Crops and Drought

Abstract

Water deficit or drought is the most prevalent abiotic stress factors in the world and most detrimental for agronomic and yield, thence, economic. Crop growth at developmental stages negatively influenced by drought due to morphological damages, physiological disruptions and biochemical alternations, and, therefore, yield losses. The escalating drastic impacts of drought stress putting global crop production as well as food security at high risk. Plant crops developed different physiological and genetic mechanisms includes drought escape, avoidance and tolerance. Understanding these mechanisms can help in improving crop performance and adaptation under drought conditions. Improving drought tolerance varieties with high yield potential under such harsh stress conditions is the ultimate target of crop breeding program. Interestingly, many quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for drought stress tolerance have been detected in economically important crops, but few of them have been efficiently utilised in breeding. Key Concepts Water deficit or drought is the most prevalent abiotic stress factors in the world. Crop growth and development are adversely influenced by drought. Drought is considered as the most detrimental for agronomic and yield. Plant response to drought by morphological, physiological and biochemical mechanisims. Drought response mechanisms includes drought escape, avoidance, and tolerance. Many QTLs for drought stress tolerance have been detected. Drought tolerance is a complex and polygenic trait controlled by many genes and influenced by environments.

Natural Variation Uncovers Candidate Genes for Barley Spikelet Number and Grain Yield under Drought Stress

“…Studying drought stress tolerance under field conditions in cereals such as barley is very limited, as it requires complex and laborious experiments for population characterization, in addition to being influenced by environmental factors [3,4]. Nevertheless, the present study focused on investigating the natural variation in diverse spring barley collections and on identifying candidate genes associated with the traits of interest under field conditions.…”

“…One limitation in achieving the production target is abiotic stress which limits the quality and nutritional value of the grain in cereal crops worldwide [1]. Among all abiotic stresses, drought is the most important environmental stress which limits crop production and yield [2][3][4], and is becoming more common particularly in the arid and semiarid regions [2].…”

Molecular Characterization of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) Accessions under Drought Stress

“…Drought stress during the vegetative or early reproductive phase usually reduces yield. It often induces physiological and molecular changes in plant water relation parameters such as cell turgor pressure, osmotic pressure, and water potential [12,13]. Drought stress at different developmental stages causes several morphological and biochemical alternations in various plant species.…”

“…Water deficit at the early seedling stage might lead to higher dry root weights, longer roots, coleoptiles, and higher root-to-shoot ratios [14][15][16], all of these changes are parameters of interest and have been widely used as reliable markers toward drought stress tolerance for evaluating various crop plants. Reduction in water potential induces stomatal closure resulting in a decrease in photosynthesis, leaf expansion and orientation, stomatal behavior, photosynthesis, respiration rate, solute translocation, and ultimately yields [13,17]. Toxic substances generated during stress, such as reactive oxygen species (ROS), cause oxidative damage to the cellular organization.…”

“…Toxic substances generated during stress, such as reactive oxygen species (ROS), cause oxidative damage to the cellular organization. Tomato plants have developed an antioxidant system that scavenges toxic elements and accumulates osmoprotectants, including proline, glycine betaine, and other osmoprotectants to keep osmotic balance [13,17]. Drought stress tolerance was evaluated according to different tolerance indices to characterize tomatoes' physiological and genetic basis, including plant development, fruit set, fruit weight, shoot and root morphology, water use efficiency (WUE), and other physiological parameters [18].…”