What is rainfed lowland rice? The rainfed lowland ecosystem; The cultivars; Agronomic traits; Growth duration; Drought resistance; Submergence tolerance; Cold tolerance; Adverse soils telerance; Disease and insect resistance; Grain quality; Selecting parents and making crosses; Managing segregating generations; Evaluating advanced breeding lines; Releasing varieties.

International networks; Varietal improvement; Soil, crop, and water management; Pest management; Technology transfer.

Introduction and background; Characterization of environments; Nutrient balances; Managing organic matter; Nutrient x water interactions; Soil physical constraints and nutrient availability; Germplasm for nutrient efficiency.

General; Rainfed lowland rice in selected countries; Varietal improvement; Crop management; Cropping patterns involving rainfed rice; Socioeconomic aspects; Strategies for future research; International collaboration.

Rice drought-prone environments and coping strategies. Recent progress in breeding and genetics of drought resistance. Physiological and molecular mechanisms of drought resistance. Management of rainfed rice systems. Genes and genomics for drought-resistant rice. Conclusions and recommendations.

The success of the Green Revolution in closing the gap between world population and food production was principally achieved by increasing crop productivity in favorable areas. However, this success has been limited in the rainfed systems, which are prone to frequent droughts and other abiotic stresses. Worldwide, drought affects approximately 23 million hectares of rainfed rice. Varieties combining improved drought resistance with high yield under favorable conditions and quality characteristics preferred by farmers are the most promising and deliverable technologies for alleviating poverty in communities dependent on rainfed rice production.This book describes some of the recent advances in the genetics and physiology of drought resistant rice varieties and the integration of highly efficient breeding and genetic analysis techniques with functional genomics. Harnessing recent scientific breakthroughs, Drought Frontiers Project (seeds.irri.org/drought) is launched as a major assault on the problem of improving drought resistance in rice. Featuring contributions from leading international experts, case studies are discussed to present perspectives on the various multidisciplinary facets of drought resistance in rice, along with the involvement of natural resource management practices and the socioeconomic implications that entail. Readers will be better informed of this highly relevant and complex topic of improving rice drought resistance in a global environment characterized by increased water scarcity./a