Use of biostimulants in conferring tolerance to environmental stress

Abstract

Plants being sessile are continuously exposed to various adverse environmental conditions which include water-deficient and extreme temperatures, which limit crop production. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has recommended that global warming increases the numbers of various natural disasters and agriculture is particularly prone to the influence of such events. As these stresses cause such a massive yield reduction, it is important to alleviate the effect of these stresses to maintain or increase the production under unfavorable environmental conditions. The use of biostimulants has become a common trend that provides benefits like the stimulation of plant growth and protection against various stresses. A biostimulant is defined as an organic material and/or microorganism that, when applied to enhance uptake of nutrients, stimulates growth and boosts stress tolerance or quality of the crop. Biostimulants in the future might make agriculture more sustainable, resilient. Literature suggests an obvious role of biostimulants in protection against various environmental stresses. In this chapter, a broad overview of a diversified number of biostimulants, their protective effects against environmental stresses, has been focused. However, it is also revealed the urgent need to deal with the accurate mechanisms of these biostimulants which are responsible for their stress tolerance effects.