Association of seed morphology with seedling vigor in wheat (Triticum aestivum L)

Phenotyping of 225 spring wheat genotypes was carried out to determine theassociation of seed morphological traits with seedling vigour traits. The seed lengthappeared to be key trait being significantly and positively correlated with seed thickness,seed width, and coleoptile length. The seed length was also positively but non-significantlyassociated with root length, shoot length and number of seminal roots. The seed length, seedthickness and seed width were the major contributors to diversity among genotypes. Themost diverse genotypes with respect to seed morphological traits and seedling vigor traitswere KANCHAN, LU-26, OASIS, SHAHKAR-95, and SHALIMAR-88. The overall effect ofseed length, seed width and seed thickness was positive on seedling vigor traits

Spatiotemporal variation in land use land cover in the response to local climate change using multispectral remote sensing data

Climate change is likely to have serious social, economic, and environmental impacts on farmers whose subsistence depends on nature. Land Use Land Cover (LULC) changes were examined as a significant tool for assessing changes at diverse temporal and spatial scales. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) has the potential ability to signify the vegetation structures of various eco-regions and provide valuable information as a remote sensing tool in studying vegetation phenology cycles. In this study, we used remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques with Maximum Likelihood Classification (MLC) to identify the LULC changes for 40 years in the Sahiwal District. Later, we conducted 120 questionnaires administered to local farmers which were used to correlate climate changes with NDVI. The LULC maps were prepared using MLC and training sites for the years 1981, 2001, and 2021. Regression analysis (R2) was performed to identify the relationship between temperature and vegetation cover (NDVI) in the study area. Results indicate that the build-up area was increased from 7203.76 ha (2.25%) to 31,081.3 ha (9.70%), while the vegetation area decreased by 14,427.1 ha (4.5%) from 1981 to 2021 in Sahiwal District. The mean NDVI values showed that overall NDVI values decreased from 0.24 to 0.20 from 1981 to 2021. Almost 78% of farmers stated that the climate has been changing during the last few years, 72% of farmers stated that climate change had affected agriculture, and 53% of farmers thought that rainfall intensity had also decreased. The R2 tendency showed that temperature and NDVI were negatively connected to each other. This study will integrate and apply the best and most suitable methods, tools, and approaches for equitable local adaptation and governance of agricultural systems in changing climate conditions. Therefore, this research outcome will also meaningfully help policymakers and urban planners for sustainable LULC management and strategies at the local level

Investigation of Irrigation Water Requirement and Evapotranspiration for Water Resource Management in Southern Punjab, Pakistan

Water scarcity and water quality degradation are exacerbated by climate change in all countries, including Pakistan. The use of water in agriculture is one of the most predominant resources, so reducing consumption and improving resource management is of utmost importance. In the past few decades, excessive irrigation has led to severe water scarcity and reduced water quality. This study determined the irrigation requirements for cotton, rice, and wheat, using the CROPWAT model in Southern Punjab (Multan District). In the study area, evapotranspiration ranged from 1.8 to 10.24 mm/day, while effective rainfall ranged from 2 to 31.3 mm. Rice, cotton, and wheat each required 996.4, 623.3, and 209.5 mm of irrigation, respectively. Among rice, cotton, and wheat, the total net irrigation was 72.4, 67.8, and 44.1 mm, respectively, while the total gross irrigation was 103.5, 99.8, and 63 mm. The CROPWAT model showed a moderately useful result for identifying irrigation needs in Southern Punjab. The study emphasizes the need for groundwater harvesting and water management technologies to implement a water management system that reduces water shortages

Monitoring the dynamic changes in vegetation cover using spatio-temporal remote sensing data from 1984 to 2020

Anthropogenic activities and natural climate changes are the central driving forces of global ecosystems and agriculture changes. Climate changes, such as rainfall and temperature changes, have had the greatest impact on different types of plant production around the world. In the present study, we investigated the spatiotemporal variation of major crops (cotton, rice, wheat, and sugarcane) in the District Vehari, Pakistan, from 1984 to 2020 using remote sensing (RS) technology. The crop identification was pre-processed in ArcGIS software based on Landsat images. After pre-processing, supervised classification was used, which explains the maximum likelihood classification (MLC) to identify the vegetation changes. Our results showed that in the study area cultivated areas under wheat and cotton decreased by almost 5.4% and 9.1% from 1984 to 2020, respectively. Vegetated areas have maximum values of NDVI (>0.4), and built-up areas showed fewer NDVI values (0 to 0.2) in the District Vehari. During the Rabi season, the temperature was increased from 19.93 °C to 21.17 °C. The average temperature was calculated at 34.28 °C to 35.54 °C during the Kharif season in the District Vehari. Our results showed that temperature negatively affects sugarcane, rice, and cotton crops during the Rabi season, and precipitation positively affects sugarcane, rice, and cotton crops during the Kharif season in the study area. Accurate and timely assessment of crop estimation and relation to climate change can give very useful information for decision-makers, governments, and planners in formulating policies regarding crop management and improving agriculture yields

Sustainable Irrigation Management for Higher Yield

Sustainable irrigation is sensible application of watering to plants in agriculture, landscapes that aids in meeting current survival and welfare needs. Sustainable irrigation management can help with climate change adaptation, labor, energy savings, and the production of higher-value and yield of crops to achieve zero hunger in water-scarce world. To ensure equal access to water and environmental sustainability, investments in expanded and enhanced irrigation must be matched by improvements in water governance. Sustainable irrigation must be able to cope with water scarcity, and be resilient to other resource scarcities throughout time in context of energy and finance. The themes and SDGs related to clean water, water resources sustainability, sustainable water usage, agricultural and rural development are all intertwined in the concept of “sustainable irrigation for higher yield.” Sustainable irrigation management refers to the capability of using water in optimum quantity and quality on a local, regional, national, and global scale to meet the needs of humans and agro-ecosystems at present and in the future to sustain life, protect humans and biodiversity from natural and human-caused disasters which threaten life to exist. Resultantly higher yields will ensure food security

Consequences and Mitigation Strategies of Heat Stress for Sustainability of Soybean (<em>Glycine max</em> L. Merr.) Production under the Changing Climate

Increasing ambient temperature is a major climatic factor that negatively affects plant growth and development, and causes significant losses in soybean crop yield worldwide. Thus, high temperatures (HT) result in less seed germination, which leads to pathogenic infection, and decreases the economic yield of soybean. In addition, the efficiency of photosynthesis and transpiration of plants are affected by high temperatures, which have negative impact on the physio-biochemical process in the plant system, finally deteriorate the yield and quality of the affected crop. However, plants have several mechanisms of specific cellular detection of HT stress that help in the transduction of signals, producing the activation of transcription factors and genes to counteract the harmful effects caused by the stressful condition. Among the contributors to help the plant in re-establishing cellular homeostasis are the applications of organic stimulants (antioxidants, osmoprotectants, and hormones), which enhance the productivity and quality of soybean against HT stress. In this chapter, we summarized the physiological and biochemical mechanisms of soybean plants at various growth stages under HT. Furthermore, it also depicts the mitigation strategies to overcome the adverse effects of HT on soybean using exogenous applications of bioregulators. These studies intend to increase the understanding of exogenous biochemical compounds that could reduce the adverse effects of HT on the growth, yield, and quality of soybean

Elevated CO₂ Concentration Improves Heat-Tolerant Ability in Crops

The rising concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (aCO2) and increasing temperature are the main reasons for climate change, which are significantly affecting crop production systems in this world. However, the elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration can improve the growth and development of crop plants by increasing photosynthetic rate (higher availability of photoassimilates). The combined effects of elevated CO2 (eCO2) and temperature on crop growth and carbon metabolism are not adequately recognized, while both eCO2 and temperature triggered noteworthy changes in crop production. Therefore, to increase crop yields, it is important to identify the physiological mechanisms and genetic traits of crop plants which play a vital role in stress tolerance under the prevailing conditions. The eCO2 and temperature stress effects on physiological aspects as well as biochemical profile to characterize genotypes that differ in their response to stress conditions. The aim of this review is directed the open-top cavities to regulate the properties like physiological, biochemical, and yield of crops under increasing aCO2, and temperature. Overall, the extent of the effect of eCO2 and temperature response to biochemical components and antioxidants remains unclear, and therefore further studies are required to promote an unperturbed production system

Maize Adaptability to Heat Stress under Changing Climate

The rapidly increasing human population is an alarming issue and would need more food production under changing climate. Abiotic stresses like heat stress and temperature fluctuation are becoming key issues to be addressed for boosting crop production. Maize growth and productivity are sensitive to temperature fluctuations. Grain yield losses in maize from heat stress are expected to increase owing to higher temperatures during the growing season. This situation demands the development of maize hybrids tolerant to heat and drought stresses without compromising grain yield under stress conditions. The chapter aimed to assess the updates on the influence of high-temperature stress (HTS) on the physio-biochemical processes in plants and to draw an association between yield components and heat stress on maize. Moreover, exogenous applications of protectants, antioxidants, and signaling molecules induce HTS tolerance in maize plants and could help the plants cope with HTS by scavenging reactive oxygen species, upregulation of antioxidant enzymes, and protection of cellular membranes by the accrual of compatible osmolytes. It is expected that a better thought of the physiological basis of HTS tolerance in maize plants will help to develop HTS maize cultivars. Developing HTS-tolerant maize varieties may ensure crops production sustainability along with promoting food and feed security under changing climate

The AgMIP Coordinated Climate-Crop Modeling Project (C3MP): Methods and Protocols

Climate change is expected to alter a multitude of factors important to agricultural systems, including pests, diseases, weeds, extreme climate events, water resources, soil degradation, and socio-economic pressures. Changes to carbon dioxide concentration ([CO2]), temperature, andwater (CTW) will be the primary drivers of change in crop growth and agricultural systems. Therefore, establishing the CTW-change sensitivity of crop yields is an urgent research need and warrants diverse methods of investigation. Crop models provide a biophysical, process-based tool to investigate crop responses across varying environmental conditions and farm management techniques, and have been applied in climate impact assessment by using a variety of methods (White et al., 2011, and references therein). However, there is a significant amount of divergence between various crop models’ responses to CTW changes (R¨otter et al., 2011). While the application of a site-based crop model is relatively simple, the coordination of such agricultural impact assessments on larger scales requires consistent and timely contributions from a large number of crop modelers, each time a new global climate model (GCM) scenario or downscaling technique is created. A coordinated, global effort to rapidly examine CTW sensitivity across multiple crops, crop models, and sites is needed to aid model development and enhance the assessment of climate impacts (Deser et al., 2012)..