Sustaining yield and nutritional quality of peanuts in harsh environments: Physiological and molecular basis of drought and heat stress tolerance

Authors: PUPPALA, NAVEEN - New Mexico State University; NAYAK, SPURTHI - University Of Agricultural Sciences; SAN SAEZ, ALVARO - Auburn University; CHEN, CHARLES - Auburn University; Mura, Jyostna; NIVEDITA, NIVEDITA - University Of Wisconsin; BAO, YIN - Auburn University; HE, GUAGHO - Tuskegee University; TRAORE, SY - Tuskegee University; WRIGHT, DAVID - Iowa State University; PANDEY, MANISH - International Crops Research Institute For Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) - India; SHARMA, VINAY - International Crops Research Institute For Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) - India

Submitted to: Frontiers in Plant Science
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/6/2023
Publication Date: 8/3/2023
Citation: Puppala, N., Nayak, S., San Saez, A., Chen, C., Mura, J.D., Nivedita, N., Bao, Y., He, G., Traore, S., Wright, D., Pandey, M., Sharma, V. 2023. Sustaining yield and nutritional quality of peanuts in harsh environments: Physiological and molecular basis of drought and heat stress tolerance. Frontiers in Plant Science. 14:1121462.. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2023.1121462.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2023.1121462

Interpretive Summary: Global warming has a detrimental effect on crop yield, reducing yield under heat and drought stresses. While peanuts tolerate early drought stress, they are more sensitive to drought and heat stress toward the reproductive phase. This review article discussed different traits that need to be considered for improving stress-tolerant cultivars using different breeding approaches.

Technical Abstract: Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is the most widely cultivated legume in the world due to its high protein content and quality edible oil. Peanuts are frequently subjected to drought and heat stresses of varying durations and intensities in arid and semiarid regions, which are major peanut-producing regions. Drought and heat stress have been the most significant environmental factors contributing to decreased global agricultural productivity, including peanut production, particularly in light of the escalating effects of climate change and the increased occurrence of both stresses. Peanut is a sensitive crop to drought and heat stresses, particularly at the reproductive stages of development. Drought and heat stress, individually or in combination, influence an array of physiological and molecular processes affecting peanuts' growth, development, yield, and nutritional quality. A comprehensive understanding of the impact of drought and heat stress at physiological and molecular levels will be essential in evaluating the effect of both stress on peanut production and improving stress tolerance. The objective of this review article was to provide an overview of the effects of these two major stresses on peanut production, as well as the physiological and molecular basis of the stress tolerance involved independently and in combination to improve peanut production and nutritional quality. This review also addressed the genetic variation in peanuts for drought- and heat-tolerant traits, including water use efficiency and surrogate traits, limited transpiration, root length, harvest index, carbon partitioning, membrane thermostability, lipid peroxidation, and nitrogen fixation. In addition, information is provided on the use of crossbreeding and biotechnology-assisted techniques to improve peanut stress tolerance and nutritional quality. In conclusion, better high-through put phenotyping tools and artificial intelligence techniques are required to screen multiple genotypes and breed cultivars with improved drought and heat stress tolerance. In the future, a holistic breeding approach that considers drought and heat-tolerant traits to simultaneously address both stresses could be a successful strategy to produce climate-resilient peanut genotypes with improved nutritional quality.