Developing drought-resistant cereals

Drought remains the biggest single threat from climate change to the production of key cereal crops, such as wheat and barley. Cereals also respond in complex ways to drought stress, making improved drought tolerance a challenging trait to achieve. With many cereals recognised as staple food crops due to their nutritional value, more research is required into improving drought tolerance as a means of ensuring the future food security of millions.

Developing drought-resistant cereals reviews the wealth of research which addresses how to overcome this challenge in order to mitigate climate change effects in cereal production. This collection details our understanding of the mechanisms of drought tolerance, as well as developments in techniques for improving resistance, including phenotyping, identifying genes relating to root and photosynthetic function and the use of genomic selection and genome editing.

Part 1 Understanding mechanisms of drought tolerance

• 1.What is ‘drought stress’ and what are options to increase crop yield?: Thomas R. Sinclair, North Carolina State University, USA; and Michel E. Ghanem, Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD), France and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Morocco;
• 2.The role of plant hormones in adaptation to drought stress in cereals: Arnauld A. Thiry, Lancaster Environment Centre, UK; Matthew P. Reynolds, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico; and William J. Davies and Ian C. Dodd, Lancaster Environment Centre, UK;
• 3.Genetics of drought tolerance in cereals: Ambra Viviani, Roberto Tuberosa and Marco Maccaferri, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences (DISTAL) – University of Bologna, Italy;
• 4.The role of drought-induced proteins in regulating drought tolerance in cereals: Mitiku A. Mengistu and John C. Cushman, University of Nevada – Reno, USA;

Part 2 Techniques for improving resistance

• 5.Advances in phenotyping to identify drought-resistance traits in cereal roots: John (Jack) Christopher, University of Queensland QAAFI, Australia;
• 6.Identifying and exploiting genes controlling root system architecture for improving drought tolerance in cereals: Eric S. Ober and Anya Heathcote, NIAB, UK;
• 7.Identifying and exploiting photosynthetic genes in improving drought resistance in cereals: Weiguo Chen, Daizhen Sun and Runzhi Li, Shanxi Agricultural University, China; and Ruilian Jing, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China;
• 8.Genomic selection, gene editing and genetic engineering for drought tolerance in cereals: Rodomiro Ortiz, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Sweden;
• 9.Identifying genes for yield-related traits under drought stress conditions in durum wheat: Ilaria Marcotuli and Agata Gadaleta, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy; Osvin Arriagada, Samantha Reveco and Andrés R. Schwember, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile; Marco Maccaferri, Matteo Campana and Roberto Tuberosa, University of Bologna, Italy; Christian Alfaro, Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIA), Chile; and Iván Matus, Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIA), Chile;
• 10.Developing corn hybrids with improved performance under water deficits: Elhan Ersoz, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Umbrella Genetics, USA; and Robert J. Bensen, Umbrella Genetics, USA