PJB-2022-560
Drought stress in wheat: mechanisms, effects, and management through vermicompost
Ali
Abstract
Changing climatic scenarios and increasing global population rates are among the major issues that will threaten the global food security. Climate change has increased the occurrence of biotic- and abiotic stresses that steadily affected the crop growth and developmental processes. Drought is one of the worst abiotic stresses, affecting >43% of the global arable land. In recent years, a variety of genetic, molecular, and agronomic approaches have been developed to mitigate drought's negative effects. Among agronomic approaches, the use of vermicompost is reported to improve wheat growth and development while reduce the deleterious impact of drought stress. This review emphasizes the ramifications of drought stress on plant growth, water- and nutrient- interactions, photosynthesis, phenology, assimilate partitioning, and respiration. The physiological, morphological, and molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance in plants are described in detail. To combat drought stress tolerance, various management practices have been suggested. Drought stress decreases leaf area, stem elongation, and root multiplication, disrupts plant water relations and decreases water-use efficiency. Plants respond to prevalent drought stress in various biochemical and physiological ways; reduced water losses due to enhanced diffusive resistance, increased water absorption and efficient usage due to deep and extensive root systems, and smaller and succulent leaves to minimize transpirational losses are the major mechanism adapted by crop plants. Vermicompost, with a porous structure, high water storage potential, growth hormones such as auxins, cytokinins, and gibberlins, plant growth regulators, high levels of macro- and micro-nutrients such as NPK, Ca, Mg, S, Fe, Zn, Cu, and beneficial fungi, plays significant and positive impact on plant growth and development, particularly under environmental stresses.
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