Agronomic interventions for drought management in crops

Abstract

Water stress is considered a worldwide problem and is one of the most and major disastrous abiotic stresses. India is the most vulnerable country for water stress because of population growth, changing demography, and land use change. Fast changing climate is further aggravating this problem by affecting rainfall and water-use pattern, groundwater availability, and runoff; thus, deficit in rainfall is the major cause of drought. Drought has its wider impact on all sectors, but agriculture is the most affected one because Indian agriculture still depends largely upon monsoon rainfall, and about 68% of cropped area in India is vulnerable to drought. Drought affects crop plants by hampering its growth and development. Drought stress reduces yield of crops by affecting germination, seedling growth, several physiological processes such as photosynthesis, respiration, assimilate transport, water relation, and nutrient uptake. To overcome the problem of drought, there is a need of interdisciplinary approach, i.e. agronomy, plant breeding, plant physiology, plant biotechnology, water engineering, and others, to develop new approaches in water use. Agronomic approaches such as mulching, conservation tillage, intercropping, early sowing, selection of crops and their varieties, and micro irrigation are technically feasible and economically viable options to overcome drought problem in crops.