Date of Award
8-2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Plant and Environmental Science
Committee Chair/Advisor
Sruthi Narayanan
Committee Member
Benjamin Fallen
Committee Member
Sachin Rustgi
Committee Member
William Bridges
Abstract
Soybean and peanut are two major crops globally grown for oil and protein. Climate change-associated factors like drought and increased temperature (heat stress) challenge the global production of soybeans and peanuts. Though the United States is the second-largest producer of soybean and the fourth-largest producer of peanuts, it still faces production constraints associated with drought and heat stresses. In the present study, we have examined the responses of soybean and peanut plants to drought and heat stresses during germination and reproductive phases. We conducted field and controlled environmental studies to elucidate the impact of drought stress on germination and seedling root traits of 41 soybean genotypes. We identified two drought-tolerant genotypes based on germination and seedling root traits under water stress conditions. The seed metabolome of the two superior genotypes and two sensitive genotypes were further evaluated to identify unique biomolecules associated with better germination under drought with a goal of developing seed priming or seed treatment agents. In another study, we assessed the impact of heat and drought stresses on seed protein content and oil composition of soybeans by imposing the stresses during seed filling. We found high-protein soybean lines that maintained ≥50 % seed-protein content under drought and heat stress conditions. Some of these lines could overcome the negative relationship between seed protein and oil contents while keeping the oil composition unaffected. In another study, we tested the effect of high-temperature stress on peanut seed fatty acid composition, where a short duration of heat stress was imposed during the early flowering period. Results showed that short episodes of heat stress during the early flowering stage did not affect seed fatty acid contents regardless of the heat tolerance level of genotypes, though stress affected yield. The results from this dissertation research offer genetic resources for climate-resilient variety development and provide novel information for developing management recommendations for climate-resilient soybean and peanut production.
Recommended Citation
Kakati, Jyoti Prasad, "Enhancing Crop Resilience: Physiological and Omics Approaches for Drought and Heat Stress Tolerance in Soybean and Peanut" (2024). All Dissertations. 3674.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/3674
Appendices
Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7533-9936
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Apiculture Commons, Biotechnology Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Breeding and Genetics Commons