Work

Decoding Peanut Root Adaptation to Combined Environmental Stresses: Challenging the Single‐Stress Paradigm

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Peanut ( Arachis hypogaea L.), a major food and oilseed legume, is increasingly cultivated under marginal and stress‐prone environments. The complex reality of agricultural systems often involves simultaneous exposure to multiple abiotic and biotic stressors such as drought, salinity, nutrient imbalances, toxic metal accumulation, and pathogenic attacks, posing significant challenges to root development, function, and overall crop productivity. As the primary interface between the plant and its environment, the root system plays a central role in sensing and integrating multifactorial signals, orchestrating physiological and biochemical responses that underpin stress resilience. This review synthesizes current understanding of peanut root responses under combined environmental constraints, emphasizing architectural plasticity, hormonal cross talk, root exudation, rhizosphere interactions, and molecular signaling pathways. Particular attention is given to the nonlinear and often unpredictable nature of stress interactions, which highlights the inadequacy of single‐stress paradigms in fully capturing field‐level realities. Advances in high‐throughput phenotyping, multiomics integration, and predictive modeling using artificial intelligence are presented as transformative tools for decoding the complexity of root adaptation under compound stress scenarios. Moreover, breeding strategies and agronomic interventions aimed at enhancing root system resilience are discussed within the broader context of climate‐smart agriculture. By advocating for a system‐level, multifactorial framework, this review seeks to inform future research and crop improvement efforts aimed at securing sustainable peanut production in the face of escalating environmental challenges.

Source: Applied and Environmental Soil Science

DOI: 10.1155/aess/7002034