About This Special Issue
World agriculture is facing with a lot of challenges like producing 70% more food for an additional 2.3 billion people by 2050 while at the same time fighting with poverty and hunger, consuming scarce natural resources more efficiently and adapting to climate change. However, the productivity of crops is not increasing as food demands. Environmental factors are major problem for agriculture enabling plants to express their full genetic potential. Multiple biotic and abiotic environmental stress factors affect negatively various aspects of plant growth, development, and crop productivity. Plants, as sessile organisms, have developed, efficient strategies of response to avoid, tolerate, or adapt to different types of stress situations. The most important abiotic stresses affecting crop plants are drought, salinity, soil acidity, floods or excess water, extreme temperatures, mineral toxicities and deficiencies, low or high pH, poor edaphic conditions. Roots are essential organ to acquire nutrients and water in variable soil environment. The studies of the root system architecture (RSA) and its modelling are in progress, so different approaches and methods have been developed as the result of the analysis of morphological and physiological root characteristics in different stressful conditions.Acquiring knowledge of root phenotyping systems and shoot root ratio is important for obtaining high and stable yields. This special issue is to promote links between academicians, researchers, and practitioners in the field of Plant Stress, and to provide a forum for publication of scholarly research. This Special Issue is destined to gather reviews and original experimental papers on all the above-reported aspects, in the expectation that it may serve as a boost for a further development of knowledge in this continuously evolving research field. Original research articles, review articles, case reports, and short communication are welcomed on all the related aspects of Environmental and Stress Responses.
Aims and Scope:
1. Abiotic Stress-Drought, Water Stress, Soil Acidity, Aluminum Toxicity
2. Biotic Stress-Disease, Insects, Pathogens
3. Physiological, Biochemical and Molecular Mechanisms of Plant Adaptation to Stress Conditions
4. Stress Signaling Responses in Plants
5. Plant Stress Resistance and Tolerance Strategies
6. Plant Breeding for Stress Environments
7. Strategies for Improving Crops Use-Efficiencies of Mineral Nutrients in Sustainable Agricultural Systems
8. Crop Stress and its Management: Perspectives and Strategies
9. Root Phenotyping of Crop Roots for Stress Tolerance