Role of Exogenously Applied Plant Growth Regulators in Growth and Development of Edible Oilseed Crops Under Variable Environmental Conditions: a Review

Oilseed crops are globally cultivated for their oil. These hold an important determinant of the agricultural economy of the world. However, abiotic constraints like drought, heavy metal, salinity and temperature adversely affect the growth, yield and quality of oilseed crops like other crops across the globe. To improve their growth and productivity under both normal and constraint conditions, use of plant growth regulators (PGRs) holds a foremost position. PGRs are chemicals that mediate various growth, physio-biochemical and developmental processes under normal conditions and also stress tolerance mechanisms under stressful environment. Keeping the pronounced roles of PGRs in varied environment in view, the present article is aimed on the effect of PGRs particularly abscisic acid, auxins, brassinosteroids, cytokinins, ethylene, gibberellins, jasmonates, polyamines and salicylic acid on the performance of the preferred edible oilseeds, namely groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, soybean, sunflower, sesame and safflower under normal and abiotic stress conditions. This article also enlightens the mode of action of PGRs and their separate and interactive role in regulating the various responses in counteracting the abiotic stress-induced perturbations in edible oilseed crop plants. Moreover, this article is based on the survey of available literature for the last two decades.