Crops and other plants are constantly faced with adverse environmental conditions, such as rising temperatures (2014 was the warmest year on record) and lessening fresh water supplies, which lower yield and cost farmers billions of dollars annually.\u00a0Drought is a major environmental stress factor affecting plant growth and development.\u00a0 When plants encounter drought, they naturally produce abscisic acid (ABA), a stress hormone that inhibits plant growth and reduces water consumption.\u00a0 Specifically, the hormone turns on a receptor (special protein) in plants when it binds to the receptor like a hand fitting into a glove, resulting in beneficial changes \u2013 such as the closing of guard cells on leaves, called stomata, to reduce water loss \u2013 that help the plants survive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-65225","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n