PLANT BREEDING APPROACHES FOR COMBATING IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN AGRICULTURE PRODUCTION: A REVIEW

Abstract

Climate change is the most pressing environmental challenge of this century creating deleterious impact on the agricultural productivity. Besides all the knock-on effects of climate change, rising concentration of carbon dioxide and temperature affects overall plant physiology, growth, reproduction and resilience. The forth coming generations of crops are most vulnerable to the changing climate which will rely on genetic interventions by the selection of target traits in controlled environments, and high throughput phenotyping and genotyping. Plant breeding approaches plays predominant role to create cultivars which are well adapted to new climate demand, introduce new desirable genes adapted to genetic background as well as broaden genetic traits/genes in a breeding material in pace with environmental change and stress. Genetic breeding techniques gives an ever more cost-effective option to characterize available genetic diversity and also makes the mechanism of climate adaptation and application in crop breeding more acceptable This paper reviews the impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture sector and also highlights the adaptation of plant breeding technology to reduce and tackle the climate change. The objective is to discuss the evidences of climate change and its impact in food production system. The motive is to prompt the policymaker, breeders and development agents the essentiality of tackling this serious threat so to reduce crop losses related to climate change.