Genetic Advances in Adapting Rice to a Rapidly Changing Climate

Abstract

Rice, with its wide geographic distribution extending from 50°N to 35°S, is expected to be the most vulnerable cultivated crop to future changing climates. Among the different abiotic stresses, extreme temperatures coinciding with critical developmental stages, increasingly frequent floods and drought spells, and worsening sea water inundation are some of the major threats to sustainable rice productivity. Following the successful implementation of molecular markerassisted backcrossing to introgress large-effect QTL for submergence tolerance in rice mega varieties, rice breeding for drought, salinity and, recently, heat tolerance is employing the same approach. Although tolerance for combined submergence and salinity has been achieved, developing rice varieties with multiple tolerance for other abiotic and biotic stresses and finding the appropriate agronomic package to exploit their performance remain a challenge. The major bottleneck is the lack of unidentified large-effect QTL for other abiotic stresses that are strongly influenced by genotype 9 environment (G 9 E) interaction. Rapid advances in the use of molecular tools, including a plethora of SNP markers, are expected to facilitate the development of major abiotic stress-tolerant rice. In response to the actual farmer field situation, progress achieved in understanding and developing independent abiotic stress tolerance is being exploited to combine tolerances (for example, heat and drought; salinity and submergence) to address emerging environmental problems across a wide range of rice ecosystems.

Biochemical and physiological characterization of three rice cultivars under different daytime temperature conditions

“…This effect was particularly evident in 'F60' rice plants (Figure 4). These observations are in agreement with those of Jagadish et al (2012), who reported that an increased respiration rate is a response of rice plants to high temperatures. Previously, Almeselmani et al (2012) evaluated two wheat cultivars ('PBW343' and 'C306') under elevated daytime temperatures and concluded that 'C306' plants were more tolerant.…”

Impacts of Climate Change on the Irrigation Districts of the Rio Bravo Basin

“…However, crop phenology is simultaneously affected by crop management, including cultivar shift and date of sowing, which can also be adjusted to cope with climate variability. In fact, the planting of shorter-duration crops could be an effective means of adapting to climate change, as crops with earlier anthesis or sowing dates can avoid extreme heat stress [44] and be less exposed to drought [45] during the grain-filling period, which consequently benefits yield. Cammarano and Tian [46] found that for each 1 • C increase in air temperature, maize yield decreases on average by 4.6%.…”

Integrated pest management for sustainable rice cultivation: a holistic approach

“…Such has been the case with aquaculture and rice farming in the Mekong Delta (Vietnam) (Pucher et al, 2013). Furthermore, despite clear advantages for adapting rice to climate change, the use of modern varieties with high tolerance to abiotic stresses such as submergence (Jagadish et al, 2012) also draws responsibilities for habitat management as marginal areas that were once a refuge for wildlife become more feasible for rice production. There is an urgent need for scientists and managers to develop sound strategies for coexistence of rice production, resource extraction activities (aquaculture and fishing) and wildlife conservation, particularly as biodiversity conservation is a major index of sustainable development.…”