Role of Biostimulants for Enhancing Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Fabaceae Plants

Abstract

Plants belong to the family Fabaceae play an important role in sustainable agriculture due to their high protein content and also in maintaining the N2 economy of the soil in semi-arid and arid regions of the world. Presently, the impact of different abiotic and biotic stresses on the plants’ growth and productivity is further accelerated by climate change and has resulted in reduced crop yield. Therefore, identification of physiological and biochemical traits that contribute to enhancing legumes growth and yield under stress conditions is a major challenge for the plant breeders and geneticists. Although the application of biostimulants/biofertilizers have emerged as eco-friendly solutions for tackling these problems. Biostimulant includes diverse substances and microorganisms (Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR), bacterial and fungal endophytes or endosymbionts) which enhance plant growth and productivity, nutrition use efficiency and plant performance under stress conditions. Thus, these microbial bioinoculants play a dual role as biostimulant as well as biocontrol agent when applied to the plants. The global market for biostimulants reached up to $2, 200 million by 2018. Extensive use of these biostimulants in agriculture filed, with particular reference to Fabaceae family, still lack peer-reviewed scientific evaluation. This chapter provides latest advances in the application of plant biostimulants and scientific information related to the nature, mechanism of action and effects of biostimulants on Fabaceae plants under abiotic stress condition.