Recent advances in molecular tool development for drought tolerance breeding in cereal crops: a review

Abstract

Drought stress is one of the major yield constraints for cereal crops. Traditionally, for developing drought tolerant cultivars, selection either direct or indirect is practiced. Although this approach is effective, yet time consuming and labour intensive. Identifcation of drought related quantitative trait loci (QTLs) coupled with marker assisted selection has shown some positive results. Transgenic and "omics" technologies promise to make progress in breeding for drought tolerance through a more fundamental understanding of underlying mechanisms of drought tolerance and identifying potential candidate genes. These new approaches provide opportunities to direct the continued breeding of genotypes giving stable yields under drought stress.