Summary
This narrative review applies the breeder's equation framework to examine strategies for developing climate-resilient crops with enhanced drought resistance. Using temperate maize improvement in the US corn belt as a case study, the authors synthesise approaches for breeding in spatially and temporally heterogeneous drought environments and emphasise the necessity of integrating trait data across genomic to ecosystem scales. The review concludes that transdisciplinary collaboration is essential to accelerate breeding outcomes and develop cultivars suited to local environments under current and future climate conditions.
Regional applicability
Whilst the case study focuses on US maize production, the breeding principles and framework are internationally applicable. UK crop breeders face similar climate variability challenges and could adapt these methodologies to develop drought-resilient cultivars for temperate cereals and other crops, though UK rainfall patterns differ substantially from US corn belt conditions.
Key measures
Response to selection (breeder's equation framework); drought resistance traits; yield performance across target population of environments (TPEs); long-term genetic gain in maize
Outcomes reported
The paper reviews methodologies and strategies for breeding crops with improved drought resistance, using temperate maize in the US corn belt as a primary case study. It examines how crop breeding can integrate trait information across scales to predict yield outcomes under heterogeneous drought-affected and water-sufficient environments.
Topic tags
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