Brassinosteroid-mediated pesticide detoxification in plants: A mini-review

Abstract

To protect crops from pests, pesticides are used. Pesticides also cause toxicity to crop plants and persist in plant parts in the form of pesticide residues. Brassinosteroids (BRs) are known for their protective role in plants under various abiotic stresses like heavy metal, drought, temperature, pesticide etc. BRs ameliorate pesticide toxicity in intact plants by activating the antioxidative defence system. BRs also enhance the degradation of pesticides that leads to reduction in pesticide residues in plant parts. Present review gives an updated information about the protective roles of BRs in plants and the underlying mechanisms under pesticide stress.