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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2016, Vol. 15 Issue (05): 935-943    DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(15)61102-9
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Breeding wheat for drought tolerance: Progress and technologies
Learnmore Mwadzingeni1, Hussein Shimelis1, Ernest Dube2, Mark D Laing1, Toi J Tsilo2
1 College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal/African Centre for Crop Improvement, Scottsville 3209, South Africa
2 Agricultural Research Council-Small Grain Institute (ARC-SGI), Bethlehem 9700, South Africa
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Abstract      Recurrent drought associated with climate change is among the principal constraints to global productivity of wheat (Triticum aestivum (L.) and T. turgidum (L.)).  Numerous efforts to mitigate drought through breeding resilient varieties are underway across the world.  Progress is, however, hampered because drought tolerance is a complex trait that is controlled by many genes and its full expression is affected by the environment.  Furthermore, wheat has a structurally intricate and large genome.  Consequently, breeding for drought tolerance requires the integration of various knowledge systems and methodologies from multiple disciplines in plant sciences.  This review summarizes the progress made in dry land wheat improvement, advances in knowledge, complementary methodologies, and perspectives towards breeding for drought tolerance in the crop to create a coherent overview.  Phenotypic, biochemical and genomics-assisted selection methodologies are discussed as leading research components used to exploit genetic variation.  Advances in phenomic and genomic technologies are highlighted as options to circumvent existing bottlenecks in phenotypic and genomic selection, and gene transfer.  The prospects of further integration of these technologies with other omics technologies are also provided.
Keywords:  drought tolerance       genomic selection       genotyping       phenotyping       wheat  
Received: 17 March 2015   Accepted:
Fund: 

The authors would like to thank the National Research Foundation of South Africa for funding this work.

Corresponding Authors:  Learnmore Mwadzingeni, Tel: +27-62-3117075, E-mail: 214583580@stu.ukzn.ac.za    

Cite this article: 

Learnmore Mwadzingeni, Hussein Shimelis, Ernest Dube, Mark D Laing, Toi J Tsilo. 2016. Breeding wheat for drought tolerance: Progress and technologies. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 15(05): 935-943.

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