ABSTRACT
Environmental conditions that adversely affect the growth, survival, and fertility of plants are known as abiotic stress. These include extreme temperatures, soil salinity, acidity, or alkalinity, nutrient deficiencies, drought, floods, reduced light level, excess of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and so on. It is well known that abiotic stresses affect the productivity of crops by triggering a series of physiological, biochemical, morphological, and molecular fluctuations, but how they alter the nutritional matrix has not been addressed yet. Here, we comprehensively elaborated and conceptually explained the effect of different abiotic stresses on altering nutritional profiles. More than just altering the nutritional quality, the modified profile also affects the processing quality and the potential for the formation of processing contaminants, such as acrylamide, furan, hydroxymethylfurfuryl, and trans fatty acids. The chemical composition of the matrix is dynamically altered during stress in terms of its concentration as well as its activity, with a few common patterns along with some distinct signatures. Integrated approaches including metabolome and transcriptome analysis have unraveled quantitative trait loci (QTLs)controlling specific metabolites involved and assisted in developing smart superior cultivars tolerant to abiotic stress conditions. Understanding the altered nutritional landscape under different abiotic stresses might help agronomists and breeders to develop strategies for producing smart food crops with superior tolerance and nutrition in future.
