Regulation of drought stress in plants

Abstract Plant growth and development are constantly influenced by environmental conditions such as biotic and abiotic stresses. These stresses are the factors that decide the yield and growth of the crops resulting in food shortage and compromise food security of the world. Drought is one of the factor that limits yield and growth of plants by decreasing cell elongation and expansion, root ramification, and decreased chlorophyll in plants. The effects of stress can be seen at plant physiological, molecular, and biochemical levels such as growth inhibition, organic solutes accumulation, variation in phytohormones excretion, and changes in gene expression of plants facing drought stress. To cope with drought, plant tend to control water loss via closing stomata and bringing morphological and physiological adaptation. Major alteration brought by plants are increased root growth, decreased stem and leaf expansion, stress protein production, and antioxidants production to quench reactive oxygen species (ROS). Balanced nutrient provision, exogenous application of organic and inorganic amendments, symbiotic plant microbe associations, microbial consortia and metabolites application are assisting approaches to get sustainable production from plant facing drought. Genetic engineering for drought tolerance is another approach to cope with ever-lasting drought impacts. This chapter is and effort to summarize impacts of drought on plants and how plants act to mitigate this stress.