Bioprospecting of biodiversity for improvement of agronomic traits in plants

Abstract Bioprospecting of plant diversity for identification of novel genes that confers various qualitative agronomic traits and imparts resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses has always remained an area of active research in classical and molecular breeding programs in crop plants. The various such factors like tolerance to salinity, drought, low temperature, disease tolerance, and quantitative trait locus–based analysis of similar characters are briefly discussed in this chapter. The underlying signaling pathways in resistance/tolerance mechanisms are complex. The mining for potential gene sources to conferring resistance/tolerance and their effective transfer in crop plants through biotechnological interventions are challenging. The use of omics technologies could be explored for effective transfer of desired traits to crop plants.