Crop stress management and global climate change

221 Pages·2011·2.764 MB·English

by  José Luis Araus, Gustavo A Slafer

2 CABI CLIMATE CHANGE SERIES col
Crop Stress Management
& Global Climate Change
EDITED BY JOSE LUIS ARAUS AND GUSTAVO ARIEL SLAFER
(IL
Crop Stress Management and Global Climate Change
Max
Paper from
FSC responsible sources
F SC* C018575
CABI CLIMATE CHANGE SERIES
Climate change is a major environmental challenge to the world today, with significant
threats to ecosystems, food security, water resources and economic stability overall. In order
to understand and research ways to alleviate the effects of climate change, scientists need
access to information that not only provides an overview of and background to the field, but
also keeps them up to date with the latest research findings.
This series addresses all topics relating to climate change, including strategies to develop
sustainable systems that minimize impact on climate and/or mitigate the effects of human
activity on climate change. Coverage will therefore encompass all areas of environmental
and agricultural sciences as well as human health and tourism. Aimed at researchers, upper
level students and policy makers, titles in the series provide international coverage of topics
related to climate change, including both a synthesis of facts and discussions of future
research perspectives and possible solutions.
Titles Available
1. Climate Change and Crop Production
Edited by Matthew P. Reynolds
2. Crop Stress Management and Global Climate Change
Edited by Jose L. Araus and Gustavo A. Slafer
3. Temperature Adaptation in a Changing Climate
Edited by Kenneth Storey and Karen Tanino
Crop Stress Management and Global
Climate Change
Edited by
Jos6 Luis Araus
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico
and
Gustavo Ariel Slafer
University of Lleida, Spain
C
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Crop stress management & global climate change / edited by Jose Luis Araus and Gustavo
A. Slafer.
p. cm. -- (CABI climate change series ; 2)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-84593-680-8 (alk. paper)
1. Crops and climate. 2. Climatic changes. I. Araus, Jose Luis. II. Slafer, Gustavo A.,
1960- III. Series: CABI climate change series ; 2.
5600.7.C54C75 2011
632'.1--dc23
2011026514
ISBN-13: 978 1 84593 680 8
Commissioning editor: Sarah Mellor
Editorial assistant: Alexandra Lainsbury
Production editor: Fiona Chippendale
Typeset by Columns Design XML Ltd, Reading.
Printed and bound in the UK by the MPG Books Group, Bodmin.
Contents
Contributors vii
Preface ix
PART I LOOKING AT THE PAST
1 Global Change and the Origins of Agriculture 1
J.P. Ferrio, J. Voltas and J.L. Araus
PART II PRESENT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES IN DIFFERENT AGRICULTURAL
SYSTEMS
2 Climate Change in Dry lands: From Assessment Methods to Adaptation 15
Strategies
E. De Pauw and W Gobel
3 Agronomic Avenues to Maximize the Benefits of Rising Atmospheric
Carbon Dioxide Concentration in Asian Irrigated Rice Systems 37
L. Yang and S. Peng
4 Recent Changes in Pampean Agriculture: Possible New Avenues in
Coping with Global Change Challenges 47
E.H. Satorre
5 Global Change Challenges for Horticultural Systems 58
C. Ramos, D.S. Intrigliolo and R.B. Thompson
PART III COPING WITH CLIMATE CHANGE
6 The Impact of High CO2 on Plant Abiotic Stress Tolerance 85
M.S. Lopes and C.H. Foyer
7 Breeding to Improve Grain Yield in Water-limited Environments: the
CSIRO Experience with Wheat 105
R.A. Richards, G.J. Rebetzke, A.G. (Tony) Condon and M. Watt
vi Contents
8 Molecular Breeding for a Changing Climate: Bridging Ecophysiology and
Molecular Biology 122
R. Tuberosa, M. Maccaferri, C. Colalongo and S. Salvi
9 Crop Management to Cope with Global Change: a Systems Perspective Aided
by Information Technologies 172
G.S. McMaster and J.C. Ascough II
PART IV INTEGRATING EFFORTS IN THE FUTURE
10 The Way Ahead: From Science to Policy; Coordinating Efforts in a
Global World 191
R. Ortiz
Index 205
Contributors
Araus, J.L., Unit of Plant Physiology, Dept. of Plant Biology, University of Barcelona,
Barcelona E-08028, Spain and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
(CIMMYT) Km 45, Carretera Mexico-Veracruz, Texcoco CP56130, Mexico. E-mail:
[email protected]
Ascough, J.C. II, USDA-ARS, Agricultural Systems Research Unit, 2150 Centre Avenue,
Building D, Suite 200, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
Colalongo, C., Department of Agroenvironmental Sciences and Technology, University of
Bologna, Via le Fanin 44, 40127, Bologna, Italy. E-mail: [email protected]
Condon, A.G., CSIRO Plant Industry, PO Box 1600, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. E-mail:
[email protected]
De Pauw, E., International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA),
Aleppo, Syria. E-mail: [email protected]
Ferrio, J.P., Dept. of Crop and Forest Sciences, University of Lleida, Lleida E-25198, Spain.
E-mail: [email protected]
Foyer, C.H., Centre of Plant Science, Research Institute of Integrative and Comparative
Biology, Faculty of Biological Science, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK. E-mail:
[email protected]
Gobel, W., International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA),
Aleppo, Syria. E-mail: [email protected]
Intrigliolo, D.S., Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias, Centro para el
Desarrollo de la Agricultura Sostenible, Apartado Oficial 46113, Moncada (Valencia),
Spain. E-mail: [email protected]
Lopes, M.S., International Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT), Km. 45, Carretera
Mexico-Veracruz, El Batan, Texcoco, CP 56130 Mexico. E-mail: [email protected]
Maccaferri, M., Department of Agroenvironmental Sciences and Technology, University
of Bologna, Via le Fanin 44, 40127, Bologna, Italy. E-mail: marco.maccaferri @ unibo.it
McMaster, G.S., USDA-ARS, Agricultural Systems Research Unit, 2150 Center Avenue,
Building D, Suite 200, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA. E-mail: [email protected].
gov
Ortiz, R., Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo (CIMMYT), Apdo, Postal
6-641, 06600 Mexico, D.P., Mexico. Current address: Swedish University of Agricultural
Sciences, PO Box 101, SE-23053, Alnarp, Sweden. E-mail: [email protected]
Peng, S., Crop and Environmental Sciences Division, International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI), DAPO Box 7777, Metro Manila, Philippines. E-mail: [email protected]
vii
viii Contributors
Ramos, C., Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias, Centro para el Desarrollo de
la Agricultura Sostenible, Apartado Oficial 46113, Moncada (Valencia), Spain. E-mail:
[email protected]
Rebetzke, G.J., CSIRO Plant Industry, PO Box 1600, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
E-mail: [email protected]
Richards, R.A., CSIRO Plant Industry, PO Box 1600, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
E-mail: [email protected]
Salvi, S., Department of Agroenvironmental Sciences and Technology, University of
Bologna, Via le Fanin 44, 40127, Bologna, Italy. E-mail: salvi @agrsci.unibo.it
Satorre, E.H., Catedra de Cerealicultura, Department of Plant Production, Faculty
of Agronomy, University of Buenos Aires and AACREA, Asociacion Argentina de
Consorcios Regionales de Experimentaci6n Agricola, Unidad de Investigacion &
Desarrollo, Argentina. E-mail: [email protected]
Slafer, G.A., Department of Crop and Forest Sciences, University of Lleida, Av. Alcalde
Rovira Roure 191, Lleida, 25198, Spain. E-mail: slafer @pvcf.udl.es
Thompson, R.B., Universidad de Almeria, Depto Produccion Vegetal, Almeria, Spain.
E-mail: rodney @ual.es
Tuberosa, R., Department of Agroenvironmental Sciences and Technology, University of
Bologna, Via le Fanin 44, 40127, Bologna, Italy. E-mail: [email protected]
Voltas, J., Dept. of Crop and Forest Sciences, University of Lleida, Lleida E-25198, Spain.
E-mail: [email protected]
Watt, M., CSIRO Plant Industry, PO Box 1600, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. E-mail:
[email protected]
Yang, L., Key Lab of Crop Genetics & Physiology of Jiangsu Province, Yangzhou University,
Yangzhou 225009, Jiangsu, China. E-mail: [email protected]
Preface
This book addresses the challenges of the foreseen climate change for agriculture from a
multidisciplinary point of view. Agriculture has shaped the world into its present form. It
was only after the beginning of agriculture, and the relative food security and sufficiency
thereby derived, that after 120,000 years populations have increased substantially, giving
place to complex social structures created by civilization. Interestingly, the 'Neolithic
revolution' (i.e. the agricultural revolution determining the transition from hunting-
gathering to settlement facilitated by the beginning of agriculture) took place somewhat
simultaneously in several different parts of the world. It should have been a global force
determining such a change in culture. A remarkable feature is that this 'revolution' was
temporally coincident with the occurrence of sudden climate changes that, unlike those
expected nowadays, determined an increase in humidity which, in turn, determined a
climate amelioration for crop growth in the early Holocene. Therefore, in this book the initial
chapter is devoted to discussing the global changes that, some 10,000 years ago, gave rise to
the beginning of agriculture. The rest of the book is subdivided in two major parts: first,
towards an understanding of the present and future challenges imposed by climate change
on several different agricultural systems; and, secondly, to reviewing research avenues to
cope with the environmental conditions expected in the near future from climate change.
The current climate change, even if global in nature, affects the diverse world agro-
ecosystems in different ways. Nevertheless, it is in the dryland systems of the Mediterranean
basin where many global change models predict the most severe consequences, due to
increases in temperature together with decreased precipitation, which would be less evenly
distributed than at present. Concurrent social and demographic changes in the region may
complicate this scenario even further. Chapter 2 discusses the predictions for this fragile
region, while Chapter 3 analyses the situation in the highly productive agricultural systems
of irrigated rice in southern Asia, where in the absence of water stress the increase in
atmospheric concentration of CO2 may represent a positive factor for species with a C3
metabolism, such as rice, providing that high temperatures are prevented (advancing
sowings, changing phenological patterns) and soil fertility is maintained. Chapter 4 deals
with Pampean agriculture, another of the World food baskets, also challenged by increases
in temperature and changes in levels and patterns of precipitation. Chapter 5 addresses the
challenges expected in the already highly technological and added-value horticultural
systems, where the possibilities for controlling the environment, particularly temperature
and efficiency in the use of water, must be further improved.
ix