Role of plant nutritional balance under combined abiotic stress conditions, and stress mitigation strategies

ABSTRACT Climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme temperature events, irregular rainfall patterns and periods of water deficit, which alter soil properties and limit crop performance. These factors often occur simultaneously with other adverse conditions, generating multifactorial stress scenarios that pose a major challenge for agricultural systems. This review examines the reduction and degradation of cropland during the first quarter of the 21 st century. Despite this trend, global agricultural productivity has increased in recent decades, largely due to improved knowledge of crop nutrition and fertilization management, as well as the development of strategies aimed at mitigating abiotic stress. However, the interaction between plant nutritional status and stress tolerance remains insufficiently understood. Nutrient availability influences plant resilience, and regulatory hubs such as the TOR–SnRK1–HXK network play a key role in integrating nutrient sensing with stress-response pathways. Recent advances in stress-mitigation strategies are also reviewed and classified into four main groups: (1) agronomic and management practices, including grafting and crop management adjustments; (2) bio-based approaches, such as microbial inoculants and biostimulants; (3) genetic and molecular breeding tools, including marker-assisted selection; and (4) integrated technological approaches, such as high-throughput plant phenotyping. Future research should prioritize the evaluation of these strategies under combined stress conditions that better represent current field scenarios. In addition, studies should explicitly consider non-optimal nutritional environments, assessing the effects of both nutrient deficiencies and excesses on plant performance under multifactorial stress.