This book focuses on early germination, one of maize germplasm most important strategies for adapting to drought-induced stress. Some genotypes have the ability to adapt by either reducing water losses or by increasing water uptake. Drought tolerance is also an adaptive strategy that enables crop plants to maintain their normal physiological processes and deliver higher economical yield despite drought stress. Several processes are involved in conferring drought tolerance in maize: the accumulation of osmolytes or antioxidants, plant growth regulators, stress proteins and water channel proteins, transcription factors and signal transduction pathways. Drought is one of the most detrimental forms of abiotic stress around the world and seriously limits the productivity of agricultural crops. Maize, one of the leading cereal crops in the world, is sensitive to drought stress. Maize harvests are affected by drought stress at different growth stages in different regions. Numerous events in the life of maize crops can be affected by drought stress: germination potential, seedling growth, seedling stand establishment, overall growth and development, pollen and silk development, anthesis silking interval, pollination, and embryo, endosperm and kernel development. Though every maize genotype has the ability to avoid or withstand drought stress, there is a concrete need to improve the level of adaptability to drought stress to address the global issue of food security. The most common biological strategies for improving drought stress resistance include screening available maize germplasm for drought tolerance, conventional breeding strategies, and marker-assisted and genomic-assisted breeding and development of transgenic maize. As a comprehensive understanding of the effects of drought stress, adaptive strategies and potential breeding tools is the prerequisite for any sound breeding plan, this brief addresses these aspects.

Soybean is the most important oilseed and livestock feed crop in the world. These dual uses are attributed to the crop's high protein content (nearly 40% of seed weight) and oil content (approximately 20%); characteristics that are not rivaled by any other agronomic crop. Across the 10-year period from 2001 to 2010, world soybean production increased from 168 to 258 million metric tons (54% increase). Against the backdrop of soybean's striking ascendancy is increased research interest in the crop throughout the world. Information in this book presents a comprehensive view of research efforts in genetics, plant physiology, agronomy, agricultural economics, and nitrogen relationships that will benefit soybean stakeholders and scientists throughout the world. We hope you enjoy the book.

This book presents deliberations on molecular and genomic mechanisms underlying the interactions of crop plants to the abiotic stresses caused by heat, cold, drought, flooding, submergence, salinity, acidity, etc., important to develop resistant crop varieties. Knowledge on the advanced genetic and genomic crop improvement strategies including molecular breeding, transgenics, genomic-assisted breeding, and the recently emerging genome editing for developing resistant varieties in pulse crops is imperative for addressing FHNEE (food, health, nutrition, energy, and environment) security. Whole genome sequencing of these crops followed by genotyping-by-sequencing has provided precise information regarding the genes conferring resistance useful for gene discovery, allele mining, and shuttle breeding which in turn opened up the scope for 'designing' crop genomes with resistance to abiotic stresses. The nine chapters each dedicated to a pulse crop in this volume elucidate on different types of abiotic stresses and their effects on and interaction with the crop; enumerate on the available genetic diversity with regard to abiotic stress resistance among available cultivars; illuminate on the potential gene pools for utilization in interspecific gene transfer; present brief on classical genetics of stress resistance and traditional breeding for transferring them to their cultivated counterparts; depict the success stories of genetic engineering for developing abiotic stress-resistant crop varieties; discuss on molecular mapping of genes and QTLs underlying stress resistance and their marker-assisted introgression into elite varieties; enunciate on different genomics-aided techniques including genomic selection, allele mining, gene discovery, and gene pyramiding for developing adaptive crop varieties with higher quantity and quality of yields, and also elaborate some case studies on genome editing focusing on specific genes for generating abiotic stress-resistant crops.

With near-comprehensive coverage of new advances in crop breeding for drought and salinity stress tolerance, this timely work seeks to integrate the most recent findings about key biological determinants of plant stress tolerance with modern crop improvement strategies. This volume is unique because is provides exceptionally wide coverage of current knowledge and expertise being applied in drought and salt tolerance research.

The impact of global climate change on crop production has emerged as a major research priority during the past decade. Understanding abiotic stress factors such as temperature and drought tolerance and biotic stress tolerance traits such as insect pest and pathogen resistance in combination with high yield in plants is of paramount importance to counter climate change related adverse effects on the productivity of crops. In this multi-authored book, we present synthesis of information for developing strategies to combat plant stress. Our effort here is to present a judicious mixture of basic as well as applied research outlooks so as to interest workers in all areas of plant science. We trust that the information covered in this book would bridge the much-researched area of stress in plants with the much-needed information for evolving climate-ready crop cultivars to ensure food security in the future.

Learn how to best improve yield in cereal plants—even in dry conditions The impact of drought on crop production can be economically devastating. Drought Adaptation in Cereals provides a comprehensive review of the latest research on the tolerance of cereal crops to water-limited conditions. Renowned experts extensively describe basic concepts and cutting-edge research results to clearly reveal all facets of drought adaptation in cereals. More than simply a fine reference for plant biology and plant improvement under water-limited conditions, this book spotlights the most relevant biological approaches from plant phenotyping to functional genomics. The need to understand plant response to the lack of water is integral to forming strategies to best manage crops. Drought Adaptation in Cereals starts by offering an overview of the biological basis and defines the adaptive mechanisms found in plants under water-limited conditions. Different approaches are presented to provide understanding of plant genetics basics and plant breeding, including phenotyping, physiology, and biotechnology. The book details drought adaptation mechanisms at the cellular, organ, and entire plant levels, focusing on plant metabolism and gene functions. This resource is extensively referenced and contains tables, charts, and figures to clearly present data and enhance understanding. After a foreword by J. O'Toole and a prologue by A. Blum, Drought Adaptation in Cereals presents a full spectrum of informative topics from other internationally respected scientists. These include: drought’s economic impact (P. Heisey) genotype-by-environment interactions (M. Cooper) secondary traits for drought adaptation (P. Monneveux) leaf growth (F. Tardieu) carbon isotope discrimination (T. Condon) drought adaptation in barley (M. Sorrells), maize (M. Sawkins), rice (R. Lafitte), sorghum (A. Borrell) and wheat (M. Reynolds) carbohydrate metabolism (A. Tiessen) the role of abscisic acid (T. Setter) protection mechanisms and stress proteins (L. Mtwisha) genetic basis of ion homeostasis and water deficit (H. Bohnert) transcriptional factors (K. Yamaguchi-Shinozaki) resurrection plants (D. Bartels) Drought Adaptation in Cereals is a unique, vital reference for scientists, educators, and students in plant biology, agronomy, and natural resources management.

Biochemical, Physiological and Molecular Avenues for Combating Abiotic Stress in Plants is a must-have reference for researchers and professionals in agronomy, plant science and horticulture. As abiotic stress tolerance is a constant challenge for researchers and professionals working on improving crop production, this book combines recent advances with foundational content, thus offering in-depth coverage on a variety of abiotic stress tolerance mechanisms that help us better understand and improve plant response and growth under stress conditions. The mechanisms explored in this book include stress perception, signal transduction and synthesis of stress-related proteins and other molecules. In addition, the book provides a critical understanding of the networks of genes responsible for abiotic stress tolerance and their utilization in the development of stress tolerance in plants. Practical breeding techniques and modern genetic analyses are also discussed. - Unlocks the physiological, biochemical and molecular basis of abiotic stress response and tolerance in crop plants - Presents comprehensive information on abiotic stress tolerance, from gene to whole plant level - Includes content on antioxidant metabolism, marker-assisted selection, microarrays, next-generation sequencing and genome editing techniques