REVIEW
Metabolomics, a step towards understanding environmental stress tolerance of major African cereals
1
Agriculture and Animal Health, University of South Africa (UNISA), Science Campus, Florida, Johannesburg, South Africa
A - Research concept and design; B - Collection and/or assembly of data; C - Data analysis and interpretation; D - Writing the article; E - Critical revision of the article; F - Final approval of article
Submission date: 2024-07-25
Acceptance date: 2024-10-23
Online publication date: 2026-08-21
Corresponding author
Simin Emamzadeh Yazdi
Agriculture and Animal Health, University of South Africa (UNISA), Science Campus, Florida, Johannesburg, South Africa
Agriculture and Animal Health, University of South Africa (UNISA), Science Campus, Florida, Johannesburg, South Africa
Journal of Plant Protection Research 2026;66(3):290-302
HIGHLIGHTS
- Metabolomics is a potential tool for studying plant responses to abiotic stress
- Metabolomics can identify health-promoting metabolites in crops under stress
- Metabolomics develops biostimulants and biocontrols
- Metabolomics illustrates the environmental stress tolerance in cereal crops
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Secondary metabolites isolated from plants are usually complex mixtures consisting of varieties
of active ingredients which need to be characterized. Environmental stresses, including
but not limited to drought and salinity, cause significant challenges to crop growth and
development. These stresses can disrupt various physiological and biochemical processes
within plants, leading to reduced yields and compromised quality of agricultural products
and producing different secondary metabolites. Scientific agronomists can utilize environmental
stresses to optimize crop traits and improve the quality of resilient crop products.
Metabolomics investigations play an important role in identifying the chemical composition
of natural products. This technique is a useful tool in agrochemistry and biocontrol
for crop protection via biostimulation. Metabolomics plays an essential role in decoding
mechanisms of action employed by biostimulants under environmental stresses. It can also
assist in understanding the plant-microorganism interaction and lead to exploring the biocontrol
products under biotic and abiotic stresses in the crop industry. Lipidomics, sensomics,
hormonomics and some other functional metabolomic-based techniques can assist
in improving the quality of stressed crops. This review discusses a metabolomics analysis
of three vital African cereals (maize, rice and wheat) to demonstrate the potential value of
metabolomic investigation in enhancing the nutritional quality and quantity of these cereals
under environmental stresses.
RESPONSIBLE EDITOR
Zuzanna Sawińska
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors have declared that no conflict of interests exist.
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