Dear Colleagues,

The current status of the changing climate has become a significant threat to the global production of horticultural crops. To feed the larger part of the world’s growing population, the agricultural output needs to be boosted by 70 percent by the midcentury in order to potentially supplement about an extra 2.3 billion people. Additionally, horticultural crop production is significantly affected by the changing climatic conditions. One of the most critical issues for plant biologists and agronomists is how plants respond to different environmental stimuli. Drought, salt, and high temperatures are the most common environmental stresses that significantly affect plant growth and development. Traditional breeding methods have had minimal effectiveness due to the complexity of stress tolerance characteristics. To meet the world’s increasing food demand, it is necessary to develop new and effective methods in this area. Phytohormones (different stress mitigants) might act as a realistic option for producing climate-resilient crops with high yields.

          This Special Issue focuses on the effects of abiotic stress on horticultural crops in morphological, physiological, and biochemical processes. Alleviation strategies powered by plant adaptation and acclimation mechanisms, as well as cultivar tolerance, are all within the scope of this Special Issue. In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. 

Suggested themes (but not limited to only these):

1. Current interventions in physiological and biochemical responses and mechanisms of abiotic stress in horticultural crops;
2. Signalling mechanisms and pathways involved in the regulation of stress responses;
3. Phytohormonal cross-talk and associated mecahnisms under abiotic stress conditions;
4. Application of noval phytoprotectants in mitigation of stresses in horticultural crops;
5. Mechanistic insight into PGPR-mediated regulation of abiotic stress conditions.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Muhammad Ahsan Altaf
Dr. Safina Naz
Dr. Hakim Manghwar
Dr. Othmane Merah
Guest Editors

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• phytohormones
• abiotic stress
• antioxidant response
• oxidative stress
• plant physiology
• molecular biology
• horticultural plants
• food security
• tolerance mechanism