Macronutrients including nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and sulfur (S) are important in plant growth. Plant growth is the result of a complicated set of activities, including the use of solar energy, CO2, H2O, and soil nutrients. Investigating the physiology and genetics of nutrition utilization efficiency at the single-cell, molecular, and tissue levels. Plants need signaling transporters to adapt to ever-changing environmental circumstances to allow for fast and appropriate response modifications. A change in root structure is one of the most frequent reactions to nutrient-limited soils. This alteration may increase the overall surface area of the root, thus improving nutrient absorption, or it may promote root system growth, allowing access to new nutrient sources. In contemporary agriculture, increasing crop production is reliant on fertilizers; yet, even if more fertilizer is used, only a modest quantity is used where macronutrients are necessary for plant growth. In agronomy, nutrient utilization efficiency, absorption, and harvest product concentration follow a mass balance between total plant nutrient content at harvest and crop yield, suggesting a long period of growth in nutrient utilization efficiency, absorption, and harvest product concentration. Increased nutrient absorption efficiency in plant crops is critical for a healthy bio-ecosystem.

nutrient interactions as well as their concentrations influence the plant growth and development. Some nutrients are mobile while others are immobile. To fulfill basic cellular requirement, the relative movement of nutrients, offers a great hurdle. Absence of any nutrient may decrease the plant yield in term of production. Chief nutrient deficiency includes stunted growth, cell death and necrosis, directly relative to photosynthesis. Changes in climatic conditions greatly affect the plant. Plants facing such type of stresses make strategies to eliminate the stresses. Macronutrients serves as building blocks as cellular components like protein and nucleic acid in large quantities. Micronutrients are needed in minute quantities mostly involved as co-factor for enzyme activity. Root provides the nutrient as absorbed from the soil, however nutrient acquisition is affected by many factors. Nutrient availability problem become high enough due to soil properties. All plants adopt the mechanism for nutrient uptake. Some plants modify their roots which increase the root surface area ultimately nutrient acquisition in increased. Plants sometime uses ion channels, transporters along with different mechanisms for nutrient transport as diffusion, and root interception as well. After obtaining the nutrients, plants have self-metabolism system, which allow it to reconstruct itself or make new products as amino acids, protein for plant production or yield.

Potentially toxic elements (PTEs) may be toxic at low concentrations and can damage living organisms as well as being transferred through the food chain. PTEs remain in soils for a long time, and may directly affect on agricultural products and surface water and groundwater, thus endangering human and environmental health. After observing two cases, the researchers may have started using microorganisms for the remediation PTEs contaminated soils: (1) the presence of resistant microorganisms in contaminated soils and, (2) the comparison of contamination changes in microorganisms-rich soils with microorganisms-poor soils. Bioremediation is one of the ways to remediate contaminated soils. For example, bacteria resistant to metal contaminated environments can be used to reduce PTEs mobility. In fact, along with various methods for the remediation of soils contaminated with PTEs, bioremediation is a cost-effective and eco-friendly method. This biological method is a good alternative because microbial activity involves the formation of much less bioavailable forms from toxic elements such as PTEs. In order to develop this method for the remediation large-scale contaminated soils, it is crucial to understand the mechanism used by microorganisms as well as the factors influencing these biogeochemical processes. Given the benefits of this method, researchers hope that by increasing its efficiency, bioremediation methods will replace other methods deidcated to soil contamination remediation. In this chapter, after presenting different methods and the importance of microorganisms in soil, we introduce the mechanism and factors influencing the bioremediation method. Environmental characteristics, target pollutants, and microorganisms interact with each other and affect the bioremediation process efficiency. In general, microorganisms reduce the risk of toxic pollutants dissemination in the environment by using various mechanisms, and in some mechanisms, they turn them into much less toxic chemical forms.

Microorganisms play a crucial role in nutrient cycling in soil. The composition and activity of microbiota impact the soil quality status, health, and nutrient enrichment. Microbes are essential for nutrient mobility and absorption. Through their varied functions, they stimulate plant growth and reduce diseases. Bioavailability of phosphate and sulfate, plant growth stimulation, siderophore synthesis, nitrification, denitrification, immunological regulation, and disease management are all well-known microbial mediated activities that stimulate plant development and defend against various pest infestations. In addition, the several stress conditions impact both physiological and biochemical aspects, such as enzymatic activities, which can be alleviated by using microbes including mycorrhizal fungi (MF) such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), ectomycorrhizal fungi (ECM), and plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB). Microbial strains including dark septate endophytic (DSE) fungus, Serendipita indica, Trichoderma sp., Rhizobium, Azospirillum, Bacillus, Azotobacter, Pseudomonas, Serratia, etc. can promote hormonal regulation, soil health, nutrient availability and uptake, and plant growth. This chapter emphasizes the importance of soil microbes in promoting plant nutrient availability and uptake, soil health, and crop productivity.

Climate change is no way a favorable change for our ecosphere. Indiscriminate industrial growth, fossil fuel burning and number of anthropogenic activities continuously emit tones of green house gases in atmosphere. Change in global climate variables has markedly affected the growth and productivity of plants. Excessive CO2 concentrations, heat stress, fluctuating precipitation pattern has altered the plant nutrient interactions. This review mainly focuses on, how the global changing climate may affect the quality and quantity of plant nutrients. Here we try to build a link between the changing global climatic variables and its influence on overall nutrient availability. Integrative management strategies to preserve nutrients in changing climatic conditions have also been highlighted.

Nutrient use efficiency (NUE) of the plants is depends on the plant's ability to efficiently uptake nutrients from the soil, along with intracellular transportation, storage, mobilization/remobilization of nutrients, nutrient metabolism within the plant, and even on the environment. Better uptake efficiency and enhanced utilization efficiency are two pathways by which nutrient use efficiency can be improved but there relative importance will reflect the amount and availability of nutrients in the soil. Advancement of molecular and genomic techniques leads to enhanced understanding of nutrient use efficiency which further helps in developing more nutrient efficient varieties. To understand the molecular genetic basis of NUE the efforts are underway while much of it is not entirely understood yet. Improved, efficient and precise techniques are providing ample opportunities for dissecting molecular and genetic components contributing NUE related processes therefore, expanding our understanding on plant nutrition. For determination of efficiency by which plants use nutrients to produce biomass and/or grain the joint effect of both plant intrinsic factors and environmental factors is documented well. From limited productive and fertile land is not possible to meet out global food demand hence for expansion of crop production into marginal lands with low nutrient availability improvement of nutrient use efficiency is an essential prerequisite. In this chapter, we are discussing some basic concepts related with nutrients acquisition and utilization efficiencies, and review current knowledge on key genes regulating these processes in different plant species.

Adequate nutrition for plants involves 14 mineral elements. The elements that are required in larger amounts i.e., macronutrients include nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and sulfur (S). In addition to these plants require some trace elements that are required in smaller amounts. These micronutrients include iron (Fe), Zinc (Zn), Boron (B), Copper (Cu), Molybdenum (Mo), Manganese (Mn), Nickel (Ni), Chlorine (Cl). Both macro and micronutrients play vital roles in plant growth, development and food grain production. These also play vital roles in enhancing tolerance abiotic/biotic stress. When present in adequate levels these mineral nutrients promote healthy growth in plants while their scarcity promotes abnormal growth in plants. In addition to this when present in excess concentrations these can prove toxic to the plant health. Plant nutrients are essential for providing healthy food to the ever-increasing population. Declining soil fertility poses a threat to crop yield especially in the developing nations. Plant nutrition is critical for commercial crop production. Nutritional programs frequently employ commercially produced inorganic or organic fertilizers delivered to the soil by broadcast, irrigation, or foliar sprays. The soil nutrient and plant nourishment program's purpose is to address the factors influencing crop nutrient utilization sustainably in order to improve plant performance. As a consequence, the goal is to have most of each important nutrient accessible in plant tissue to support the metabolic functions of the plant.

Growth, quality and yield of various crops are significantly influenced by various mulching methods. Covering with various materials potentially help in retaining soil moisture, reducing evaporation and suppressing weed populations. Since different scientists have reported adverse effects of coverage, there are conflicts regarding coverage performance. Under actual field conditions, the shortcomings reported by various researchers are not that dangerous and the benefits of mulches usually dominate these contradictions. Though, from the literature, it can be concluded that mulch is an inexpensive source to reduce the number of weeds and keep the soil moisture content at a considerable level. Therefore, in this chapter, we discussed how a properly managed mulch strategy can compensate for the water demand of crops under water-scarce conditions. In addition, the combination of a mulch system (wheat straw, cotton swabs, black plastic, and corn stalks) and partial root-zone drying (PRD) can be an effective technology for overall improving the growth, development and yield of crops.

Sustainable agriculture can be attained only if crop plants can give output up to their full potential which becomes difficult to achieve under environmental stresses. Inorganic plant biostimulants are elements like Silicon (Si), Selenium (Se), Cobalt (Co), and Aluminum (Al) which can help the plants achieve their full potential via enhancing their nutrition acquisition efficiency and decreasing various abiotic stresses. The current chapter is a review on various roles of these inorganic biostimulants for effective insurance of enhanced crop productivity under changing environmental conditions.

Climate change is a silent killer that has disastrous consequences for living things. Plants, as sessile creatures, are exposed to a wide spectrum of biotic stress. Climate change intensifies and prolongs stress, causing plants to reduce their growth for survival. A few examples of what plants produce are reactive oxygen species (ROS) from 1% to 2% of the oxygen consumed, Singlet oxygen (1O2), superoxide radical (O2), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and the hydroxyl radical (OH). Aerobic system happens in many different cellular components, including chloroplasts, and mitochondria. In plant cells, the compliance connectivity of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant properties seems to regulate ROS levels within the cells at a safe range. However, under stressful situations, ROS generation accelerates dramatically, outpacing the capacity of antioxidant scavengers, resulting in an oxidative burst that destroys biomolecules and alters cellular redox equilibrium. When ROS is present at a level lower than the threshold, it acts as a double-edged sword, crop growth and improvement, and plant stress through reductant signal transduction. In plant cells, the synthesis of ROS has both beneficial and harmful repercussions. On the other hand, the specific processes of ROS-mediated stress reduction are yet unclear. As a result, this review covers the current state of recognized production areas, indicating processes, impacts, and the control of ROS within stressed plant tissue. Furthermore, the relevance of contemporary methods, namely the effect of molecular priming, systems biology, phenomics, and crop modeling in avoiding oxidative stress and diverting ROS into signaling pathways are discussed.