**Author details**

Israr Ahmad1 \*, Niaz Ali2 , Habib Ahmad3 and Inamullah3


#### **References**

[1] Peng JH, Zadeh H, Lazo GR, Gustafson JP, Chao S, Anderson OD, Qi LL, Echalier B, Gill BS, Dilbirligi M, Sandhu D. Chromosome bin map of expressed sequence tags in homoeologous group 1 of hexaploid wheat and homoeology with rice and Arabidopsis. Genetics. 2004;168(2):609–623. DOI: 10.1534/genetics.104.034793

**7. Conclusion**

52 Wheat Improvement, Management and Utilization

**Acknowledgements**

**Author details**

\*, Niaz Ali2

Israr Ahmad1

**References**

Among the abiotic stresses that limit wheat crop productivity, drought stress alone is by all means one of the most devastating factors. In the past, breeding efforts to improve drought tolerance response have been hindered primarily by its quantitative nature as well as our poor understanding of the physiological basis of yield in water-deficient conditions [16]. So far, most QTLs for drought tolerance in wheat have been identified through yield and yield component measurements under water-limited conditions. No doubt, yield is the most desirable trait to breeders; still, it is very difficult to relate water use efficiency and identify potential target regions for positional cloning [15]. Only few studies have associated QTLs with specific components of drought response. Although the development of gene-based molecular markers and genome sequencing should accelerate positional cloning, the genomic regions associated with individual QTL are still very large and are usually unsuitable for breeding programme [51–55]. From an application point of view, it is imperative to select genotypes that are able to optimize water use efficiency while maximizing yield in response to drought. Improving the competence of root systems to extract water from the soil is highly desirable, and any extra water extracted during grain filling definitely remarkably increases the yield in wheat. Thus, identification of markers or genes associated with root growth and architecture would be particularly useful for

breeding programmes to improve root traits by molecular marker-assisted selection.

Analysis of Root Traits Associated with Drought Tolerance in Bread Wheat.

, Habib Ahmad3

2 Department of Botany, Hazara University Mansehra, Pakistan 3 Department of Genetics, Hazara University Mansehra, Pakistan

\*Address all correspondence to: iabotany32@gmail.com

We are grateful to the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC, Islamabad) for supporting the PhD studies of the first author under the project number 20-1613 entitled Genetic

and Inamullah3

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1 Department of Botany, Women University Azad Jammu & Kashmir Bagh, Pakistan


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