Drought Tolerance Strategies in Rice Production

Rice is one of the world’s most water-intensive staple crops, and its vulnerability to water deficit poses a significant threat to global food security. Drought tolerance in rice encompasses a range of physiological, genetic and management strategies aimed at maintaining plant growth, yield and grain quality under limited water availability. Physiological adaptations include deep or proliferative root system architectures to enhance water acquisition, stomatal regulation to minimise water loss, osmotic adjustment through compatible solute accumulation, and enhanced antioxidant defences to mitigate oxidative damage. At the genetic level, numerous quantitative trait loci and drought-responsive genes have been identified that regulate hormone signalling, transcriptional networks and cellular protection mechanisms. Breeding approaches span from conventional selection for drought-adapted landraces and marker-assisted introgression of tolerant traits, to transgenic and genome-editing techniques targeting key regulatory genes. Agronomic strategies such as alternate wetting and drying, precise irrigation scheduling and the use of plant-growth regulators further optimise water use efficiency and crop resilience. Integration of these strategies holds global significance by enabling rice cultivation in water-scarce environments whilst safeguarding yields in the face of erratic rainfall and intensifying climate stress.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have clarified critical genetic and physiological determinants of drought tolerance in rice. Field experiments under flowering-stage water deficit revealed cultivar-specific differences in recovery capacity, with drought stress reducing grain yield by approximately one quarter yet triggering increases in instantaneous water use efficiency and highlighting recovery dynamics as a target for breeding. Comparative transcriptome profiling between drought-tolerant and sensitive cultivars has uncovered distinct sets of transcription factors and stress-responsive genes, illuminating pathways that underlie osmoprotectant synthesis, cell-wall remodelling and reactive oxygen species scavenging. Genetic analyses have also disentangled a major yield-under-drought quantitative trait locus from the semi-dwarfism gene, enabling the development of high-yielding, dwarf lines that combine robust drought tolerance with agronomic desirability.

Drought Tolerance Strategies in Rice Production publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in drought tolerance strategies in rice production across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Quantitative trait locus (QTL): A genomic region containing genes that collectively influence a complex trait such as drought tolerance.

Osmotic adjustment: Accumulation of compatible solutes (osmolytes) in cells to maintain water uptake and turgor under water deficit.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS): Chemically reactive molecules derived from oxygen that accumulate under stress and can damage cellular structures.

Transcription factor: A protein that binds specific DNA sequences to regulate the transcription of target genes involved in stress responses.

Instantaneous water use efficiency (IWUE): The ratio of carbon assimilation via photosynthesis to water loss through transpiration at a given moment.

References

1. Combined Effect of Salicylic Acid and Proline Mitigates Drought Stress in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) through the Modulation of Physiological Attributes and Antioxidant Enzymes. Antioxidants (2023).
2. Relationships between C/N metabolism and rice growth related indicators under alternating drought and flooding stress. Agricultural Water Management (2024).
3. Root Response to Drought Stress in Rice (Oryza sativa L.). International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2020).
4. The different influences of drought stress at the flowering stage on rice physiological traits, grain yield, and quality. Scientific Reports (2019).
5. Drought Resistance in Rice from Conventional to Molecular Breeding: A Review. International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2019).
6. qDTY1.1 , a major QTL for rice grain yield under reproductive-stage drought stress with a consistent effect in multiple elite genetic backgrounds. BMC Genomic Data (2011).
7. Transcriptome analysis in different rice cultivars provides novel insights into desiccation and salinity stress responses. Scientific Reports (2016).