Improvement of Legume Crop Production Under Environmental Stresses Through Biotechnological Intervention

Legumes belonging to the family Fabaceae hold immense importance in kingdom Plantae and are ranked third in the world for crop production. Legumes contribute to the protein diet of humans and are an essential part of forage and green manure crops. They are also important contributors of vegetable oil and animal feed protein. For a long time, legumes have been known as the "soil building crops" because the biological, physical, and chemical properties of soil are markedly improved when legumes are grown in it. One characteristic that sets them apart is their ability to carry out nitrogen fixation, which only a few other crops can do. Environmental stresses including viral, bacterial, and fungal diseases (biotic) and drought, rainfall, salinity, and chilling (abiotic) cause serious damage to the crop thereby hindering its productivity. Such hindrances make it imperative to use biotechnological approaches for the improvement of legumes. Presently, traditional biotechnology techniques have had a great influence on plant production by accelerating the breeding procedure and distributing disease-free seeds. Because legumes and the nodulation processes are highly susceptible to salinity stress and drought conditions, minimal study has been done on nitrogen fixation and nodulation in the settings mentioned. Legumes are known to be recalcitrant to in vitro regeneration, making plant genetic engineering quite difficult. Very few legumes are compliant to regeneration through the callus phase. However, recent advances in biotechnology hold promise for manipulating legumes genetically to result in improved productivity. To increase the yield of legumes in today's world requires audacious breeding programs, marker-assisted technology enhancement, better nitrogen fixation, and forbearance to soil constraints. This chapter highlights the major biotic and abiotic stresses that impede crop growth and development and also summarizes some recent developments in genomics and molecular biology applicable to legumes for their improvement.