ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to emphasize how the altered phenotypic and physiological characteristics are linked to the different signalling pathways during drought stress with special reference to phytohormone signalling. It highlights the different morphological and physiological changes that occur in response to drought stress. The chapter focuses on the signal transduction pathways of important phytohormones which function as sophisticated adaptive strategies for drought tolerance in planta. Drought tolerance and/or avoidance are important adaptive responses in plants which trigger alterations in several morphological features and physiological processes as an attempt to survive under water scarcity. Drought stress also severely affects growth and development in plants, thus hampering biomass production. The application of exogenous Salicylic acid can improve drought tolerance in plants, including increased antioxidant enzyme activities and decreased lipid peroxidation levels and membrane damage as well as protection of nitrate reductase activity under drought conditions.
