Plants and Environment

284 Pages·2016·12.13 MB·English

by  Vasanthaian H.K.N.

PLANTS AND
ENVIRONMENT

Edited by Hemanth KN. Vasanthaiah
and Devaiah Kambiranda
Plants and Environment
Edited by Hemanth KN. Vasanthaiah and Devaiah Kambiranda

Published by InTech
Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia

Copyright © 2011 InTech
All chapters are Open Access articles distributed under the Creative Commons
Non Commercial Share Alike Attribution 3.0 license, which permits to copy,
distribute, transmit, and adapt the work in any medium, so long as the original
work is properly cited. After this work has been published by InTech, authors
have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they
are the author, and to make other personal use of the work. Any republication,
referencing or personal use of the work must explicitly identify the original source.

Statements and opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors
and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. No responsibility is accepted
for the accuracy of information contained in the published articles. The publisher
assumes no responsibility for any damage or injury to persons or property arising out
of the use of any materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained in the book.

Publishing Process Manager Dragana Manestar
Technical Editor Teodora Smiljanic
Cover Designer Jan Hyrat
Image Copyright Hal_P, 2011. 2010. Used under license from Shutterstock.com

First published September, 2011
Printed in Croatia

A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com
Additional hard copies can be obtained from [email protected]

Plants and Environment, Edited by Hemanth KN. Vasanthaiah and Devaiah Kambiranda
p. cm.
ISBN 978-953-307-779-6
free online editions of InTech
Books and Journals can be found at
www.intechopen.com

Contents

Preface IX
Chapter 1 Enhancing Phytoremediation Efficiency in
Response to Environmental Pollution Stress 1
Mohsen Soleimani, Samira Akbar
and Mohammad Ali Hajabbasi
Chapter 2 Morphophysiological Investigations in
Some Dominant Alien Invasive Weeds 15
Nivedita Ghayal and Kondiram Dhumal
Chapter 3 Alteration of Abiotic Stress Responsive
Genes in Polygonum minus Roots by
Jasmonic Acid Elicitation 49
Ismanizan Ismail, Mian-Chee Gor, Zeti-Azura Mohamed-Hussein,
Zamri Zainal and Normah Mohd Noor
Chapter 4 Transcriptomics of Sugarcane
Osmoprotectants Under Drought 89
RLO Silva, JRC Ferreira Neto, V Pandolfi,
SM Chabregas, WL Burnquist,
AM Benko-Iseppon and EA Kido
Chapter 5 Effect of UV Light on Secondary Metabolite
Biosynthesis in Plant Cell Cultures Elicited
with Cyclodextrins and Methyl Jasmonate 115
Lorena Almagro, Ana Belén Sabater-Jara, Sarai Belchí-Navarro,
Francisco Fernández-Pérez, Roque Bru and María A. Pedreño
Chapter 6 Drought Tolerance and Stress Hormones:
From Model Organisms to Forage Crops 137
Aimar D., Calafat M., Andrade A.M.,
Carassay L., Abdala G.I. and Molas M.L.
Chapter 7 Iron Stress in Citrus 165
Maria Angeles Forner-Giner and Gema Ancillo
VI Contents

Chapter 8 Response, Tolerance and Adaptation to Abiotic Stress of
Olive, Grapevine and Chestnut in the Mediterranean Region:
Role of Abscisic Acid, Nitric Oxide and MicroRNAs 179
Changhe Zhang, José Gomes-Laranjo, Carlos M. Correia,
José M. Moutinho-Pereira, Berta M. Carvalho Gonçalves,
Eunice L. V. A. Bacelar, Francisco P. Peixoto and Victor Galhano
Chapter 9 Molecular and Genetic Analysis of
Abiotic Stress Resistance of Forage Crops 207
Xuemin Wang, Hongwen Gao, Jun Li and Zan Wang
Chapter 10 Salt Stress in Vascular Plants and
Its Interaction with Boron Toxicity 227
Ildefonso Bonilla and Agustín González-Fontes
Chapter 11 An Efficient Method to Screen for
Salt Tolerance Genes in Salt Cress 241
Huawei Zhang, Gang Li, Yiyue Zhang,
Ran Xia, Jing Wang and Qi Xie
Chapter 12 Impact of Drought Stress on Peanut
(Arachis hypogaea L.) Productivity and Food Safety 249
Devaiah M. Kambiranda, Hemanth KN. Vasanthaiah,
Ramesh Katam Athony Ananga, Sheikh M. Basha
and Karamthotsivasankar Naik

Preface

The purpose of this book is to discuss intricate problems associated with plant
performance under hostile conditions. Plants are sessile organisms and are frequently
exposed to extreme stresses. Therefore, they have to be considerably more adaptable
to stressful environments and must acquire greater tolerance to multiple stresses.
Individual plant performance varies with their magnitude of tolerance. Among the
stresses, abiotic stress is known to repeatedly limit the growth and productivity of
plants, which negatively affects the yield, quality and other characteristics of the crops.
As plants do not posses immune system, they have evolved a complex and dynamic
defense system for their adaptation in response to stress. Drought and temperature are
the major abiotic stresses that affect the plants, along with light, salinity and minerals.
Prolonged abiotic stress may cause irreversible damage to plant function or
development.
The possibilities for increasing tolerance to abiotic stresses are enormous. Progress has
been made worldwide to utilize advanced tools and techniques from all branches of
science in order to understand how plants respond to abiotic stresses with the aim of
helping to manipulate plant performance that will be better suited to withstand these
stresses. Though several projects have been developed to tackle effect of stress, many
questions still remain unanswered. Therefore, an effort is made through this
publication to show some of the current research and critical roles of genetics,
physiology, biochemistry, biotechnology, and other related science in crop
improvement for the benefit of fellow researchers. It is necessary to constantly get
acquainted with the past and present occurrences in order to learn lessons that could
help in the acquisition of new knowledge or the further development of appropriate
technology ensuing from it. Among the high-priority research areas identified in plant
sciences, developing crops with high yielding characteristics under adverse conditions
is gaining attention in view of the future predictable earth’s environment and also for
possible establishments of plants on other terrestrial bodies in our universe.
In this book an attempt has been made to unfold some of the new findings and
achievements that will enhance ongoing research and help solve some of the pressing
issues in plant science.
X Preface

This book presents the holistic view of the affect of various abiotic stresses on plants
and their response to it. Chapters offer a critical discussion on the available literature
and major problems , as well as understanding of plant stress responses and
mechanisms of their tolerance in detail. I honestly trust that this book will be of great
help to students, researchers and professionals in various fields of science, both in
academic and industrial sectors.
I would like to express my deep sense of gratitude and indebtedness to all the authors
for their valuable contributions and also to the researchers who actually performed
experiments and reported their findings. I must confess that it had been a rare
privilege for me to be associated with InTech publishers. Thanks is the least word to
offer to Ms. Viktorija Zgela, Ms. Natalia Reinic and Ms. Dragana Manestar, Intech
Publishing Process Managers, yet I shall avail this opportunity to extend my sincere
gratitude for their help and co-operation at various phases of book publication. I
would like to express my sincere thanks to Devaiah Kambiranda for helping me in
editing some of the chapters. Last but not least I express my sincere thanks and
affection to my wife Roopashri Puttaramu and my daughter Sahitya H. Setty for their
sensible co-operation and cheerful encouragement. I hope the information available in
this book will have a greater impact on the scientific world working towards crop
improvement, which will pay off one day in the survival of life form on this beautiful
planet, the Earth.
Dr. Hemanth KN. Vasanthaiah, M.C.A.
Center for Viticulture and Small Fruit Research
Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University
United States of America