Integrated “omics” approaches to sustain global productivity of major grain legumes under heat stress

Abstract

Grain legumes serve as key sources of dietary protein to the global human population. Consequence of high-temperature (HT) stress is increasingly evident as drastically lost production of different crops including grain legumes worldwide, thus putting the global food security under great threat. In a changing climate scenario, cool season-adapted grain legumes frequently encounter heat stress (HS) during their reproductive phase, thus witnessing serious yield losses. To combat the emerging challenges of HT stress, an integrated approach demanding collaborative efforts from various disciplines of plant science should be in place. This review summarizes major impacts of HT stress on grain legume, and captures the relevance of crop genetic resources to HS tolerance in these crops. Measurement of physiological traits assumes key place in view of ever-increasing precision of next-generation phenotyping assays. We also discuss the significance of genetic inheritance and QTL discovery and evolving “omics” science for developing HS tolerance grain legume crops.