Chapters authored
Biostimulants as Plant Growth Stimulators in Modernized Agriculture and Environmental Sustainability
Plant growth stimulators (growth regulators + biostimulants; PGS) are chemical substances (organic/inorganic), helpful in plant growth and development. These are not considered as the replacement of fertilizers but can help in improved crop and soil quality. Both compounds can amplify the root biomass, nutrients translocation, enzymatic activities, crop yield, physiology, and nutrient uptake. Biostimulants are rich in minerals, vitamins, plant hormones, oligosaccharides, and amino acids. These compounds have a serious role to improve soil health, fertility, sorption, and desorption of nutrients. Hence, have a vital character in nutrients cycling, abiotic stress control, heavy metals bioavailability, and greenhouse gaseous emission. This chapter focuses on the discussions about the influence of plant growth regulators and biostimulants in crop production, soil health, heavy metal cycling, greenhouse gases emission with environmental sustainability. Whereas, the impact of biostimulants on greenhouse gases is a research gap.
Part of the book: Technology in Agriculture
Key Aspects of Plant Hormones in Agricultural Sustainability under Climate Change
Climate change is an emerging issue for modern agriculture and has generated biotic and abiotic stresses for plants such as cold, high temperature, heat, drought, uneven rainfall, and UV radiations. In addition to these, serious stress factors are emerging related to water availability, nutrient cycling, salinity-sodicity, and pest attacks. In recent years, such phenomena have attracted the research community to avoid the fatal influence of climate change on crop production and obtain more food helping in fulfillment of increasing food demand of population surge. The anthropogenic activities in the agroecosystem are among the major causes for global warming and proportion in climate change. Therefore, it is assumed that identifying various plant hormones and their utilization to improve plant metabolic activities would help maintain plant growth, survival, and production under severe climate change circumstances. This chapter focuses on identifying the key aspects of plant hormones to retard the negative impacts of climate change and support sustainable agriculture.
Part of the book: Plant Hormones
Biostimulants Application: An Innovative Approach to Food Security under Drought Stress
Climate change is a global threat to food security as it causes various biotic and abiotic stresses that adversely disturb agriculture production. With an increase in the worldwide population, the demand for food has also arisen. It is an immediate challenge for the scientific community to introduce an innovative tool to achieve food security with quality plant production and develop tolerance against abiotic stresses, specifically drought. Genetically modifications are effective and time-consuming, while biostimulants are in/organic substances with the potential to support plant development under stress conditions. This chapter focuses on the impacts of climate change on agriculture, challenges for agriculture sustainability and food security, the interrelationship between drought, climate change and food security, the potential role of biostimulants against drought, future aspects and challenges due to climate change specifically drought, and food security challenges. Various studies reported that the application of biostimulants results in enhancement of crop productivity and mitigates the harmful effects due to climate change. To ensure the quality of chapter, we collected references from well-reputed international journals using keywords ““biostimulants,” “drought,” “food security,” “agriculture sustainability,” and “climate change.” In conclusion, biostimulants has a potential to address adverse environmental conditions without affecting crop quality and yield loss.
Part of the book: Climate Change