58 Research on World Agricultural Economy | Volume 03 | Issue 01 | March 2022 Research on World Agricultural Economy https://ojs.nassg.org/index.php/rwae Copyright © 2022 by the author(s). Published by NanYang Academy of Sciences Pte. Ltd. This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). *Corresponding Author: Jiban Shrestha, Nepal Agricultural Research Council, National Plant Breeding and Genetics Research Centre, Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal; Email: jibshrestha@gmail.com DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.36956/rwae.v3i1.506 Received: 23 March 2022; Accepted: 28 March 2022; Published: 31 March 2022 Citation: Shrestha, J., 2022. Drought Stress in Rice (Oryza sativa L.). Research on World Agricultural Economy. 3(1), 506. http://dx.doi.org/10.36956/rwae.v3i1.506 EDITORIAL Drought Stress in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Jiban Shrestha* Nepal Agricultural Research Council, National Plant Breeding and Genetics Research Centre, Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal Drought is one of the most important limiting factors for agricultural productivity and has a negative impact on global food security. Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most important staple food crop in the world. Most of improved rice varieties are vulnerable to drought stress. [1]. Drought stress is a very important factor for plant growth [2-4]. Drought at vegetative stage reduced rice yield by 21- 50.6%, at flowering stage by 42-83.7% and at reproduc- tive stage by 51-90.6% [5]. Drought conditions are caused by a combination of factors such as elevated temperatures, burning sunlight, and low relative humidity due to a lack of timely precipitation. Plants suffered from a lack of soil moisture and can no longer extract nutrients and water from the soil. Plant cells are killed due to external infil- tration caused by higher ion concentrations in drought- affected soil. In the presence of water stress, leaf area, cell size, and intercellular volume are reduced [6]. Drought stress slows down the photosynthetic process. Drought af- fects spikelet fertility and viable pollen production, pollen load, pollen shedding, germination and embryonic devel- opment. Drought reduces grain yield. Soil parameters that affect the growth and yield of rice, which grows primarily in lowlands affected by drought, need to be measured and analyzed. Soil matric potential, hydraulic conductivity, bulk density, field capacity, and wilting points need to be measured for estimating water content of soil. When the matric potential of the soil is below zero, it reduces the water availability and water uptake by plants. Avoidance or tolerance can reduce the harmful effects of drought on plants. Drought tolerance refers to the ability of plants to provide high water potential and prevent dehydration despite the low water supply of the soil. Dehydration tol- erance refers to a plant’s ability to withstand minor water injury and internal water deficiencies. Another option for dealing with the drought is to escape. This is where the plant completes its life cycle long before the onset of drought, crop length is changed such that critical stages like panicle emergence do not coincide with expected drought periods. Proper and appropriate phenotyping plays an increasingly important role in the selection of drought- tolerant genotypes. It is necessary to develop early-ma- turing to escape the drought and develop drought-tolerant varieties that perform better under drought stress [7]. Drought stress mitigation measures for the rice crop in- clude improving and incorporating traits such as a deep root system, leaf rolling, cuticle wax, stomata location, mailto:jibshrestha@gmail.com http://dx.doi.org/10.36956/rwae.v3i1.506 59 Research on World Agricultural Economy | Volume 03 | Issue 01 | March 2022 and rapid recovery ability. Watershed improvement, as well as increased moisture availability via water conserva- tion and harvesting, is crucial components. Drought fore- casting and early guidance to farmers are critical drought mitigation methods that can help reduce the total cost of drought. Conflict of Interest There is no conflict of interest. References [1] Dien, D.C., Mochizuki, T., Yamakawa, T., 2019. Effect of various drought stresses and subsequent recovery on proline, total soluble sugar and starch metabolisms in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties. Plant Production Science. 22(4), 530-545. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1343943X.2019.1647787 [2] Anjum, F., Yaseen, M., Rasul, E., et al., 2003. Water stress in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). I. Effect on morphological characters. Pakistan Journal of Agri- cultural Sciences. 40, 43-44. [3] Kusaka, M., Ohta, M., Fujimura, T., 2005. Contribu- tion of inorganic components to osmotic adjustment and leaf folding for drought tolerance in pearl millet. Physiologia Plantarum. 125, 474-489. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1399-3054.2005.00578.x [4] Shao, H.B., Chu, L.Y., Shao, M.A., et al., 2008. Higher plant antioxidants and redox signaling under environmental stresses. Comptes Rendus Biologies. 331, 433-441. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crvi.2008.03.011 [5] Zhang, J., Zhang, S., Cheng, M., et al., 2018. Effect of drought on agronomic traits of rice and wheat: A meta-analysis. International journal of environmental research and public health. 15(5), 839. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15050839 [6] Kramer, P.J., 1969. Plant and soil water relationship. TATA McGraw- Hill, Bombey New Delhi. pp. 360. [7] Singh, C.M., Kumar, B., Mehandi, S., et al., 2012. Effect of drought stress in rice: a review on morpho- logical and physiological characteristics. Trends in Biosciences. 5(4), 261-265. https://doi.org/10.1080/1343943X.2019.1647787 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crvi.2008.03.011