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Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering >> 2017, Volume 4, Issue 2 doi: 10.15302/J-FASE-2017134

Effects of dwarfing genes on water use efficiency of bread wheat

. State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling 712100, China.. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.. State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China

Accepted: 2017-02-27 Available online: 2017-06-07

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Abstract

Climate change has increased the risk of drought, which significantly limits plant productivity. Various ways of increasing water availability and sustaining growth of crop plants in drought-prone environments are available. Genetic advances in grain yields under rainfed conditions have been achieved with the introduction of dwarfing genes. A thorough understanding of the effects of different dwarfing genes on root growth, coleoptile length, grain yields and water using efficiency (WUE) will provide opportunities to select appropriate genes for breeding high WUE and grain yield cultivars. This review focuses on the mechanism involved in genes that reduce plant height and affect root and coleoptile length, their consequent effects on grain yields and WUE, and suggests that for rainfed and irrigation-limited environments, combining GAR and GAI dwarfing genes in breeding may help boost WUE and yields, and more materials from different parental sources should be collected to assess opportunities for potential comprehensive application of specific genes.

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