Plant Breeding for Water-Limited Environments

Abstract

), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer soft-ware, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights.Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) In memory of our daughter Orly who combined science with love for every living thing.vii In my previous book entitled Plant Breeding for Stress Environments (Blum 1988) plant breeding for water-limited environments was only one chapter together with other chapters on heat, cold, mineral deficiency, mineral toxicity and salinity stress. Since that publication several major developments took place regarding plant breeding for stress environments.Firstly, plant molecular biology emerged as a major avenue of research in plant biology and crop science. Plant molecular biology and genomics research towards plant environmental stress has grown exponentially since 1988. The number of published scientific papers specifically on the molecular biology of drought stress and drought resistance increased five-fold from about 10 per year in 1990 to at least 53 per year in 2009. The major dilemma now is how to apply molecular biology and genomics to breeding for stress conditions and specifically for water limited environments. While molecular biologists underline the potential of their discipline and whereas plant breeders underline their needs, there is too much fog lying between the two -which must be cleared up. This book offers to help.Secondly, the plant breeding community realizes now that plant stress must be addressed in plant breeding programs in a dedicated and specific manner. Selecting for yield in diverse environments is not sufficient anymore for coping with stress problems. This approach also became too costly. There is now a growing understanding that breeding for stress conditions and specifically for water limited environments requires specific components within the general breeding program to the same extent that biotic stress resistance is approached. Qualified information on how to design and perform a breeding program component for water limited environments is in great demand.Thirdly, concerns about the agricultural implications of climate change grew exponentially since the early 1990s to the extent that the phenomenon is now being aggressively addressed in agricultural research. Even the optimists agree that climate change cannot be completely reversed and at best it could only be slowed. The impact on crop production can already be seen by increased aridity and warmer temperatures in some regions and vicious storms and floods elsewhere. Global warming is an additional serious engine of plant str...

The climate of the zone of origin of Mediterranean durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) landraces affects their agronomic performance

“…Early heading is one of the most common physiological mechanisms of drought escape. In well watered environments yield potential increases with growth duration, but in drought stressed environments the advantage of late flowering may turn into a disadvantage (Blum 2011). As drought stress in this study was not severe during grain filling, early heading did not represent a constitutive advantage in terms of grain yield.…”

Heat Stress Responses and Thermotolerance

“…A perception of photosynthesis to heat is largely due to damage to photosystem II constituents positioned in the thylakoid membranes of the chloroplast and membrane belongings. Membrane thermostability has been evaluated by measuring electrolyte leakage from leaf disks subjected to extreme temperatures [14]. Additionally stable membranes exhibit slower electrolyte leakage.…”

Applying a quantitative genetics framework to behavioural syndrome research

“…Heritabilities estimated in the laboratory are often presumed to be overestimated because environmental variation in the laboratory is expected to be lower than in the field (Blum 1988). Because environmental variation is a component of the denominator for the calculation of heritability, greater environmental variation in the field would be expected to lead to lower heritability estimates in the field and an associated overestimation in the laboratory.…”