What is abiotic stress?

Abiotic stress is a term used to describe inanimate factors that adversely affect living organisms. Animals can be affected by abiotic stress, but plants are more vulnerable because they cannot move to a less stressful environment. Biotic stress factors would include insect pests and diseases, while plant abiotic stress is the result of environmental factors. This may be related to the climate - for example, drought, extremes of temperature and wind - or chemical factors in the soil or atmosphere. Some of them include structural or chemical changes, while others include restrictions on the growing period according to the conditions. In some cases, symbiotic relationships have developed in response to stress.R to deal with it. One of them is succulence. Strong fleshy stems and leaves can store a large amount of water and reduce the surface surface ratio to the volume of the plant, minimizing water loss by evaporation. The stems and leaves also reduce evaporation. Some idle plants may have long rootsthat reach down to groundwater.

Plants can sometimes adapt to seasonal or periodic stress by simply having a short life cycle that is timed to coincide with the most advantageous conditions. For example, the plant can germinate, ripe, flowers and produce seeds in a short period of rain in an otherwise dry year, or may lie sleeping in an underground tuber for a long time and after the rain it appears to quickly complete its life cycle. In mild areas, forest floors may be missing in the light of photosynthesis during the summer months, so that low -growing forest plants can quickly complete their life cycles in spring before the forest canopy developed by thick leaves.

Abiotic stress may be the result of soil factors. The high salt content can be fatal to many plants, but some - known as halophytes - have adapted to the salty conditions found in both coastal oBlastech, such as swamps with salts, and inland dry areas where high evaporation tends to concentrate salts from mineral content in the soil. These plants can secrete salt from their leaves or store it in their cells in bodies known as vacuoles, so it is kept separated from cellular cytoplasm. The shortcomings of nutrients or the presence of toxic substances such as heavy metals in the soil can also lead to abiotic stress.

Atmospheric pollution can be another source of stress. Sulfur and nitrogen oxide oxide from fossil fuel burning may result in sour rain that can damage the leaves of sensitive plants. Acid rain can also reduce soil pH, which is harmful to the killing of plants that are not adapted to sour conditions.

Climate change is considered to be the main source of abiotic stress for crops. Changing temperature and precipitation patterns have an impact on food and other crops, some of which previously productive areas suffering from drought, floodsor extremes of temperature. In order to alleviate the economic impact of crop failure, research is carried out into development, through breeding or genetic engineering, crops that are more resistant to these forms.