A literature review related to the manipulation of crop growth and or the improvement of crop quality.
As stated by Pauli, Gottfried and Grabherr, (2014), climate change has become the most challenging environment issue for all. Crops and food production happens to get affected largely due to the change in the climatic situation. In the article, Bita and Gerats, (2013) have pointed out the impact of global warming on the growth of crops. High temperature has negative effect of the growth and development of plant. The extreme fluctuation of the climate has showed reduction in the yield of the crops because high temperature affects the physiology, biochemistry and also the gene regulation pathways in plants. Scorching of leaves and stem, senescence, fruit damage along with shoot and root growth inhibitions are some of the physiological injuries that are evident due to increase in the temperature.
The declination in the yield and the production of crops has significantly created great threat and risks in the global food security. Global warming has resulted in the creation of extreme high temperature that has resulted in famine leading to a catastrophic loss in the productivity of crops. For example, Indian lowlands act as the major source for the global production of wheat but the tropic and sub-tropic regions have faced extreme heat stressed and short season production of wheat because of the increase of temperature by almost 3-4 degree. Keeping the similar situation into consideration, kit has been pointed out by Bita and Gerats, (2013) that the susceptibility to high temperature varies from one plant to other and also varies with the different stages of development of the plant. Heat stress affects the vegetative and the reproductive stages of plants.
With these degrading situations, it has become a challenge as well as necessity for the scientists to think about better ways that could manipulate the growth of plants even in extreme environmental conditions like high temperature or the conditions of famine. Reading, it has been found that increase in temperature results in the closing of the stomata and that blocks the path for photosynthesis (Calfapietra, Peñuelas & Niinemets, 2015). Therefore, under manipulative circumstances, a different biochemical pathway that plants use for photosynthesis is manipulated. A different carbon cycle or the C4 Cycle is designed that help the plant to carry out photosynthesis without any difficulty. This particular method has been found in the maize plants. Maize plants have the capability to fix carbon dioxide at a very low level and forms malate (Demmig-Adams, Stewart & Adams, 2014). This automatically increases the rate of the mechanism of photosynthesis because oxygen that inhibits the process of photosynthesis, do not remain in the process.
Sorghum is another plant that shows adaptability towards high temperature. The plant has a dense root system that helps the plant to extract water deep from the soil. Keeping similar approach into consideration, manipulative approaches have been found to undertaken by the farmers. To avoid the excess loss of water from the surface, the weeds and other unnecessary crops are killed and the land is made free from any disturbance or inhabitation (Calfapietra, Peñuelas & Niinemets, 2015). Thus, the law of limiting factor and the diminishing return is found to apply here. In addition to this, fertilizers are also used to improve the growth of the plants. The mixture of fertilizers depends largely on the condition of the soil and the need of the particular plant.
In the article, Pauli, Gottfried and Grabherr, (2014) pointed us that there are other factors as well that increases the temperature of the climate and affect the growth of the plant. However, there are various ways which can be used to manipulate the environmental condition where the plants grow. Burning of fossil fuels adds a number of green house gases like carbon dioxide and the methane. These gases are much useful during the winter and spring when the environment is cold and there is less supply of these gases. In addition to this, burning adds fresh carbon dioxide which is much helpful for the growth of plants (Teixeira et al. 2013). If the method is carefully monitored, then the chances of the better growth of the plants increase by many folds. Another tactful method that is used in the recent time to combat with the change in the environmental situation is by undertaking crop rotation technique. The same crop is not harvested in the same land because the fertility and the nutrients of the soil are lost. It is by the means of using different species at an interval, the nutrient of the soil is gained back and the harvest increases.
References:
Bita, C., & Gerats, T. (2013). Plant tolerance to high temperature in a changing environment: scientific fundamentals and production of heat stress-tolerant crops. Frontiers in plant science, 4, 273. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2013.00273
Calfapietra, C., Peñuelas, J., & Niinemets, Ü. (2015). Urban plant physiology: adaptation-mitigation strategies under permanent stress. Trends in plant science, 20(2), 72-75.
Demmig-Adams, B., Stewart, J. J., & Adams, W. W. (2014). Multiple feedbacks between chloroplast and whole plant in the context of plant adaptation and acclimation to the environment. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 369(1640), 20130244.
Pauli, H., Gottfried, M., & Grabherr, G. (2014). Effects of climate change on the alpine and nival vegetation of the Alps. Journal of mountain ecology, 7.
Teixeira, E. I., Fischer, G., van Velthuizen, H., Walter, C., & Ewert, F. (2013). Global hot-spots of heat stress on agricultural crops due to climate change. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 170, 206-215.
