Drought Affected Wheat Production in Bangladesh and Breeding Strategies for Drought Tolerance

Abstract

Wheat is one of the major cereal crops in Bangladesh. Over the last two decades, wheat consumption has passionately amplified in Bangladesh but its production has declined due to various stress environments. Recurrent drought event due to climate change that threatens the country’s food safety has become a serious concern. To safeguard the food security, adopting suitable breeding strategies can add momentum. Developing drought tolerant wheat varieties are the definitive means of protecting the crop against hostile effects of drought. Plant breeders are exploring various breeding strategies to breed for the varieties that can cope with water deficient conditions well. Besides, breeders are consistently looking for new prospects and strategies that can boost genetic gain in yield. To endorse drought tolerance in wheat, understanding the physiological and genetic adaptation mechanisms of wheat cultivars during drought stress would provide the estimated benchmarks to adjust for suitable breeding programs. The efforts of developing drought tolerant wheat genotypes could be supported by different breeding strategies including in vitro haploid and double haploid protocols, polyploidization, development of various types of hybrids and induced mutants by utilizing both classical and molecular breeding techniques. The proposed book chapter shall discuss the pattern of drought-stress in the wheat growing regions, effects of drought stress on wheat production and suitable breeding strategies for developing drought tolerant genotypes in Bangladesh.

Assessment of Genetic Diversity of Bread Wheat Genotypes for Drought Tolerance Using Canopy Reflectance-Based Phenotyping and SSR Marker-Based Genotyping

“…As a result, actions to increase wheat production must be implemented as soon as possible, because the primary crop yield could be decreased by more than half, owing to a lack of irrigation water [4]. The introduction of new wheat genotypes with greater yield potential and enhanced drought tolerance is the most acceptable strategy for improving wheat production [5]. Drought-tolerant genotypes are often chosen for economic features based on the presence of genetic variation in the genetic pool [6].…”

Hybrid model outperformed individual models in predicting droughts in a semi-arid region of Bangladesh

“…3) highlights that the increasing variability of climatic conditions in these regions affects the seasonal climatic conditions, which could have impacted the lives and livelihoods in the north-western regions. For example, several studies have documented the impacts of accelerating frequency and intensity of dry events on the (i) productivity of wheat (Hannan et al 2021) and rice (Rahman et al 2008),…”

Seed priming influences on yield and protein content of wheat sown at different time

“…More than any other cereal, wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), an important crop of the Poaceae family, provides the majority of the world's staple foods (Wato et al, 2020). The crop is grown under different climatic conditions in humid to arid, subtropical to temperate zones, and at elevations ranging from a few meters to more than 3600 meters (Hannan et al, 2021; ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE Hoque et al, 2021). The position of Bangladesh in a subtropical area of South Asia makes it the best place for the crop.…”

“…The statistics of (BBS, 2020) state that wheat was cultivated on 816,000 acres in Bangladesh, producing 10,16,000 metric tons annually, or 1220 kg per acre in terms of yield. The production of wheat is constrained by a variety of biotic (diseases, insect pests, and weeds) and abiotic (drought, high temperatures, salinity, flooding, freezing, strong radiation, nutrient shortage, or toxicity) variables (Hannan et al, 2021). Among the abiotic factors, high temperature is the most important environmental factors for limiting the production of wheat in the world (Kumaraswamy and Shetty, 2016).…”