Understanding role of roots in plant response to drought: Way forward to climate‐resilient crops

Abstract

Drought stress leads to a significant amount of agricultural crop loss. Thus, with changing climatic conditions, it is important to develop resilience measures in agricultural systems against drought stress. Roots play a crucial role in regulating plant development under drought stress. In this review, we have summarized the studies on the role of roots and root‐mediated plant responses. We have also discussed the importance of root system architecture (RSA) and the various structural and anatomical changes that it undergoes to increase survival and productivity under drought. Various genes, transcription factors, and quantitative trait loci involved in regulating root growth and development are also discussed. A summarization of various instruments and software that can be used for high‐throughput phenotyping in the field is also provided in this review. More comprehensive studies are required to help build a detailed understanding of RSA and associated traits for breeding drought‐resilient cultivars.

Determining Drought and Salinity Stress Response Function for Garlic

“…Under severe drought stress, garlic may respond by extending its root length to the deeper layers in order to explore available water. Mahajan [4] mentioned that, under severe drought condition, root activity tends to develop into deeper layers because plants tend to reduce photosynthesis by reducing leaf area index and to invest more in root development to adapt to the drought-environment condition [24].…”

“…develop into deeper layers because plants tend to reduce photosynthesis by reducing leaf area index and to invest more in root development to adapt to the drought-environment condition [24]. The profiles of normalized root length density of salinity-treated pots are shown in Figure 5.…”

Grass lignin: biosynthesis, biological roles, and industrial applications

“…Drought stress is managed by plants via both avoidance and tolerance strategies. Drought avoidance employs one or more physiologic changes in metabolism or anatomy to mitigate water loss or improve water uptake, and is initiated by drought sensing in roots via a complex series of ROS/Ca 2+ -mediated signaling pathways that induce changes in abscisic acid (ABA) and auxin production and transport (Zhu, 2016;Kalra et al, 2023). Some of these signals elicit subterranean drought avoidance growth responses such as increased root length, increased root penetration angle, and increased lateral root length-all necessary for plants to access soil moisture at depth (Vadez, 2014;Chaichi et al, 2019;Lamb et al, 2022).…”

Exploring the genomics of abiotic stress tolerance and crop resilience to climate change

“…Root system architecture emerges as a prominent target for breeding crops that can proficiently use available resources and thrive under drought stress (Varshney, Barmukh, et al, 2021). In this special section, Kalra et al (2023) outlined recent advancements in comprehending the role of roots and root-mediated plant responses in enhancing crop survival and productivity under drought conditions. This article provided a summary of diverse genes, transcription factors, and quantitative trait loci (QTLs) involved in governing root growth and development during drought.…”

“…In this special section, Kalra et al. (2023) outlined recent advancements in comprehending the role of roots and root‐mediated plant responses in enhancing crop survival and productivity under drought conditions. This article provided a summary of diverse genes, transcription factors, and quantitative trait loci (QTLs) involved in governing root growth and development during drought.…”