ABSTRACT
Smoke and fire have been used in traditional agricultural practices in various plant habitats. Plant-derived smoke has stimulatory effects on a number of plant species. Various plant responses were observed, including seed germination, seedling growth, root initiation, somatic embryogenisis and weed control in a number of plant species. Smoke has thousands of active compounds that act like endogenous plant-growth regulators, including butenolides derivatives and karrikins (KAR). Plant growth is highly affected by various environmental stresses, including high salinity and heavy metals. From an ecological point of view, such stress conditions have damaging effects on crops and result in excessive loss of yield. Overcoming abiotic stresses is a major challenge faced by agronomists and crop physiologists, asthey reduce crop productivity and yield, and ultimately cause economic losses. Smoke dilution (1:500) significantly alleviated salt stress both at the physiological and biochemical level. It could be inferred that smoke has mitigatory effects on the adverse influence of salinity and heavy metals.
