Integrating multi-omics approaches to shape legume root system architecture under drought stress: a comprehensive review.

Drought stress profoundly impacts agricultural productivity, significantly reducing crop yields and global food insecurity. Consequently, improving crops to develop resistance against drought stress is imperative. To combat the adverse impact of climate change on crop productivity, designing the root system architecture (RSA) of crops can be a viable option. RSA is essential for crop adaptation and productivity because most soils have different resource distributions making the spatial root distribution a crucial factor for judicious resource exploitation. RSA involves several structural features like root length, branching angle, and thickness which play key roles in developing crops with desirable roots. Legumes are protein-rich foods and the diverse number of cultivated species makes them one of the most widespread crops. However, legumes are greatly affected by various abiotic stresses like drought and mineral stress. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the environmentally adaptive root development to improve agronomic traits in legumes by employing the OMICS approaches. Several abiotic stressors like drought stress demand proliferative and deep root systems, hence it is important to comprehend the response of RSA to stressors. Further, the genetic regulation (genomics) accompanied by other omics approaches aid in deciphering the biology behind RSA in legumes. The current appraisal may help in devising strategies to modulate legume RSA for efficient uptake of water and nutrients under drought stress.