Integration of molecular and remote sensing techniques to enhance drought tolerance in soybean

Soybean is an important crop globally used for oil production and is also important source of nutrients for humans and livestock. Nevertheless, abiotic stresses are negatively affecting the soybean growth and productivity. Drought is a serious stress which substantially decreases soybean germination, growth and yield. Soybean breeders have employed multiple traditional breeding techniques to develop drought-tolerant cultivars; however, their progress has been limited because of their time-consuming nature and high cost. For this reason, soybean breeders are using several molecular research and editing tools, such as QTL mapping, transcriptomes, transcription factors, and CRISPR/Cas9, to improve soybean tolerance to drought stress. These molecular tools have been widely used in soybean, and many drought-tolerant cultivars have been developed. However, these tools still have several limitations that need to be addressed. Currently, remote sensing has emerged as effective tool to assess crop health and manage resources effectively. It is evident that remote sensing tools can help to monitor drought stress regions and plant phenotypes efficiently. This is the first review discussing the integrated use of molecular and remote sensing tools for improving drought tolerance in soybean. Hence, molecular tools can be used to improve genetic traits linked to those phenotypes.