Yali Wang , Rugang Xu , Zhonghui He

Hainan Institute of Biotechnology, Haikou, 570206, Hainan, China
Author    Correspondence author
Triticeae Genomics and Genetics, 2025, Vol. 16, No. 4   
Received: 11 Jun., 2025    Accepted: 24 Jul., 2025    Published: 11 Aug., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a globally important staple crop whose productivity is increasingly threatened by climate stressors, particularly drought and heat. This study comprehensively reviews the physiological and molecular responses of wheat to drought and high temperature conditions, elaborates on the effects on plant growth and yield components, explores genetic strategies aimed at enhancing wheat stress resistance, including conventional breeding, molecular marker-assisted selection and gene editing technology, evaluates the role of agronomic and management measures such as optimized irrigation, nutrient management and crop adjustment in alleviating the effects of stress, and also focuses on the application of biotechnology and omics approaches (including transcriptomics, proteomics and microbiome engineering) in improving wheat adaptability. The effectiveness of the integrated strategy is evaluated through case studies in the Indo-Gangetic Plain, the Australian Wheat Belt and the Mediterranean region. This study highlights the importance of integrating multidisciplinary innovations for developing climate-resilient wheat systems, points out current knowledge gaps, and proposes directions for future research and development.

Wheat; Drought tolerance; Heat stress; Genetic improvement; Climate-resilient agriculture