Muhammad Ashraf

By Sajid Hussain, Muhammad Shaukat, Muhammad Ashraf, Chunquan Zhu, Qianyu Jin and Junhua Zhang

Salinity stress is one of the most vital abiotic stresses which results in significant damages of agricultural production, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas of the world. Salinity causes by high accumulation of soluble salt, especially NaCl in soil and water. Salinity hampers the growth and survival of many field crops such as rice, wheat, maize, cotton, sugarcane, and sorghum. It affects the plant growth by three ways such as osmotic stress linked with an increase of phytotoxic ions, ionic stress e in the cytosol, and oxidative stress facilitated by reactive oxygen species (ROS). These stresses caused by salinity hinder the water uptake, causes ion imbalance, ROS production, and hormonal imbalance, and results in the decline of photosynthesis activities reduce the plant growth and final yield. However, the sensitivity of field crops depends on the nature of cultivar and growth stages. There are many strategies to cope with salinity stress which are the development of salinity tolerant crop cultivators by using genetic and molecular techniques such as QTLs and CRISPR CAS9 technique, nutrients management strategies, use of hormones regulators (AVG, 1-MCP, D-31). This chapter will give a brief idea to the scientist to understand the effects of salinity on field crops and their management strategies.

Part of the book: Climate Change and Agriculture

By Shazia Iqbal, Sajid Hussain, Muhammad Abdul Qayyaum, Muhammad Ashraf and Saifullah

Maize is a cross-pollinated, polymorphic plant in nature. It is commonly a moderately salt-sensitive crop. Salinity stress is the main abiotic factor that arrests the physiological characteristics and plant growth of a maize plant. It causes the osmotic effect, associated with an increase in phytotoxic ions, oxidative stress by increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and ionic effect in the cytosol. These salinity effects hinder the maize plant’s physiological processes such as respiration, photosynthesis, transpiration, stomatal functioning, hormone regulation, and functioning, seed germination, and dormancy and water relation with plants and ultimately reduce the plant growth and yield. However, the physiology of maize subjected to salinity shows various responses that depend on the genetic responses and growth stages. Maize plant undergoes many physiological changes and adapts some mechanism internally to cope with salinity stress. Numerous mitigating strategies such as application of chemicals, application of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), application of hormones, and use of genetic and molecular techniques are used to handle salinity. This chapter will cover the effect of salinity on maize growth, its physiology, and physiological adaptations of maize plants with management strategies.

Part of the book: Plant Stress Physiology