Breeding crop plants for drought tolerance

The worldwide occurrence of drought and climate change significantly affects global food production. Development of drought tolerant crops is becoming increasingly important in achieving crop stability. Plants use a diversity of mechanisms to respond to drought stress at cellular and whole organism levels depending on the severity of the stress, plant species and development stage. There are multiple strategies available that can be manipulated to improve drought tolerance but a crop-specific distinct approach is necessary in achieving both drought tolerance and satisfactory crop yield. Several different approaches ranging from conventional breeding and molecular marker assisted breeding through to genetic transformation have been employed in generating drought tolerant crops. Several quantitative trait loci for drought resistance have been identified in many economically important crop species and have been extensively used in selection and breeding. The understanding of the molecular basis of drought tolerance has been effectively applied in developing transgenic crop plants with enhanced drought tolerance, although commercial scale release is still under consideration for many species. The ultimate target of any crop breeding program for improving drought tolerance is high yield potential under drought stress conditions.