Brassicaceae Plants Response and Tolerance to Waterlogging and Flood

Waterlogging is the most severe worldwide problems in agriculture. The presence of excess amount than its optimum requirement is called as waterlogging. In the waterlogged/flooded condition, water gets filled in the pores of the soil, so the oxygen concentration decreases in the soil. Oxygen deficiency decreases growth and survival of plants growing in it also induces stomatal closening. The flooding frequently induces stomatal closing mostly in C3 plants. Most of the crop plants are more susceptible to flooding and every year significant yield reduction accounts due to flooding. The present book chapter highlights the recent development and approaches to improve crop resistance to flooding of Brassicaceae plants. Most of the studies were carried out on maize, barley, and soybean. The study and research on the crop like brassica plants has just been started. Some of the promising traits that are important to enhance crop flooding tolerance are anatomical adaptations, i.e., formation of aerenchyma, the barrier formation against radial oxygen loss, and the adventitious roots development. Metabolic adaptations might be helpful to improve waterlogging tolerance as well, but further studies are required in this direction. The various approaches like marker assisted selection, quantitative trait loci analyses, or genome-wide association studies in combination with specific tolerance traits need to be addressed. The use of flooding-tolerant varieties/cultivars of the crop of interest might be helpful in finding useful tolerance traits to be used in plant breeding.