Drought and crop yield

Abstract

Episodes of water shortage occur in most agricultural regions of the world. Their durations and intensities increase, and their seasonal timing alters with changing climate. During the ontogenic cycle of crop plants, each development stage, such as seed germination, seedling establishment, vegetative root and shoot growth, flowering, pollination and seed and fruit development, is specifically sensitive to dehydration. Desiccation threatens yield and leads to specific patterns, depending on the type of crop plant and the harvested plant parts, e.g. leafy vegetables, tubers, tap roots or fruits. This review summarizes the effects of drought stress on crop plants and relates the dehydration-dependent yield penalty to the harvested organ and tissue. The control of shoot transpiration and the reorganization of root architecture are of core importance for maintaining proper plant water relationships. Upon dehydration, the provision and partitioning of assimilates and the uptake and distribution of nutrients define remaining growth activity. Domestication of crops by selection for high yield under high input has restricted the genetic repertoire for achieving drought stress tolerance. Introgression of suitable alleles from wild relatives into commercial cultivars might improve the ability to grow with less water. Future research activities should focus more on field studies in order to generate more realistic improvements to crops. Robotic field phenotyping should be integrated into genetic mapping for the identification of relevant traits.

Reprogramming of Plant Central Metabolism in Response to Abiotic Stresses: A Metabolomics View

“…Global warming leads to climate change and could exacerbate drought stress. Drought stress occurs due to various environments, such as temperature dynamics, light intensity, and low rainfall, and is the leading abiotic stress that hampers crop productivity and threatens food security worldwide [ 13 ]. Soil flooding is one of the most important abiotic stresses in wetland and high-rainfall areas in crops and woody tree species [ 14 , 15 ].…”

Identification of the LOX Gene Family in Peanut and Functional Characterization of AhLOX29 in Drought Tolerance

“…Drought is one of the key stresses that has negative impact on crop yield ( Dietz et al, 2021 ). Above results from the analysis of cis-acting elements in promoters, gene expression profiles, and transgenic plants suggested the potential role of AhLOX genes in drought resistance.…”

Effects of Combined Abiotic Stresses Related to Climate Change on Root Growth in Crops

“…Thus, a severe reduction in global crop yield due to water deprivation is expected in the near future. Yield-related effects of drought in plants are alterations in different phenological stages, root architecture, seed production, crop biomass, harvest index and germination rates (Pervez et al, 2009;Dietz et al, 2021). Major advances have been made to gain knowledge on the effects of abiotic stresses in crop physiology and development.…”