Drought tolerance through biotechnology: improving translation from the laboratory to farmers’ fields

Water availability is a significant constraint to crop production, and increasing drought tolerance of crops is one step to gaining greater yield stability. Excellent progress has been made using models to identify pathways and genes that can be manipulated through biotechnology to improve drought tolerance. A current focus is on translation of results from models in controlled environments to crops in the field. Field testing to demonstrate improved yields under water-limiting conditions is challenging and expensive. More extensive phenotyping of transgenic lines in the greenhouse may contribute to improved predictions about field performance. It is possible that multiple mechanisms of drought tolerance may be needed to provide benefit across the diversity of water stress environments relevant to economic yield.

► Enhanced drought tolerant crops will help ensure food for growing population. ► Many transgenes representing various pathways improve drought tolerance in models. ► Field testing needed to demonstrate commercially relevant drought tolerance in crops. ► New screens and more phenotyping will likely better predict field performance. ► New drought tolerant crops will combine agronomics, genetics and biotechnology.