Evaluación del Estrés Vegetal en Especies Cultivadas tanto In Vitro como Ex Vitro como Respuesta a Factores Bióticos o Abióticos Fasei

General objective Comparatively evaluate the photosynthetic efficiency of different plant species, cultivated both in vitro and ex vitro, in response to biotic or abiotic factors. Justification Plants in general are not regularly grown under optimal conditions, both in vitro and ex vitro, there are biotic (organisms) and abiotic (environmental) stress factors, which affect the yield of these resources (Basurto, Núñez, Pérez, & Hernandez, 2008). "It is estimated that only 10% of the arable land surface is free of some type of stress" (Benavides, 2002). "Biotic stress is caused by the action of living beings, such as small or large animals (pests), other plants, and so-called pathogens (bacteria, fungi, viruses and viroids)"; In addition, there are different types of abiotic stress, these include water deficit or flooding, salinity, extreme temperatures, extreme irradiation, anaerobiosis, lack of mineral elements, environmental contaminants, among others (Azcon-Bieto & Talón, 2013). These factors are of great relevance for the productive sector, since they can cause 100% losses of the harvest and of the crop itself, generating serious economic problems for the farmer and product shortages in national and international markets. In Ecuador, the agricultural sector reported a loss of 34.8 million dollars during the winter season (El Comercio, April 2019). The investigation of photosynthetic efficiency in plants exposed to stress conditions is crucial for the identification of factors that strongly limit plant yield and its optimization (Tambusi, 2004). When the environmental conditions cause the plant to respond maximally to some factor, this factor does not stress it (Salisburry & Ross, 2000). The proposed study on plants grown in vitro or ex vitro, will allow selecting the optimal treatments for their establishment, massification and adaptation to the field, in order to find favorable results. It will also allow identifying the physiological condition caused by both biotic factors (pests and diseases) and abiotic factors.