Physiological and genetic dissection of rice tolerance to water-deficit stress

Summary

Rice is a staple food crop for more than half of the world population, commonly cultivated under waterlogged conditions. Rice alone consumes more than 30% of fresh water used for agriculture worldwide, which equates to 2-3 fold higher consumption than other cereals such as wheat and maize. Water-scarcity and increasing severity of drought stress owing to recent climate change are a major threat to sustain the rice production in waterlogged conditions. Therefore, exploring the ways to reduce the rice water use and improve its adaptation to drought stress is the primary breeding target to sustain rice production. The main goal of this study is to understand the physiological and genetic mechanism for rice adaptation to water-limited conditions. The initial results identified the different physiological and genetic mechanisms that breeder can select to develop the rice variety requiring less water.