Abiotic stresses and agricultural sustainability

Abstract

As a result of global climate change, weather patterns are changing much faster than anticipated. Global climate changes will affect water distribution, daily temperatures (both high and low), patterns of salinity, and nutrient availability. Abiotic stresses such as solar radiation, wind, drought, heat, chilling, frost, salinity, and nutrient imbalances and deciencies dramatically reduce yield and quality of crops. Plants will be more subject to attack by bacteria, viruses, fungi, nematodes, and competition from weeds. Growth and development will be reduced or retarded. Boyer (1982) suggested that there is a large genetic potential for yield that is unrealized because plants are either not adapted to their environment or do not acclimate quickly enough to an oncoming stress. Abiotic stress-caused yield and biomass losses can vary from 50% to 100%. In addition, many cultivated crops do not possess the proper stress-tolerance genes or the regulatory mechanism of the stress responses to ameliorate the abiotic stress.