Temperature Rising Patterns and Insights into the Impacts of Consequent Heat Stress on Edible Plants

Rapid urbanization and land-use transition contribute to the rise in the thermal scale of cities as well as small towns and villages worldwide. The equilibrium between the incoming solar energy and the outgoing terrestrial energy regulates the temperature. Nevertheless, the temperature, as we know, varies from place to place, and it also affects the natural processes as well as surrounding flora and fauna. On the other hand, temperature beyond the physiologically optimal limit is called high temperature that adversely affects the growth and development of plants as it has significant impacts on both the vegetative and reproductive phases of the plant life cycle. The extremely high temperature is referred to as heat stress which is reported as one of the devastating abiotic stressors. In plants, heat stress triggers various morphophysiological changes in plants that affect their growth and economic outcomes via accelerating reactive oxygen species generation, reduced carbon assimilation, degradation and denaturation of proteins, lipid peroxidation of membranes, etc. Several conventional and modern strategies have been employed to resolve heat stress-induced damages in plants. Therefore, the present work is an outcome of extensive literature focused on the factors responsible for temperature variations’ patterns, morphophysiological responses of crops, and impacts on the economic yields of edible plants.

Keywords: Heat stress, Germination, Growth and development, Physiological responses, Sustainable crop production.