About this Research Topic
Cereals form a major component of global human diets with over 40% of calories directly derived from the seeds of these cultivated grasses, and yet more from the use of cereals as animal food and in the beverages industries. Abiotic stress (heat, drought, salination) has a negative impact on cereal crop quality and quantity, with climate change currently thought to be a major contributor to reductions in cereal yields; for example, maize yields are predicted to be down some 16% in the EU for 2022 due to hot and dry conditions. In order to ensure continued supply of cereals for the future it is imperative for plant scientists to better understand all aspects of abiotic stress on cereal crops, from perception and signal transduction through to plant strategies for stress avoidance and mitigation, and also genetic resources and agronomic solutions to enhance production under suboptimal climatic conditions.
The major abiotic factors that impact on plant growth are heat, drought and salinity, which have distinct but overlapping effects on plant physiologies but other abiotic factors (anoxia, cold) are also of importance. In this Research Topic we would like to explore current advances in our understanding of how cereal plants in particular (such as maize, rice, wheat, barley, sorghum, barley, millet) are able to perceive and respond to abiotic stresses, including both stress avoidance and stress tolerance. Of particular interest are fundamental mechanisms of stress perception in cereals, for example signal transduction and integration of hormonal signaling, and also genetic aspects of stress avoidance and tolerance, for example analysis of wild accessions or land races of important crops that are adapted to stressful conditions.
We invite authors to submit papers that include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Literature reviews on the current status of global cereal production and the current and projected limitations and impacts due to abiotic stresses, particularly with an emphasis on the role of climate change ;
• Literature reviews of our current understanding of salt, heat, drought, anoxia, cold perception and signaling, specifically in cereals;
• Manuscripts on novel experimental work that explore mechanisms of abiotic stress perception, tolerance, or avoidance specifically in cereals;
• Manuscripts on novel experimental work that investigate the genetic potential (for example QTLS) that is available to plant breeders or agronomists in land races and wild accessions of cultivated cereal crops.
The major abiotic factors that impact on plant growth are heat, drought and salinity, which have distinct but overlapping effects on plant physiologies but other abiotic factors (anoxia, cold) are also of importance. In this Research Topic we would like to explore current advances in our understanding of how cereal plants in particular (such as maize, rice, wheat, barley, sorghum, barley, millet) are able to perceive and respond to abiotic stresses, including both stress avoidance and stress tolerance. Of particular interest are fundamental mechanisms of stress perception in cereals, for example signal transduction and integration of hormonal signaling, and also genetic aspects of stress avoidance and tolerance, for example analysis of wild accessions or land races of important crops that are adapted to stressful conditions.
We invite authors to submit papers that include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Literature reviews on the current status of global cereal production and the current and projected limitations and impacts due to abiotic stresses, particularly with an emphasis on the role of climate change ;
• Literature reviews of our current understanding of salt, heat, drought, anoxia, cold perception and signaling, specifically in cereals;
• Manuscripts on novel experimental work that explore mechanisms of abiotic stress perception, tolerance, or avoidance specifically in cereals;
• Manuscripts on novel experimental work that investigate the genetic potential (for example QTLS) that is available to plant breeders or agronomists in land races and wild accessions of cultivated cereal crops.
Keywords: stress, abiotic stress, stress response, stress mitigation, stress tolerance, cereals
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
