Breeding drought-tolerant crops for sustainable agriculture

Ali Raza; Sidra Charagh; Kadambot H. M. Siddique; Channapatna S. Prakash; P. V. Vara Prasad; Richard J. Harper; Vasileios Fotopoulos; Zhangli Hu; Rajeev K. Varshney

doi:10.1186/s40066-025-00587-4

Back

Breeding drought-tolerant crops for sustainable agriculture

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Breeding drought-tolerant crops for sustainable agriculture

Ali Raza, Sidra Charagh, Kadambot H. M. Siddique, Channapatna S. Prakash, P. V. Vara Prasad, Richard J. Harper, Vasileios Fotopoulos, Zhangli Hu and Rajeev K. Varshney

Agriculture & food security, Vol.15(1), 6

2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-025-00587-4

Files and links (1)

pdf

Published3.97 MBDownload View

Open Access CC BY-NC-ND V4.0

Abstract

Agricultural Economics

Agriculture

Biomedical and Life Sciences

Biotechnology

Building Resilience through Sustainable Food Environments and Diets

Ecology

Epidemiology

Life Sciences

Plant Sciences

Review

With the escalating impacts of climate change, drought stress (DS) is significantly decreasing water accessibility and availability, causing substantial direct and indirect economic repercussions within agricultural systems. Addressing the needs of a growing global population necessitates urgent advancements in breeding DS-tolerant crops while maintaining high yields. This urgency demands a fast and adaptable defensive strategy to mitigate the adverse effects of DS on crop productivity. Accelerating such developments requires leveraging advanced omics-assisted breeding (e.g., genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics), genetic engineering (e.g., transgenic technology, and genome editing), machine learning, precise phenotyping, crop wild relatives, and speed breeding. These fast-forward methods present highly promising avenues for the design of future crops that can withstand DS pressures. In summary, we propose an innovative approach termed the “OGS trio,” which encompasses omics integration, genetic engineering, and speed breeding. This trio stands composed to transform efforts against DS, offering significant potential for developing drought-tolerant crops to achieve and food security amidst climate change.

Details

Title: Breeding drought-tolerant crops for sustainable agriculture
Authors/Creators: Ali Raza - Shenzhen University
Sidra Charagh - China National Rice Research Institute
Kadambot H. M. Siddique - The University of Western Australia
Channapatna S. Prakash - Tuskegee University
P. V. Vara Prasad - Kansas State University
Richard J. Harper - Murdoch University
Vasileios Fotopoulos - Cyprus University of Technology
Zhangli Hu - Shenzhen University
Rajeev K. Varshney - Murdoch University
Publication Details: Agriculture & food security, Vol.15(1), 6
Publisher: BioMed Central Ltd unless otherwise stated. Part of Springer Nature.
Number of pages: 26
Grant note: 2018YFA0902500 / Chinese National Key R & D Project for Synthetic Biology Food Futures Institute of Murdoch University KCXFZ20211020164013021 / Shenzhen Special Fund for Sustainable Development 32273118 / National Natural Science Foundation of China (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001809) 2022B010 / Shenzhen University 2035 Program for Excellent Research 2022B1111070005 / Guangdong Key R & D Project
Identifiers: 991005902271507891
Murdoch Affiliation: School of Agricultural Sciences; Food Futures Institute
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#12 Responsible Consumption & Production

Source: SDGs in the Output

Metrics

1 Record Views