**1. Introduction**

Climate change is a reality that we must address using technology, scientific knowledge, and economic and social policies that modify the relationship between human society and its environment. Climate change already represents a multifaceted challenge for the sustainable production of food, for health, and in general for the culture and current patterns of level and quality of life of humans [1]. In the particular case of food production through field crops (cereals, oilseeds, vegetables, etc.), the expected scenarios indicate the increasingly frequent occurrence of unfavorable climatic events to agricultural production. This non-benign scenario forces the agricultural production processes to be modified and adjusted to a new reality [2].

With the climate change process, adverse scenarios for agriculture and in general for the production of foods, fibers, and other plant-derived raw materials are seen more complicated by the greater intensity of stress-inducing events, their increasingly unpredictable nature, and the correlation with biotic-type stresses [8]. This manuscript describes a set of agronomic practices and tolerance induction techniques aimed at improving productivity, yield, and crop quality within an integrated soil-plant management strategy that takes into account both the highest intensity as well as the greater variety of environmental

Tolerance-Induction Techniques and Agronomical Practices to Mitigate Stress in Extensive Crops…

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.71771

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In plants for cultivation, stress always occurs in a combined form, that is to say, there is not a single type of stress in isolation [9, 10]. It is known that in the scope of the description of the transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome, the combination of different stresses gives rise to different response profiles to those observed in the case of individual stress [8, 11]. That is, from a molecular point of view, the combination of two or more stresses generates a unique expression profile, which has made difficult the progress in obtaining transgenic crops with

However, when moving from the molecular scale to the areas of cellular and physiologicalmorphological description, biochemical and process-modulated responses to multiple abiotic stresses present typical responses to different stresses and their combinations. Among these are the induction of antioxidants, signaling molecules, chelating agents, compatible solutes, or osmolytes, specific hormone balances, chaperone proteins, regulation of the amount of N and foliar chlorophyll, control of stomatal opening and photosynthetic activity, induction of energy dissipation activities such as photorespiration and xanthophyll cycle and changes in

The induction of responses to one or more stresses activates a series of defense responses that have been described in the molecular, cellular or physiological-morphological domain. When a seed, seedling or plant is subjected to a stress stimulus with a degree of intensity that does not cause extensive damage in individuals, or when the concentration of one or more of the metabolites involved in responses to stress (antioxidants, osmolytes, etc.) is increased by means of exogenous applications or genetic manipulation, a phenomenon of partial activation of plant defenses occurs known as *hardening*, which allows that a post-stress exposure to cause minor damage to plants. When hardening occurs by prior exposure to a different type of stress, it is referred to as *cross-resistance*. The hardening technique has been widely reported

It is likely that the defense responses, which initially manifest at the level subcellular, and organelles, but with a later impact on the physiological-morphological domain of the whole organism, depend on changes in cellular redox balance, which are the result of oxidative damage and disorganization of the energy transfer and information network which obeys

stresses.

**2. Responses to multiple stresses**

tolerance to multiple stresses [12].

growth rate and root/shoot ratios, among others [13, 14].

as a mechanism of induction of stress tolerance.

Different techniques of agricultural production, such as the use of protected spaces (greenhouses, shade cloth, tunnels, and mulching) [3], modern genetic modification techniques [4], the implementation of translational processes based on systems biology [5], and the largescale implementation of vertical farms and plant factories [6] can provide some of the food needed for the growing human population. However, at this time getting the calories, minerals and fiber necessary for the feeding of humans and their domestic animals are still an enterprise carried out almost entirely on soils in the open field [3].

The shift to a system where 100% of the food for the population is produced on vertical farms and plant factories implies a profound change in the culture and food processes, such as reducing or eliminating meat consumption and food waste, among others [3]. Considering the above, it seems that crop production will still occur mostly using soils in open field production systems, so the expected greater magnitude of the stress associated with climate change does not seem to have a solution that depends entirely on the crop under protected conditions.

In any case, even with the expectation of having robotic systems, automation and abundant sources of energy, whether food production is carried out in the field, in a laboratory, or on a vertical farm or plant factory, in all the mentioned situations should be applied the concepts of sustainable production, care of natural resources, mitigation of environmental impact and pollution, since by definition any industrial process will have an impact on the environment [7]. On the other hand, even advanced industrial systems for food production such as vertical farms and plant factories depend on supplies such as water of a certain quality, high humidity in the air and an adequate range of temperatures for their cost-effective management, whose availability most likely will be dependent on processes associated with climate change and the modification of environmental services.

On the other hand, under climatic change, the adjustments in the traditional patterns of distribution of precipitation, temperature, and atmospheric humidity, among others, are inevitable. It is possible that a modification in the form of new climatic conditions will be reached at a global level, which will inevitably prevail over a period that may be extensive on a human scale, but fleet at the scale of the climatic processes of the terrestrial system. Such an adjustment surely involves winners and losers as to the circumstances of food production in some regions [2].

With the climate change process, adverse scenarios for agriculture and in general for the production of foods, fibers, and other plant-derived raw materials are seen more complicated by the greater intensity of stress-inducing events, their increasingly unpredictable nature, and the correlation with biotic-type stresses [8]. This manuscript describes a set of agronomic practices and tolerance induction techniques aimed at improving productivity, yield, and crop quality within an integrated soil-plant management strategy that takes into account both the highest intensity as well as the greater variety of environmental stresses.
