AGRON-609

STRESS CROP PRODUCTION

Term paper presentation

Submitted to Submitted by
Dr. G. E. Ch. Vidya Sagar, S. Sushma
Professor, RAD/2020-04
Department of Agronomy, Department of Agronomy,
College of Agriculture, College of Agriculture,
Rajendranagar. Rajendranagar.
PRACTICAL WAYS TO OVERCOME THE EFFECT OF HEAT
STRESS - SOIL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES TO MITIGATE
HEAT STRESS - CROP MANAGEMENT PRACTICES TO
OVERCOME HEAT STRESS AFFECT - OTHER METHODS TO
MINIMIZE HEAT STRESS AFFECT
INTRODUCTION
Heat Stress
•Under the tropical climates the excessive radiations and elevated temperatures are another major
limiting factor to plant growth and development. High temperatures may cause scorching of the
twigs and leaves along with visual symptoms of sunburn, leaves senescence, growth inhibition and
discoloration of fruits and leaves
•Heat stress significantly affect plant activities like seed germination, plant development,
photosynthesis, and reproduction, which have a devastating impact on the overall yield of a crop.
•Plant sensitivity to heat stress varies with duration, plant type, and the degree of temperature.
• Plant growth and development are greatly influenced by the series of morphological,
physiological, and biochemical changes resulting from heat stress.
•Heat stress cause devastating impacts on crop plants by affecting vital physiological functions,
including protein denaturation, increase in membrane fluidity, level of reactive oxygen species
(ROS), decline in photosystem II (PSII)-mediated electron transport, as well as inactivation of
chloroplast and mitochondrial enzymes activities.
•Heat stress due to the rising global temperature is becoming one of the main limiting factor to crop
productivity
Figure 1. Impact of heat stress on plants.
Figure 2. climate-induced heat stress occurrence, plant responses to heat stress, and adaptation measures in the farmers’ field
MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES TO OVER COME HEAT STRESS
• Selection of varieties
Selection of appropriate variety with respect to date of sowing and expected
temperature rise during the crop growth period is necessary to get an
optimum yield under high temperature stress conditions
• Sowing time
early planting and the genotypes with early maturity and a relatively long
time to heading are advocated to evade terminal heat stress and accelerate
grain filling.
• Tillage practices
Permanent bed planting under zero-tillage with crop residue retention has
already been proposed as the possible means for improving heat stress
tolerance.
In no-till and zero tillage system there is minimum disturbance to soil
regime and maintenance of plant residues.
• Conserving soil moisture
The presence of mulch/ crop residues protect seedlings from high temperature
during its initial growth period and keeps soil temperature down during the day
and reduces cooling at night and also helps in conserving moisture
Straw mulch conserves soil moisture by reducing soil evaporation
Application of organic mulches preserves better soil moisture and improves plant
growth and development, subsequently increases water and nitrogen use
efficiency
• Irrigation management
Irrigation methods based on soil type and availability of irrigation water and
scheduling irrigation according to growth stages of crop are taken in account for
good water management.
Micro irrigation practices can regulate the soil temperature
• Foliar spray
 Foliar spray of potassium fertilizer increases the photosynthates production in plant and thus increases
the translocation of dry matter to the grain, which ultimately increases the total grain weight and yield.
Application of potassium orthophosphate (KH2PO4) as a foliar spray after anthesis could be an
alternative technique to increase the heat tolerance of wheat. Potassium orthophosphate causes a delay
in the heat stress-induced leaf senescence and enhances grain yield.
• Use of exogenous protectants
Exogenously applied several growth-promoting protectants such as osmo-protectants, phytohormones,
signaling molecules and trace elements have resulted in the potential to protect the plants by
neutralizing the harmful and adverse effects of heat stress.
Treating thermo-sensitive wheat plants with several protectants, such as arginine, putrescine (Put), and
α-tocopherol (vitamin E) have already established their roles in thermo-tolerance.
Through activation of various enzymes viz. superoxide dismutase, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase,
glutathione reductase and non-enzymatic viz. ascorbic acid, tocopherol, and glutathione antioxidants.
• Seed treatment
Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria are found to be compatible and having a
beneficial effect on the growth of wheat plants under heat stress.
Seed treatment with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens UCMB5113 and Azospirillum
brasilense NO40 strains were also found to be effective to increase heat tolerance
of wheat seedlings by reducing reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation.
In addition to the above, seed treatment and planting materials and foliar spray of
with various organic and inorganic agents has proven their worth in enhancing
heat tolerance in a number of plant species.
 Nutrient management
• Adequate and balanced supply of mineral nutrients is essential in plants exposed to temperature
stress.
• Application of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium at the post-anthesis period enriches grain
proteins.
• The advantages of NO3 − through delaying abscisic acid synthesis and promoting cytokinin
activity, and similarly K+ induced increasing photosynthetic activities and assimilates
accumulation are well recognized for increasing grain yield under heat stress environment.
• The exogenous application of calcium promotes heat tolerance in plants because this
nutrient can shield chlorophylls from photo-destruction and can maintain stomata
functioning, thus attenuating the heat stress effects through transpiration.
• Adequate supply of magnesium (Mg) was identified as an effective nutritional strategy to
minimize heat stress-related losses in wheat production.
• Screening and breeding for heat tolerance: screening genetic resources for
identification of genetic bases for heat tolerance in crops.
QTL mapping and subsequent marker-assisted selection made it possible to better
understanding the heat tolerance in plants
• Biotechnological approach for improving heat tolerance
Genetic engineering and transgenic approaches can alleviate the adverse effects of
heat stress by improving heat tolerance. It involves the incorporation of genes of
interest into the desired plants to improve plant tolerance to heat stress.
 Table 1. Yield reduction due to heat stress in some major crops.

Crop Yield Reduction (%)

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) 31

Maize (Zea mays L.) 45
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) 50
Soybean (Glycine max L.) 46
Canola (Brassica napus L.) 50
Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) 31
Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) 44
Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) 10

(Muhammad Nadeem et al.,

2018)
 Table 2: Effect of nanoemulsion seed coating on physiological parameters of soybean

Duration of
Duration of exposure
exposure Treatment
Treatment
to high
to high temperature
temperature Speed of
of emergence
emergence Germination (%)
(%)
Speed Germination
(400C) Days(D)
(400C) Days(D)

T00
T TT11 Mean
Mean T00
T T11
T Mean
Mean
00 7.15
7.15 7.91
7.91 7.53
7.53 88
88 90
90 89
89
33 6.79
6.79 7.49
7.49 7.14
7.14 80
80 88
88 84
84
55 6.57
6.57 7.18
7.18 6.87
6.87 76
76 84
84 80
80
77 6.51
6.51 6.95
6.95 6.73
6.73 74
74 78
78 76
76
99 6.49
6.49 6.64
6.64 6.56
6.56 65
65 75
75 70
70
11
11 5.38
5.38 6.19
6.19 5.78
5.78 55
55 65
65 60
60
13
13 5.19
5.19 5.83
5.83 5.51
5.51 50
50 60
60 55
55
Mean
Mean 6.30
6.30 6.88
6.88 6.59
6.59 69
69 77
77 73
73
CD
CD 0.06
0.06 0.12
0.12 0.16
0.16 1.84
1.84 3.45
3.45 NS
NS
(Saranya et al., 2020)
T0 :Coated seed with nano emulsion (methyl cellulose, vitamin E and tween 80 (in the form of oil in water)
T1 :Uncoated seed
 Table 3: Effect of nanoemulsion seed coating on physiological parameters of soybean

Duration of Treatment
exposure to high
Root length (cm) Shoot length (cm)
temperature (400C)
Days(D)

T0 T1 Mean T0 T1 Mean
0 18.3 19.1 18.7 14.1 15.9 15.0
3 16.8 18.3 17.5 11.7 14.8 13.2
5 16.1 18.0 17.1 10.7 14.2 12.5
7 15.7 17.7 16.7 9.8 11.5 10.71
9 15.2 17.1 16.2 9.6 10.8 10.27
11 14.1 16.2 15.2 8.9 9.7 9.35
13 13.1 15.1 14.1 8.2 9.4 8.84
Mean 15.6 17.4 16.5 10.4 12.3 11.39
CD 0.29 0.45 NS 0.34 0.63 0.90
(Saranya et al., 2020)
 (Wen Yin et al., 2020)

Figure 3. Dynamics of daily soil temperature in the 0-25 cm depth in wheat-maize intercropping as affected by straw and plastic managemen
Table 4. Changes in net rate of photosynthesis of maize seedlings pretreated with increased levels of H 2O2.

Temperature H2O2 levels Net rate of

(oC) photosynthesis
(µmol m-2 s-1)
27 0 18.28±1.32
50 18.15±0.42
100 18.16±1.46
150 17.58±1.03
200 17.39±1.45
250 17.91±0.91
42 0 9.71±0.75
50 13.81±1.18
100 16.30±0.30
150 17.42±0.52
200 16.59±1.24
250 15.02±1.33
(Wahid et al., 2008)
Figure 4. Effect of drought stress on PAL activity (ng cinnamic acid min−1 mg−1 protein) of drought tolerant Trichoderma
treated wheat plants.

(Shukla et al., 2014)

Figure 5 : Effect of agronomic practices on grain yield of wheat

(Singh Davinder. 2010)

Table 5. Effect of foliar spray to moderate the heat stress effects on wheat productivity
Treatments Grain Yield (q ha-1 )
2014 2015
10th February 56.8 59.3
20 February 59.0 61.7
2 March 35.0 39.6
LSD (p = 0.05) 5.1 4.4
Foliar applications
1.0% KNO3 spray at tassel initiation (TI) 55.8 58.7
1.0% KNO3 spray at TI +another spray 53.9 56.9
after one week
2.0% KNO3 spray at TI 54.1 56.8
2.0% KNO3 spray at TI +another spray 53.9 56.8
after one week
Water spray at TI 46.9 48.3
Water spray at TI + another spray after 49.0 50.1
one week,
Control (No spray) 44.1 44.8
LSD (p = 0.05) 2.5 2.3
LSD (p = 0.05) for interactions NS NS
(Harmeet Singh et al., 2017)
Table 6. Effect of skipping irrigation on plant/m2 and tiller/plant at developmental growth stages of
wheat
Treatments Plant/m2 Tiller/plant
WS without skipping 144.6 4.1
W1skipping at seedling 143.3 4.2
W2 skipping at tillering 143.4 4.0
W3 skipping at booting 145.7 3.5
W4 skipping at dough 140.9 3.8
W5 skippingat repining 143.4 3.9
LSD 14.5 0.64
CV% 5.1 11.2

WS = Irrigation every 10 day throughout the season (control).

W1 = Skipped from (11 – 20 days) at (seedling stage).
W2 = Skipped from (31 – 40 days) at (tillering stage).
W3 = Skipped from (51 – 60 days) at (booting stage).
W4 = Skipped from (71 – 80 days) at (dough stage).
W5 = Skipped from (above 80 days) at (repining stage)
(Tahar and Samia, 2011)
Table 7. Dry matter production (DM) and plant height wheat following application of different rates of GA

GA (g ha-1) DM (t ha-1) Plant height

109 DAS 116 DAS 123 DAS 130 DAS (cm)

0 0.50 0.80 1.24 1.26 96.6

4 - 0.88 - 1.59 95.8
8 0.59 0.92 1.54 1.65 93.4
16 0.66 1.08 1.62 1.68 92.9
LSD (P=0.05) 0.10 0.19 0.22 0.22 2.5

(Dean et al., 2008)

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