Root Phenotyping: A Contribution to Understanding Drought Stress Resilience in Grain Legumes

Abstract

Global climate change predictions point to an increase in the frequency of droughts and floods, which are a huge challenge to food production. During crop evolution, different mechanisms for drought resilience have emerged, and studies suggest that roots can be an important key in understanding these mechanisms. However, knowledge is still scarce, being fundamental to its exploitation. Plant-based protein, especially grain legume crops, will be crucial in meeting the demand for affordable and healthy food due to their high protein content. In addition, grain legumes have the unique ability for biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) through symbiosis with bacteria, which contributes to sustainable agriculture. The exploitation of root phenotyping techniques in grain legumes is an important step toward understanding their drought resilience mechanisms and selecting more resilient genotypes. Different methodologies are available for root phenotyping, including the paper pouch approach, rhizotrons and the semi-hydroponic system. Additionally, different imaging techniques have been employed to assess root traits. This review provides an overview of the root system architecture (RSA) of grain legumes, its role in drought stress resilience and the phenotyping approaches useful for the identification of accessions resilient to water stress. Consequently, this knowledge will be important in mitigating the effects of climate change and improving grain legume production.

Plant phenotyping relevance

根系表現型解析手法と画像技術を中心に、乾燥ストレス耐性評価への適用を概説するレビューであり、方法論が主題である。

Code and data availability

This is a review article with no original phenotyping measurements or computational analysis. The Data Availability Statement explicitly says 'No new data were created or analyzed in this study.' The only external URL mentioned (quantitative-plant DIRT software) is a cited third-party tool from prior work, not an asset

No evidence-backed public reproduction asset is currently recorded.