Major abiotic stresses on quality parameters in grain legumes: Impacts and various strategies for improving quality traits

Abiotic stresses, such as drought, heat, salinity, waterlogging, tropospheric ozone, and heavy metals, adversely affect crop growth and yield, posing significant challenges to crop production, including grain legumes. With global climate change likely to exacerbate these stresses, legume yields are becoming increasingly vulnerable. While the detrimental effects of these stresses on crop yield are well-documented, their impact on quality traits in grain legumes is less recognized. Abiotic stresses can alter grain carbohydrates, proteins, fats/lipids, amino acids, sugar content, various micronutrients, food value, and antioxidants, significantly impairing quality traits. This review summarizes the negative impacts of various abiotic stresses on the quality parameters of different grain legumes and explores crop breeding strategies, plant physiology, genomics, and novel molecular tools to mitigate these adverse effects.