Improving cotton crop tolerance to drought stress through molecular approaches

Abstract

Cotton is an essential source of raw material for the fiber and food industry. Limited availability of water for irrigation results in reduced growth of plants. Water scarcity is an upcoming dilemma globally that needs attention to develop strategies to overcome the situation. Development of plant varieties that can withstand the limited availability of water is the dire need of the day particularly in the case of economically vital crops. Cotton crop being the backbone of the economy of the country needs significant attention. There are many strategies to improve the varieties including conventional and modern approaches. Conventional approaches are being utilized for the last many years. However, these are time consuming and laborious. Molecular approaches are accurate, time effective, and of broad spectrum as compared to conventional approaches. Over the years many genes and QTLs related to drought stress have been detected and utilized in cotton to enhance its drought tolerance. Additionally, the genome-editing approaches can hold the promise for the improvement of mechanisms related to drought stress directly or indirectly. This chapter will cover the studies conducted so far to explore and improve the ability of cotton to combat drought stress and recent advances in genomics research for cotton crop having emphasis on genetic linkage maps, genetic engineering, and gene/QTL mapping for drought stress tolerance.