AUTHOR=Padmavathi Guntupalli , Bangale Umakanth , Rao K. Nagendra , Balakrishnan Divya , Arun Melekote Nagabhushan , Singh Rakesh Kumar , Sundaram Raman Meenakshi TITLE=Progress and prospects in harnessing wild relatives for genetic enhancement of salt tolerance in rice JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2023 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2023.1253726 DOI=10.3389/fpls.2023.1253726 ISSN=1664-462X ABSTRACT=
Salt stress is the second most devastating abiotic stress after drought and limits rice production globally. Genetic enhancement of salinity tolerance is a promising and cost-effective approach to achieve yield gains in salt-affected areas. Breeding for salinity tolerance is challenging because of the genetic complexity of the response of rice plants to salt stress, as it is governed by minor genes with low heritability and high G × E interactions. The involvement of numerous physiological and biochemical factors further complicates this complexity. The intensive selection and breeding efforts targeted towards the improvement of yield in the green-revolution era inadvertently resulted in the gradual disappearance of the loci governing salinity tolerance and a significant reduction in genetic variability among cultivars. The limited utilization of genetic resources and narrow genetic base of improved cultivars have resulted in a plateau in response to salinity tolerance in modern cultivars. Wild species are an excellent genetic resource for broadening the genetic base of domesticated rice. Exploiting novel genes of underutilized wild rice relatives to restore salinity tolerance loci eliminated during domestication can result in significant genetic gain in rice cultivars. Wild species of rice,