Biostimulants for Crop Production and Sustainable Agriculture

Agricultural biostimulants are a group of substances or microorganisms, based on natural resources, that are applied to plants or soils to improve nutrient uptake and plant growth, and provide better tolerance to various stresses. Their function is to stimulate the natural processes of plants, or to enrich the soil microbiome to improve plant growth, nutrition, abiotic and/or biotic stress tolerance, yield and quality of crop plants. Interest in plant biostimulants has been on the rise over the past 10 years, driven by the growing interest of researchers and farmers in environmentally-friendly tools for improved crop performance. Improved crop production technologies are urgently needed to meet the growing demand for food for the ever-increasing global population by addressing the impacts of changing climate on agriculture. This book is of interest to researchers in agriculture, agronomy, crop and plant science, soil science and environmental science.