Compatible Solute Engineering: An Approach for Plant Growth Under Climate Change

Agriculture is not only a livelihood source but also fulfils the nutritional requirement of humans. To feed the world population increasing at an alarming rate, crop production must be increased. However, crop production is adversely affected by various abiotic factors or changes in climatic conditions worldwide. Climate exhibits a direct impact on the yield of the crop. In stress condition, the physiological state of plants gets altered that ultimately affects the overall growth of plants. Plants exhibit different mechanisms to survive these stress conditions. Plants synthesize and accumulated non-toxic, non-reactive organic compounds to counter the unfavourable conditions, and these compounds are known as compatible solutes. Compatible solutes exhibit beneficial characteristics by which plants could survive in hostile environments. Hereby, we discussed the role of few important compatible compounds and their role in plant growth as well as in different stress conditions. We have also summarized the effect of inducible changes in the compatible solutes on plant growth under different climatic conditions.