Pesticide and fertilizer usage is at the center of agricultural production to meet the demands of an ever-increasing global population. However, rising levels of chemicals impose a serious threat to the health of humans, animals, plants, and even the entire biosphere because of their toxic effects. Biostimulants offer the opportunity to reduce the agricultural chemical footprint owing their multilevel, beneficial properties helping to make agriculture more sustainable and resilient.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMelatonin has a protective effect against heavy metal stress in plants by immobilizing HM in cell walls and sequestering them in root cell vacuoles, reducing HM's translocation from roots to shoots. It enhances osmolyte production, increases antioxidant enzyme activity, and improves photosynthesis, thereby improving cellular functions. Understanding the melatonin-mediated response and signalling can sustain crop production in heavy metal-stressed soils.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVegetables provide many nutrients in the form of fiber, vitamins, and minerals, which make them an important part of our diet. Numerous biotic and abiotic stresses can affect crop growth, quality, and yield. Traditional and modern breeding strategies to improve plant traits are slow and resource intensive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMost cultivated potatoes are tetraploid, and the tuber is the main economic part that is consumed due to its calorific and nutritional values. Recent trends in climate change led to the frequent occurrence of heat and drought stress in major potato-growing regions worldwide. The optimum temperature for tuber production is 15-20 °C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMore than a half-century has passed since it was discovered that phytohormone cytokinin (CK) is essential to drive cytokinesis and proliferation in plant tissue culture. Thereafter, cytokinin has emerged as the primary regulator of the plant cell cycle and numerous developmental processes. Lately, a growing body of evidence suggests that cytokinin has a role in mitigating both abiotic and biotic stress.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOver the last decade, remarkable progress has been made in our understanding the phytohormones, cytokinin's (CKs) biosynthesis, perception, and signalling pathways. Additionally, it became apparent that interfering with any of these steps has a significant effect on all stages of plant growth and development. As a result of their complex regulatory and cross-talk interactions with other hormones and signalling networks, they influence and control a wide range of biological activities, from cellular to organismal levels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe rice and wheat agricultural system is the primary source of food for billions across the world. However, the productivity and long-term sustainability of rice and wheat are threatened by a large number of abiotic stresses, especially salinity stress. Salinity has a significant impact on plant development and productivity and is one of the leading causes of crop yield losses in agricultural soils worldwide.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWheat gluten contains epitopes that trigger celiac disease (CD). A life-long strict gluten-free diet is the only treatment accepted for CD. However, very low-gluten wheat may provide an alternative treatment to CD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhysiol Mol Biol Plants
February 2018
Alternaria leaf blight, a disease of oilseed Brassicas is caused by a necrotrophic phytopathogenic fungus . The details of its pathogenesis and defence responses elicited in the host upon infection have not been thoroughly investigated. Here, accession Gre-0 was identified to be highly susceptible to .
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