?This book aims to emphasize on basic concepts of plant growth, acclimation, and their adaptation to environment in changing conditions. The book will provide an updated perspective on the physical/mechanical stress, including biotic and abiotic stress, and induced responses in higher plants. This volume will also include a view of the stress recognition by plants and the cell signaling events triggered as a consequence, and will also address an appraisal of the plant oxidative stress metabolism under those circumstances. The book will explore how soil minerals and microbes are affecting plant growth, including elicitors and novel compounds which stimulate plant growth and the defence mechanisms issued by plants. This volume will also cover an overview on the enzymes which may regulate plant growth, as well as the evidences of the involvement of phytohormones and other signalling molecules in plant growth.

Dr. Dharmendra K. Gupta is Director (S) and Scientist 'F' in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India at New Delhi, India and already published more than 115 refereed research papers/review articles in peer reviewed journals and in books, also edited 18 books from Springer and NOVA publishers. His field of research includes abiotic stress by radionuclides/heavy metals and xenobiotics in plants; antioxidative system in plants, environmental pollution (radionuclides/heavy metals) remediation through plants (phytoremediation). According to google scholar his h-index is 37.           

Prof. José Manuel Palma is Research Professor of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), with expertise on antioxidants and free radicals in plant systems. With more than 140 peer-reviewed research papers published, he has also been editor of five books and several special issues of a number of international impact journals. At present, he is involved in the research of the interaction between nitric oxide and antioxidants during fruit ripening. He leads the research group 'Antioxidants, Free Radicals and Nitric Oxide in Biotechnology, Food and Agriculture' at Estación Experimental del Zaidín (EEZ), CSIC, Granada, Spain. He was Deputy Director and Acting Director of the EEZ (CSIC) in the period 2007-2014, and invited Professor at the University of Granada.