Climate Change and Its Impacts on Disease Dynamics in Major Cereal Crops

Climate change poses one of the most significant threats to crop production and food security worldwide. Various climatic factors, such as ambient temperature, relative humidity, elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, wind, rainfall, light and photoperiod, can significantly influence plants’ and pathogens’ growth and development. Optimal light intensity and carbon dioxide concentration levels are essential to photosynthesis, ultimately enhancing crop production. Conversely, altering the environmental factors due to unavoidable circumstances can compromise food security. Extreme temperatures and ecological conditions profoundly impact pathogen reproduction and distribution. Under such circumstances, plant pathogen populations can multiply exponentially, transforming plant diseases from epidemics to pandemics, resulting in the loss of economically vital food crops. This book chapter illuminates a range of environmental factors and their alterations within the context of a changing climate, which in turn influence disease dynamics in significant cereal crops across the globe.