Water Stress in Plants: Causes, Effects and Responses

By S. Y. S. Lisar, R. Motafakkerazad, Mosharraf Hossain, I. Rahman. 2012

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Biosphere’s continued exposure to abiotic stresses, for example, drought, salinity, extreme temperatures, chemical toxicity, oxidative stress, etc., cause imbalances in the natural status of the environment. Each year, stresses on arable plants in different parts of the world disrupt agriculture and food supply with the final consequence famine. Factors controlling stress conditions alter the normal equilibrium, and lead to a series of morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular changes in plants, which adversely affect their growth and productivity. The average yields from the major crop plants may reduce by more than 50% owing to stresses. However, plants also have developed innate adaptations to stress conditions with an array of biochemical and physiological interventions that involves the function of many stress-associated genes. In this chapter, we aim at the stresses related to water and the expression 'drought' which is derived from the agricultural context, is used as equal to water stress throughout the article. Water, comprising 80-90% of the biomass of non-woody plants, is the central molecule in all physiological processes of plants by being the major medium for transporting metabolites and nutrients. Drought is a situation that lowers plant water potential and turgor to the extent that plants face difficulties in executing normal physiological functions. However, a few groups of animals and a wide variety of plants are known for their tolerance to desiccation during the adult stages of their life cycle. Though our knowledge on plant’s drought tolerance is ancient, the modern scientific study of drought tolerance started in 1702 with Anthony von Leeuwenhoek’s discovery of the survival of rotifers without water for months.

Subfields: Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/6a532752d95fe8e626f68f072314080d59155935

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