Techniques of Plant Stress Management, Including Genetic Engineering, Agronomic Practices, and the Creation of New Crop Types

Plants are affected by various biotic and abiotic factors that negatively affect their growth and survival. With the constantly evolving climate conditions, innovative solutions are required for plant stress management. Several approaches have showed their role in mitigating the adverse effect of environmental stresses on crop plants. Agronomic management and breeding climate-resilient crop cultivars have become inevitable approaches to cope with the unfavourable environmental conditions. In this book chapter, we explored the potentiality of different strategies to mitigate the impact of environmental stresses on crop plants. The most effective agronomic practices, conventional breeding strategies, and genetic engineering approaches are presented as possible solutions towards managing plant stress. However, relying on one of these approaches may not be sufficient to ensure plant survival in harsh environments. Unfavourable environmental conditions have impact on physiological and molecular level which needs to be addressed as well. Identification of stress-responsive genes and associated defence pathway can minimize the knowledge gap. With the advancements in genome editing techniques, the creation of stress-resilient plants with improved productivity and quality has become significantly easier. By integrating these techniques, we have an opportunity to enhance crop tolerance under challenging environmental conditions for a sustainable future.