Use of Biostimulants to Improve Drought Tolerance in Cereals

Abstract

AbstractAbiotic stresses present the most constraints, negatively affecting plant growth performance and productivity. Climate change variations and agricultural mismanagements such as the overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides have heightened abiotic stresses that impact crop productivity and, therefore, caused agroecosystem degradation. Nowadays, the improvement of crops productivity has become a global concern to a grown population. Research on sustainable tools to increase plant production, especially cereal crops, is needed to respond to this challenge. However, it is crucial to manage environment-friendly techniques sustainability like biostimulants to improve cereal crop productivity under harsh conditions. Moreover, it is generally believed that biostimulants are more effective in offering tolerance to cereal crops against numerous abiotic stresses, including drought stress. Several biostimulants like arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), Trichoderma spp., endophytes, and seaweed extracts (SWE) are used to increase cereal crop production and boost their tolerance to drought stress conditions. These biostimulants could assist cereal crop tolerance mechanism upregulation and avoid the central metabolic pathway downregulation. These biostimulants provide essential mineral nutrients to cereal crops and increase fitness and productivity under drought stress. These biostimulants could potentially support plants’ adaptability to avoid the adverse impacts of drought stress by stimulating the antioxidant defense system and photosynthetic activity. Therefore, more investigations focusing on the biostimulant-mediated cereal crop quality and productivity promotion are needed. The current chapter will make a comprehensive knowledge of AMF, PGPR, Trichoderma spp., endophytes, and SWE, their effects on cereal crop growth stages and productivity, their applications and advantages, and the potential mechanisms employed to improve their tolerance under drought stress.KeywordsClimate changeDroughtBiostimulantsCrop productivityToleranceAgricultural ecosystem