book chapter · IntechOpen eBooks
A rapidly expanding human population requires increased food production amid a changing climate, where abiotic factors such as heat stress and temperature fluctuations constrain crop yields. Maize productivity is vulnerable to temperature shifts, and yield losses are projected to rise due to higher growing-season temperatures. Addressing this requires breeding maize hybrids that tolerate both heat and drought stresses while maintaining grain yields. High-temperature stress alters plant physiological and biochemical processes, directly impacting yield components. External applications of protectants, antioxidants, and signalling molecules can induce heat tolerance in maize. These treatments assist plants by scavenging reactive oxygen species, upregulating antioxidant enzymes, and protecting cellular membranes through the accumulation of compatible osmolytes. Improving knowledge of these physiological mechanisms supports the creation of heat-tolerant cultivars to secure food and feed supplies.
Maize is a critical staple for human consumption and animal feed, but rising seasonal temperatures increasingly threaten harvest volumes. Clarifying how heat stress damages plant biology and discovering how protective chemical applications counteract this damage helps researchers safeguard harvests. This knowledge is essential for sustaining crop yields and ensuring food security in the face of ongoing global climatic changes.
The findings inform crop protection companies and commercial plant breeders aiming to protect harvests against warming climates. Identified pathways point toward two distinct applications: the development of sprayable agrochemical protectants using antioxidants or signalling molecules, and marker-assisted breeding of heat-tolerant hybrid seeds. Because the abstract outlines broad physiological mechanisms and experimental interventions, this work sits at an early research stage, requiring focused formulation, field testing, and agronomic trials before market deployment.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
The rapidly increasing human population is an alarming issue and would need more food production under changing climate. Abiotic stresses like heat stress and temperature fluctuation are becoming key issues to be addressed for boosting crop production. Maize growth and productivity are sensitive to temperature fluctuations. Grain yield losses in maize from heat stress are expected to increase owing to higher temperatures during the growing season. This situation demands the development of maize hybrids tolerant to heat and drought stresses without compromising grain yield under stress conditions. The chapter aimed to assess the updates on the influence of high-temperature stress (HTS) on the physio-biochemical processes in plants and to draw an association between yield components and heat stress on maize. Moreover, exogenous applications of protectants, antioxidants, and signaling molecules induce HTS tolerance in maize plants and could help the plants cope with HTS by scavenging reactive oxygen species, upregulation of antioxidant enzymes, and protection of cellular membranes by the accrual of compatible osmolytes. It is expected that a better thought of the physiological basis of HTS tolerance in maize plants will help to develop HTS maize cultivars. Developing HTS-tolerant maize varieties may ensure crops production sustainability along with promoting food and feed security under changing climate.
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.92396
Is something wrong with this record? Report it or request removal.
Discussion
Have you built on this work, tried to replicate it, or seen it applied in practice? Share what you know. Verified researchers and MARATTO™ domain experts can open a discussion, and any member can reply. Contributions are reviewed before they appear.
No discussion yet. Open the first thread.
New to MARATTO™? Create a free account.
