Plant Breeding for Water-Limited Environments [Paperback]

This volume will be the only existing single-authored book offering a science-based breeders manual directed at breeding for water-limited environments. Plant breeding is characterized by the need to integrate information from diverse disciplines towards the development and delivery of a product defines as a new cultivar. Conventional breeding draws information from disciplines such as genetics, plant physiology, plant pathology, entomology, food technology and statistics. Plant breeding for water-limited environments and the development of drought resistant crop cultivars is considered as one of the more difficult areas in plant breeding while at the same time it is becoming a very pressing issue. This volume is unique and timely in that it develops realistic solutions and protocols towards the breeding of drought resistant cultivars by integrating knowledge from environmental science, plant physiology, genetics and molecular biology.

This breeders manual for water-limited environments is unique and timely, offering realistic solutions and protocols for drought resistant cultivars by integrating knowledge from environmental science, plant physiology, genetics and molecular biology.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface 1.The Moisture Environment 1.1.The Palmer drought index 1.2.The crop moisture index 1.3.The conventions of crop water use 2.Plant Water Relations, Plant Stress and Plant Production 2.1.The initiation of plant water deficit 2.2.The soil-plant-atmosphere continuum (SPAC) 2.2.1.The albedo 2.2.2.The water flux 2.2.3.Root resistance 2.2.4.Stem resistance 2.2.5.Leaf resistance (excluding stomata and cuticle) 2.2.6.Stomatal resistance 2.2.7.Cuticular resistance 2.3.Plant size and the development of water deficit 2.4.Plant water status and plant stress 2.4.1.Osmotic adjustment (OA) 2.4.2.Abscisic acid (ABA) 2.5.Growth and water deficit 2.6.Root growth under drought stress 2.7.The formation of yield and drought stress 3.Drought Resistance and its Ilc&