, plant biochemists, plant ecologists and phytochemists researching the interface between plants and the environment using metabolomics. Provides an in-depth overview of the basics of the discipline, including non-targeted analysis and quantification of plant metabolites Outlines the applications of various analytical techniques in comprehending the total metabolome of the organism Covers both NMR and MS-based approaches

Metabolic Fluxes versus Environmental Stoichiometry

Ecometabolomics

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.

A Sustainable Approach

Water Stress and Crop Plants

Mohammad Abass Ahanger

Pravej Alam

Mohammed Nasser Alyemeni

Plant Metabolites and Regulation Under Environmental Stress presents the latest research on both primary and secondary metabolites. The book sheds light on the metabolic pathways of primary and secondary metabolites, the role of these metabolites in plants, and the environmental impact on the regulation of these metabolites. Users will find a comprehensive, practical reference that aids researchers in their understanding of the role of plant metabolites in stress tolerance. Highlights new advances in the understanding of plant metabolism Features 17 protocols and methods for analysis of important plant secondary metabolites Includes sections on environmental adaptations and plant metabolites, plant metabolites and breeding, plant microbiome and metabolites, and plant metabolism under non-stress conditions

Plant Metabolites and Regulation under Environmental Stress

M.N.V. Prasad

M.M. Azooz

This book will shed light on the effect of salt stress on plants development, proteomics, genomics, genetic engineering, and plant adaptations, among other topics. Understanding the molecular basis will be helpful in developing selection strategies for improving salinity tolerance. The book will cover around 25 chapters with contributors from all over the world.

Ecophysiology and Responses of Plants under Salt Stress

14.4 Processing of oilseed crops -- 14.5 Major nutrients in oilseed and their roles in human nutrition -- 14.6 Industrial utilization of oilseeds -- 14.7 Conclusion and future prospects -- References -- CHAPTER 15: Appraisal of biophysical parameters in Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) using thermal indices -- 15.1 Introduction -- 15.2 Thermal indices and biophysical parameters -- 15.3 Thermal energy use efficiency and biophysical parameters -- 15.4 Radiation dynamics and biophysical parameters -- 15.5 Soil temperature and biophysical parameters -- 15.6 Conclusion and future prospects -- References -- Index -- End User License Agreement

Yield and Adaptations Under Environmental Stress

Oilseed Crops

With contributions that review research on this topic throughout the world, Oxidative Damage to Plants covers key areas of discovery, from the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROSs), their mechanisms, quenching of these ROSs through enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, and detailed aspects of such antioxidants as SOD and CAT. Environmental stress is responsible for the generation of oxidative stress, which causes oxidative damage to biomolecules and hence reduces crop yield. To cope up with these problems, scientists have to fully understand the generation of reactive oxygen species, its impact on plants and how plants will be able to withstand these stresses. Provides invaluable information about the role of antioxidants in alleviating oxidative stress Examines both the negative effects (senescence, impaired photosynthesis and necrosis) and positive effects (crucial role that superoxide plays against invading microbes) of ROS on plants Features contributors from a variety of regions globally

Antioxidant Networks and Signaling

Oxidative Damage to Plants

Climate change is a complex phenomenon with a wide range of impacts on the environment. Biotic and abiotic stress are a result of climate change. Abiotic stress is caused by primary and secondary stresses which are an impediment to plant productivity. Prolonged exposure to these stresses results in altered metabolism and damage to biomolecules. Plants evolve defense mechanisms to withstand these stresses, e.g. synthesis of osmolytes, osmoprotectants, and antioxidants. Stress responsive genes and gene products including expressed proteins are implicated in conferring tolerance to the plant. This volume will provide the reader with a wide spectrum of information, including vital references. It also provides information as to how phytoconstituents, hormones and plant associated microbes help the plants to tolerate the stress. This volume also highlights the use of plant resources for ameliorating soil contaminants such as heavy metals. Dr. Parvaiz is Assistant professor in Botany at A.S. College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India. He has completed his post-graduation in Botany in 2000 from Jamia Hamdard New Delhi India. After his Ph.D from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, India in 2007 he joined the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi. He has published more than 20 research papers in peer reviewed journals and 4 book chapters. He has also edited a volume which is in press with Studium Press Pvt. India Ltd., New Delhi, India. Dr. Parvaiz is actively engaged in studying the molecular and physio-biochemical responses of different plants (mulberry, pea, Indian mustard) under environmental stress. Prof. M.N.V. Prasad is a Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Hyderabad, India. He received B.Sc. (1973) and M.Sc. (1975) degrees from Andhra University, India, and the Ph.D. degree (1979) in botany from the University of Lucknow, India. Prasad had published 216 articles in peer reviewed journals and 82 book chapters and conference proceedings in the broad area of environmental botany and heavy metal stress in plants. He is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor for eight books. He is the recipient of Pitamber Pant national Environment Fellowship of 2007 awarded by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.

Environmental Adaptations and Stress Tolerance of Plants in the Era of Climate Change

Mohd Rafiq Wani

The global population is growing at an alarming rate and is anticipated to reach about 9.6 billion by the end of 2050. Addressing the problem of food scarcity for budding population vis-à-vis environmental changes is the main challenge plant biologists face in the contemporary era. Plant growth and productivity are scarce in many areas of the world due to a wide range of environmental stresses. The productive land is dwindling progressively by various natural and anthropogenic means that lead to enormous crop losses worldwide. Plants often experience these stresses and have the ability to withstand them. However, when the stress exceeds the normal tolerance level, plants accumulate organic osmolytes, osmoprotectants, cryoprotectants and antioxidant enzymes, which helps them tolerate these stresses and assist in their acclimatization towards the particular ambiance needed for maintaining their growth and development. Physiological Mechanisms and Adaptation Strategies in Plants Under Changing Environment, Volume 1 discuss drought and temperature stresses and their mitigation through different means. This volume illuminates how plants that are bombarded by diverse and changing environmental stimuli, undergo appropriate physiological alterations that enable their survival. The information covered in the book is also useful in building apposite strategies to counter abiotic and biotic stresses in plants. Written by a diverse group of internationally renowned scholars, Physiological Mechanisms and Adaptation Strategies in Plants Under Changing Environment, Volume 1 is a concise yet comprehensive resource that will be beneficial for the researchers, students, environmentalists and soil scientists of this field.

Volume 1

Physiological Mechanisms and Adaptation Strategies in Plants Under Changing Environment

Leguminous crops have been found to contribute almost 27% of the world’s primary crop production. However, due to environmental fluctuations, legumes are often exposed to different environmental stresses, leading to problems with growth and development, and ultimately, decreased yield. This timely review explains the transcriptomics, proteomics, genomics, metabolomics, transgenomics, functional genomics and phenomics of a wide range of different leguminous crops under biotic and abiotic stresses, and their genetic and molecular responses. Amongst others the text describes the effect of nutrient deficiency, pesticides, salt, and temperature stress on legumes. Importantly, the book explores the physiobiochemical, molecular and omic approaches that are used to overcome biotic and abiotic constraints in legumes. It looks at the exogenous application of phytoprotectants; the role of nutrients in the alleviation of abiotic stress; and the microbial strategy for the improvement of legume production under hostile environments. Key features: demonstrates how to mitigate the negative effect of stress on leguminous crops, and how to improve the yield under stress the most up-to-date research in the field written by an international team of active researchers and practitioners across academia, industry and non-profit organisations. This volume is a valuable and much-needed resource for scientists, professionals and researchers working in plant science, breeding, food security, crop improvement and agriculture worldwide. In universities it will educate postgraduate and graduate students in plant science and agriculture; it will also benefit those in scientific institutions and in biotech and agribusiness companies, who deal with agronomy and environment.

Yield, Improvement and Adaptations

Legumes under Environmental Stress

Plant Metal Interaction: Emerging Remediation Techniques covers different heavy metals and their effect on soils and plants, along with the remediation techniques currently available. As cultivable land is declining day-by-day as a result of increased metals in our soil and water, there is an urgent need to remediate these effects. This multi-contributed book is divided into four sections covering the whole of plant metal interactions, including heavy metals, approaches to alleviate heavy metal stress, microbial approaches to remove heavy metals, and phytoremediation. Provides an overview of the effect of different heavy metals on growth, biochemical reactions, and physiology of various plants Serves as a reference guide for available techniques, challenges, and possible solutions in heavy metal remediation Covers sustainable technologies in uptake and removal of heavy metals

Emerging Remediation Techniques

Plant Metal Interaction

Environmental conditions and changes, irrespective of source, cause a variety of stresses, one of the most prevalent of which is salt stress. Excess amount of salt in the soil adversely affects plant growth and development, and impairs production. Nearly 20% of the world’s cultivated area and nearly half of the world’s irrigated lands are affected by salinity. Processes such as seed germination, seedling growth and vigour, vegetative growth, flowering and fruit set are adversely affected by high salt concentration, ultimately causing diminished economic yield and also quality of produce. Most plants cannot tolerate salt-stress. High salt concentrations decrease the osmotic potential of soil solution, creating a water stress in plants and severe ion toxicity. The interactions of salts with mineral nutrition may result in nutrient imbalances and deficiencies. The consequence of all these can ultimately lead to plant death as a result of growth arrest and molecular damage. To achieve salt-tolerance, the foremost task is either to prevent or alleviate the damage, or to re-establish homeostatic conditions in the new stressful environment. Barring a few exceptions, the conventional breeding techniques have been unsuccessful in transferring the salt-tolerance trait to the target species. A host of genes encoding different structural and regulatory proteins have been used over the past 5–6 years for the development of a range of abiotic stress-tolerant plants. It has been shown that using regulatory genes is a more effective approach for developing stress-tolerant plants. Thus, understanding the molecular basis will be helpful in developing selection strategies for improving salinity tolerance. This book will shed light on the effect of salt stress on plants development, proteomics, genomics, genetic engineering, and plant adaptations, among other topics. The book will cover around 25 chapters with contributors from all over the world. ​​

Signalling, Omics and Adaptations

Salt Stress in Plants

Abiotic stress cause changes in soil-plant-atmosphere continuum and is responsible for reduced yield in several major crops. Therefore, the subject of abiotic stress response in plants - metabolism, productivity and sustainability - is gaining considerable significance in the contemporary world. Abiotic stress is an integral part of “climate change,” a complex phenomenon with a wide range of unpredictable impacts on the environment. Prolonged exposure to these abiotic stresses results in altered metabolism and damage to biomolecules. Plants evolve defense mechanisms to tolerate these stresses by upregulation of osmolytes, osmoprotectants, and enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, etc. This volume deals with abiotic stress-induced morphological and anatomical changes, abberations in metabolism, strategies and approaches to increase salt tolerance, managing the drought stress, sustainable fruit production and postharvest stress treatments, role of glutathione reductase, flavonoids as antioxidants in plants, the role of salicylic acid and trehalose in plants, stress-induced flowering. The role of soil organic matter in mineral nutrition and fatty acid profile in response to heavy metal stress are also dealt with. Proteomic markers for oxidative stress as a new tools for reactive oxygen species and photosynthesis research, abscisic acid signaling in plants are covered with chosen examples. Stress responsive genes and gene products including expressed proteins that are implicated in conferring tolerance to the plant are presented. Thus, this volume would provides the reader with a wide spectrum of information including key references and with a large number of illustrations and tables. Dr. Parvaiz is Assistant Professor in Botany at A.S. College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India. He has completed his post-graduation in Botany in 2000 from Jamia Hamdard New Delhi India. After his Ph.D from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, India in 2007 he joined the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi. He has published more than 20 research papers in peer reviewed journals and 4 book chapters. He has also edited a volume which is in press with Studium Press Pvt. India Ltd., New Delhi, India. Dr. Parvaiz is actively engaged in studying the molecular and physio-biochemical responses of different plants (mulberry, pea, Indian mustard) under environmental stress. Prof. M.N.V. Prasad is a Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Hyderabad, India. He received B.Sc. (1973) and M.Sc. (1975) degrees from Andhra University, India, and the Ph.D. degree (1979) in botany from the University of Lucknow, India. Prasad has published 216 articles in peer reviewed journals and 82 book chapters and conference proceedings in the broad area of environmental botany and heavy metal stress in plants. He is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor for eight books. He is the recipient of Pitamber Pant National Environment Fellowship of 2007 awarded by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.

Metabolism, Productivity and Sustainability

Abiotic Stress Responses in Plants

Khalid Rehman Hakeem

Munir Ozturk

The improvement of crop species has been a basic pursuit since cultivation began thousands of years ago. To feed an ever increasing world population will require a great increase in food production. Wheat, corn, rice, potato and few others are expected to lead as the most important crops in the world. Enormous efforts are made all over the world to document as well as use these resources. Everybody knows that the introgression of genes in wheat provided the foundation for the “Green Revolution”. Later also demonstrated the great impact that genetic resources have on production. Several factors are contributing to high plant performance under different environmental conditions, therefore an effective and complementary use of all available technological tools and resources is needed to meet the challenge.

New Approaches and Modern Techniques

Crop Improvement

Lam-Son Phan Tran

Mohamed Mahgoub Azooz

Current trends in population growth hint that global food production is unlikely to gratify future demands under predicted climate change scenarios unless the rates of crop improvement are accelerated. Crop production faces numerous challenges, due to changing environmental conditions and evolving needs for new plant-derived materials. These challenges come at a time when the plant sciences are witnessing remarkable progress in understanding fundamental processes of plant growth and development. Drought, heat, cold and salinity are among the major abiotic stresses that often cause a series of morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular alterations which adversely affect plant growth, development and productivity, consequently posing a serious challenge for sustainable food production in large parts of the world, particularly in emerging countries. This emphasizes the urgency of finding better ways to translate new advances in plant science into concrete successes in agricultural production. To overcome the pessimistic influence of abiotic stresses and to maintain the food security in the face of these challenges, new, improved and tolerant crop varieties, contemporary breeding techniques, and cavernous understanding of the mechanisms that counteract detrimental climate changes are indubitably needed to sustain the requisite food supply. In this context, Improvement of Crops in the Era of Climatic Changes, Volume 1 provides a state-of-the-art guide to recent developments that aid in the understanding of plant responses to abiotic stresses and lead to new horizons vis-à-vis prime strategies for translating current research into applied solutions to create strong yields and overall crop improvement under such unfavourable environments. Written by a diverse group of internationally famed scholars, Improvement of Crops in the Era of Climatic Changes, Volume 1 is a brief yet all-inclusive resource that is immensely advantageous for researchers, students, environmentalists, soil scientists, professionals, and many others in the quest of advancement in this flourishing field of research.

Improvement of Crops in the Era of Climatic Changes

The increase in global population, urbanization and industrialization is resulting in the conversion of cultivated land into wasteland. Providing food from these limited resources to an ever-increasing population is one of the biggest challenges that present agriculturalists and plant scientists are facing. Environmental stresses make this situation even graver. Plants on which mankind is directly or indirectly dependent exhibit various mechanisms for their survival. Adaptability of the plants to changing environment is a matter of concern for plant biologists trying to reach the goal of food security. Despite the induction of several tolerance mechanisms, sensitive plants often fail to withstand these environmental extremes. Using new technological approaches has become essential and imperative. Plant-Environment Interaction: Responses and Approaches to Mitigate Stress throws light on the changing environment and the sustainability of plants under these conditions. It contains the most up-to-date research and comprehensive detailed discussions in plant physiology, climate change, agronomy and forestry, sometimes from a molecular point of view, to convey in-depth understanding of the effects of environmental stress in plants, their responses to the environment, how to mitigate the negative effects and improve yield under stress. This edited volume is written by expert plant biologists from around the world, providing invaluable knowledge to graduate and undergraduate students in plant biochemistry, food chemistry, plant physiology, molecular biology, plant biotechnology, and environmental sciences. This book updates scientists and researchers with the very latest information and sustainable methods used for stress tolerance, which will also be of considerable interest to plant based companies and institutions concerned with the campaign of food security.

Parvaiz Ahmad

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