1 Introduction. Climate change is leading to increased variability and extremes in environmental conditions, which can trigger abiotic stress responses in plants (Bibi and Rahman, 2023; Eckardt et al., 2023). Environmental stressors such as low or high temperature, drought or flooding, and nutrient deficiency can be hostile to plant growth and development, leading to a significant reduction in crop yield and quality (He et al., 2018; Rai et al., 2021). Defense against stress and active growth ...