Current trends in population growth suggest that global food production is unlikely to satisfy future demand under predicted climate change scenarios unless rates of crop improvement are accelerated. In order to maintain food security in the face of these challenges, a holistic approach that includes stress-tolerant germplasm, sustainable crop and natural resource management, and sound policy interventions will be needed.
The first volume in the
CABI Climate Change Series, this book provides an overview of the essential disciplines required for sustainable crop production in unpredictable environments. Chapters include discussions of adapting to biotic and abiotic stresses, sustainable and resource-conserving technologies and new tools for enhancing crop adaptation. Examples of successful applications as well as future prospects of how each discipline can be expected to evolve over the next 30 years are also presented. Laying out the basic concepts needed to adapt to and mitigate changes in crop environments, this is an essential resource for researchers and students in crop and environmental science as well as policy makers.
Researchers and students in crop and environmental science as well as policy makers.
1. Adapting crops to climate change: a summary, Matthew P. Reynolds and Rodomiro Ortiz
2. Scenarios of climate change within the context of agriculture, Andy Jarvis, Julian Ramirez, Ben Anderson, Christoph Leibing and Pramod Aggarwal
3. Economic impacts of climate change on agriculture to 2030, David Lobell & Marshall Burke
4. Preventing potential disease and pest epidemics under a changing climate, Anne Legrève and Etienne Duveiller
5. Breeding for adaptation to heat and drought stress, Matthew Reynolds, Dirk Hays and Scott Chapman
6. Breeding crops for tolerance to salinity, waterlogging and inundation, Daniel Mullan and Ed Barrett-Lennard
7. Multi-location testing as a tool to identify plant response to global climate change, Hans-Joachim Braun, Gary Atlin and Thomas Payne
8. Genetic approaches to reduce greenhouse gas emissions: increasing carbon capture and decreasing environmental impact, Martin A. J. Parry and Malcom J. Hawkesford
9. Greenhouse gas mitigation in the main cereal systems: rice, wheat and maize, Ivan Ortiz-Monasterio, Reiner Wassmann, Bram Govaerts, Yasukazu. Hosen, Nobuko Katayanagi and Nele Verhulst
10. How conservation agriculture can contribute to buffering climate change, Peter Hobbs and Bram Govaerts
11. Management of resident soil microbial community structure and function to suppress soilborne disease development, Mark Mazzola
12. Biotechnology in agriculture, Ryan Whitford, Michael Gilbert and Peter Langridge
13. GIS & crop simulation modelling applications in climate change research, David Hodson and Jeff White
14. Statistical models for studying and understanding genotype x environment interaction in an era of climate change and increased genetic information, José Crossa, Juan Burgueño and Mateo Vargas
Reynolds works at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) where his main focus has been to improve the adaptation of wheat to drought and heat stressed environments in collaboration with national wheat programs worldwide. His laboratory develops methodologies that have enhanced the efficiency of breeding and research and led to identification of genetic bases of adaptive traits. These approaches have resulted in a new generation of wheat cultivars based on the combination of stress-adaptive traits from highly diverse genetic sources. Reynolds is also coordinating the establishment of a global consortium to raise the yield potential of wheat to help bolster productivity in the developing world where the dual impact of climate change and population growth threaten food security.