Genotype selection for physiological responses of drought tolerance using molecular markers in polycross hybrids of orchardgrass

The present study aimed to assess the effect of contrasting levels of molecular and phenotypic diversity among polycross parents of orchardgrass on the performance of synthetic progeny with respect to physiological responses and drought tolerance. Four polycross groups each composed of six parental plants were evaluated under normal irrigation and drought stress conditions. A number of 923 inter simple sequence repeats and sequence related amplified polymorphism markers and several phenotypic traits were used to select contrasting levels of diversity (high and low) in parental genotypes. Highly significant correlation was observed between molecular distance and progeny performances at both normal irrigation and drought stress conditions. High molecular diversity among polycross parents led to a significant yield advantage of first generation progeny with averages of 34.40% for normal irrigation and 48.10% for drought stress conditions. Also crosses between genetically distant parents produced progeny with considerable drought tolerance and yield stability. Positive associations between phenotypic distance of parents and progeny performance were found for most physiological traits at both moisture regimes but phenotypic distances had weak association with forage yield, stress tolerance index and yield stability of progeny. Significant associations between drought tolerance index and some physiological traits confirmed the importance of these traits in conferring drought tolerance of orchardgrass. Our results underscore the effectiveness of marker‐assisted polycross breeding to improve drought tolerance and yield stability through physiological traits in orchardgrass.     

Genotypic variation for drought tolerance in Vicia faba

Instability of yield in faba bean is partly caused by drought susceptibility. Four sets with 10-19 faba bean genotypes each were evaluated in multilocal field trials between 1992 and 1996. Stress occurred as natural drought in one experiment and as artificial terminal drought in three experiments. Artificial drought was induced by rain shelters; the control treatment was irrigated. Tolerance was assessed as the ratio of yield under drought (Yd) to well-watered yield (Yw). Highly significant variances between genotypes occurred; heritability of tolerance was 0.51 < h² <0.88. Exotic (North African. Latin American) genotypes were more tolerant than adapted material. Correlations between Yw and Yd were 0.77** < r <0.97**, and variance of Yd was less than one-third of the variance of Yw. Drought tolerance was negatively correlated with Yd (-0.41 < r < -0.22). Relative reduction of plant height due to drought was a promising trait to improve drought tolerance indirectly in two sets. The prospects of improving Yd are good: heritability was 0.68 < h² < 0.86. Genetic improvement of drought tolerance also seems feasible. A specific cross was proposed to create improved material.     

Root pulling resistance in rice: Inheritance and association with drought tolerance

Summary Avoidance of drought stress is commonly associated with root system characteristics and root development. The inheritance of root pulling resistance in rice (Oryza sativa L.) was investigated and its relationship with visual field scores for drought tolerance was studied. Transgressive segregation for high root pulling resistance was observed in 3 crosses (high x high, low x high, and intermediate x intermediate). Both dominant and additive genes control the variation. F₁ superiority for high root pulling resistance was observed and could be exploited in an F₁ hybrid breeding program. F₂ distribution curves indicated that plants highly resistant to root pulling can be obtained not only from low x high and high x high crosses, but also from intermediate x intermediate crosses. Root pulling resistance in rice has a low heritability (39 to 47%). Thus, breeding for a high root pulling resistance may best be accomplished by selection based on line means rather than individual plant selection. Field screening showed significant differences in leaf water potential among random F₃ lines. F₃ lines with higher leaf water potential had better visual scores for drought tolerance. Visual drought tolerance scores were correlated with root pulling resistance. Plants with high root pulling resistance had the ability to maintain higher leaf water potentials under severe drought stress. The usefulness of the root pulling technique in selecting drought tolerant genotypes was confirmed.     

Productivity,persistence and traits related to drought tolerance in smooth bromegrass

This study was conducted to evaluate drought tolerance and persistence in a germplasm of smooth bromegrass and association of forage productivity with different traits. Thirty‐six genotypes of smooth bromegrass were clonally propagated and evaluated under two soil moisture environments for three years (2013–2015). High genotypic variation was observed among genotypes for all the measured traits. Drought stress decreased mean values for traits related to productivity. Also, the long‐term stress for three years reduced the persistence of plants. Results indicated that indirect selection based on components of forage yield, which had high heritability and high correlation with yield, would be more effective to improve drought tolerance in this germplasm. The results of principal component analysis showed that there was a negative relationship between phenological traits with the persistence‐related traits and yield production. This suggests that selection for earliness may indirectly promote persistent genotypes. The results showed that some Hungarian genotypes are valuable gene sources for persistence. The most persistent genotypes from both groups (Iranian and foreign) were identified using the biplot method. These genotypes may be useful for the development of populations for future studies.     

Root distribution patterns of peanut genotypes with different drought resistance levels under early‐season drought stress

Drought severely limits crop yield of peanut. Yet cultivars with enhanced root development enable the exploration of a greater volume of soil for water and nutrients, helping the plant survive. Root distribution patterns of three genotypes (ICGV 98305, ICGV 98324 and Tifton‐8) were compared when grown in well‐watered rhizoboxes and when grown in rhizoboxes where an early‐season drought was imposed using rain‐exclusion shelters. The treatments were arranged in a completely randomized design with three replications, and the experiment was conducted during two seasons at the Field Crop Research Station of Khon Kaen University, in Khon Kaen, Thailand. The root system of ICGV 98305, when grown under drought, had a significantly higher root length in the 30–110 cm deep soil layers and less roots in the 0–30 cm soil layers when under drought than when grown under well‐watered conditions. Roots of Tifton‐8 had the largest reductions in root length in upper soil layer and reduced in most soil layers. Tifton‐8 grown under drought was smaller than under well‐watered control for all root traits, showing negative response to drought. The peanut genotypes with high root traits in deeper soil layer under early‐season drought might contribute to drought avoidance mechanism.     

Magnitude of inbreeding depression and genetic variation analysis of agro‐morphological traits in orchardgrass

Inbreeding depression is the reduction in the fitness of inbred offspring relative to progeny from unrelated parents. In orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.), limited efforts have been made to evaluate the effects of deliberate selfing on agro‐morphological traits and to estimate the genetic variation of traits. Twenty‐five genotypes of orchardgrass, along with 25 S₁ (full‐sibs) and 25 families of half‐sibs, were created in 2012 and used to assess the consequences of the first generation of inbreeding and outcrossing for offspring fitness and to estimate heritabilities, genetic parameters and correlations of agro‐morphological traits during the period of 2013–2014 in the field. Different levels of inbreeding depression were observed for the traits, with higher values for plant height, days to inflorescence emergence and dry matter yield. The degree of inbreeding or outbreeding effects varied among the studied genotypes. This facilitates the development of inbred lines for further studies. The results showed that some of the studied genotypes were self‐fertile, thereby indicating the possibility of developing inbred lines from these genotypes. Heritabilities ranged from 0.10 for the number of stems per plant to 0.64 for spread among the studied populations. Spread had high heritability as well as high correlation with forage yield, thereby indicating that this trait could be used to improve forage yield indirectly.     

Assessing morphological characteristics of elite cotton lines from different breeding programmes for low temperature and drought tolerance

Cotton breeders in the United States strive to develop region‐specific genotypes adapted to low temperatures and variable soil moistures during early‐season planting. Nine elite upland cotton germplasm (Gossypium hirsutum L.) lines, representing public breeding programmes from nine states across the cotton belt, were evaluated for cold and drought stresses during seed germination and seedling growth stages. Lines were subjected to three treatments, such as low temperature well‐watered (22/14°C, WW), optimal temperature drought stress (30/22°C, DS) and optimal temperature well‐watered (30/22°C, WW; control), to examine genotypic variability for cold and drought tolerance. The treatment including drought stress was irrigated at 50% of the control. Shoot and root traits measured at 25 days after planting were significantly affected by drought and low temperature, where significant genetic variability among lines was observed for both shoot and root parameters. Response indices were developed to quantify variation in the degree of tolerance among the lines to low temperature and drought. Accordingly, OA‐33 was identified as the most low‐temperature‐tolerant line and Acala 1517‐99 as the most drought‐tolerant line. Identification of both cold‐ and drought‐tolerant genotypes suggests existing genotypic variability could provide breeders the opportunity to improve cultivar response to early‐season drought or cold conditions.     

Root Phenotyping For Drought Tolerance in Bean Landraces From Calabria (Italy)

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) is cultivated throughout Latin America and Africa, and for the European community, in Italy and Spain, areas are mainly subjected to drought stress which is predict to worsen by regional climatic models. The aims of this work were to identify the drought‐tolerant and drought‐sensitive bean landraces using drought tolerance and phenotypic plasticity indexes and to dissect the root morphological and 2D‐architecture traits related to drought tolerance. Thirty‐one landraces from diverse gene pools and areas of the Calabria region (South Italy), with different habits and morphological traits, were screened for drought tolerance in a hydroponic system. Root phenotyping was conducted by image analysis. Drought tolerance screening identified two landraces as drought tolerant and sensitive, respectively. Under drought stress, the drought‐tolerant landrace exhibited several interesting root traits such as a higher root length, surface area and, above all, the fineness of the whole root systems and, with emphasis, of the higher order roots. Drought stress induced plastic root responses in both bean landraces but with contrasting patterns. The drought‐tolerant landrace exhibited a dimorphic‐rooted strategy, which could be included in future utility for bean breeding programmes in drought‐prone environments.     

Breeding banana (Musa spp.) for drought tolerance: A review

Drought is a major abiotic stress affecting banana production worldwide, leading to yield losses of up to 65%. Consequently, numerous efforts to understand and mitigate drought effects that include developing tolerant crop varieties are ongoing in several banana breeding programmes. The breeding efforts, however, have been greatly slowed down by inherent banana problems (polyploidy and male or female sterility) and complexity of drought tolerance (reportedly controlled by several genes). This review summarizes the pertinent research findings on water requirements of banana for its proper growth and productivity, symptoms of drought-sensitive varieties and field management strategies to cope with drought stress. The coping strategies deployed by resistant cultivars include high assimilation rates and water retention capacity as well as minor losses in leaf area and gaseous exchange. Reduced bunch weight, leaf chlorosis, wilting and strangled birth are underlined to be directly associated with drought susceptibility. Integration of conventional, molecular breeding and biotechnological tools as well as exploitation of the existing banana genetic diversity presents a huge opportunity for successful banana improvement.     

Breeding methods and selection indices for improved tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses in cool season food legumes

The objective of breeding for stress tolerance is to improve productivity for a target level of stress. If tolerance is viewed as resistance to change in productivity with increasing stress, productivity under stress depends not only on stress tolerance, but also on maximum productivity. Index selection theory indicates that selection in non-stress environments will be more effective than direct selection for productivity under stress whenever the correlation between the two types of environments exceeds the heritability of productivity under stress. With high genetic correlation, selection should be conducted within a level of stress that maximizes heritability. In cases where heritability under non-stress is much higher than under stress, an index combining data from stress and non-stress environments is expected to be more efficient than selection based on evaluation only within stress environments.Secondary traits will be useful in breeding for productivity under stress whenever they have high heritability and high genetic correlation with productivity under stress. For some abiotic stresses and many biotic stresses, heritability will be highest in the presence of stress and indirect or index selection will be of limited value.     

不同程度水分处理对烟农21根系抗旱特性的影响

此文在盆栽条件下研究了不同程度干旱胁迫对冬小麦根系抗旱特性的影响。结果表明：中度和严重水分胁迫条件下,单株根干重、根冠比和次生根数目增加,但冠干重降低,且烟农21根干重、冠干重、次生根数目均高于鲁麦21,说明烟农21根系形态抗旱性优于鲁麦21。中度水分胁迫和严重水分胁迫条件下,烟农21和鲁麦21根系活力均降低;各生育时期根系活力差异显著,拔节期>挑旗期>开花期>成熟期;烟农21根系活力降低幅度明显低于鲁麦21。中度和严重水分胁迫下,烟农21根系可溶性糖含量分别提高了32.8%、65.6%,脯氨酸含量分别提高了327%和514%。水分胁迫提高了两品种根系的超氧化物岐化酶（SOD）活性、过氧化物酶（POD）活性和丙二醛（MDA）含量。各生育期根系SOD、POD酶活性比较,开花期>挑旗期>拔节期>成熟期。说明烟农21抗旱性优于鲁麦21。     

不同耐旱性青稞叶片差异蛋白分析

为从蛋白质水平揭示不同青稞品种响应干旱胁迫的差异,分析抗旱蛋白质分子机制,本研究以干旱胁迫不敏感的旱地紫青稞(HDZ)和干旱胁迫敏感的大麻青稞(DM)为研究材料,以盆栽限量供水种植方法,对干旱处理不同梯度的青稞叶片进行叶绿素、可溶性蛋白、丙二醛含量及相对电导率4项生理指标的测定,同时利用iTRAQ技术对深度干旱胁迫青稞叶片全蛋白组进行差异蛋白分析。结果表明:随着干旱处理时间的延长,两种青稞的叶绿素和可溶性蛋白含量逐渐下降,电导率及丙二醛的含量逐渐升高,在相同处理条件下,大麻青稞的叶绿素和可溶性蛋白含量降低幅度、电导率及丙二醛含量的增高幅度明显高于旱地紫青稞;对两个青稞品种的干旱胁迫和正常培养的比较组进行iTRAQ分析,共定量出4163个蛋白(多肽),其中旱地紫青稞比较组中对比正常培养,筛选到表达上调的蛋白68个,下调的蛋白63个,在大麻青稞的比较组中筛选出表达上调蛋白21个,下调蛋白32个。KEGG通路分析表明,富集程度位于前3位的通路是代谢、氨基酸的生物合成以及次级代谢产物的生物合成,主要涉及到柠檬酸循环、碳循环等代谢通路,丙氨酸、精氨酸等氨基酸的合成降解以及花生四烯酸、亚麻酸等次级...     

Indirect Selection for Root Development of White Clover and Implications for Drought Tolerance

Improving white clover drought tolerance by selecting for more developed roots is controversial, labour‐consuming and complicated by the adventitious root system. This study aimed at assessing: (i) the value of thicker stolons as an indirect selection criterion for increasing root development, (ii) the relationship between root development and drought tolerance, and (iii) the consistency of population response for root and shoot traits between swards derived from seedlings or stolon cuttings. Thick‐ and thin‐stolon populations obtained by one cycle of divergent phenotypic selection within one ladino landrace, and one ladino natural population, were evaluated in metal containers (0.55 m × 0.12 m × 0.75 m deep) in a 1‐year experiment including vegetative material (seedling or stolon cutting) and drought stress (absent or present) as additional factors. Aerial dry weight (DW) was also assessed across two summer harvests under irrigated and rainfed field conditions for the thick‐stolon selection, two breeding populations selected from the same landrace regardless of stolon thickness, and the drought‐tolerant ladino ‘Brown Loam Synthetic no. 2’. The thick‐stolon selection had greater root DW (+21 %) than the thin‐stolon selection besides thicker stolons (+23 %). The natural population combined thinnest stolons with lowest root DW. Differences between populations were consistent across vegetative material. Primary and adventitious root systems did not differ for root DW in deeper soil horizons (>23 cm), above‐ground biomass and its reduction due to drought stress. Root DW increased under stress, particularly in deeper horizons. Aerial DW variation among populations evened up or narrowed much under stress, with no cross‐over interaction leading to an advantage of thick‐stolon material or ‘Brown‐Loam Synthetic no. 2’.     

Genetic variation for maize root architecture in response to drought stress at the seedling stage

Although the root system is indispensable for absorption of nutrients and water, it is poorly studied in maize owing to the difficulties of direct measurement of roots. Here, 103 maize lines were used to compare root architectures under well-watered and water-stressed conditions. Significant genetic variation, with medium to high heritability and significant correlations, was observed for root traits. Total root length (TRL) and total root surface area (TSA) had high phenotypical diversity, and TRL was positively correlated with TSA, root volume, and root forks. The first two principal components explained 94.01% and 91.15% of total root variation in well-watered and water-stressed conditions, respectively. Thus, TRL and TSA, major contributors to root variation, can be used as favorable selection criteria at the seedling stage. We found that stiff stalk and non-stiff stalk groups (temperate backgrounds) showed relatively higher mean values for root morphological diversity than the TST group (tropical/subtropical background). Of the tested lines, 7, 42, 45, and 9 were classified as drought sensitive, moderately sensitive, moderately drought tolerant, and highly drought tolerant, respectively. Seven of the 9 extremely drought tolerant lines were from the TST group, suggesting that TST germplasms harbor valuable genetic resources for drought tolerance that could be used in breeding to improve abiotic stress tolerance in maize.     

信阳市旱情动态分析与模拟监测系统

摘要：本文通过对信阳市1971-2000年近30不同年份平均气温、湿度、降水、蒸发、风速、日照、作物发育期资料、作物生长量测定资料及土壤墒情资料的统计分析,确定信阳市不同区域、不同季节干旱指标,进而建立起信阳市旱情动态模拟系统,在全市旱情动态预报中发挥着积极作用     

质膜内在蛋白ZmPIP1;1参与玉米耐旱性和光合作用的功能分析

质膜内在蛋白(plasma membrane intrinsic proteins, PIPs)是水通道蛋白主要亚家族成员之一,在植物生长发育过程中具有重要调节功能。前期研究表明,玉米ZmPIP1;1基因表达受到渗透和盐胁迫的强烈诱导,但其在玉米中的生物学功能尚不明确。本研究通过玉米遗传转化获得了ZmPIP1;1超表达转基因株系,干旱胁迫实验揭示了ZmPIP1;1超表达转基因株系较野生型具有较低的水分散失率及较强的干旱胁迫耐性。转录组测序结果表明参与ABA生物合成及其信号通路相关基因的表达水平发生了显著变化。在田间正常生长条件下,ZmPIP1;1超表达转基因植株与野生型在生长发育过程中没有明显差异,但转基因玉米株系具有较高的光合效率,粒宽和百粒重增加,玉米单果穗的产量提高。此外,通过荧光双分子互补实验观察到ZmPIP1;1和ZmPIP2;6蛋白在玉米叶肉细胞原生质体的细胞质膜和叶绿体膜上存在互作,并且可能导致了ZmPIP蛋白的重定位。该研究为ZmPIP1;1分子机制的解析奠定了重要基础,为玉米高光效分子设计育种开辟了新的途径。     

An evaluation of seed and seedling drought tolerance screening tests in wheat

Summary A series of experiments was performed in order to evaluate the significance of seed germination and seedling growth in osmotic media as screening methods for drought tolerance.Ten spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em Thell.) and one durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) were tested under controlled environments, using polyethylene glycol-6000 (PEG) solutions as the moisture stress inducing media.Tolerance in the rate of endosperm utilization, under stress, prior to the onset of germination varied among cultivars.Germination rate or injury to germination at various concentrations of PEG differed significantly among cultivars. Cultivar rating with respect to injury to germination changed with stress levels. Injury to germination did not correlate with endosperm utilization rate in PEG or in water.Germinating seedlings were tolerant to extreme desiccation up to the stage of emergence of the first leaf from the coleoptile.Growth of photosynthesizing seedlings was monitored as they were carried through an increasing concentration gradient of PEG solutions, ranging from –5.9 to –11.3 bars of water potential. Cultivars significantly differed in seedling growth tolerance to increasing levels of water stress. Seedling growth tolerance across cultivars was not correlated with their germination responses under srress.It is concluded that tolerance to water stress in growing seedlings can be screened for by using PEG-containing nutrient solutions. It can not be predicted from germination tests in osmotica.Work was done under a US-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) Grant no. 1654/78.Contribution from Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel, No. 192-E, 1979 series.