Mitigation Effect of Microbes on Crop Drought Stress
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 1948
Special Issue Editor
Interests: arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis; aquaporins; drought stress; plant-growth-promoting rhizo-bacteria; salt stress; root hydraulics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Global warming and reduced rainfall are leading to frequent episodes of drought globally, causing a serious impact on crop growth and productivity. Other abiotic stresses such as salinity or extreme temperature also cause water limitations for plants due to their osmotic component. Thus, under the current climate change scenario, increasing crop tolerance to environmental conditions limiting water availability is of crucial importance in order to secure food production for the ever-increasing human population. Hence, there is a need to understand the mechanisms that allow a higher productivity of crops under water-limiting conditions, which is crucial to guarantee future food production. There are different strategies to increase crop tolerance to adverse growing conditions, such as the selection of resistant varieties, crossbreeding among varieties, genetic engineering, etc., but modern sustainable agriculture favors the use of natural resources such as the soil beneficial microorganisms that can improve plant development under limiting environmental conditions. Among these microorganisms, the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi stand out. The AM symbiosis activates the host’s physiological, molecular and morphological plant responses, increasing the ability of host plants to survive and maintain vigor under drought conditions. Other microorganisms present in the rhizosphere that help plants to tolerate abiotic stresses are the so-called plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). These bacteria may live in the rhizoplane or inside roots, and have several mechanisms to promote plant growth and increase their tolerance to abiotic stresses, like the reduction of ethylene levels, nutrient solubilization, production of some hormones, degradative enzymes and siderophores or nitrogen fixation, among others. In this context, the use of AM fungi and PGPR (alone or in combination) represents one of the most sustainable strategies to increase the tolerance of plants to adverse conditions such as water limitation, and to enhance crop production.
Dr. Juan Manuel Ruiz Lozano
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- drought stress
- osmotic stress
- plant productivity
- mycorrhizal symbiosis
- plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria
- beneficial microorganism
- crop productivity
- stress mitigation
