Dryland agricultural environment and sustainable productivity

Abstract

Global climate change is expected to cause progressively increased frequency and severity of drought events, which further seriously limit plant growth and crop yields. Increasing water use efficiency (WUE) and yield per unit rainfall are one of the most important challenges in dry land agriculture. Here, we reviewed the comprehensive technical strategies including conserving water to combine both increased agricultural productivity and resource conservation; enquiring into how crop plants respond to drought through morphological, physiological, and molecular modifications that occur in all plant organs; breeding for drought tolerance where there is a delineated stress environment and genotype × environment interactions are stable; effective conservation of rainfall and high efficiency of use. In addition, we discussed the preponderance of biological water-saving measures, which embraces improvements in WUE and drought tolerance, by genetic improvement and physiological regulation. Sustainable agriculture would be benefited from modern engineering such as biological engineering, conservation tillage, and breeding technologies.