Drought and heat tolerance in chickpea: Transcriptome and morphophysiological changes under individual and combined stress

Abstract

Increase in global temperature due to climate change is the major concern and known to have detrimental effect on many agricultural crops. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an important legume grown in the arid and semiarid region of the world. Chickpea being a heat sensitive crop is greatly affected by heat stress during both vegetative and reproductive stages. Stress resistance mechanism of chickpea involves signal perception, transduction, and subsequent activation of stress-responsive genes encoding reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging and osmolyte, chaperones, and aquaporins. There are different stress perception and signaling pathways, both in drought and high-temperature stress, but some common pathways also exist between the two mechanisms. The present chapter summarizes the cross talk between the drought and heat stress and the molecular mechanism underlying individual stress. Field plants are exposed to multiple stresses, and the combined effect might be antagonistic or synergistic. Hence, improving stress tolerance of plants requires a reevaluation, taking into account the effect of multiple stresses on plant metabolism and stress resistance.