Abstract
Abiotic stresses are one of the major constraints to crop production and food security worldwide. The situation has aggravated due to the drastic and rapid changes in global climate. Heat and drought are undoubtedly the two most important stresses having huge impact on growth and productivity of the crops. It is very important to understand the physiological, biochemical, and ecological interventions related to these stresses for better management. A wide range of plant responses to these stresses could be generalized into morphological, physiological, and biochemical responses. Interestingly, this review provides a detailed account of plant responses to heat and drought stresses with special focus on highlighting the commonalities and differences. Crop growth and yields are negatively affected by sub-optimal water supply and abnormal temperatures due to physical damages, physiological disruptions, and biochemical changes. Both these stresses have multi-lateral impacts and therefore, complex in mechanistic action. A better understanding of plant responses to these stresses has pragmatic implication for remedies and management. A comprehensive account of conventional as well as modern approaches to deal with heat and drought stresses have also been presented here. A side-by-side critical discussion on salient responses and management strategies for these two important abiotic stresses provides a unique insight into the phenomena. A holistic approach taking into account the different management options to deal with heat and drought stress simultaneously could be a win-win approach in future.
Highlights
Global food security is being haunted by the rapid increase in population and drastic changes in the climate (Lesk et al, 2016)
Plants show a wide range of responses to drought and heat stresses which are mostly depicted by a variety of alterations in the growth and morphology of plants
Major achievements have been made in minimizing the negative effects of these abiotic stresses either by adopting the genetic approaches or by inducing the stress resistance
Summary
Global food security is being haunted by the rapid increase in population and drastic changes in the climate (Lesk et al, 2016). In the wake of changing climate, drought, and heat stress have become the most important limiting factors to crop productivity and the food security. Over the past 250 years a 30 and 150% rise in the concentration of the CO2 and methane has been observed (Lal, 2004; Friedlingstein et al, 2010) These stresses limit plant growth and productivity more than any other environmental factor. At Present, heat shocks due to the rising atmospheric temperatures are becoming one of the major limiting factors to crop productivity around the globe. Heat stress could have major effects on the process of cell divisions (Smertenko et al, 1997) All these damages can seriously limit the plant growth and favor the oxidative damage. We reviewed the basic responses of crop plants to drought and heat stress along with the management options which can be adopted to minimize the harmful effects of these abiotic stresses
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