Abstract:

In order to comprehensively understand the research status of exogenous substances in the field of abiotic stress in plants, we used bibliometric method to search for 1172 high-quality papers in the field of exogenous substances affecting abiotic stress in the Web of Science Core Collection database from 2000 to 2023 under the headings of “stress” and “exogenous”, and we used BibExcel and VOSviewer to analyze the 1172 papers retrieved papers. The results show that Asian countries such as Pakistan, India, and China have contributed the most to this research area, and the institutions with the highest academic output are the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Northwest A&F Univeristy. Since 2018, this research area has shifted from steady growth to a phase of rapid development, the proportion of paper output to the total number of published papers reached 62.1%. Among them, Guo Shirong from Nanjing Agricultural University is the expert in this research area with an H-index of 15. The most studied exogenous substance is melatonin, and microbial-derived plant protectants are expected to be the next hot research direction for abiotic stress mitigation. Through quantitative analysis, this study reveals the research trends and hotspots of exogenous substances to alleviate the effects of crop abiotic stress, provides a reference for maximizing the development of crop yield potential under abiotic stress, and provides valuable clues for future research directions. The existing research on the mechanism of action of exogenous substances is not sufficient. In the future, the mechanism research at the molecular level can be further strengthened, and the development and application of microbial plant protective agents can be further explored.

Key words: abiotic stress, exogenous substances, bibliometrics, BibExcel, VOSviewer