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Life
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Cereals: Stress Resistance and Breeding
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Cereals: Stress Resistance and Breeding

A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 5487

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Zhiwei Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, China
Interests: salt stress; drought stress; nitrogen use efficiency; transcriptome analysis; genetic diversity; molecular marker-assisted selection

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the recent climate change, extreme weather events are more frequent and more severe, causing serious impacts on crop yield and quality. As we know, cereal crops play important roles in global food security, hence improving their stress tolerance to these adverse environments will contribute to their high and stable yields. The breeding of stress-tolerant varieties will also make an important contribution to the global food supply. However, the molecular mechanisms of stress tolerance are still not very clear in cereals, and there are not many reports on successful examples of stress tolerance breeding.

This Special Issue will provide more opportunities for scientists to introduce their latest results and research ideas, thereby providing inspirations for breeders to speed cereal crop breeding with stress tolerance. The Special Issue “Cereals: Stress Resistance and Breeding” will be open for submissions.

Dr. Zhiwei Chen
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • salt stress
  • drought stress
  • nitrogen use efficiency
  • transcriptome analysis
  • genetic diversity
  • molecular marker-assisted selection

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 1176 KiB  
Article
Genetic Potential of Newly Developed Maize Hybrids under Different Water-Availability Conditions in an Arid Environment
by Youstina S. A. Sedhom, Hassan A. Rabie, Hassan A. Awaad, Maryam M. Alomran, Salha M. ALshamrani, Elsayed Mansour and Mohamed M. A. Ali
Life 2024, 14(4), 453; https://doi.org/10.3390/life14040453 - 29 Mar 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 994
Abstract
Drought is a crucial environmental stress that tremendously impacts maize production, particularly under abrupt climate changes. Consequently, breeding drought-tolerant and high-yielding maize hybrids has become decisive in sustaining its production and ensuring global food security under the global fast-growing population. The present study [...] Read more.
Drought is a crucial environmental stress that tremendously impacts maize production, particularly under abrupt climate changes. Consequently, breeding drought-tolerant and high-yielding maize hybrids has become decisive in sustaining its production and ensuring global food security under the global fast-growing population. The present study aimed to explore drought tolerance and agronomic performance of newly developed maize inbred lines and their hybrids. Ten newly developed maize inbred lines were crossed with two high-yielding testers using a line × tester mating design. The developed twenty hybrids alongside two high-yielding commercial hybrids were evaluated under water-deficit (5411 m3/ha) and well-watered (7990 m3/ha) conditions in dry summer climate conditions. Highly significant variations were detected among the evaluated hybrids for all studied agronomic traits under well-watered and water-deficit conditions. The inbred lines L10 and L6 were particularly notable, demonstrating the most significant negative general combining ability (GCA) effects for earliness, which is crucial for stress avoidance in both environmental settings. Inbred lines L11, L7, L6, and L1 also showed the highest positive and most significant GCA effects for key yield traits, indicating their potential as parents in breeding programs. The crosses L-10×T-1 and L-6×T-2 were outstanding for their heterotic effects on earliness in days to tasseling and silking. Similarly, the crosses L-4×T-2 and L-1×T-1 excelled in plant and ear heights under both irrigation regimes. The hybrids L-1×T-2 and L-7×T-1 demonstrated superior heterosis for chlorophyll content, number of rows per ear, and overall grain yield. Additionally, hybrids L-11×T-1 and L-11×T-2 exhibited remarkable heterotic effects for the number of grains per row, number of rows per ear, 100-kernel weight, and grain yield, highlighting their potential in breeding for productivity. Based on drought tolerance indices and cluster analysis, the cross combinations L-11×T-1, L-11×T-2, L-7×T-1, and L-1×T-2 were classified as the most drought-tolerant crosses. The principal component analysis highlighted traits such as days to tasseling, days to silking, chlorophyll content, plant height, ear height, number of grains per row, number of rows per ear, and 100-kernel weight can be taken as selection criteria for improving grain yield in maize breeding programs under limited water conditions. Based on the summarized results, the identified genetic materials could be considered promising under both conditions and hold potential for future breeding programs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cereals: Stress Resistance and Breeding)
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18 pages, 5268 KiB  
Article
Physiological, Agronomic, and Grain Quality Responses of Diverse Rice Genotypes to Various Irrigation Regimes under Aerobic Cultivation Conditions
by Ahmed M. A. Mousa, Ahmed M. A.-G. Ali, Abdelrahman E. A. Omar, Khadiga Alharbi, Diaa Abd El-Moneim, Elsayed Mansour and Rasha S. A. Elmorsy
Life 2024, 14(3), 370; https://doi.org/10.3390/life14030370 - 12 Mar 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1238
Abstract
Aerobic rice cultivation represents an innovative approach to reduce water consumption and enhance water use efficiency compared to traditional transplanting methods. Simultaneously, cultivating drought-tolerant rice genotypes becomes crucial to ensure their sustainable production under abrupt climate fluctuations. Hence, this study aimed to explore [...] Read more.
Aerobic rice cultivation represents an innovative approach to reduce water consumption and enhance water use efficiency compared to traditional transplanting methods. Simultaneously, cultivating drought-tolerant rice genotypes becomes crucial to ensure their sustainable production under abrupt climate fluctuations. Hence, this study aimed to explore the physiological, agronomic, and grain quality responses of ten diverse rice genotypes to various irrigation levels under aerobic cultivation conditions. A field experiment was performed for two summer seasons of 2019 and 2020 in an arid Mediterranean climate. The irrigation regimes were well watered (13,998 m3/ha), mild drought (10,446 m3/ha), moderate drought (7125 m3/ha), and severe drought (5657 m3/ha). The results revealed considerable variations among rice genotypes under tested irrigation regimes in all physiological, agronomic, and quality traits. According to drought response indices, rice genotypes were classified into three groups (A–C), varying from tolerant to sensitive genotypes. The identified drought-tolerant genotypes (Giza-179, Hybrid-1, Giza-178, and Line-9399) recorded higher yields and crop water productivity with reduced water usage compared to drought-sensitive genotypes. Thus, these genotypes are highly recommended for cultivation in water-scarce environments. Furthermore, their characteristics could be valuable in breeding programs to improve drought tolerance in rice, particularly under aerobic cultivation conditions. The PCA biplot, heatmap, and hierarchical clustering highlighted specific physiological parameters such as relative water content, chlorophyll content, proline content, peroxidase content, and catalase content exhibited robust associations with yield traits under water deficit conditions. These parameters offer valuable insights and could serve as rapid indicators for assessing drought tolerance in rice breeding programs in arid environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cereals: Stress Resistance and Breeding)
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20 pages, 2741 KiB  
Article
Molecular Genetic Diversity of Local and Exotic Durum Wheat Genotypes and Their Combining Ability for Agronomic Traits under Water Deficit and Well-Watered Conditions
by Ahmed A. Galal, Fatmah A. Safhi, Mahmoud A. El-Hity, Mohamed M. Kamara, Eman M. Gamal El-Din, Medhat Rehan, Mona Farid, Said I. Behiry, Mohamed El-Soda and Elsayed Mansour
Life 2023, 13(12), 2293; https://doi.org/10.3390/life13122293 - 1 Dec 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1352
Abstract
Water deficit poses significant environmental stress that adversely affects the growth and productivity of durum wheat. Moreover, projections of climate change suggest an increase in the frequency and severity of droughts, particularly in arid regions. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop [...] Read more.
Water deficit poses significant environmental stress that adversely affects the growth and productivity of durum wheat. Moreover, projections of climate change suggest an increase in the frequency and severity of droughts, particularly in arid regions. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop drought-tolerant and high-yielding genotypes to ensure sustained production and global food security in response to population growth. This study aimed to explore the genetic diversity among local and exotic durum wheat genotypes using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers and, additionally, to explore the combining ability and agronomic performance of assessed durum wheat genotypes and their 28 F1 crosses under normal and drought stress conditions. The investigated SSRs highlighted and confirmed the high genetic variation among the evaluated parental durum wheat genotypes. These diverse eight parental genotypes were consequently used to develop 28 F1s through a diallel mating design. The parental durum genotypes and their developed 28 F1s were assessed under normal and drought stress conditions. The evaluated genotypes were analyzed for their general and specific combining abilities as well as heterosis for agronomic traits under both conditions. The local cultivar Bani-Suef-7 (P8) is maintained as an effective combiner for developing shortened genotypes and improving earliness. Moreover, the local cultivars Bani-Suef-5 (P7) and Bani-Suef-7 (P8) along with the exotic line W1520 (P6) demonstrated excellent general combining ability for improving grain yield and its components under drought stress conditions. Furthermore, valuable specific hybrid combinations, W988 × W994 (P1 × P2), W996 × W1518 (P3 × P5), W1011 × W1520 (P4 × P6), and Bani-Suef-5 × Bani-Suef-7 (P7 × P8), were identified for grain yield and its components under drought stress conditions. The assessed 36 genotypes were grouped according to tolerance indices into five clusters varying from highly drought-sensitive genotypes (group E) to highly drought-tolerant (group A). The genotypes in cluster A (two crosses) followed by thirteen crosses in cluster B displayed higher drought tolerance compared to the other crosses and their parental genotypes. Subsequently, these hybrids could be considered valuable candidates in future durum wheat breeding programs to develop desired segregants under water-deficit conditions. Strong positive relationships were observed between grain yield and number of grains per spike, plant height, and 1000-grain weight under water-deficit conditions. These results highlight the significance of these traits for indirect selection under drought stress conditions, particularly in the early stages of breeding, owing to their convenient measurability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cereals: Stress Resistance and Breeding)
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Review

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11 pages, 771 KiB  
Review
Advances in Identifying the Mechanisms by Which Microorganisms Improve Barley Salt Tolerance
by Zhiwei Chen, Zhenzhu Guo, Longhua Zhou, Hongwei Xu, Chenghong Liu and Xin Yan
Life 2024, 14(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/life14010006 - 19 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1302
Abstract
As the global human population continues to increase, the use of saline–alkali land for food production is an important consideration for food security. In addition to breeding or cultivating salt-tolerant crop varieties, microorganisms are increasingly being evaluated for their ability to improve plant [...] Read more.
As the global human population continues to increase, the use of saline–alkali land for food production is an important consideration for food security. In addition to breeding or cultivating salt-tolerant crop varieties, microorganisms are increasingly being evaluated for their ability to improve plant salt tolerance. Barley is one of the most important and salt-tolerant cereal crops and is a model system for investigating the roles of microorganisms in improving plant salt tolerance. However, a comprehensive review of the mechanisms by which microorganisms improve barley salt tolerance remains lacking. In this review, the mechanisms of barley salt tolerance improvement by microorganisms are summarized, along with a discussion of existing problems in current research and areas of future research directions. In particular, with the development of sequencing technology and the great reduction of prices, the use of omics can not only comprehensively evaluate the role of microorganisms but also evaluate the impact of the microbiome on plants, which will provide us with many opportunities and challenges in this research area. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cereals: Stress Resistance and Breeding)
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