Plants Response to Climate Change—Mitigation Strategies to Improve Crop Yield
摘要
Climate change significantly impacts agriculture production, affecting crops both directly through alterations in abiotic factors such as temperature, rainfall, and CO2 levels and indirectly by modifying soil health, insect populations, and pest infestations. As a result of climate variations, both abiotic and biotic stresses have a detrimental impact on crop productivity. Climate change’s complex effect compromises food security, reduces agricultural yields, and places immense pressure on economic development, particularly in the least developed countries. Food demand may rise by 85% as the population is projected to grow by approximately 900 million by 2050 placing immense stress on ecological integrity and food supply requirements. Plants respond swiftly to establish stress-specific signaling by producing plant hormones and antioxidants, and by undergoing physiological, morphological, and biochemical changes under stress conditions. To combat the drastic impacts of climate change, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) offers an effective approach. Crop rotations, intercropping, adjusting fertilizer rates, maintaining grain nutritional content, and improving pest, disease, and weed management through integrated pest and pathogen management could help mitigate the negative effects of climate change. General Circulation Models (GCMs) and Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) are widely used to quantify the negative effects of climate change on agriculture and to generate future weather projections. Environmental policies such as initiatives for sustainable farming, water treatment and reuse in agriculture, rainwater harvesting, and the restoration and preservation of ecosystems can support the adoption of CSA.