b'No Rain? No Problem! Five Drought-Resistant Superstar CropsFrom sorghum that stays green through AS THOSE INthe seed industry well know, the heat waves to rice that shrugs offachievements of crop breeders over the span of human salty soil, these five crops are provinghistory are truly astounding. Now, as we navigate an era of shifting weather patterns, especially more frequent and that when the weather turns extreme,longer droughts, crop breeders continue to make unprec-innovation takes root.edented progress with many crops. Lets focus on five of crops being super-fortified to perform effectively under By Treena Hein, Seed World Contributor water stressand whats next.Sorghum: The Crop that Laughs at HeatNaturally drought-tolerant and heat-resilient, sorghum is gaining renewed attention as climate extremes push traditional crops to their limits. Bill Rooney spearheads the sorghum breeding program at Texas A&M (likely the larg-est U.S. public breeding program for this crop). He points to three main traits of note. These are stay-green drought tolerance, which has a direct effect on standability, lodging resistance and nitrogen use efficiency. The traditional approach was often visual selection for stay-green and standability, which was validated by yield productivity in drought-prone environments, Rooney says. More recently, marker-assisted selection for stay-green drought tolerance is being used by different programs to maintain a steady level of drought tolerance in elite sor-ghum germplasm. In other traits related to improvement of lodging resistance in sorghum, theres a combination of genetic, agronomic and breeding approaches aimed at strengthening plant architecture and reducing susceptibility to environmental stresses. 40/ SEEDWORLD.COMDECEMBER 2025'