Climate Change Adaptation - Climate Resilient Agriculture for Ensuring Food Security - page 222

Table 12.1 Horticultural crop varieties resistant to major
abiotic stresses
Vegetable crop Abiotic stress

breeding program. The best performing lines of
cspA and cspB showed yield increases of 30.8 %
and 20.4 %, respectively. The best two cspB lines
(CspB-Zm events 1 and 2) also showed signifi -
cant gains in leaf growth, chlorophyll content,
and photosynthetic rates. Non-transgenic controls
suffered 50 % or 30-40 % yield losses under the
two drought stresses (well-watered, drought
immediately preceding fl owering, drought during
grain fi ll), respectively. Thus, the cspB gene
appeared capable of minimizing kernel abortion,
an irreversible (and therefore very important)
component of yield loss under drought (Fig. 12.1 ).
Overexpression of AVP1 in cotton not only
improved drought and salt tolerance under
greenhouse conditions but also increased fi ber
yield in dryland fi eld conditions. The increased
yield by AVP1 -expressing cotton plants is due to
more bolls produced, which in turn is due to
larger shoot system that AVP1 -expressing cotton
plants develop under saline or drought condi-
tions. The larger root systems of AVP1 -expressing
cotton plants under saline and water-defi cit
conditions allow transgenic plants access to more
of the soil profi le and available soil water, result-
ing in increased biomass production and yield
(Fig. 12.2 ) (Pasapula et al. 2011 ).
The HRD gene in transgenic rice has improved
water-use effi ciency and the ratio of biomass pro-
duced to the amount of water used, through
enhanced photosynthesis and reduced transpira-
tion. Correlation of drought tolerance with root
architecture (spread, depth, and volume) has been
examined in cowpea (South Africa, West Africa,
and India), rice (India), and beans (Central and
South America). Other modifi cations are further
from commercialization (Table 12.2 ).

Resistant varieties

Tomato Moisture Arka Meghali

Hot set Pusa Hybrid-1

Hot and cold set Pusa Sadabahar

Chili Moisture Arka Lohit

Field bean Moisture Arka Jay, Arka

Vijay, Konkan
Bushan

Cowpea Moisture Arka Garima

French bean Heat tolerant Arka Komal

Cluster bean Moisture Pusa Nav Bahar,

Pusa Sadabahar

Lima bean Moisture IIHR Sel-1, IIHR

Sel-4

Round melon Heat tolerant Arka Tinda, Punjab

Tinda

Long melon Heat tolerant Arka Sheetal,

Punjab Long Melon

Bottle gourd Heat tolerant Pusa Summer

Prolifi c Long

Bitter gourd Heat tolerant Pusa Do Mousami,

Kalyan Sona

Warm humid
climate

Arka Harit,
Coimbatore Long,
Konkan Tara, Priya,
CO-1, MC-84,
MDU-3

Cabbage High temp. tolerant Pusa Ageti

Caulifl ower Curd development

in May in lower
hills

Pusa Him Jyoti

Turnip Hot and humid

climate

Pusa Sweta

Radish High temp. tolerant Pusa Chetki

Carrot Temperate type,

bolting, and seed
setting under high
temp.

Pusa Meghali

Palak Not bolting in

plains

Pusa Harit

Turmeric Tolerant to drought CO-1, BSR-1

12.1.7 Interventions

manipulation of enzymes such as RuBisCo would
help in increasing effectiveness of use of CO 2 and
thus helping the reduction in GHG emissions.
DroughtGard maize will be the fi rst commer-
cially available transgenic (GM) drought-tolerant
crop if it is released in 2013 as planned. Hybrid
seed sold under this trademark will combine a
novel transgenic trait (based on the bacterial cspB
gene) with the best of Monsanto's conventional

12.1.7.1 Research and Development

￿ Development of plant genetic resources to

combat changing environments with special
focus on plant physiological processes such as
fl owering, seed development, photosynthesis,
respiration, water retentions, and plant growth
regulation