Advances in understanding barley plant physiology: responses to abiotic stress

Publication date: 03/02/2020
Extent: 30 pages

Contributions by: Alessandro Tondelli, Cristina Crosatti, Stefano Delbono and Luigi Cattivelli, CREA Research Centre for Genomics and Bioinformatics, Italy

Chapter synopsis: The full expression of barley yield potential depends on its resilience capacity, which allows the crop to face a multiplicity of different abiotic stress conditions. The impact of abiotic stresses is expected to increase in the future because of the climatic changes that modify the annual temperature and rainfall profile. This chapter addresses the importance of cold acclimation as a coordinated metabolic rearrangement leading to frost tolerance, before going on to consider new methodologies for understanding barley’s resilience to drought. The chapter considers barley’s adaptation to soil salinity, its resistance to low nitrogen, and the importance of environmental adaptation as a key target for future breeding improvement. Finally, the chapter looks ahead to future research trends in this area and gives detailed suggestions on further reading.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2019.0060.02