Global climate change is bound to create a number of abiotic and biotic stresses in the environment, which would affect the overall growth and productivity of plants. Like other living beings, plants have the ability to protect themselves by evolving various mechanisms against stresses, despite being sessile in nature. They manage to withstand extremes of temperature, drought, flooding, salinity, heavy metals, atmospheric pollution, toxic chemicals and a variety of living organisms, especially viruses, bacteria, fungi, nematodes, insects and arachnids and weeds. Incidence of abiotic stresses may alter the plant-pest interactions by enhancing susceptibility of plants to pathogenic organisms. These interactions often change plant response to abiotic stresses. Plant growth regulators modulate plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses, and regulate their growth and developmental cascades. A number of physiological and molecular processes that act together in a complex regulatory network, further manage these responses. Crosstalk between autophagy and hormones also occurs to develop tolerance in plants towards multiple abiotic stresses. Similarly, biostimulants, in combination with correct agronomic practices, have shown beneficial effects on plant metabolism due to the hormonal activity that stimulates different metabolic pathways. At the same time, they reduce the use of agrochemicals and impart tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress. Further, the use of bio- and nano-fertilizers seem to hold promise to improve the nutrient use efficiency and hence the plant yield under stressful environments. It has also been shown that the seed priming agents impart stress tolerance. Additionally, tolerance or resistance to stress may also be induced by using specific chemical compounds such as polyamines, proline, glycine betaine, hydrogen sulfide, silicon, β-aminobutyric acid, γ-aminobutyric acid and so on. This book discusses the advances in plant performance under stressful conditions. It should be very useful to graduate students, researchers, and scientists in the fields of botanical science, crop science, agriculture, horticulture, ecological and environmental science.

Abiotic stress, such as high salinity and drought is the most common challenge for sustainable food production in large parts of the world, in particular in emerging countries. The ongoing and expected global climate change will further increase these challenges in many areas, making improved stress resistance of crops a key topic for the 21st Century. Proteomics, genomics and metabolomics are methods allowing for the rapid and complete analysis of the complete physiology of crop plants. This knowledge in turn, is the prerequisite for improvements of crop resistance against abiotic stress through genetic engineering or traditional breeding methods. Improving Crop Resistance to Abiotic Stress is a double-volume, up-to-date overview of current progress in improving crop quality and quantity using modern methods such as proteomics, genomics and metabolomics. With this particular emphasis on genetic engineering, this text focuses on crop improvement under adverse conditions, paying special attention to such staple crops as rice, maize, and pulses. It includes an excellent mix of specific examples, such as the creation of nutritionally-fortified rice and a discussion of the political and economic implications of genetically engineered food. The result is a must-have hands-on guide, ideally suited for Agricultural Scientists, Students of Agriculture, Plant Physiologists, Plant Breeders, Botanists and Biotechnologists. Sections include: PART I Climate Change and Abiotic Stress Factors PART II Methods to Improve Crop Productivity PART III Species-Specific Case Studies: Graminoids, Leguminosae, Rosaceae

This book is a compendium of 108 lead papers presented by R&D workers from various national and international institutions including industry during the four day 7th Indian Horticulture Congress-2016 held from November 15-18, 2016 by the Horticultural Society of India, New Delhi to commemorate its Diamond Jubilee. The book analyses the contribution which various strategies can make to doubling of farmers income by 2022 as envisioned by the Prime Minister of India. Contribution cover role of improved varieties, technologies, input management, disease and pest management, mechanization, quality improvement, post-harvest management, value-addition, marketing and trade, skill development and policy interventions and frontier technologies in different horticultural crops. It is hoped that the book will be of interest to all interested in technology-led Horticulture development and benefit the researchers, students, teachers, development workers, policy makers, and all amateurs and professional.

In view of changes in the global environment, it is important to determine and developing technologies to ameliorate metabolic limitations by biological processes most sensitive to abiotic stress factors warning crop productivity. It is reaffirmed that publishing the important Treatise Series has been undertaken with a view to identify the inadequacies under varied environments and to scientifically extend precise and meaningful research so that the significant outcomes including new technologies are judiciously applied for requisite productivity, profitability and sustainability of agriculture. Besides this, meticulous research in some of the very sensible and stirring areas of Plant Physiology-Plant Molecular Physiology are indispensably needed for holistic development of agriculture and crop production in different agro-climatic zones. Ardently, this is also to focus upon excellent new ideas ensuring the best science done across the full extent of modern plant biology, in general, and plant physiology, in particular. In Volume 14, with inventive applied research, attempts have been made to bring together much needed eighteen remarkable review articles distributed in three appropriate major sections of Nutriophysiology and Crop Productivity, Plant Responses to Changing Environment and Environmental Stresses and Technological Innovations in Agriculture written by thirty four praiseworthy contributors of eminence in unequivocal fields mainly from premier institutions of India and abroad. In reality, the Volume 14 of the Treatise Series is wealth for interdisciplinary exchange of information particularly in the field of nutriophysiology and abiotic stresses for planning meaningful research and related education programmes in these thrust areas. Apart from fulfilling the heightened need of this kind of select edition in different volumes for research teams and scientists engaged in various facets of research in Plant Physiology/Plant Sciences in traditional and agricultural universities, institutes and research laboratories throughout the world, it would be tremendously a productive reference book for acquiring advanced knowledge by post-graduate and Ph.D. scholars in response to the innovative courses in Plant Physiology, Plant Biochemistry, Plant Molecular Biology, Plant Biotechnology, Environ-mental Sciences, Plant Pathology, Microbiology, Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry, Agronomy, Horticulture, and Botany.

Pests and plant interaction is a dynamic system, which is beyond our Imaginations and thoughts in the universe. Plants and insects are highly diverse groups due to their ability to exploit a wide range of niches, from the desert to the arctic zone and also almost all the plant species growing on the planet. Plants and insects make up together approximately half of all known species of multicellular organisms. Each plant interacts with insects in a different manner; insects may act as protection, dispersers, or fertilizers for plants while plants may be a food/energy resource or nest location for insects. In an environment with changing availability and quality of host plants, phytophagous insects are under selection pressure to find quality hosts. They need to maximize their fitness by locating suitable plants and avoiding unsuitable ones. Thus, they have evolved a finely tuned sensory system, for detection of host cues, and a nervous system, capable of integrating inputs from sensory neurons with a high level of spatio-temporal resolution. Insect responses to cues are not fixed but depend on the context in which they are perceived, the physiological state of the insect, and prior learning experiences. However, there are examples of insects making 'mistakes' and being attracted to poor quality hosts. While insects have evolved ways of finding hosts, plants have been under selection pressure to do precisely the opposite and evade detection or defend themselves when attacked. Once on the plant, insect-associated molecules may trigger or suppress defence depending on whether the plant or the insect is ahead in evolutionary terms. Plant volatile emission is influenced by defence responses induced by insect feeding or oviposition which can attract natural enemies but repel herbivores. Conversely, plant reproductive fitness is increased by attraction of pollinators. Interactions can be altered by other organisms associated with the plant such as other insects, plant pathogens, or mycorrhizal fungi. Plant phenotype is plastic and can be changed by epigenetic factors in adaptation to periods of biotic stress. Space and time play crucial roles in influencing the outcome of interactions between insects and plants. This book has been designed to suit the knowledge and pursuit of the researcher and scholars and to empower them with various aspects of plant-pest interactions, so that they are updated with the information. I hope that the readers find the book explanatory and insightful and that this book is referred by the scholars across various fields.