Stress

“How much does this glass of water weight”

In the fable of “How much does this glass of water weigh?”, It is concluded as a moral that the weight of the glass does not matter, but how long I can hold it with my arm. Transferring this fable to the environment that concerns us suppose the following; the glass of water is the stress and the crop plants is the arm. Of the latter, the physiological condition and its management will determine the time and the way in which it can resist and cope with stressful tension and consequently the effect of tension on performance.

Two is more stress ────

We define stress as a stimulus that is outside the normal-functional range in a given organism. If it is exceeded, different mechanisms are activated and once stress is controlled, a new physiological state is established and homeostasis is restored. When the stress is removed, the plant can return to the original state or to a new physiological situation.

Plants are continuously exposed to a wide range of environmental stresses. The main abiotic stresses that affect plants and crops in the field include drought, salinity, heat, cold, frost, nutrient deficiencies, high light intensity, ozone (O3), and anaerobic stresses (Wang et al., 2003).

Although the subject of stress is studied a lot, it is important to point out that field conditions are different from those in the laboratory. Under natural conditions, combinations of two or more stresses occur, such as; drought and salinity, salinity and heat, and combinations of drought with extreme temperature or high light intensity, this is common in many agricultural areas around the world and affects crop productivity.

In addition to abiotic stresses, under natural conditions, plants face the threat of infection by pathogens (including bacteria, fungi, viruses and nematodes) and attack by pests. The habitat of pests and pathogens is influenced by climatic changes. For example, increasing temperatures facilitates the spread of pathogens, many abiotic stress conditions weaken the defense mechanisms of plants and increase their susceptibility to infection by microorganisms. (Atkinson and Urwin, 2012).

The combination ────

The crops that grow in our fields, therefore, are likely to be exposed to a greater range and number of abiotic and biotic conditions, or their combination.

Since different stresses are more likely to occur simultaneously under field conditions, more effort should be made to mimic these conditions in laboratory studies. In 2002 and 2004, it was revealed that the molecular response of plants to a combination of drought and heat stress is unique and cannot be directly extrapolated from the response of plants to drought or individually applied heat stress (Rizhsky et al., 2004). Since then, many studies have discovered the responses of plants to different combinations of stresses involving drought, salinity, extreme temperature, heavy metals, UV radiation, high luminosity, O3, CO2, soil compaction and biotic stress.

These studies demonstrated that, despite a certain degree of overlap, each stress condition requires a unique response mechanism, tailored to the specific needs of the plant, and that each combination of two or more different stresses may also require a specific response.

In addition, the simultaneous occurrence of different stresses, both biotic and abiotic, result in a high degree of complexity in the responses of the plant. As the responses to these combined stresses are largely controlled by different pathways and signals that can interact and inhibit each other (photosynthesis, transcription, respiration, antioxidant mechanisms, responses to pathogens, hormonal signaling, and osmolyte synthesis (Rasmussen et al., 2013).

The ability of plants to recognize and respond to a specific stress or combination is important when those individual stresses could have a more negative effect on plant growth and reproduction.

Vile et al. (2012) analyzed the effects of drought, heat and their combination in Arabidopsis. Plant growth was significantly reduced in both stress, and their combination resulted in even more damaging. The combined effects of these two stresses were additive, suggesting a certain degree of independence between the mechanisms that regulate plant responses to drought or heat.

Nutrient deficiency could pose a serious problem for plants when combined with other stresses, because energy and resources are required for the acclimatization response and micronutrients are essential for the activation of many free radical scavenging enzymes.

Some stress combinations can have beneficial effects on plants, when compared to each of the individual stresses applied separately. Drought stress, for example, would cause a reduction in stomatal conductance, thus improving the tolerance of plants to high concentrations of ozone (O3).

Conclusion ────

The ideal condition for the development of a field crop is just that, ideal. It is important to address the issue of climate change, which in the first instance affects the condition of the crop and directly detracts from the yield. There are several strategies to mitigate these effects and among them stand out the i) new varieties that should be tolerant to more than one stressor, ii) predictive physiological management against stress, iii) design and use of tools that prevent stress damage and favor the recovery of the crop, iv) know and identify stress and the combination of stressors to comprehensively address the effects of climate change, with the aim that the glass of water can be held in the arm for longer.

Bibliografía

Wang W, Vinocur B, Altman A. 2003. Plant responses to drought, salinity and extreme temperatures: towards genetic engineering for stress tolerance. Planta 218: 1–14.

Atkinson NJ, Urwin PE. 2012. The interaction of plant biotic and abiotic stresses: from genes to the field. Journal of Experimental Botany 63: 3523–3543

Rizhsky L, et al . 2004. When defense pathways collide. The response of Arabidopsis to a combination of drought and heat stress. Plant Physiology 134: 1683–1696.

ECCA Solutions

Antistress Biostimulant

Promotes rapid recovery and reestablishment of post-stress metabolism.

Its continuous use:

  • Recovers crops after handling stress.
  • Reestablishes crop vigor after transplanting or dormant periods.
  • Prevents and corrects disorders caused by poor carbon metabolism, example: spring fever.
  • Reduces phytotoxicity caused by inappropriate applications of agrochemicals.

Potato crop affected by hail, condition prior to the ATP UP program

8 days after App

23 days after App

Application of ATP-UP in jalapeño pepper cultivation. Agricultural “Villa Unión”, 2015.

Greater recovery to stress induced by low temperatures with the application of ATP-UP in jalapeño pepper cultivation. Agricultural “Guadalupe de Guaymas”, Sonora, 2015.

Higher nº of rebounds

Tomato after transplant

Witness

10 days after Atp up applications

Stress caused by herbicide application on Saladette tomato

Global Notes

International Berries Congress

During this year Innovak continues to evolve in the field of Mexico and the world through various specialization events in crops. Last October Guadalajara, Jalisco received important producers from Mexico and the world at the International Berries Congress at the Krystal Urban Hotel.

With the aim of sharing constant innovation in technologies, demonstrations and knowledge of experts on the subject, the congress began with topics such as metagenomics in crops, hydroponic technologies, root activation and biostimulation.

The event concluded with a tour of a Berries field in the state of Jalisco and the coexistence was present among our guests at the close of the event with a visit to the Magical Town of Tequila.

Expo Agroalimentaria 2017

Innovak Global had the opportunity to participate in Expo Agroalimentaria 2017 that was held in Irapuato, Gto, Mexico in order to provide information to learn about the latest in agricultural production systems and commercialization of products for the sector.

The Innovak team was divided by serving visitors from various parts of the country and the world.

International Avocado Congress

Innovak Global as specialists in Root, has the primary objective of updating the knowledge of RDR technology, which is focused on the root and its environment.

Technology that investigates, knows and develops tools to biostimulate plants from the roots.

Chiclayo, Peru was the venue for the Innovak Global 2017 International Avocado Congress, an event with which this year’s specialization events by crop were concluded.

Guests from Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru attended the congress where international exhibitors updated the guests on Regulation of Root Dynamics, Biostimulation and Field Experiences.

CAPCA Show

CAPCA Show was held in Reno, Nevada from October 15-17

In this event Innovak Global and its Nutri Cal brand was present among the most important producers in the United States, strengthening and creating new alliances, providing more and better solutions to American agriculture.