Most of the wheat crop is cultivated under cooler winter conditions and has an optimal daytime growing temperature of 15°C during the reproductive stage. The climate change–driven high temperature stress in wheat is becoming a major constraint as it adversely impacts every crop growth stage. Anthesis and reproductive stages are the most sensitive growth stages affected by heat. The international panel on climate change has reported that for every degree rise in temperature above optimum may lead to 6% yield loss. Being quantitative in nature, high-temperature tolerance in wheat is a complex trait and is strongly influenced by genotype × environment interaction. The new improvement strategies like transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and ionomics will be useful in understanding the underlying mechanisms of heat tolerance. In this chapter we will summarize the impact of high temperature on wheat production, physiological traits contributing to heat tolerance, and how to integrate new tools such as trascriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and ionomics with plant breeding.
Elsevier, Climate Change and Crop Stress, Molecules to Ecosystems, 2022, Pages 209-229
