ABSTRACT
Mineral stress causes lower crop yield worldwide. Minerals can be categorized as essential or non-essential for plants. The plant utilizes essential minerals such as copper, iron, nickel and zinc at an optimal level, and both deficiency and excessiveness are problematic for plants. On the other hand, non-essential metals such as cadmium, cobalt, aluminum, arsenic, chromium, lead and mercury can disturb biochemical and physiological processes and decrease plant growth and productivity even at very low concentrations. To cope with stresses, plants adopt a wide range of physiological and biochemical mechanisms at the cellular level. Many plants accumulate a higher amount of organic solutes in response to stress conditions. Organic solutes are tiny, neutral, highly soluble organic compounds that can sustain osmotic equilibrium and stabilize proteins and cell membranes. This chapter highlights the crucial functions of organic solutes against mineral stress.
