Abstract

                                In this unpredictable climatic scenario, increasing crop productivity under lowwater availability is the foremost challenge. The crops are further seriouslyaffected, and the yields are drastically reduced due to elevated temperature,greenhouse gases, and humidity during the water stress period. To ensurefood security in the coming decades, scientists have summoned to increasethe high-quality food with these climatic vagaries. Though several agronomicand management strategies were proposed to mitigate the water stress,genetic improvement of crops with improved drought tolerance is the simple,sustainable and affordable option. Nevertheless, identification and molecularunderstanding of the appropriate breeding traits that can alleviate the impactof water stress on crop plants are the trickiest part of this strategy. Sorghum(Sorghum bicolor L.) is gaining its importance in water stress tolerance plantbreeding, as it has several clearly defined drought-tolerant component traitsthat promote productivity under low water environments. The genomicsand phenomics information generated in S. bicolor would immensely helpbreeding plants resilient to the challenges of a water scarcity. This paperdescribes the molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance using sorghumbicolor as a model and how this information can be extrapolated to breedbetter cultivars in other crops.

Key words : Resilient Plant Breeding; Drought Stress; Phenomics; Drought Tolerant Component Traits; Genomics Assisted Breeding