Drought stress responses and inducing tolerance by seed priming approach in plants

Abstract

Field crops are subjected to drought at different growth stages and cause for substantial yield loss in major crops, thus threaten to global food security. The crop researcher have evaluated numerous physiological, biochemical and molecular strategies to combat drought stresses but these approaches are not enough in present scenario. Therefore, it is argued that plants can be primed by assorted organic and in-organic promoters for excelling fortitude under stress conditions. Hence, seed priming with different agents is an auspicious area of research in stress biology and crop stress management, for conferring tolerance when plants are subjected to drought stress. However, the adaptation and tolerance mechanisms of drought stress are complex and quantitative in nature, which have been explored at physiological, biochemical and molecular levels thoroughly in this review. The concept of stress memory and its implication in future generation has also been discussed. Finally, in this review the challenges and opportunities of seed priming with effective application in crop stress management along with expanding the knowledge on deep understanding of drought stress tolerance to reduce the future yield gap are discussed thoroughly.

Keywords

• Drought stress
• Antioxidant defense
• Osmotic adjustment
• Photosynthesis
• Seed priming
• Drought tolerance