Plant Tolerance to Environmental Stress ― Role of Phytoprotectants

Global climate change affects crop production through altered weather patterns and increased environmental stresses. Such stresses include soil salinity, drought, flooding, metal/metalloid toxicity, pollution, and extreme temperatures. The variability of these environmental conditions pared with the sessile lifestyle of plants contribute to high exposure to these stress factors. Increasing tolerance of crop plants to abiotic stresses is needed to fulfill increased food needs of the population.

This book focuses on methods of improving plants tolerance to abiotic stresses. It provides information on how protective agents, including exogenous phytoprotectants, can mitigate abiotic stressors affecting plants. The application of various phytoprotectants has become one of the most effective approaches in enhancing the tolerance of plants to these stresses. Phytoprotectants are discussed in detail including information on osmoprotectants, antioxidants, phytohormones, nitric oxide, polyamines, amino acids, and nutrient elements of plants.

Providing a valuable resource of information on phytoprotectants, this book is useful in diverse areas of life sciences including agronomy, plant physiology, cell biology, environmental sciences, and biotechnology.

Mirza Hasanuzzaman is a Professor of Agronomy at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. In 2012, he received his PhD on ‘Plant Stress Physiology and Antioxidant Metabolism’ from the United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Ehime University, Japan with Japanese Government (MEXT) Scholarship. Later, he completed his postdoctoral research in Center of Molecular Biosciences (COMB), University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan with ‘Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)’ postdoctoral fellowship. Subsequently, he joined as Adjunct Senior Researcher at the University of Tasmania with Australian Government’s Endeavour Research Fellowship. He joined as a Lecturer in the Department of Agronomy, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University in June 2006. He was promoted to Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor in June 2008, June 2013, and June 2017, respectively. Prof. Hasanuzzaman has been devoting himself in research in the field of Crop Science, especially focused on Environmental Stress Physiology since 2004. He has been performing as team leader/principal investigator of different projects funded by World Bank, FAO, University Grants Commission of Bangladesh, Ministry of Science and Technology (Bangladesh) and so on.

Prof. Hasanuzzaman published over 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals and books. He has edited 2 books and written 35 book chapters on important aspects of plant physiology, plant stress responses, and environmental problems in relation to plant species. These books were published by the internationally renowned publishers (Springer, Elsevier, CRC Press, Wiley, etc.). His publications got over 2000 citations with h-index: 23 (according to Scopus). Prof. Mirza Hasanuzzaman is a research supervisor of undergraduate and graduate students and supervised 20 M.S. students so far. He is Editor and Reviewer of more than 50 peer reviewed international journals and recipient of ‘Publons Peer Review Award 2017’. Dr. Hasanuzzaman is active member of about 40 professional societies and acting as Publication Secretary of Bangladesh Society of Agronomy. He has been honored by different authorities due to his outstanding performance in different fields like research and education. He received the World Academy of Science (TWAS) Young Scientist Award 2014. He attended and presented 25 papers and posters in national and international conferences in different countries (USA, UK, Germany, Australia, Japan, Austria, Sweden, Russia, etc.).

Masayuki Fujita is a Professor in the Laboratory of Plant Stress Responses, Faculty of Agriculture, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan. He received his B.Sc. in Chemistry from Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, and M.Agr. and Ph.D. in plant biochemistry from Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan. His research interests include physiological, biochemical, and molecular biological responses based on secondary metabolism in plants under various abiotic and biotic stresses; phytoalexin, cytochrome P450, glutathione S-transferase, and phytochelatin; and redox reaction and antioxidants. In the last decade his works were focused on oxidative stress and antioxidant defense in plants under environmental stress. His group investigates the role of different exogenous protectants in enhancing antioxidant defense and methylglyoxal detoxification systems in plants. He has supervised 4 M.S. students and 13 PhD students as main supervisor. He has about 150 publications in journal and books and has edited 4 books.

Hirosuke Oku is a Professor in the Center of Molecular Biosciences at the Tropical Biosphere Research Center in University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan. He obtained Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from University of the Ryukyus in 1980. He received his PhD in Biochemistry from Kyushu University, Japan in 1985. In the same year he started his career as Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Agriculture, University of the Ryukyus. He became Professor in 2009. He received several prestigious awards and medals including the Encouragement Award of Okinawa Research (1993) and Encouragement Award of Japanese Society of Nutrition and Food Science (1996). Prof. Oku is the group leader of the Molecular Biotechnology Group of the Center of Center of Molecular Biosciences at University of the Ryukyus, His research works focused on the Lipid Biochemistry; molecular aspects of phytomedicine; secondary metabolites biosynthesis and abiotic stress tolerance of the tropical forest trees. He has about ten PhD students and over 20 M.S. students. Prof. Oku has over 50 peer-reviewed publications in his record.

M. Tofazzal Islam is a Professor of the Department of Biotechnology of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University in Bangladesh. He did his MS and Ph D in Applied Biosciences at Hokkaido University in Japan. Dr. Islam received postdoctoral research experiences at Hokkaido University, University of Goettingen, University of Nottingham and West Virginia University under the JSPS, Alexander von Humboldt, Commonwealth, and Fulbright Fellowships, respectively. He published articles in many international journals and book series (>200 peer-reviewed articles, total citation 1,664, h index 22, i10-index 48; RG score 39.06). Dr. Islam was awarded many prizes and medals including Bangladesh Academy of Science Gold Medal in 2011, University Grants Commission Bangladesh Awards in 2004 and 2008, and Best Young Scientist Award 2003 from the JSBBA. Prof. Islam is the Chief Editor of a book series, Bacillus and Agrobiotechnology publishes by Springer. His research interests include genomics, genome editing, plant probiotics and novel biologicals, and bioactive natural products.