Interaction of the Selenium and Silicon with Hormones in Drought Stress Response

Drought is one of the most important environmental factors that hampered agricultural productivity worldwide. Thus, many strategies, such as genetic manipulation and application of attenuator compounds have been used to cope with water deficits. As attenuators, selenium (Se) and silicon (Si) are essential metalloids that have been shown to induce drought stress tolerance in many crops and important signalling molecules in many physiological processes, such as photosynthesis and antioxidant system. Nevertheless, it is not surpring that the effect of Se and Si on plant stress tolerance occurs through their participation in hormonal signaling. In fact, it has been shown that exogenous Se and Si trigger endogenous changes in the hormone’s levels. Furthermore, a complex molecular and biochemical pathway has been shown to be dependent on interaction of Se and Si with hormones, which we discussed in this chapter from important crops grown in drought stress condition.