Waterlogging stress in cotton: Damage, adaptability alleviation strategies, and mechanisms

Over the last few decades, waterlogging stress has increasingly threatened global cotton production. Waterlogging results in reduced soil oxygen, impairing the growth and development of this valuable crop and often resulting in severe yield loss or crop failure. However, as cotton has an indeterminate growth habit, it is able to adapt to waterlogging stress by activating three mechanisms: the escape, quiescence, and self-regulating compensation mechanisms. The escape mechanism includes accelerated growth, formation of adventitious roots, and production of aerenchyma. The quiescence mechanism involves reduced biomass accumulation and energy dissipation via physiological, biochemical, and molecular events. The self-regulation compensation mechanism allows plants to exploit their indeterminate growth habit and compensatory growth ability by accelerating growth and development following relief from waterlogging stress. We review how the growth and development of cotton is impaired by waterlogging, focusing on the three strategies associated with tolerance and adaptation to the stress. We discuss agronomic measures and prospects for mitigating the adverse effects of waterlogging stress. (C) 2020 Crop Science Society of China and Institute of Crop Science, CAAS. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.

Automated summary

Waterlogging stress poses a threat to global cotton production, but cotton can adapt to this pressure through mechanisms such as escape, quiescence, and self-regulating compensation. These mechanisms involve accelerated growth, formation of adventitious roots, production of aerenchyma, reduced biomass accumulation, and compensatory growth ability. Studying the impact of waterlogging on cotton growth and development, as well as strategies and prospects for addressing this stress.