Stress Physiology

Stress

    • In both natural and agricultural conditions, plants are frequently exposed to environmental stresses. Some environmental factors, such as air temperature, can become stressful in just few minutes; others, such as soil water content, may take days to weeks, and factors such as soil mineral deficiencies can take months to become stressful.
    • In addition, stress plays a major role in determining how soil and climate limit the distribution of plant species.
    • Thus, understanding the physiological processes that underlie stress injury and the adaptation and acclimation mechanisms of plants to environmental stress is of immense importance to both agriculture and environment.
    • The concept of plant stress is often used imprecisely, and stress terminology can be confusing, so it useful to start the discussion with some definitions.

    Stress physiology: it is an important branch of environmental physiology, is concerned with how plants and animals responds to environmental conditions that deviate significantly from those that are optimal for the organisms in question –or in a broader sense for organism in general.

    This sub science of physiology can contribute to our understanding of what limits plants distribution in natural environments. In such a context, it would be a part of physiological ecology. Most of research in the field however is concerned with how adverse environmental conditions limit agricultural yields.


Last modified: Friday, 9 September 2011, 4:03 AM