Biostimulation for Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Plants

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Response to Abiotic Stress and Climate Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 898

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Departamento de Horticultura, SECIHTI-Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro, Saltillo 25315, Mexico
Interests: search for strategies to protect crops from different types of stress using biostimulants such as botanical and seaweed extracts, chitosan, and inorganic compounds; study of the mechanism of action of biostimulants in tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress using the gene expression analysis, and the quantification of phytohormones, secondary metabolites and enzymes
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Guest Editor
Departamento de Horticultura, Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro, Saltillo 25315, Mexico
Interests: plant biostimulation; plant nutrition; stress tolerance induction; seed priming using nanometric or bulk species of essential and beneficial nutrients; biopolymers; UV radiation; relationships between plant biostimulation, plant nutrition, tolerance to stress, and the nutritional quality and biofortification of vegetables and fruits
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Abiotic stress, such as drought, salinity, extreme temperatures, and nutritional deficiencies, represents one of the main challenges for modern agriculture.

Biostimulation is an innovative and sustainable strategy that seeks to improve plant performance and health by activating physiological and molecular mechanisms that help plants tolerate adverse conditions better. Biostimulants include organic compounds, plant and algae extracts, beneficial microorganisms, and nutrients that improve the ability of plants to adapt to these unfavorable conditions by activating cell signaling pathways, regulating stress-related genes, and producing osmoprotectants such as proline and soluble sugars, among others.

The ability of biostimulation to enhance natural defenses, improve resource use efficiency, and increase sustainable yields makes it a key component in guaranteeing food security, protecting the environment, and promoting agricultural practices that are resilient to climate change; therefore, this Special Issue will cover a wide variety of areas and contribute to the general knowledge of abiotic stress tolerance through biostimulation.

Dr. Susana González-Morales
Prof. Dr. Adalberto Benavides-Mendoza
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • antioxidants
  • climate change
  • agricultural sustainability
  • defense enzymes
  • agricultural resilience
  • plant hormones
  • reactive oxygen species (ROS)
  • stress genes
  • cell signaling

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 5006 KiB  
Article
Enhancing Salt Tolerance in Tomato Plants Through PEG6000 Seed Priming: Inducing Antioxidant Activity and Mitigating Oxidative Stress
by Nasratullah Habibi, Shafiqullah Aryan, Naveedullah Sediqui, Naoki Terada, Atsushi Sanada, Atsushi Kamata and Kaihei Koshio
Plants 2025, 14(9), 1296; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14091296 - 25 Apr 2025
Viewed by 710
Abstract
Salt stress is a major constraint to crop productivity, negatively affecting plant physiology and fruit quality. This study hypothesized that seed priming with polyethylene glycol (PEG6000) might enhance antioxidant activity by mitigating oxidative stress in Solanum lycopersicum ‘Micro-Tom’ under salt stress. Seeds primed [...] Read more.
Salt stress is a major constraint to crop productivity, negatively affecting plant physiology and fruit quality. This study hypothesized that seed priming with polyethylene glycol (PEG6000) might enhance antioxidant activity by mitigating oxidative stress in Solanum lycopersicum ‘Micro-Tom’ under salt stress. Seeds primed with –1.2 MPa PEG6000 were grown in Rockwool and treated with 0, 50, 100, 150, and 200 mM NaCl. Primed plants showed a 32% increase in leaf potassium (K+) and a 28% decrease in sodium (Na+) accumulation compared to non-primed plants under 150 mM NaCl. Glucose, fructose, and sucrose contents increased by 25%, 22%, and 19%, respectively, in primed fruits, while citric acid decreased by 15%. Malondialdehyde (MDA) and electrolyte leakage were reduced by 35% and 29%, respectively, in primed plants under moderate salinity. Antioxidant enzyme activities—SOD, POD, CAT, and APX were enhanced by 30–45% in primed plants under 100 and 150 mM NaCl, compared to non-primed controls. Abscisic acid (ABA) levels increased by 40% in primed roots under salt stress. Activities of polyamine-related enzymes (DAO, PAO, and ADC) also rose significantly. Priming improved protein content by 20% and relative water content by 18%. These results suggest that PEG6000 seed priming enhances salt tolerance by boosting antioxidant defense, regulating osmotic balance, and improving ion homeostasis, offering a viable strategy for sustaining tomato productivity under salinity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biostimulation for Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Plants)
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