Using Stimulants to Improve Plant Health: From Stress to Strength

Using Stimulants to Improve Plant Health examines biostimulants, chemical growth regulators, and phytohormones as levers to bolster plant resilience and productivity under abiotic and biotic stress. It outlines the physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms that enable these agents to enhance tolerance to adverse soil and weather conditions and highlights cutting-edge advances in nanotechnology and precision agriculture.

With applied guidance insights, sample protocols, and real-world case studies, readers learn how to integrate stimulant-based strategies into operations―from smallholder farms to large-scale production―while prioritizing financially sound and ecologically responsible practices.

Structured into 16 chapters, each surveying a specific class of bioactive compounds and their modes of action, with practical agricultural applications, this authoritative volume will be invaluable to researchers, agronomists, extension professionals, and plant biologists dedicated to promoting plant health, achieving greater robustness and yield outcomes.

• Translates complex science into field-ready guidance that helps optimize strategies and strengthen crop performance in diverse agricultural contexts
• Enables cost-conscious decision-making by providing scalable, evidence-based metrics and protocols that support ROI-focused planning and sustainable input use
• Bridges research and practice by presenting real-world case studies and implementation frameworks that accelerate adoption, enhance producer confidence, and foster cross-disciplinary collaboration

Arafat Abdel Hamed Abdel Latef is a Professor of Plant Physiology, Department of Botany and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Qena University, Qena, Egypt. He received his BSc in 1998, MSc in 2003, and PhD in 2005 from South Valley University, Egypt. Prof. Arafat has published over 90 research/review articles in high-quality international and local journals. He has edited one book for Academic Press (Elsevier), two books for CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC, and four books for Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg. He has also published 28 book chapters in international volumes including John Wiley and Sons Inc., Taylor & Francis Group, Academic Press (Elsevier), and Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg.

Prof. Arafat is the recipient of the ParOwn 1207 Post Doctor Fellowship 2007 granted by the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, which was carried out at the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China. He serves on the editorial board and guest editor of prestigious journals such as BMC Plant Biology, Frontiers in Plant Science, Plants-Basel, and Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany. Furthermore, he is an expert reviewer for over 140 international journals. Prof. Arafat was one of the world’s top 2% of scientists according to Stanford University in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Prof. Arafat has received several awards, such as Springer Nature Editor of Distinction Award 2025, Egypt State Award in Excellence in Agricultural Sciences 2021, South Valley University Award in Excellence 2019, the Top Peer Reviewer Award 2019 Powered by Web of Science and Publons, and South Valley University Award in Scientific Publication in the years from 2010 to 2024.