Study Aimed for Drought-Stress Resistant Wheat

Wheat is the second most important cereal crop in the U.S. and winter wheat, planted on 70 percent of the cultivated wheat area often suffers yield reductions due to periodic drought. With a team of scientists at AgriLife Research, Jackie Rudd developed drought resistant wheat varieties TAM 111, TAM112, and TAM 304. Each of the varieties have different response to water stress, and the physiological and molecular basis of their adaption is unknown.

The team proposes to use physiological measurements and yield parameters to evaluate the impact of specific drought-stress treatments on the phenotype and physiology of the plants in controlled greenhouse and field conditions. A systems biology approach will be used including high throughput RNA sequencing, proteomic, metabolomic and hormonomic technologies to elucidate the drought tolerance mechanisms of the above mentioned varieties at molecular and whole-plant levels. Results of these studies will be used in developing molecular markers to facilitate breeding for drought tolerance with validation in the field.

Details of this article at http://agrilife.org/today/2011/12/14/agrilife-research-study-aimed-at-reducing-drought-stress-losses-to-wheat/