Breeding drought resistance

Introduction improvement of drought resistance in conventional breeding programmes... 

The remainder of this chapter discusses the application to breeding for drought resistance of some of the physiological principles that have been outlined in earlier chapters or elsewhere (Aspinall Paleg, 1981 International Rice Research Institute, 1982 Blum, 1988). 

An efficient breeding programme for drought resistance is difficult to achieve by using the sole criterion of yield performance under stress, so... 

The insufficiency of a single physiological selection criterion for drought resistance has been indicated repeatedly. The most urgent problem in breeding for drought resistance is the construction of a multiple selection... 

Fig. 1. A general, simplified and self-explanatory layout of the wheat breeding programme at the Volcani Center, Israel. The selection for drought resistance is affected at about the F4 and later generations, by using infra-red thermometry, chemical desiccation and yield under stress. A summer (off-season) nursery is incorporated as means for selection for heat tolerance.

Asay, K.H. Johnson, D.A. (1983). Breeding for drought resistance in range grasses. Iowa State Journal of Research, 57, 441-55. 

Blum, A. (1982). Evidence for genetic variability in drought resistance and its implication in plant breeding. In Drought Resistance in Crops With Emphasis on Rice, pp. 52-70. Los Banos, Philippines International Rice Research Institute. 

Fischer, K.S., Johnson, E.C. Edmeades, G.O. (1983). Breeding and Selection for Drought Resistance in Tropical Maize. Mexico International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. 

Blum, A. (1983). Genetic and physiological relationships in plant breeding for drought resistance. In Plant Production and Management Under Drought Conditions, ed. J.F. Stone and W.O. Wills, pp. 195-205. Amsterdam Elsevier Science Publishers. 

Hanson, A.D., Nelson, C.E., Pedersen, A.R. Everson, E.M. (1979). Capacity for proline accumulation during water stress in barley and its implications for breeding for drought resistance. Crop Science, 19, 489-93. 

Breeding Recurrent mass selection Adaptation to climate change Disease resistance Drought resistance Genetic diversity Salinity resistance Banilas et al. (2009) Carruba and Catalano (2009) Hejnak et al. (2009) Marais and Botes (2009) Martinez-Ballesta et al. (2009)... 

The most important criteria for selection of breeding plants are quality, yield, and resistance to cold, drought, and the various pests of the area. Seed tea plants have a long economic life and there are known instances of plants over 100 years old. 

Mutations have been exploited by man for commercial purposes. Animal and plant breeders use mutations to produce new or improved species of crops and livestock. Careful breeding in this manner has spawned all the different species of dogs and horses we know today. It has resulted in crops that are resistant to drought or insecta and whose yield is improved. Controlled mutation and breeding has produced goldfish, yellow roses, and Concord grapes. 

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