Apple growth can be affected by saline–alkali stress, limiting the yield. Nanomaterials, like TiO₂NPs, have shown potential in mitigating environmental stress in plants. In our study, 1 g kg⁻¹ TiO₂NPs treatment was found to effectively alleviate salt–alkali stress on apple rootstock B9, improving photosynthesis and reducing cell damage. This research provides insights for managing plants affected by salinity and alkalinity.

Drought affects arid and semi-arid regions and climate change accentuate the situation. Therefore, finding tolerant species is a solution. Under water stress, Pistacia atlantica, an endangered species, is well adapted and recovered better compared with Pistacia vera. P. atlantica is a potential species to rehabilitate arid regions and may be used as drought-tolerant rootstock for the cultivation of P. vera.

This article belongs to the collection Understanding Mechanistic Basis of Plant Adaptation to Salinity and Drought.

This research work showed the ascorbic acid role in lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) plants, by regulating the growth and development and alleviating the damaging effects of salinity stress. Salinity stress limit biomass production and thus plant growth. We demonstrate the important functions of ascorbic acid in response to salinity stress, and protective role of ascorbic acid in maintaining antioxidant enzymes system of lettuce in salinity stress. Ascorbic acid application improved the growth and biomass production, enhanced the activity of antioxidant enzymes, and promoted root growth; Hence, ascorbic acid facilitates lettuce plants to improve growth and development under salinity stress conditions.

This article belongs to the collection Understanding Mechanistic Basis of Plant Adaptation to Salinity and Drought.

Soybean is one of the most cultivated rainfed crops; it is affected by soil drying causing yield losses. An internal chemical signalling modulates how plants exchange gas with the atmosphere, and so is closely related to crop growth and yield. It is important to understand which tissue promotes this chemical signal; the root or the shoot. The knowledge of how that signal is moving throughout the plant is needed to guide crop breeding programs.

This article belongs to the collection Understanding Mechanistic Basis of Plant Adaptation to Salinity and Drought.

The ecological rehabilitation of degraded areas by mining is paramount to reduce the damage caused by anthropogenic activities and climate change. We found that native species from banded iron formations (BIFs) within different functional groups, displays photochemical and growth attributes that better explained the strategies developed by the species than it’s morphofunctional traits. The use of methods in plant ecophysiology are able to select species with better adaptive strategies, ensuring the success of revegetation.

Plants perceive different signals from bacteria and fungi, both pathogenic and symbiotic, through a family of cell-surface receptor proteins. Oligosaccharides, particularly those structurally related to chitin, are sensed by protein modules of bacterial origin known as LysM domains. Plant proteins contain three LysM domains in their extracellular region, however, available tools are not always able to detect the three LysM domains. In this work, we provide improved tools for the detection of LysM domains in plant proteins, and for their classification by ligand specificity.

Drought tolerance involved activation of various metabolic pathways such as GABA shunt pathway that significantly improve plant growth and metabolism homeostasis during drought stress. The degree of tolerance to drought stress in durum wheat (Triticum durum L.) might be connected with ROS scavenging systems and the activation of antioxidant enzymes that were associated with activation of GABA shunt pathway and the production of GABA. Generally, our data showed that different wheat cultivars responded differently to water deficit stress during the seedling growth stage.

This article belongs to the collection Understanding Mechanistic Basis of Plant Adaptation to Salinity and Drought.

This study aims to determine the effect of combined stresses, salinity and alkalinity, on oat crop. Twenty-one germplasms of Avena spp. were used and evaluated under different stress combinations. The root architecture and anatomical traits were observed and it was found that tolerant species maintained greater growth under these conditions. Furthermore, this study revealed that ion homeostasis is crucial for salinity–alkalinity stress tolerance.

This article belongs to the collection Understanding Mechanistic Basis of Plant Adaptation to Salinity and Drought.

Underwater germination is a risky decision for seeds so it must be controlled by the perception of cues forecasting a friendly environment for seedling growth in flooded environments. We discovered that high-amplitude alternating temperatures and seed priming increase underwater germination in Junglerice, a noxious crop weed. Our research teaches us more about how weed seeds in flooded crops germinate underwater thus taking advantage of a less competitive environment.

This article belongs to the collection Flooding Stress and Hypoxic Responses in Plants.

Salinity stress is an abiotic element that negatively affects the growth and yield of Solanaceous plants. Salt stress influences the physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses of these plants by altering their metabolisms. For the alleviation of salinity stress in Solanaceous crops, agronomic, cultural, breeding, and contemporary transgenic techniques may be useful.

This article belongs to the collection Understanding Mechanistic Basis of Plant Adaptation to Salinity and Drought.

Livestock grazing areas are being increasingly affected by waterlogging, salinity and their combination. Festuca arundinacea demonstrates variability in response to these stresses. Accessions with decreased specific leaf area, indicating thicker/denser leaves, showed the highest tolerance to the evaluated stresses. Specific leaf area could serve as an easily measurable trait for predicting tolerance to waterlogging, salinity and saline waterlogging in future breeding programs.

This article belongs to the collection Flooding Stress and Hypoxic Responses in Plants.

Viscum schimperi is an evergreen hemiparasitic plant that infests and grows on some tree species including Acacia, and withdraws the required nutritive resources via a specialised organ called a haustorium. This association was believed to induce deleterious effects on hosts. However, in the current study it appeared to have no deleterious effects on water status, photosynthetic activity and multi-element accumulations in Acacia trees; and some metabolites were revealed to be exchanged between the host and the hemiparasite.

Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is an important crop providing calories to millions of people, and enhancement in productivity is a priority for breeders, farmers, industrialists and policy makers. High-throughput kompetitive allele-specific PCR (KASP) has been successfully deployed to evaluate genotypic and phenotypic mechanism controlling traits of economic importance. We show that KASP markers helped to screen genotypes performing better under drought stress condition, and utilising gentoypes Markaz, Bhakar Star, China 2, Aas and Chakwal-50 for developing drought-tolerant varieties.

This article belongs to the collection Understanding Mechanistic Basis of Plant Adaptation to Salinity and Drought.

Increased salinity in vast areas of the world poses a serious threat for sustainable cultivation of food crops to feed the human population. Advancements in agricultural practices (e.g. tissue culture technology) and use of novel compounds/strategies are needed to achieve global food security. The current study deciphered the significance of silicon addition in tissue culture medium for sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) cultivation in saline areas.

This article belongs to the collection Understanding Mechanistic Basis of Plant Adaptation to Salinity and Drought.