Plant Environmental Stress Physiology and Metabolism

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Production".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2020) | Viewed by 14747

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Institute of Industrial and Forage Crops, Hellenic Agricultural Organization-Demeter, 41335 Lycovrissi, Greece
Interests: crop physiology and biochemistry; heat and drought stress
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
College of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Interests: crop physiology; crop ecology; abiotic stress
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Due to their sessile nature, plants are exposed to a multitude of environmental factors that adversely affect their growth and development. Decades of research have been dedicated to elucidating the effects of abiotic stresses on plant physiology; however, despite the significant insight that has been gained on plant responses to single environmental stressors, we do not have a complete understanding of the inter- and intra-plant variability that plants exhibit under different conditions of stress, depending on the duration, the severity, and the growth stage at which the stress occurs. Furthermore, climatic projections warn that the extremity and frequency of abiotic stresses are projected to increase to unprecedented levels in the future; however, plant physiological and metabolic responses under such conditions have been poorly characterized. Adding to that complexity, abiotic stresses rarely, if ever, occur in isolation under field conditions, and the effects of combined or consecutive stresses on plant physiology and metabolism have been rather unexplored. Additionally, plant physiological functions after stress conditions have been relieved have received considerably less attention compared with responses under stress conditions. This Special Issue is intended to present research on 1) the effects of single (heat, cold, drought, flooding, atmospheric pollutants, nutrient deficiencies) and combined abiotic stresses on plant physiology and metabolism at the tissue, organ, and whole plant level and 2) plant physiological and metabolic responses after stress alleviation at the tissue, organ, and whole plant level.

Dr. Dimitra A. Loka
Dr. Wei Hu
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Heat stress
  • Cold stress
  • Drought stress
  • Flooding [waterlogging/submergence] stress
  • Ozone/air pollution stress
  • Nutrient deficiencies/toxicities
  • Phytohormones application/responses to abiotic stresses
  • Combined stresses
  • Recovery
  • Physiology
  • Metabolism

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1495 KiB  
Article
Physiological and Biochemical Responses of Two Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) Cultivars Differing in Thermotolerance to High Night Temperatures during Anthesis
by Dimitra A. Loka and Derrick M. Oosterhuis
Agriculture 2020, 10(9), 407; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture10090407 - 16 Sep 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3192
Abstract
Heat stress constitutes a major threat to crop production, and according to climatic projections, night temperatures are expected to increase faster and to a greater extent compared to day temperatures. While extensive research has been dedicated to the effects of higher than optimum [...] Read more.
Heat stress constitutes a major threat to crop production, and according to climatic projections, night temperatures are expected to increase faster and to a greater extent compared to day temperatures. While extensive research has been dedicated to the effects of higher than optimum day temperatures on cotton physiology, metabolism, and yield, and while heat-tolerant cotton cultivars have been introduced, the responses of such heat-tolerant cultivars to high night temperatures have not been evaluated. The objective of this study was to assess the efficiency of heat-tolerant cultivars to high night temperatures stress by monitoring the physiological and biochemical responses of two cotton cultivars, differing in thermotolerance, subjected to higher than optimum night temperatures, during anthesis. To that end, growth chamber experiments were conducted using two cotton cultivars differing in thermotolerance, namely ST5288B2RF (thermosensitive) and VH260 (thermotolerant). Treatments consisted of normal day/night temperatures (32/24 °C) and high night temperatures (32/30 °C) for 2 weeks at flowering (approximately 8 eight weeks after planting). The results indicated that VH260 was more thermotolerant than ST5288 even under conditions of high night temperature stress, as it managed to maintain its net photosynthetic rates, cell membrane integrity, as well as pistil carbohydrate contents and ultimately achieved higher total reproductive weight. It was concluded that heat tolerance of thermotolerant cultivars selected under conditions of high day temperatures is also conserved under high night temperatures, while net photosynthetic rates and cell membrane integrity can be utilized as selection traits for heat tolerance under either high day or night temperatures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Environmental Stress Physiology and Metabolism)
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20 pages, 1417 KiB  
Article
Comparative Studies on the Physiological and Biochemical Responses to Salt Stress of Eggplant (Solanum melongena) and Its Rootstock S. torvum
by Marco Brenes, Jason Pérez, Sara González-Orenga, Andrea Solana, Monica Boscaiu, Jaime Prohens, Mariola Plazas, Ana Fita and Oscar Vicente
Agriculture 2020, 10(8), 328; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture10080328 - 4 Aug 2020
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 4937
Abstract
This study investigated the physiological and biochemical responses to salinity stress of Solanum melongena and its wild relative, Solanum torvum, commonly used as eggplant rootstock. Young plants of both species were watered during 25 days with NaCl aqueous solutions at the following [...] Read more.
This study investigated the physiological and biochemical responses to salinity stress of Solanum melongena and its wild relative, Solanum torvum, commonly used as eggplant rootstock. Young plants of both species were watered during 25 days with NaCl aqueous solutions at the following four final concentrations: 0 (for the controls), 100, 200, and 300 mM. Plant growth parameters, photosynthetic pigments content, monovalent ion concentrations in roots and leaves, leaf levels of osmolytes (proline and total soluble sugars), oxidative stress markers (MDA and H2O2), non-enzymatic antioxidants (total phenolic compounds and total flavonoids), and enzymatic antioxidant activities (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione reductase) were determined after the stress treatments. Salt-induced growth reduction was more significant in S. melongena than in S. torvum, especially at high salt concentrations, indicating a (slightly) higher salt tolerance of the wild species. The mechanisms of tolerance of S. torvum were partly based on the active transport of toxic ions to the leaves at high external salinity and, presumably, a better capacity to store them in the vacuoles, as well as on the accumulation of proline to higher concentrations than in the cultivated eggplant. MDA and H2O2 contents did not vary in response to the salt treatments in S. torvum. However, in S. melongena, MDA content increased by 78% when 300 mM NaCl was applied. No activation of antioxidant mechanisms, accumulation of antioxidant compounds, or increase in the specific activity of antioxidant enzymes in any of the studied species was induced by salinity. The relatively high salt tolerance of S. torvum supports its use as rootstock for eggplant cultivation in salinized soils and as a possible source of salt-tolerance genes for the genetic improvement of cultivated eggplant. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Environmental Stress Physiology and Metabolism)
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15 pages, 1768 KiB  
Article
The Effects of Root Temperature on Growth, Physiology, and Accumulation of Bioactive Compounds of Agastache rugosa
by Vu Phong Lam, Sung Jin Kim, Gwon Jeong Bok, Jong Won Lee and Jong Seok Park
Agriculture 2020, 10(5), 162; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture10050162 - 11 May 2020
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 5281
Abstract
Plants respond to root temperature stresses by producing antioxidants as a defense mechanism. Since a number of these are phytochemicals with enhancing effects on human health, we examined the effects of 4 root-zone temperature (RZT) treatments (10, 20, 28, and 36 °C) on [...] Read more.
Plants respond to root temperature stresses by producing antioxidants as a defense mechanism. Since a number of these are phytochemicals with enhancing effects on human health, we examined the effects of 4 root-zone temperature (RZT) treatments (10, 20, 28, and 36 °C) on plant growth and the main bioactive compound concentrations in each organ of Agastache rugosa plants. We aimed to determine the optimal RZT treatment to increase bioactive compound concentrations with no deleterious effects on plant growth. Four-week-old seedlings were grown in a plant factory for 32 days. Nine plant growth parameters, namely, shoot and root fresh weights, stem and root lengths, leaf length and leaf width, leaf area, and shoot and root dry weights were significantly decreased at 10 and 36 °C compared with other treatments. A similar pattern was observed for the chlorophyll content and leaf gas exchange parameters. Of all the RZT treatments, RZT at 28 °C produced the significantly greatest accumulation of two major bioactive compounds, namely, rosmarinic acid (RA) and tilianin contents per the A. rugosa plant, and had no adverse effects on the overall growth of A. rugosa. This supports the use of 28 °C RZT to successfully improve the bioactive compounds with no adverse influence on plant growth or yield. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Environmental Stress Physiology and Metabolism)
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