Drought Stress Tolerance in Plants: Interplay of Molecular, Biochemical and Physiological Responses in Important Development Stages

Abstract

Drought is an important abiotic stress factor limiting crop productivity worldwide and its impact is increasing with climate change. Regardless of the plant growth period, drought has a deadly and yield-reducing effect on the plant at every stage of development. As with many environmental stressors, drought-exposed plants trigger a series of molecular, biochemical, and physiological responses to overcome the effect of drought stress. Currently, researchers are trying to determine the complex functioning of drought stress response in plants with different approaches. Plants are more sensitive to drought stress during certain critical stages like germination, seedling formation, flowering, fertilization, and grain formation periods. Plants have high success in reducing the effects of drought stress in vegetative development periods with the activity of tolerance mechanisms. On the other hand, drought stress during the generative period can cause irreversible losses in yield. This review focuses on the progression of molecular, biochemical, and physiological mechanisms involved in the drought stress tolerance in plants and the responses of field crops to drought stress at different development stages.

Dark-Induced Effects on Pollen Development and HvGAMYB Expression in Spring Barley (<em>Hordeum vulgare</em> L.) Genotypes with Contrasting Drought Tolerance

“…Interestingly, for CamB, similar mean values of NGSm were recorded under C and D conditions (Exp 1), but the mean WGSm values were lower in D, which suggests that this genotype did not reduce the number of seeds under stress condition but the quality of seeds was probably negatively affected by unfavorable conditions. These findings highlight the ability of aridtolerant plants to adapt to the water condition, which is inconsistent with the general fact that drought limits the number of seeds in barley [62]. However, considering early heading as a drought resistance strategy, it is important to consider the yield quality from an economic point of view.…”

Seed priming with essential oils for sustainable wheat agriculture in semi-arid region

“…ROS signaling is involved in the initiation of stress-induced molecular, biochemical, physiological and morphological responses ( Sharma et al, 2021 ). High levels of ROS production can damage various physiological and metabolic processes in plants, such as stomatal activity, osmotic adjustment, RWC, chlorophyll content, photosynthesis, RWC, and antioxidant defense system ( Oguz et al, 2022 ). Antioxidant system and osmotic regulation are the basic defense systems that provide tolerance to water deficiency stress conditions in plants ( Zou, Wu & Kuča, 2021 ).…”

Snap Bean Plants' Physio-Biochemical Reactions to Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria to Mitigate the Negative Effects of Drought Stress

“…These results are consistent with the previous studies (Alghamdi et al 2023;Ferioun et al 2023). These reductions in greenness of the leaves under drought stress could be ascribed to: 1 stomata closure (Raza et al 2023), 2 reduction in water potential (Table 5), 3 reduction in N absorption (Table 4), which is an essential component of the chlorophyll molecule, 4 suppressing the activity of speci c enzymes required for the biosynthesis of chlorophyll, 5 increased degradation of chlorophyll due to the elevated chlorophyllase enzyme activity, 6 damage to the photosynthetic apparatus, or/and 7 decreased uptake of magnesium needed for chlorophyll biosynthesis (Oguz et al 2022). In this concern, the reductions in leaf greenness under drought stress (Table 5) are in good accordance with the reductions in plant growth parameters (Tables 2 and 3).…”