PriMera Scientific Engineering (ISSN: 2834-2550)

Comprehensive Review

Volume 8 Issue 1

A Comprehensive Review of Abiotic Stress Responses in Rice with Special Emphasis on Climate Change and Heavy Metal Toxicity

Sourish Karmakar*, Dibyendu Panja and Saurav Bhattacharya

January 05, 2026

DOI : 10.56831/PSEN-08-244

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Abstract

Micro RNA molecules are one of the millions of biomolecules that control the genetic information in an organism. In general, this food is being equally affected in the yields and production through water rationing due to heat resulting from climate change. Regarding stress response, the rice plant has several types of responses to various stress such as stress due to salinity, heavy metal toxicity or drought stress. It also inclines on the level of polluting rice fields by heavy metals that are potentially damaging to bones of skeleton humans. Another method which may be of some use is what is termed as phytoremediation or else the preservation of the soil in such manner that it becomes unsuitable for the heavy metals to absorb them as rice plants do. Due to the many factors that affect food production, there is a big chance for inter-sectorial endeavor, with policy makers, researchers, producers, and consumers. These pollutants are easily transported from their sources whether natural or industrial into the soil, and impact on the quality of the soil and on its production capacity. Besides human life, presence of the pollutants in the atmosphere is equally a threat to life of all form in a chain of food pyramid. It pollutes water, its concentrated form impacts negatively on plant and other forms of life. The pollutants that are likely to affect rice plants include; arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury pollutants as discussed above. Almost all the plants develop a way of guarding themselves in case of scenarios where they have to undergo metal chelating processes. It has been involved in controlling gene expression under stress in plants as well as animals. Concerning biotic stress factors, the diseases are likely to affect the Japonica rice whilst for the abiotic stress factors, the rice is sensitive to the effect of heavy metals. Climate conditions and international changes may cause the yield of rice in the end. Various abiotic stresses such as heat stress, cold, drought, salinity, and high level of several heavy metals are commonly reported to reduce yield in indica rice varieties. This brings us to the question of how the stress can be reduced for rice production and this include the sustainable practices that should be practiced in the agricultural sector.

Keywords: Rice (Oryza sativa); Abiotic stress; Climate change; Heavy metal toxicity; Salinity stress; Drought stress; Heat stress; Cold stress; MicroRNAs (miRNAs); Stress-responsive genes; Phytoremediation; Soil contamination; Molecular mechanisms; Antioxidant defense; Gene expression; Climate-resilient rice varieties; Japonica and Indica rice; Food security

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