Strategies for Improvement of Horticultural Crops against Abiotic Stresses

Abstract

Environmental stresses such as salinity, water deficiency, high water level, cold weather and low temperature affect plant growth and decrease horticultural crops productivity worldwide. It is important to improve stress tolerance of the crop plant to increase crop yield under stress conditions and reduce the yield gaps by increasing plant crops tolerance to stresses [1]. In some geographical area such as developmental countries facing several problems, because of decrease in food supply resulted from the dissertation and climatic changes of global warming. The global warming was affect plant productivity and their quality worldwide [2]. To ensure the food security for increasing world population, total crop production will need to be significantly increased with less arable land under much severe environmental conditions [3]. Different approaches, including agronomical, physiological and molecular methods have been used to produce plants grow well under environmental condition adverse. The most important strategies of plant crops improvements against stresses include several tools such as classical breeding programs, tissue culture, biofertilizers using mycorrhizae and bacteria, genetic engineering and grafting. The strategy of plant improvement against stresses is summarized as the following.