ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION The world population is increasing at the rate of 160 people per minute, with about 90% of them residing in developing countries. Feeding these growing numbers will require a substantial increase in food production. However, since the early 1990s, there has not only been a reduction in the rate of growth of food production, but the area under cultivation has also shrunk, making it imperative to explore new avenues of increasing crop yield (Khush, 1999). While a lot of work is already underway to address the problem of increasing the yield potential, the best way of realizing this potential lies in reducing the loss of crop due to various factors. The crop yields obtained are greatly affected by various biotic and abiotic factors, resulting in a huge gap between the yield potential and the actual yield, especially in the developing countries with limited resources to combat these problems. Strategies aimed at developing crop cultivars with greater tolerance to abiotic stress like drought and salinity and resistance to pests and pathogens are the only viable means of improving the crop yields in these regions.