Brassinosteroids: Key Players to Improve Drought Tolerance and Crop Productivity
Inzamam-Ul-Haq, Muhammad, Khan, Imran, Chattha, Muhammad Umer, Nawaz, Muhammad, Shah, Adnan Noor, Ercisli, Sezai, Algopishi, Uthman Balgith, Abbas, Fatima M., Hashem, Mohamed, Iqbal, Muhammad Mahmood, Hassan, Muhammad Umair
Drought stress (DS) seriously threatens crop productivity, and its intensity is rapidly increasing due to climate change. This necessitates the investigation of unique strategies to improve crop resilience. Drought causes significant growth and yield losses by imposing oxidative damages, damaging photosynthetic apparatus, membranes stability and decreasing chlorophyll synthesis, water, and nutrient uptake. Brassinosteroids (BRs) are a group of plant hormones that possess an appreciable potential in improving DS in plants. They modulates plant molecular and physiological functioning, regulates stomata movements, gene expression, and osmotic adjustments contributing to increase in drought tolerance. Besides this BRs also maintain hormonal balance and increase osmolyte synthesis which protects plants against DS. This review thoroughly analyzes the role of BR-mediated mechanisms to enhance drought tolerance. The potential challenges and future directions for the potential of BRs in agricultural practices is also discussed. This review also rovides valuable visions for future research to enhance crop production under rising DS.
- Journal
- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PLANT PRODUCTION
- Year
- 2026
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 1735-6814
- eISSN
- 1735-8043
- DOI
- 10.1007/s42106-026-00421-2
- WoS UID
- WOS:001702655100001