This book focuses on early germination one of maize germplasm most important strategies for
adapting to drought-induced stress. Some genotypes have the ability to adapt by either reducing
water losses or by increasing water uptake. Drought tolerance is also an adaptive strategy that
enables crop plants to maintain their normal physiological processes and deliver higher
economical yield despite drought stress. Several processes are involved in conferring drought
tolerance in maize: the accumulation of osmolytes or antioxidants plant growth regulators
stress proteins and water channel proteins transcription factors and signal transduction
pathways. Drought is one of the most detrimental forms of abiotic stress around the world and
seriously limits the productivity of agricultural crops. Maize one of the leading cereal crops
in the world is sensitive to drought stress. Maize harvests are affected by drought stress at
different growth stages in different regions. Numerous events in the life of maize crops can be
affected by drought stress: germination potential seedling growth seedling stand
establishment overall growth and development pollen and silk development anthesis silking
interval pollination and embryo endosperm and kernel development. Though every maize
genotype has the ability to avoid or withstand drought stress there is a concrete need to
improve the level of adaptability to drought stress to address the global issue of food
security. The most common biological strategies for improving drought stress resistance include
screening available maize germplasm for drought tolerance conventional breeding strategies
and marker-assisted and genomic-assisted breeding and development of transgenic maize. As a
comprehensive understanding of the effects of drought stress adaptive strategies and potential
breeding tools is the prerequisite for any sound breeding plan this brief addresses these
aspects.
