Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
demand for food crops worldwide can be satisfied in two
ways: first is to increase the area under production and the
second is to improve productivity on existing arable land.
6.1
Introduction
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the sta-
tistical properties of the climate system when considered over
long periods of time (Mtui, 2011). The main reason behind cli-
mate change is either the Earth's natural forces, which basi-
cally include solar radiation and continental drift, or human
activities. Climate change has obvious and direct effects on the
agricultural sector, and if the global state is taken into account,
the reverse, that is, the impact of agriculture on climate is
also increasingly evident. Agricultural activities result in the
large-scale emission of greenhouse gases through the use of
Industrial
agriculture
Greenhouse gases
Mitigating and
adaptive force
Climate change
Abiotic stresses
Biotic stresses
Naturally occurring
resistant/tolerant crops
Wild germplasm
QTLs/genes/alleles
Genetic engineering
approaches
Molecular breeding
approaches
Integrated approaches
Modern agriculture
(superior and stress
tolerant/resistant crops)
FIGURe 6.1
Agricultural production acts both as the con-
tributor and the potential mitigating and adaptive force
towards climate change. Germplasm collection including
naturally occurring tolerant/resistant crops and wild relatives
can be used to isolate qTL(s), gene(s) or allele(s) conferring
tolerance/resistance to various biotic and abiotic stresses by
employing modern genomics approaches (molecular breed-
ing, genetic engineering and integrated breeding). These
qTL(s), gene(s) and allele(s) can be used to develop modified
crops that are better adapted to the various stresses.
