Drought resistance

Quarrie, S.A. (1984). Abscisic acid and drought resistance in crop plants, British Plant Growth Regulator Group News, 1, 1-15. 

Steponkus, P.L., Shahan, K. W. Cutler, J.M. (1982). Osmotic adjustment in rice. In Drought Resistance in Crops with Emphasis on Rice, pp. 181-94. Los Banos, Philippines International Rice Research Institute. 

Table 3. Examples of characters with possible roles in drought resistance for which isogenic lines or isopopulations have been developed...

The use of plants from extreme environments Wild plants from extreme environments may possess genes and gene combinations which confer stress tolerance. We must realise, however, that many of their characteristics, e.g. leaf pubescence and succulence in drought-resistant plants, are incompatible with the high yield potential required for crop plants. In addition, most of these species contain compounds such as phenolics and mucilages which interfere with conventional molecular biology techniques. 

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). 

Therefore drought resistance (in terms of plant production) is positively associated with T or Ea, m or WUE and HI under drought stress. A simple simulation using (1) would indicate that a given increase in Tor m is most effective towards plant production when water stress is not severe. 

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. 

Aspinall, D. Paleg, L.G. (ed.) (1981). The Physiology and Biochemistry of Drought Resistance in Plants. New York Academic Press. 

Blum, A., Mayer, J. Golan, G. (19836). Associations between plant production and some physiological components of drought resistance. Plant, Cell and Environment, 6, 219-25. 

Blum, A. Sullivan, C.Y. (1986). The comparative drought resistance of land-races of sorghum and millet from dry and humid regions. Annals of Botany, 57, 835 6. 

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. 

Fischer, R. A. Maurer, R. (1978). Drought Resistance in spring wheat cultivars. I. Grain yield responses. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research, 29, 897-905. 

Fischer, R.A. Wood, J.T. (1979). Drought resistance in spring wheat cultivars. III. Yield associations with morpho-physiological traits. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research, 30, 1001-11. 

Havaux, M. Lannoye, R. (1985). Drought resistance of hard wheat cultivars measured by a rapid chlorophyll fluorescence test. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge, 104, 501-4. 

Ilahi, I. Ddrffling, K. (1982). Changes in abscisic acid and proline levels in maize varieties of different drought resistance. Physiologia Plantarum, 55,129-35. 

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