Grass species of crops adopt an "austerity" strategy and limits the development of its root system during times of drought, a study has revealed.
The results offer an insight into the little understood biology of roots and could help breeding effort to improve drought tolerance, say scientists.
Many of the world's key food and energy crops belong to the grass family and are often grown in drought-prone areas.
The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"What we were really surprised to see is that under drought stress conditions, there is a fairly simple but dramatic change in the structure of the root system," said lead author Jose Dinneny, a researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science, based at Stanford University, US.
BBC: Drought triggers 'austerity' root system in grass crops
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