Guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L.) is an important legume and industrial crop valued for its adaptation to arid and semi-arid environments and for its seeds rich in galactomannan (guar gum). These polysaccharides are materials widely used in the food, pharmaceutical, textile, and petroleum industries. With increased climate change pressure, including drought and high temperature, a concentrated interest in guar as a climate-resilient crop has risen. The following review summarized current knowledge on the adaptive potential of guar, with emphasis on drought tolerance mechanisms, physiological responses, and breeding strategies. Physiological adaptations and processes, such as stomatal regulation, osmotic adjustment, antioxidant activity, and maintenance of photosynthetic efficiency, contribute to drought tolerance. Guar genotypes with significant genetic variability provide opportunities for crop improvement through breeding. The genomic resources, molecular markers, and transcriptomic analysis offer promising tools for identifying genes associated with stress tolerance. Integration of physiological approaches with molecular breeding can further accelerate the development of improved guar cultivars. Such strategies could facilitate the expansion of guar cultivation in the new agroecological regions and support climate-resilient cropping systems.
Guar (C. tetragonoloba), drought tolerance, genetic diversity, molecular markers, plant physiology, stress response, breeding strategies, genomics
The review highlighted the adaptive potential, drought tolerance mechanisms, and breeding prospects of guar (C. tetragonoloba L.). Integrating physiological and genomic approaches can further support the development of drought-tolerant cultivars for arid regions.