Recent Advances in Plant Stress Physiology

The world population has increased dramatically in the past century, generating a concern for progressive and sustainable food production. It is expected to further increase by 1.3 billion in 2030 and by 2.5 billion in 2050, reaching 9.7 billion. To provide food security to this growing population, the world food production may need to increase by 60-110%. Biotic and abiotic stresses are major threat to plant growth and halt them from reaching their full genetic potential and ultimately limiting their productivity. High yield varieties are confronted by various stresses which lead to huge loss in production and productivity. Understanding the mechanisms involved in the response of plants to adverse environmental conditions is the first step in the generation of crops with higher tolerance to these stresses. This book provides a broad overview of biotic and abiotic stresses, their mechanisms and different strategies to improve stress tolerance in crop plants. The book provides discussion on following topics: ? Reactive oxygen species: generation, scavenging, and their role in cell signalling in plants. ? Calcium mediated pathogen defence system ? Transcription factors in abiotic stress tolerance ? MAPK signalling modules in stress ? Plant hormones and stress ? Plant stress regulation ? Salinity stress in plants ? Recent advances in Populus euphratica in relation to salinity stress ? Chilling stress tolerance in plants: physiology and mechanisms ? Heat stress response in plants ? Drought tolerance in crops ? Aluminium stress in crop plants ? An insight into plant growth and metabolism in relation to hexavalent chromium ? Waterlogging stress: an overview ? Anthropogenic induced stress and its impact on plants ? Breeding for abiotic stress tolerance in crop plants ? Breeding for resistance to biotic stresses in plants ? Transgenic approaches for abiotic stress tolerance in plants ? Transgenic approaches for biotic stress tolerance in plants ? Advances in biotechnology for development of submergence tolerance in crops ? Proteomic perspectives on understanding plant stress response ? Role of molecular markers for improvement of stress tolerance in crops