Around 85% of all land plants have symbiotic relationships with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, microscopic soil fungi that build extensive filamentous network in and around the roots. These links strongly influence plant development, water uptake, mineral nutrition, and defense against abiotic stresses. In this context, the use of AMF as a biological instrument to enhance plant drought resistance and phenotypic plasticity, through the formation of mutualistic associations, seems like a novel strategy for sustainable agriculture. This review synthesizes current understanding on the mechanisms through which AMF alleviates drought stress in agriculture. We focus on how AMF help maintain nutrient and water homeostasis by modulating phytohormones and signaling molecules, and by orchestrating associated biochemical and physiological responses. Particular emphasis is placed on aquaporins (AQPs) as key water-and stress-related channels whose expression and activity are modulated by AMF to maintain ion, nutrient, and water balance. AMF-mediated host AQP responses exhibit three unique patterns under stressful conditions: either no changes, downregulation to limit water loss, or upregulation to promote water and nutrient uptake. Nevertheless, little is known about cellular and molecular underpinnings of AMF effect on host AQPs. We also summarize evidence that AMF enhance antioxidant defenses, osmotic adjustment, soil structure, and water retention, thereby jointly improving plant drought tolerance. This review concludes by outlining the potential of AMF to support sustainable agriculture, offering critical research gaps, such as mechanistic studies on fungal AQPs, hormonal crosstalk, and field-scale performance, which propose future directions for deploying AMF in drought-prone agroecosystems.

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is considered one of the most important cereals globally, contributing significantly to the human population’s caloric and protein requirements. Therefore, ensuring a sufficient yield of wheat for global consumption plays a significant role in maintaining food security in different parts of the world. With increasing demand and dwindling production capacity, due to increasingly uncertain growing conditions, projections indicate that there should be an upswing of 60–70% in wheat productivity by 2050 to fulfill the requirement. However, drought represents the most significant and widespread abiotic limitation to global wheat production, currently resulting in approximately 10% yield losses worldwide. Furthermore, each additional 1 °C increase in temperature is anticipated to decrease staple calorie production by 4.4%. The factors contributing to drought in wheat, as well as its impact on the plant’s biochemical, physiological, and morphological structures, include altered rainfall patterns, elevated atmospheric CO₂ levels, increased temperatures, hot and dry winds, and restricted soil water availability. These factors initiate a series of morphological, physiological, and biochemical disruptions that hinder wheat growth and productivity. Drought impact on wheat starts at biochemical levels through reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and degradation of chlorophylls, and tolerance to stress is influenced by a polygenic system where numerous genes contribute minor effects and interact significantly with environmental factors transitioning to osmoprotectants. At the physiological level, drought alters the water content in the plant body, leading to reduced net photosynthetic rates, stomatal conductance, transpiration rates, and water utilization efficiency. At the morphological level, drought impacts all kinds of structures such as roots, shoots, leaves and reproductive parts. To counter these effects, wheat develops a set of tolerant mechanisms called drought escape, avoidance and tolerance. An increase in trichomes and leaf waxes, alteration of root–shoot ratios, the staying green phenomenon, production of stress proteins like proline, activity of enzymes including superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase, catalase, etc., osmotic adjustment, abscisic acid (ABA) accumulation, expression of dehydration proteins called dehydrin, etc., contribute towards drought tolerance. This comprehensive review investigates the intricate interactions between drought and various wheat genotypes, emphasizing their substantial impacts on plant physiology, biochemistry, growth dynamics, and grain yield. Additionally, this review assesses a variety of genetic and biotechnological strategies aimed at enhancing the resilience of wheat genotypes to drought stress. By integrating recent research findings with practical applications, this review provides a detailed framework for improving the adaptive capacity of wheat plants to withstand the escalating threats of drought stress, thereby supporting sustainable wheat production in a changing climate. Addressing drought stress through genetic and biotechnological management practices is crucial for maintaining wheat productivity.

Wild kiwifruit germplasm can broaden breeding pools through complementary fruit-quality and stress-response traits. The Hubei Dabie Mountains contain heterogeneous habitats, but coordinated evaluation of their wild Actinidia resources remains limited. Taxonomy and ploidy were determined for 117 accessions from eight sites spanning 170–1730 m. Nine descriptive fruit traits and detached-leaf responses to bacterial canker and heat were assessed in 41 fruiting accessions. Bacterial canker response was assessed using Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa), and heat response using maximum photosystem II quantum efficiency (F_v/F_m) after 47 °C treatment. Seven fruit-quality traits were measured in 27 accessions with normally ripened fruit. Three taxa were identified: A. chinensis, A. polygama, and A. chinensis var. deliciosa. Diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploid cytotypes were detected. Shannon–Wiener indices for descriptive traits ranged from 0.26 to 1.64. Twenty-three accessions were classified as highly or moderately resistant to Psa. Heat screening classified 23 accessions as heat tolerant, 16 as moderately heat tolerant, and two as heat sensitive. Fruit-quality coefficients of variation ranged from 12.92% to 120.41%. Fruit-quality ranking followed by Psa screening identified MC-021, MC-026, YS-031, YS-037, and YS-038 as candidate elite germplasm. These accessions are priorities for conservation and further breeding evaluation.

One of the major obstacles to plant growth and productivity, outside of today's crop-growing zones, is drought. Due to acknowledged changes in the global climate, it will become more significant in areas of the world where the issue was previously insignificant. Considering the mechanisms underlying resistance to water deficit and the plants' effective water use is essential to addressing current concerns about enhancing plant genotypes and cultural practices for drought-affected locations. Main barriers to carbon uptake and the metabolic processes that influence how plants react to water scarcity, either alone or in combination with other stressors, are covered in this work. For crops that suffer from drought, oxidative stress is essential. Detoxifying mechanisms play a key role in preventing irreparable damage to redox molecules and photosynthetic machinery as a result of local or systemic signals. The ability of plants, particularly those that embed functional proteins, to prevent or fix membrane damage that occurs throughout the processes of dehydration and rehydration is essential to maintain the integrity of the membranes. These proteins include water transporters, whose function in controlling the water status of plants and moving other metabolites is being thoroughly studied. Over ten years ago, long-distance chemical signaling began to unravel as a primary response to water deficit. In light of new management strategies, the distribution and absorption of carbon and its assimilates among non-reproductive and reproductive parts are reviewed and examined. Enhancement of water-use efficiency in plants, consistent production, and better quality in products are all intended outcomes of these applications. It has already been feasible to discover important genes that can change metabolic processes, and boost the tolerance of plants to drying conditions by studying mechanisms underlying successful response to dehydration and rehydration. This study provides a summary of the most significant information on this subject, including water transporters and engineering for C4 characteristics. Promising technologies, including the modification of crops by genetic engineering via the transfer of regulatory and functional genes, are highlighted.