Search Results (4,164)

While individual Si-nutrient interactions have been reviewed separately, a comparative analysis of multiple Si-element interactions remains lacking. This review compares current knowledge on co-application of Si with selenium (Se), sulphur (S), zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe), focusing on stress tolerance, nutrient homeostasis, physiological responses, secondary metabolism and agronomic relevance. The evidence indicates that combining Si with these elements helps maintain reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis, strengthen antioxidant defenses, stabilize photosynthetic function and improve nutrient uptake, translocation and use efficiency. Responses depend on plant species, nutrient form, application strategy and environmental conditions; at the metabolic level, Si-based combinations affect the synthesis of phenolic compounds, amino acids and sulphur-containing metabolites. Si-Se and Si-Fe proved most effective under heavy-metal stress, through regulation of metal transport, detoxification and sequestration, and Si-S and Si-Zn under drought, salinity and nutrient-deficient conditions, by enhancing osmotic adjustment, nutrient-use efficiency, ionic homeostasis and photosynthetic performance. Agronomically, these interactions can increase crop productivity, nutritional value and biofortification potential, and mitigate toxic-element accumulation in edible parts. Knowledge gaps remain regarding molecular regulation, variability among species and environments, and the long-term effectiveness of nanoparticle formulations. Since most evidence comes from hydroponic, pot and greenhouse studies, standardized field experiments are needed to assess agronomic relevance. Full article

Pines (genus Pinus) are a diverse group of conifers widely distributed across the Northern Hemisphere, comprising more than 110 species worldwide. In Europe, pines are a defining component of forests, occupying environments that range from dry Mediterranean lowlands to high-elevation alpine zones. They support a wide spectrum of ecosystem services, from timber and non-wood products to protection, biodiversity, and cultural values. In this review, we bring together ecological traits, silvicultural practices, and management considerations for ten European pine species. This review examines ten major European pine species, including Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), maritime pine (P. pinaster), stone pine (P. pinea), Aleppo pine (P. halepensis), black pine (P. nigra), mountain pine (P. mugo), Swiss stone pine (P. cembra), Turkish pine (P. brutia), Bosnian pine (P. heldreichii), and Macedonian pine (P. peuce). Together, these species span a wide range of European environments, with Pinus sylvestris showing the broadest distribution. Despite the extensive literature on pine species, information on their ecological, silvicultural, and management attributes remains fragmented across disciplines. To bridge this gap, this review draws on an expert-curated core of scientific and technical literature complemented by a structured literature search adapted from the PRISMA framework, compiling within a single framework their main ecological and silvicultural characteristics, altitudinal range, growth patterns, stand diversity, and management practices and the principal goods and ecosystem services they provide. The comparative analysis highlighted distinct functional groups among European pines, illustrating contrasting adaptive strategies across environmental gradients, with altitudinal distributions ranging from sea level to 2400 m. Mediterranean species, such as P. halepensis, P. pinaster, and P. brutia, generally showed higher drought and fire adaptation, whereas mountain taxa such as P. cembra, P. mugo, and P. heldreichii displayed greater cold tolerance but increased vulnerability due to restricted climatic niches and slow regeneration. Broadly distributed species, such as P. sylvestris and P. nigra, exhibited intermediate ecological strategies, with responses strongly influenced by regional climatic conditions. By integrating evidence on distribution patterns, functional traits, growth patterns, and management practices, this review provides a comparative framework to support adaptive forest management and informed species selection, helping to safeguard forest functions and their associated benefits under ongoing climate change. Full article

Drought stress severely restricts early growth in Brassica napus, while selenium (Se) can enhance stress tolerance. This study examined how foliar sodium selenite pretreatment affects polyethylene glycol (PEG)-induced drought stress in B. napus seedlings. Seedlings were sprayed with 10, 20, or 40 mg L⁻¹ Na₂SeO₃ for 7 days and then exposed to 10% (w/v) PEG 6000 for 2 days. Drought reduced fresh weight and increased malondialdehyde (MDA), O₂·⁻ production, H₂O₂ accumulation, and antioxidant enzyme activities. The response was nonlinear, and 20 mg L⁻¹ Na₂SeO₃ was most effective. Relative to drought alone, this treatment increased fresh weight from 2.6 to 5.1 g plant⁻¹ and reduced MDA, O₂·⁻, and H₂O₂ by 50.5%, 50.9%, and 44.3%, respectively. Notably, catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities declined markedly from the drought-induced levels, indicating lower oxidative pressure rather than enhanced enzymatic scavenging. Integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses showed associations between selenium pretreatment and pathways related to photosynthesis, carbon fixation, porphyrin metabolism, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, and selenocompound metabolism. Together, these findings suggest that foliar application of 20 mg L⁻¹ Na₂SeO₃ improves drought tolerance in B. napus seedlings by alleviating oxidative pressure rather than simply increasing antioxidant enzyme activity. Full article

Biotic stresses (pest feeding, pathogenic fungal/bacterial/viral infection) and diverse abiotic stresses (extreme temperature, drought, waterlogging, saline–alkali soil, heavy metal pollution, nutrient deficiency, UV-B, ozone) severely restrict crop growth and global agricultural yield. Lipids act as core membrane structural constituents and vital secondary signaling messengers, executing multi-layered adaptive balancing functions during cell-type interactive stress acclimation, rather than uniform whole-plant lipid responses. They sustain membrane structural integrity across distinct cell populations, serve as synthetic precursors of bioactive signaling molecules, and trigger cascaded transcriptional and metabolic reprogramming upon environmental stimuli to rebalance physiological status among different cell types. This review systematically summarizes cell-type interactive lipid-mediated plant defense and acclimation balance mechanisms across biotic and abiotic stress contexts. We elaborate the biological functions of fatty acids, phospholipids, galactolipids, sphingolipids and their derivatives (jasmonate, salicylic acid, phosphatidic acid, oxylipin) in stress signal transduction and antioxidant defense and strictly distinguish two categories of lipid changes under all stress types: active adaptive lipid remodeling and passive stress-induced lipid oxidative damage. Key contents include stress-triggered cell-type-specific membrane lipid remodeling, the hierarchical transcriptional regulatory network mediated by WRI1, LEC1, PHR, MADS and other transcription factors governing oil metabolism, as well as crosstalk between lipid metabolism and compartmentalized reactive oxygen species (reactive oxygen species (ROS)) signaling. We further compare conserved lipid-regulatory modules and species-specific divergent responses across model plants and economic oilseed crops, integrating state-of-the-art targeted/untargeted lipidomics, single-cell spatial lipidomics and multi-omics joint breeding strategies to improve multi-stress tolerance in oilseed crops. By consolidating global research progress up to 2025, including the two latest 2026 cross-species meta-analysis reviews, this review provides systematic theoretical support and operable multi-level technical frameworks for genetic engineering targeting conserved lipid pathways to breed stress-resilient high-oil crop germplasm, and highlights reliable lipid stress biomarker screening as a promising translational research direction. Full article

Fibrillins (FBNs) are conserved plastid-associated proteins implicated in plant development and abiotic stress responses; however, their roles in maize remain unclear. In this study, through a genome-wide bioinformatic analysis, we identified 14 ZmFBN genes in the maize genome and characterized their phylogeny, chromosomal distribution, gene structure, conserved motifs, and promoter cis-elements. ZmFBN members were grouped into several subfamilies that all retain a conserved PAP_fibrillin domain, whereas the variation in exon–intron organization, motif composition, and regulatory elements suggests functional diversification. Expression profiling revealed pronounced tissue-preferential patterns, with many genes highly expressed in leaves and reproductive tissues, and distinct responses to drought, salt, heat, and cold stresses. qRT-PCR assays showed that ZmFBN8 and ZmFBN9 are strongly induced by both salt and PEG-simulated drought, ZmFBN2 and ZmFBN5 are predominantly drought-responsive, and ZmFBN11 is mainly activated by salt. Genome-wide association analysis further detected significant loci near ZmFBN1 and ZmFBN4, whose allelic variants are associated with the survival rate under drought and with key agronomic traits, including the tassel branch number, flowering time, ear diameter, and kernel length. These results demonstrate that ZmFBN genes make diversified contributions to maize growth, development, and stress adaptation and highlight several members as promising targets for functional studies and the molecular breeding of stress-tolerant maize. Moreover, selection pressure analysis indicated ZmFBN7 experienced relaxed purifying selection, and ZmFBN12 underwent positive selection, which drives the functional diversification of the ZmFBN family during maize evolution. Full article

Background/Objectives: This study aims to reveal the physiological and molecular regulatory mechanisms of the genuine medicinal herb I. suzhouensis K. F. Zhai, Z. B. Han & S. B. Zhou (Wangzaozi) of Anhui province in response to drought stress, and clarify the regulatory patterns of drought adversity on the accumulation of its medicinal active ingredients. Methods: Mild natural drought treatment was applied to I. suzhouensis. Combined with Illumina high-throughput transcriptome sequencing and HPLC-MS/MS targeted metabolomics detection, this study jointly deciphered the dynamic changes in gene expression and metabolite accumulation of I. suzhouensis under drought. Key drought-responsive metabolic pathways, core regulatory genes and marker metabolites were screened. Results: A total of 56,823 high-quality unigenes were obtained via transcriptome sequencing, among which 23,580 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that DEGs were predominantly enriched in pathways, including plant hormone signal transduction, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, flavonoid biosynthesis and photosynthesis. A total of 4171 metabolites were qualitatively and quantitatively characterized via metabolomics, and 1632 differentially expressed metabolites (DEMs) were screened, mainly enriched in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, tyrosine metabolism, flavone and flavonol biosynthesis pathways. Physiological measurements of antioxidant indices demonstrated that the activities of SOD and POD increased by approximately 2-fold, while PAL activity rose by 1.55-fold, and chlorophyll content decreased significantly. Multi-omics joint analysis indicated that mild drought stress modulates the expression of genes involved in phenylpropanoid, flavonoid and diterpenoid biosynthetic pathways, alters antioxidant enzyme activities, and coordinately regulates the formation of drought tolerance and the accumulation of bioactive compounds in I. suzhouensis. Conclusions: This study systematically elucidates the drought response mechanism of I. suzhouensis cultivated in northern Anhui province. It provides theoretical evidence and candidate core responsive gene resources for standardized cultivation of I. suzhouensis and precise regulation of medicinal quality in drought-prone production areas. Full article

Agriculture is the pillar of Ethiopia’s economy, employing over 80% of the population. However, it remains highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Promoting climate-smart agricultural practices is therefore critical. Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.), a highly nutritious pseudo-cereal with broad adaptability and efficient water use, presents a promising alternative crop for Ethiopia’s diverse agro-ecologies. Its tolerance to drought and salinity makes it an ideal candidate for enhancing food and nutritional security under changing climate conditions. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the GEI for seed yield and yield-related traits and identify the stable and high-yielding genotypes of quinoa across six agro-ecological locations in Ethiopia—Negelle Arsi, Haramaya, Holeta, Kulumsa, Melkassa, and Ziway—representing three agro-climatic classifications (lowland, midland and highland). Thirteen genotypes were studied using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The G × E interaction main effect revealed significant GEI effects, particularly for plant height, days to maturity, and grain yield. Among the tested genotypes, ‘Brightest Brilliant Rainbow’, ‘Salcedo-INIA-Puno-Peru’, and ‘Multi-Hued’ demonstrated superior performance across multiple environments. Stability analyses were performed using the AMMI, ASV, and GGE biplot approaches. The analyses revealed significant variation among the genotypes for both adaptability and stability. The AMMI results indicated that environmental effects contributed more to yield variability than genotypic or interaction effects. The AMMI model identified four promising genotypes: ‘Salcedo-INIA-Puno-Peru’, ‘Brightest Brilliant Rainbow’, ‘Multi-Hued’, and ‘Bio-bio’. According to the ASV, the most stable genotypes were ‘Amarilla Sacaca’, ‘Amarilla Maranganí’, ‘Bio-bio’, ‘Cherry Vanilla’, ‘Multi-Hued’, and ‘Brightest Brilliant Rainbow’. The GGE biplot identified ‘Brightest Brilliant Rainbow’ and the Holeta location as the most ideal genotype and testing environment, respectively. ‘Multi-Hued’ and ‘Brightest Brilliant Rainbow’ emerged as the winning genotypes in the only defined mega-environment. Notably, ‘Brightest Brilliant Rainbow’ exhibited a high protein content, ranging from 14.8% at Kulumsa to 17.8% at Melkassa. Overall, ‘Brightest Brilliant Rainbow’ and ‘Salcedo-INIA-Puno-Peru’ were identified as high-performing, stable genotypes suitable for cultivation across diverse Ethiopian environments. These findings confirm quinoa’s adaptability to the broader agro-ecologies of Ethiopia and enable selection of stable, widely adapted varieties through the G × E interaction and stability analyses using AMMI, ASV, and a GGE biplot. Full article

The co-occurrence of soil drought and cadmium (Cd) pollution represents an important combined-stress scenario in degraded alpine grasslands, yet comparative responses of native Elymus forage grasses remain poorly resolved. Seedlings of E. sibiricus cv. Chuancao, E. breviaristatus, and E. nutans cv. Gannan were exposed to a full-factorial hydroponic matrix of four nominal Cd concentrations (0, 5, 10, and 20 mg·L⁻¹) and four PEG-6000 concentrations of 0, 5, 7.5, and 10% (w/v). Growth, biomass allocation, tissue water status, malondialdehyde (MDA), soluble sugars, antioxidant enzyme activities, and photosynthetic pigments were measured, and stress tolerance coefficient, membership function analysis, and principal component analysis were used for integrated evaluation. Cd × PEG interactions affected growth, biomass, MDA, soluble sugars, peroxidase, catalase (CAT), and total chlorophyll, demonstrating trait- and species-dependent non-additive responses. Under the most severe combined treatment, E. breviaristatus maintained comparatively better shoot growth, lower absolute MDA, and relatively stable CAT and pigment traits; E. nutans maintained CAT and chlorophyll concentration but showed severe membrane lipid peroxidation, whereas E. sibiricus was more sensitive in shoot growth and pigment maintenance. Multi-method evaluation ranked E. breviaristatus first for relative multi-trait performance. Because Cd availability, tissue Cd concentrations, and root-to-shoot translocation were not measured, this ranking reflects phenotype-based performance under common external treatments rather than intrinsic Cd tolerance. E. breviaristatus should therefore be regarded as a candidate for subsequent Cd-accumulation, soil-pot, and field validation. Full article

Water deficit is a major constraint on wheat productivity, and the reliable identification of drought-tolerant genotypes requires the integrated assessment of morphological, physiological, biochemical, and yield-related traits. Six winter bread wheat varieties and 15 advanced breeding lines grown under rainfed conditions at the Gobustan Experimental Station were comprehensively evaluated. Relative water content, soluble protein content, and the activities of aspartate aminotransferase, NADP-malic enzyme, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, and NAD-malate dehydrogenase were determined. Heading time, plant height, and grain yield were also assessed. The lines Erytrospermum 100 and 21FAWWON9/Gaudio maintained relatively high flag-leaf water content and sustained metabolic enzyme activities at the later developmental stages, whereas 29th SAWYT N395 exhibited high activities of carbon-metabolism enzymes and favorable grain yield performance. Correlation analysis revealed a significant negative association between relative water content and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activity, a positive relationship between NAD-malate dehydrogenase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activities, and a positive association between soluble protein content and grain yield. Overall, Erytrospermum 100, 21FAWWON9/Gaudio, and 29th SAWYT N395 were identified as promising breeding materials for improving drought adaptation and yield stability in rainfed wheat production systems. Full article

Water availability is the primary environmental factor limiting plant establishment in arid and semi-arid ecosystems, and increasing drought-stress due to climate change is making forest restoration efforts in the Mediterranean basin increasingly critical. The Eastern Mediterranean region of Türkiye, particularly Kahramanmaraş Province, is characterized by increasingly severe drought stress resulting from low natural precipitation and rising temperatures under global warming. This study comparatively evaluates the ecophysiological responses of Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle and Crataegus orientalis Pall. ex M. Bieb., under adequate irrigation and drought-stress conditions. To determine plant water status, pre-dawn and midday leaf water potentials were measured, and leaf gas exchange was characterized by measuring net photosynthesis (A), stomatal conductance (gs), and transpiration rate (E); water-use efficiency (WUE) was then derived from these parameters as the ratio of net photosynthesis to transpiration (A/E). Both species sustained positive net photosynthesis under drought, although at rates significantly below those of the well-watered controls in the driest months, and both attained higher WUE than the controls in most months, with marked seasonal variation. However, significant differences in physiological adaptation strategies emerged between the species. Ailanthus altissima exhibited a water-saving strategy, restricting stomatal conductance to maintain a stable leaf water status, whereas Crataegus orientalis adopted a water-spending strategy, sustaining high leaf gas exchange while tolerating pronounced tissue dehydration. Modeling results, supported by spatial drought stress indices, have shown that both species have high adaptation potential in arid and semi-arid rehabilitation areas. The findings reveal that ecophysiological characteristics play a critical role in the selection of drought-tolerant woody species and provide a scientific basis for sustainable forest restoration under climate change. Full article

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench) is a nutritious crop widely adapted to grow in arid and semi-arid agro-ecologies, supporting millions of households, and it has the potential to enhance soil health. However, extreme drought and heat stress conditions curtail its yield potential, requiring global efforts to develop drought-tolerant and agronomically superior cultivars. The objective of this paper was to quantitatively assess the impact of drought stress on sorghum genotypes for agronomic and yield-related traits, based on global breeding efforts for drought-tolerant varieties to guide current and future improvement programmes. The study involved a meta-analysis based on 30 selected research papers published around the world that reported on sorghum agronomic and yield-related traits under non-stress (NS) and drought stress (DS) conditions. Data were extracted for the following vital traits: days to 50% flowering (DTF), days to 50% maturity (DTM), plant height (PH), number of tillers (TN), panicle length (PL), panicle width (PW), shoot biomass (SB), root biomass (RB), root-to-shoot biomass ratio (RS), stay green (SG), and grain yield (GY). The sorghum genotypes reported with drought tolerance exhibited a mean GY value of 3.30 t ha⁻¹, ranging from 0.55 to 8.39 t ha⁻¹ under DS conditions. Under NS conditions, the mean GY was 4.38 t ha⁻¹, with the top genotype scoring a GY of 14.1 t ha⁻¹. Drought reduced TN and GY by 42.12% and 27.18%, followed by PW (25.52%) and SB (22.12%)—in that order. The forest plot analysis revealed that drought had a negative effect on the assessed traits, highlighting the need for developing drought-tolerant cultivars. The highest effect sizes were calculated for TN (−1.83), followed by PW (−1.69), and SB (−1.33), whereas PL (−0.1) had the lowest, suggesting that PW and SB are critical for selection in drought-tolerance breeding. Under DS conditions, GY exhibited positive correlations with RS (r = 0.63), RB (r = 0.50), SB (r = 0.27), DTM (r = 0.26), and SG (r = 0.21). The findings of this study could guide future breeding efforts to develop drought-tolerant sorghum varieties. Full article

The potential for species distribution shifts in response to changing climate and altered fire regimes is a pressing concern across ecosystems. Species responses to climate and disturbance are expressed demographically as changes in survivorship and recruitment across gradients. We examined tree recruitment and radial growth response to climate along a biophysical gradient in a mixed-conifer forest in northern New Mexico, USA, in a watershed spanning from near the lower to upper elevation range for ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa var. scopulorum Engelm.) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco). We compared growth responses with climate variables and stand demographic patterns of the six major tree species present, to track shifts in species community composition and dominance. We found significant changes in species composition between mature trees and seedlings and saplings across Elevation–Aspect groups in several species, indicating incipient community change. Drought stress drove patterns of tree growth and species composition shifts at low elevations, while at higher elevations increased stand density following fire exclusion led to success of shade-tolerant species. Altered growth and demographic trends driven by drought and fire exclusion can serve as the mechanism for changing species distributions and community reorganization across landscape climatic gradients. Full article

Actinidia arguta possesses great commercial value as an economically important fruit crop, which accumulates abundant nutrients and bioactive components with medicinal potential. However, adverse abiotic environments, especially cold and drought stress, severely restrict its vegetative growth, reproductive development and fruit yield. Numerous studies have established MYB transcription factors as core regulators of plant abiotic stress adaptation. Here, we cloned AaMYB4 from A. arguta ‘Fenglü’ and systematically characterized its function in cold and drought tolerance. AaMYB4 encodes a 241-amino-acid R2R3-MYB protein localized to the nucleus, with highest expression in stems and young leaves. Its transcription is markedly induced by cold, drought and abscisic acid (ABA) within 24 h with a single peak expression pattern. Heterologous overexpression of AaMYB4 in Arabidopsis alleviated cold-induced oxidative damage, accompanied by reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation as well as increased proline contents and enhanced superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) activities. Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS)-mediated silencing of AaMYB4 impaired cold tolerance in Actinidia arguta seedlings, while stable AaMYB4 overexpression significantly improved plant survival and physiological performance under cold and drought conditions, concurrent with attenuated ROS accumulation. At the transcriptional level, AaMYB4 overexpression is positively associated with elevated transcript levels of stress marker genes in the ABA signaling and ICE1-CBF-COR pathways. This study lays a theoretical foundation for exploring abiotic stress tolerance mechanisms and conducting stress-resistant molecular breeding in A. arguta. Full article

Climatic changes in the Mediterranean area affect grapevine growth and productivity due to an increase in the magnitude and frequency of extreme climatic events. Functional traits of the vegetative stages of grapevines are drivers of stress tolerance, and their characterization may aid in the selection of cultivars showing greater resistance. Our aim was to evaluate and compare the adaptability to hot and arid climatic conditions of two varieties typical of small satellite islands of Sicily (Zibibbo and Corinto) with the two most common grape varieties grown on the main island (Catarratto and Nero d’Avola). The four selected varieties grew in a common rain-fed experimental germplasm repository. We followed seasonal changes in stomatal conductance, leaf water potential and leaf temperature, relating them to leaf water relation traits and xylem structural characteristics of the leaf vein network. We observed significant differences in functional traits and physiological behaviour of the four cultivars. Leaf water potential at turgor loss point was one of the most informative traits, together with midday leaf water potential and midday stomatal conductance. Nero d’Avola, Catarratto, and Zibibbo showed the highest adaptability to Mediterranean summer–autumn drought and heat stress through different physiological strategies; whereas, Corinto appeared more vulnerable. These findings highlight the importance of functional trait analysis for supporting cultivar selection, vineyard management, and future breeding strategies under climate change scenarios. Full article

Global climate change-driven drought aggravation seriously threatens the survival and distribution of desert shrubs. Nitraria sibirica Pall. has outstanding drought tolerance, yet its growth adaptation strategies and internal regulatory mechanisms under different soil moisture conditions lack systematic research. This study combined physiological determination with transcriptome and metabolome analyses to investigate its physiological responses and molecular regulation mechanisms at different growth stages and habitats. Nitraria sibirica from riparian habitats exhibited lower leaf organic carbon and higher total nitrogen. Desert-grown N. sibirica possessed far more drought-responsive differentially expressed genes and metabolites than riparian ones. Hormone signal transduction and lipid metabolism dominated regulation in riparian habitats, whereas secondary metabolite biosynthesis and amino acid metabolism—especially flavonoid biosynthesis and tryptophan metabolism—were core in desert habitats. Its drought response displayed distinct stage-specificity, with hormone signal transduction most enriched in drought-responsive genes across growth periods. This study clarifies the stress adaptation mechanisms of desert shrubs and provides theoretical support for germplasm evaluation and vegetation restoration in arid regions. Full article