Drought Stress in Maize (Zea mays L.)

Drought Stress in Maize (Zea mays L.)
Author: Muhammad Aslam
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 79
Release: 2015-11-20
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319254421

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.

Plant Biodiversity and Genetic Resources

Plant Biodiversity and Genetic Resources
Author: Andreas W. Ebert
Publisher: MDPI
Total Pages: 672
Release: 2021-06-18
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3036508945

The papers included in this Special Issue address a variety of important aspects of plant biodiversity and genetic resources, including definitions, descriptions, and illustrations of different components and their value for food and nutrition security, breeding, and environmental services. Furthermore, comprehensive information is provided regarding conservation approaches and techniques for plant genetic resources, policy aspects, and results of biological, genetic, morphological, economic, social, and breeding-related research activities. The complexity and vulnerability of (plant) biodiversity and its inherent genetic resources, as an integral part of the contextual ecosystem and the human web of life, are clearly demonstrated in this Special Issue, and for several encountered problems and constraints, possible approaches or solutions are presented to overcome these.

Advances in Plant Breeding Strategies: Agronomic, Abiotic and Biotic Stress Traits

Advances in Plant Breeding Strategies: Agronomic, Abiotic and Biotic Stress Traits
Author: Jameel M. Al-Khayri
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 707
Release: 2016-03-29
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3319225189

The basic concept of this book is to examine the use of innovative methods augmenting traditional plant breeding towards the development of new crop varieties under different environmental conditions to achieve sustainable food production. This book consists of two volumes: Volume 1 subtitled Breeding, Biotechnology and Molecular Tools and Volume 2 subtitled Agronomic, Abiotic and Biotic Stress Traits. This is volume 2 which contains 18 chapters highlighting breeding strategies for specific plant traits including improved nutritional and pharmaceutical properties as well as enhanced tolerance to insects, diseases, drought, salinity and temperature extremes expected under predicted global climate change.

Legume Crops

Legume Crops
Author: Mirza Hasanuzzaman
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2020-10-21
Genre: Gardening
ISBN: 1839682736

In a sustainable agricultural system, legume crops are one of the essential components. However, improving the productivity of legume crops and improving their tolerance to adverse environments are essential tasks for plant biologists. This book includes nine comprehensive chapters addressing various aspects of legume crop biology, production and importance. There are several chapters on the adaptation of legumes to an adverse environment. Particular focus is provided on the sustainable production of legume crops under changing environments. This book will be useful for undergraduate and graduate students, teachers, and researchers, particularly from the field of Crop Science, Soil Science, Plant Breeding and Agronomy.

Handbook of Photosynthesis

Handbook of Photosynthesis
Author: Mohammad Pessarakli
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 2015
Release: 2018-09-03
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1315360195

Since the publication of the previous editions of the Handbook of Photosynthesis, many new ideas on photosynthesis have emerged in the past decade that have drawn the attention of experts and researchers on the subject as well as interest from individuals in other disciplines. Updated to include 37 original chapters and making extensive revisions to the chapters that have been retained, 90% of the material in this edition is entirely new. With contributions from over 100 authors from around the globe, this book covers the most recent important research findings. It details all photosynthetic factors and processes under normal and stressful conditions, explores the relationship between photosynthesis and other plant physiological processes, and relates photosynthesis to plant production and crop yields. The third edition also presents an extensive new section on the molecular aspects of photosynthesis, focusing on photosystems, photosynthetic enzymes, and genes. New chapters on photosynthesis in lower and monocellular plants as well as in higher plants are included in this section. The book also addresses growing concerns about excessive levels and high accumulation rates of carbon dioxide due to industrialization. It considers plant species with the most efficient photosynthetic pathways that can help improve the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Completely overhauled from its bestselling predecessors, the Handbook of Photosynthesis, Third Edition provides a nearly entirely new source on the subject that is both comprehensive and timely. It continues to fill the need for an authoritative and exhaustive resource by assembling a global team of experts to provide thorough coverage of the subject while focusing on finding solutions to relevant contemporary issues related to the field.

Crop Stress and its Management: Perspectives and Strategies

Crop Stress and its Management: Perspectives and Strategies
Author: B. Venkateswarlu
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 617
Release: 2011-11-22
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9400722206

Crops experience an assortment of environmental stresses which include abiotic viz., drought, water logging, salinity, extremes of temperature, high variability in radiation, subtle but perceptible changes in atmospheric gases and biotic viz., insects, birds, other pests, weeds, pathogens (viruses and other microbes). The ability to tolerate or adapt and overwinter by effectively countering these stresses is a very multifaceted phenomenon. In addition, the inability to do so which renders the crops susceptible is again the result of various exogenous and endogenous interactions in the ecosystem. Both biotic and abiotic stresses occur at various stages of plant development and frequently more than one stress concurrently affects the crop. Stresses result in both universal and definite effects on plant growth and development. One of the imposing tasks for the crop researchers globally is to distinguish and to diminish effects of these stress factors on the performance of crop plants, especially with respect to yield and quality of harvested products. This is of special significance in view of the impending climate change, with complex consequences for economically profitable and ecologically and environmentally sound global agriculture. The challenge at the hands of the crop scientist in such a scenario is to promote a competitive and multifunctional agriculture, leading to the production of highly nourishing, healthy and secure food and animal feed as well as raw materials for a wide variety of industrial applications. In order to successfully meet this challenge researchers have to understand the various aspects of these stresses in view of the current development from molecules to ecosystems. The book will focus on broad research areas in relation to these stresses which are in the forefront in contemporary crop stress research.

Drought Stress Tolerance in Plants, Vol 2

Drought Stress Tolerance in Plants, Vol 2
Author: Mohammad Anwar Hossain
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 616
Release: 2016-08-24
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3319324233

Drought is one of the most severe constraints to crop productivity worldwide, and thus it has become a major concern for global food security. Due to an increasing world population, droughts could lead to serious food shortages by 2050. The situation may worsen due to predicated climatic changes that may increase the frequency, duration and severity of droughts. Hence, there is an urgent need to improve our understanding of the complex mechanisms associated with drought tolerance and to develop modern crop varieties that are more resilient to drought. Identification of the genes responsible for drought tolerance in plants will contribute to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms that could enable crop plants to respond to drought. The discovery of novel drought related genes, the analysis of their expression patterns in response to drought, and determination of the functions these genes play in drought adaptation will provide a base to develop effective strategies to enhance the drought tolerance of crop plants. Plant breeding efforts to increase crop yields in dry environments have been slow to date mainly due to our poor understanding of the molecular and genetic mechanisms involved in how plants respond to drought. In addition, when it comes to combining favourable alleles, there are practical obstacles to developing superior high yielding genotypes fit for drought prone environments. Drought Tolerance in Plants, Vol 2: Molecular and Genetic Perspectives combines novel topical findings, regarding the major molecular and genetic events associated with drought tolerance, with contemporary crop improvement approaches. This volume is unique as it makes available for its readers not only extensive reports of existing facts and data, but also practical knowledge and overviews of state-of-the-art technologies, across the biological fields, from plant breeding using classical and molecular genetic information, to the modern omic technologies, that are now being used in drought tolerance research to breed drought-related traits into modern crop varieties. This book is useful for teachers and researchers in the fields of plant breeding, molecular biology and biotechnology.