Plant Soil Environ., 2025, 71(7):453-479 | DOI: 10.17221/137/2025-PSE

An overview and current progress of gibberellic acid-mediated abiotic stress alleviation in plantsReview

Md. Asif Mahamud ORCID...¹, Shahin Imran ORCID...^2,3, Newton Chandra Paul ORCID...², Rakibul Hasan Md. Rabbi ORCID...¹, Noushin Jahan ORCID...², Prosenjit Sarker ORCID...⁴, Md. Najmol Hoque ORCID...⁵, Mousumi Jahan Sumi ORCID...⁶, Md. Asaduzzaman⁷, Shams Ur Rehman ORCID...⁸, Marian Brestic ORCID...^9,10, Viliam Bárek ORCID...¹¹, Milan Skalicky ORCID...¹², Akbar Hossain ORCID...¹³, Mohammad Saidur Rhaman ORCID...¹³

¹ Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Khulna Agricultural University, Khulna, Bangladesh

² Department of Agronomy, Khulna Agricultural University, Khulna, Bangladesh

³ Institute of Plant Science and Resources, Okayama University, Chuo, Kurashiki, Japan

⁴ Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Khulna Agricultural University, Khulna, Bangladesh

⁵ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Khulna Agricultural University, Khulna, Bangladesh

⁶ Department of Crop Botany, Khulna Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh

⁷ Allergy Research Centre, Juntendo University, Tokyo, Japan

⁸ Peking University Institute of Advanced Agricultural Science, Shandong Laboratory of Advanced Agricultural Science at Weifang, Weifang, Shandong, P.R. China

⁹ Institute of Plant and Environmental Science, Slovak University of Agriculture, Nitra, Slovak Republic

¹⁰ College of Life Sciences, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian, P.R. China

¹¹ Institute of Landscape Engineering, Faculty of Horticulture and Landscape Engineering, Slovak University of Agriculture Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic

¹² Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

¹³ Soil Science Division, Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute, Dinajpur, Bangladesh

¹⁴ Department of Seed Science and Technology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh

Abiotic stressors are the main barriers to successful crop production in this era. The balance of redox and metabolic activities in plants is negatively impacted by abiotic stresses, which ultimately limit the plants’ capacity to grow and develop. The phytohormones are tiny molecules that control how plants grow and develop, as well as how they react to alterations in their environment. Phytohormone, gibberellic acid (GA) has been proven in a number of recent research to increase plants’ ability to withstand abiotic stress. By regulating numerous physio-biochemical and molecular processes, GA plays a crucial part in reducing the perturbations caused by abiotic stresses in plants. Recent findings have shown that GA controls the activity of antioxidant enzymes, stress-responsive genes, photosynthetic machinery, and reduced oxidative damage. Besides, GA has been involved in cross-talk with other phytohormones to regulate abiotic stress in plants. This review summarises the current research on the application of GA and discusses how GA might support crop growth and production in adverse conditions. The interaction of GA with other phytohormones, potential mechanisms for reducing abiotic stress in plants, the disadvantages of employing GA, and its promise for the future are also covered in this review.

Keywords: plant growth regulator; salinity; drought; climate change; chlorophyll content

Received: March 31, 2025; Revised: June 24, 2025; Accepted: June 25, 2025; Prepublished online: July 25, 2025; Published: July 31, 2025  Show citation