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Abstract
Abiotic stresses increasingly curtail crop yield as a result of global climate change
and scarcity of water and nutrients. One way to minimize the negative impact of these
factors on yield is to manipulate root system architecture (RSA) towards a distribution
of roots in the soil that optimizes water and nutrient uptake. It is now established
that most of the genetic variation for RSA is driven by a suite of quantitative trait
loci. As we discuss here, marker-assisted selection and quantitative trait loci cloning
for RSA are underway, exploiting genomic resources, candidate genes and the knowledge
gained from Arabidopsis, rice and other crops. Nonetheless, efficient and accurate
phenotyping, modelling and collaboration with breeders remain important challenges,
particularly when defining ideal RSA for different crops and target environments.