Understanding of effect and mechanism of abiotic stress tolerance in legumes and recent development

The present changing climatic conditions are affecting crop productivity worldwide. The crop growth and productivity are adversely hit by perturbed climatic conditions and climate change. Being sessile, plants are openly exposed to biotic and abiotic stresses which limit the crop productivity. Crop plants exhibit tolerance and susceptibility under adverse conditions through various attributes at different levels like morphological, physiological, biochemical and genetic level, although their magnitude of response varies. Crops responses toward abiotic stresses have increased in the recent years by advancement of technology and understanding of physiology, molecular and genetic level of crops response to these stresses. In the processes of development of stress-tolerant plants, several genes associated tolerance and adaptation get activated leading to modulate several biochemical, physiological and metabolic pathways. Stress also induces the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and subsequently change in signal transduction in the plants switches towards enhancement of antioxidant system. Both abiotic and biotic stresses affect all the physiological processes of the legume plants, especially photosynthesis, respiration, water use efficiency, nutrient use efficiency etc. The activity of cell organelles like mitochondria, chloroplast and vacuoles is also affected by stress. The present study is focusing on the impact of diverse abiotic stresses at different levels in legume crops and changes at physiological, biochemical and molecular level. It also discusses the opportunities to ameliorate the ability of the legumes to enhance abiotic stress tolerance for crop improvement and agriculture sustainability.