Editorial: Biostimulants as an Avenue of Abiotic Stress Tolerance Improvement in Crops

Abstract

Plants are sessile organisms that are continuously exposed to changing climatic conditions. To provide 27 food security for the increasing global population, agricultural produce must double by 2050. Increases 28 agricultural productivity have been provided using chemical fertilizers. However, such gains in 29 productivity using this non-sustainable, synthetic chemistry have been shown repeatedly to pose threats 30 to the ecosystem and human health. Additionally, the prices of these inputs continuously increase as 31 their sources are non-renewable. Thus, there is an immediate need for the development of more 32 sustainable agricultural production systems (Castiglione et al., 2021)