Chapter 3 - Hybrids and abiotic stress tolerance in horticultural crops

Abstract

Horticultural crops need more attention in cultivation due to their organoleptic and nutritional properties. Abiotic stresses such as drought, flood, heat, cold, salinity, nutrient deficiency, and heavy metal stress strongly impair the growth and productivity of horticultural crops. Further, climate change has also increased the risk of abiotic stresses and affects the growth and quality of the crops. It is imperative to understand the mechanism underlying abiotic stress tolerance in different crop species as tolerant plants may switch on or off different physiological or biochemical pathways to acclimatize or to overcome the unfavorable effect of abiotic stresses. Potential for tolerance and susceptibility to a specific abiotic stress vary in different crop species. Even some wild relatives and exotic germplasms are carriers of abiotic stress–tolerant genes or QTLs that can be employed to develop resistant hybrids by incorporating such genes into susceptible cultivars. The development of smart climate-resilient hybrids is one of the best alternatives to lessen the losses due to abiotic stresses. Classical breeding alone does not suffice to meet the needs of abiotic stress–tolerant hybrids. There is a need to utilize the untapped potential of modern plant breeding strategies, say double haploid technology, transgenic methods, somaclonal variation, somatic hybridization, marker-assisted backcrossing breeding, genome-wide association studies, and genomic selection to develop hybrids with improved performance and resistance against abiotic stress. In this chapter, we have tried to emphasize the importance of hybrids to tolerate abiotic stresses and the mechanism of abiotic stress tolerance in horticultural crops.