Transgenic Manipulation of Several Drought-responsive Physiological and Phenotypic Traits in Maize.

Improving drought tolerance of crop plants is predicted to have positive impacts on world wide food production, especially in semi-arid environments, and may include benefits of reduced water consumption, increased productivity, and environmental sustainability. We report here current approaches used within Monsanto to modify drought tolerance in maize by introducing constitutively expressed transgenes. Commercial development trials focus on the identification and characterization of lead efficacious events for their ability to meet target market performance criteria.  Successful field drought testing platforms are utilized to provide accurate control of drought stress intensity and duration. This presentation will provide results from multiple - location, controlled - drought, field trials which demonstrate the ability of lead transgenes to stabilize yield and related physiological processes under drought stress.  An overview of current testing programs and general development activities required for deployment of products with improved drought stress tolerance in Maize will be presented.