About this Research Topic
Climate change is having dramatic consequences on agriculture worldwide due to the resulting abiotic stresses put on plants (salinity, drought, waterlogging, low or high temperatures). Currently, about 40% of the Earth's surface is under drought and salinity stress, and it is predicted that this will increase to 50% by 2025. Similarly, episodes of sporadically higher temperatures and excessive rainfall are becoming more frequent. Abiotic stress affects crop growth and production, reducing yields by more than 50%.
The use of grafted plants on stress-tolerant rootstocks in crops and fruit trees has been recommended as an effective and sustainable strategy to cope with these types of limiting factors. The advantage of using rootstocks is that it allows growers to maximize profits, especially when working under abiotic stress conditions and aiming to reduce inputs such as water and fertilizer.
The purpose of this Research Topic is to further the understanding of the physiological and molecular aspects of tolerance to abiotic stresses (drought, salinity, root asphyxia, iron-chlorosis, high or low temperatures) associated with the use of rootstocks in crops and fruit trees as a strategy to counteract these types of stresses. Ultimately, we aim to contribute to applying this information in developing tools and biotechnological technologies to improve the performance of plants (scions) grafted on rootstocks tolerant to abiotic stresses.
We, therefore, welcome Original Research, Review, and Opinion articles covering the use of rootstocks in the following areas:
• Fruit tree breeding and fruit quality, scion-rootstock graft-compatibility in fruit trees, tolerance to abiotic stresses;
• Development and application of physiological, biochemical, and molecular techniques for the selection of rootstocks;
• Effects of rootstocks on growth responses, physiology, productivity and quality attributes of crops and vegetables under abiotic stress conditions exacerbated by climate change;
• Effects of rootstocks on fruit quality traits under abiotic stress conditions exacerbated by climate change;
• Identification of genomic regions related to tolerance to abiotic stresses and the applications in improving rootstock-grafted plant stress tolerance;
• Identification of high-quality markers for marker-assisted selection, transcriptomic and metabolic analysis (including metabolomics) for improving grafted plant tolerance.
Descriptive studies that report responses of growth, yield, or quality to rootstock use will not be considered if they do not progress physiological understanding of these responses.
The use of grafted plants on stress-tolerant rootstocks in crops and fruit trees has been recommended as an effective and sustainable strategy to cope with these types of limiting factors. The advantage of using rootstocks is that it allows growers to maximize profits, especially when working under abiotic stress conditions and aiming to reduce inputs such as water and fertilizer.
The purpose of this Research Topic is to further the understanding of the physiological and molecular aspects of tolerance to abiotic stresses (drought, salinity, root asphyxia, iron-chlorosis, high or low temperatures) associated with the use of rootstocks in crops and fruit trees as a strategy to counteract these types of stresses. Ultimately, we aim to contribute to applying this information in developing tools and biotechnological technologies to improve the performance of plants (scions) grafted on rootstocks tolerant to abiotic stresses.
We, therefore, welcome Original Research, Review, and Opinion articles covering the use of rootstocks in the following areas:
• Fruit tree breeding and fruit quality, scion-rootstock graft-compatibility in fruit trees, tolerance to abiotic stresses;
• Development and application of physiological, biochemical, and molecular techniques for the selection of rootstocks;
• Effects of rootstocks on growth responses, physiology, productivity and quality attributes of crops and vegetables under abiotic stress conditions exacerbated by climate change;
• Effects of rootstocks on fruit quality traits under abiotic stress conditions exacerbated by climate change;
• Identification of genomic regions related to tolerance to abiotic stresses and the applications in improving rootstock-grafted plant stress tolerance;
• Identification of high-quality markers for marker-assisted selection, transcriptomic and metabolic analysis (including metabolomics) for improving grafted plant tolerance.
Descriptive studies that report responses of growth, yield, or quality to rootstock use will not be considered if they do not progress physiological understanding of these responses.
Keywords: rootstocks, abiotic stress, climate change, crop
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