Combined abiotic stress in legumes

Abstract

Legume crops play a critical role as protein source and are mainly grown in regions with low-fertility soils. Hence, improving their productivity is important to harness the nutritional value of this plant species. Tolerance to environmental abiotic stress is one of the steps to reach this goal. Identification of biochemical and physiological characters which contribute to improve the yield in legumes under limiting conditions is a main objective of plant breeders for agricultural and cattle-rearing regions. While environmental abiotic stresses have been extensively studied individually, few studies have focused on combined stress, a common situation in field conditions impacts plants. It is even possible that the combination of these stress factors can alter the metabolism of the plant differently, compared to when a single type of stress is imposed. Thus, this chapter aims to provide a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in the combined stress responses in legumes.