Breeding drought-tolerant crops for sustainable agriculture

With the escalating impacts of climate change, drought stress (DS) is significantly decreasing water accessibility and availability, causing substantial direct and indirect economic repercussions within agricultural systems. Addressing the needs of a growing global population necessitates urgent advancements in breeding DS-tolerant crops while maintaining high yields. This urgency demands a fast and adaptable defensive strategy to mitigate the adverse effects of DS on crop productivity. Accelerating such developments requires leveraging advanced omics-assisted breeding (e.g., genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics), genetic engineering (e.g., transgenic technology, and genome editing), machine learning, precise phenotyping, crop wild relatives, and speed breeding. These fast-forward methods present highly promising avenues for the design of future crops that can withstand DS pressures. In summary, we propose an innovative approach termed the “OGS trio,” which encompasses omics integration, genetic engineering, and speed breeding. This trio stands composed to transform efforts against DS, offering significant potential for developing drought-tolerant crops to achieve and food security amidst climate change.