An Update on Molecular Strategies of Transgenic Rice Tolerance to Abiotic Stresses

Abstract

As stalkless in nature, plants always encounter either abiotic or biotic stresses or both all through the life. Abiotic stresses causes severe damage and results in reduced yield. Salt, drought, heat, and cold are the important abiotic stresses, which derails the plant metabolism. With the increasing salinity, drought, heat, and decreasing natural resources; development of plant resilience for these stresses is the prime requisite. The improved varieties can be produced either by breeding or by transgenic approach. With transgenic approach, it would be easy to obtain the desired varieties in less time compared to conventional plant breeding, a time-consuming method. Rice is the third largest produced crop and its cultivation requires more water than other cereal crops. Development of rice transgenics that can withstand abiotic stresses coupled with high yield and early maturation is the need of the hour. The genetically modified rice showed improved stress tolerance to different abiotic stresses with an increase in yield. The present work describes the development of transgenic rice tolerant to various abiotic stresses alongside the early maturation and increase in yield.