Advances in Crop Environment Interaction

Abstract

Agriculture is currently facing multi-faceted threats in the form of unpredictable weather variability, frequent droughts and scarcity of irrigation water, together with the degradation of soil resources and declining environmental health. These stresses result in the modification of plant physiology to impart greater resilience to changing abiotic and biotic environments, but only at the cost of declining plant productivity. In light of these facts, assessing the status of natural resource bases, and understanding the mechanisms of soil-plant-environment interactions so as to devise adaptation and mitigation approaches, represent great and imminent challenges for all of us. In this context, it is essential to understand the potential applications of modern tools, existing coping mechanisms and their integration, as this will allow us to develop suitable advanced mitigation strategies.