Plants’ responses under drought stress conditions: Effects of strategic management approaches—a review

Abstract

Plant productivity is impacted by drought stress, which adversely affects their morphological and physiological processes. In response, the plant activates its defense mechanisms, but severe drought impairs these responses. In this review, the morphological aspects of water deficit on plants were examined, including reduced germination, rooting, shoot development, and leaf growth, which ultimately lead to quantitative and qualitative yield losses. In addition, physiological aspects of drought were studied, including photosynthesis, chlorophyll content, respiration rate, stomata closure, water, and nutrients relations, and their efficiency. We also presented various agronomic and non-agronomic strategies to combat this global problem as part of the management approach. Breeding using modern methods such as marker-assisted selection, genomic selection, and targeted gene editing was proposed as a promising tool to develop more tolerant crop varieties. In addition, different agronomic methods (plant density, sowing date, crop rotation, conservation tillage, and use of biochar) were discussed. Furthermore, various strategies for improving drought tolerance of crops using nutrient management (salicylic acid, sulfate zinc, chemical fertilizers, and humic acid) were outlined. Mycorrhizae and growth-promoting bacteria were also discussed as effective approaches to achieving drought tolerance in crops. Overall, we concluded that developing drought-tolerant crops requires the use of multiple approaches, including agronomic and non-agronomic techniques and advanced breeding tools.

Keywords:

• Crops
• morphological changes
• respiration
• photosynthesis
• oxidative damage