Training Manual

CLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTURE & SOILS 2nd

Certified Training workshop during International Conference on Food & Agriculture 2018 Dhanbad, Jharkhand

Training Manual

Editors:

Dhermesh Verma Vinayak Shedekar Asmita Murumkar Ritesh Sharma Amarendra Kumar Varsha Rani Faisul Yusuf Brajendra

CLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTURE & SOILS 2nd

Certified Training workshop during International Conference on Food & Agriculture 2018 Dhanbad, Jharkhand

Training Manual Editors:

Dhermesh Verma Vinayak Shedekar Asmita Murumkar Ritesh Sharma Amarendra Kumar Varsha Rani Faisul Yusuf & Brajendra

PREFACE Climate change is emerging as a major threat on agriculture, food security and livelihood of millions of people in many places of the world (IPCC, 2014). The estimated impacts of both historical and future climate change on cereal crop yields in different regions indicate that the yield loss can be up to - 35% for rice, - 20% for wheat, - 50% for sorghum, - 13% for barley, and - 60% for maize depending on the location, future climate scenarios and projected year (Porter et al., 2014). Changes in crop cultivation suitability and associated agriculture biodiversity, decrease in input use efficiency, and prevalence of pests and diseases are some of the major causes of climate change impacts on agriculture. Agriculture production systems require adaptation to these changes in order to ensure the food and livelihood security of farming communities. Despite the various benefits of CSA technologies, the current rate of adoption by farmers is fairly low. There are many factors that influence extent of adoption of CSA technologies such as socio-economic characteristics of farmers, bio-physical environment of a particular location, and the attributes of new technologies (Campbell et al., 2012). The identification, prioritization and promotion of available CSA technologies considering local climatic risks and demand for technology are major challenges for scaling out CSA in diverse agro-ecological zones. Pillars of CSA • Productivity: CSA aims to raising productivity is sustainable intensification • Adaptation: CSA aims to reduce the exposure of farmers to short-term risks • Mitigation: Wherever and whenever possible, CSA should help to reduce and/or remove greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Why is Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) needed? • As per FAO estimate, by the year 2050 world population will increase by one -third and food required for food security by 60 %. • Already cumulative impact of climate change since last decade has effect on productivity. Agriculture has become a high-risk profession- farmers increasingly prefer to migrate. • But with available knowledge and experience, it is possible to make agriculture a sustainable livelihood means - but this will require intensive efforts at ground level local level where agriculture exists and it has to be made climate smart. • Climate-smart crop production contributes to food security and this can be accomplished by addressing different aspects of current and projected climate change impacts through adaptation and mitigation actions. Agriculture provides opportunities for adapting to, and mitigating, climate change effects. What is needed for effective implementation of CSA? Urgent action from public, private and civil society stakeholders at the international to local levels is required in four areas: (1) Building evidence and assessment tools; (2) Strengthening national and local institutions; (3) Developing coordinated and evidence-based policies; and

(4) Increasing financing and its effectiveness.

It is in this context, CSA workshop is conceptualized with the hope that deliberations by eminent and galaxy of speakers may provide a vibrant approach to make our young generation climate reliant. Heartfelt gratitude is attributed to all Our Guest Speakers from Ohio, UNFAO and others. Efforts have been taken to proof read the book before printing. Despite, some errors will sleep in for which we advance apologies. Help rendered by Suresh Nadella Composer, Hyderabad in timely printing is duly acknowledged. Endling scientific organization acknowledges one and all who helped in organizing this workshop. Editors

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Climate Smart Agriculture: Training Manual

Table of Contents 1. Climate Change in South and Southeast Asia and Climate Smart Technologies Prioritization: An Overview .................................................1 2. Decision Tools for Climate-Smart Agriculture ...................................... 23 3. Climate Change Impact Assessment – Overview and A Case Study ............................................................................................................................ 35 4. Climate Change Assessment, Adaptation, Mitigation framework – USA……………………………………………………………………………………........44 5. Climate Resilient Fruit Crops – Possible Solution to Ensure Nutritional Security in Changing Climate Scenario ......…………………51 6. Innovative Extension Interventions for Farmers Education Towards Climate-Smart Agriculture .................…………………………………………..62 7.

Landscape and Supply Chain Approaches to Climate Smart Agriculture ……………………………………………………………………………….74

8. Climate Smart Agriculture and community participation: Futuristic Approach for combating climate change in India ……………………….76 9. Breeding and Biotechnological Efforts for Drought Stress Management ……………………………………………………………………………85 10. Diversification of Horticulture as Mitigating Measures for Climate Change ....…………………………………………………………………………………90 11. Soil Seed Bank in Indian Arid Rangeland: An Appraisal ……………..102 12. Vish Dhar, TEDEX……………………………………………………………………..107 13. Zeba ………………………………………………………………...............................111

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Climate Change in South and Southeast Asia and Climate Smart Technologies Prioritization: An overview Dhermesh Verma1, Manoj Shrivastava2, Brajendra3 and Ritesh Sharma4 1Senior

Consultant with UPL Ltd., New Delhi, 2Principal Scientist, CESCRA, IARI, New Delhi, 3Principal Scientist, Indian Institute of Rice Research, ICAR, Hyderabad, 4Principal Scientist, BEDF, APEDA, Meerut, India

The Asia and pacific region is extremely vulnerable against the effects of environmental change. The warming could fix past accomplishments of financial advancement and upgrades of expectations for everyday comforts (ADB, 2017). The provincial ramifications of the most recent projections of fluctuation in atmosphere conditions over Asia and Pacific are disturbing. The appraisal reasons that, the effect of even a warming to 1.5oC to 2oC above preindustrial levels will essentially influence some land zone, biological communities, and financial parts. A noteworthy interruption in natural administrations prompting extreme consequences for jobs, human health and potential for clashes could rise because of environmental change effects, for example, prolonged heat waves, floods and dry spells, coastal level rise and changes in precipitation patterns. There is a need of exhaustive research on creating robust models to contemplate the effects of environmental change in Asian area, its moderation and execution of adjustment approaches thinking about the needs of the partners. More socioeconomic factors locally influencing the adaptation need to be considered.

Climate Change Projections Temperature Change CMIP5 models project a clear increase in temperature over India especially in winter, with enhanced warming during night than day (Kumar et al., 2011a) and over northern India (Kulkarni, 2012). In summer, extremely hot days and nights are projected to increase. Across Southeast Asia, temperature has been increasing at a rate of 0.14°C to 0.20°C per decade since the1960s, coupled with a rising number of hot days and warm nights, anda decline in cooler weather (Tangang et. al. 2007; IPCC, 2013). Ensemble mean changes in mean annual temperature exceed 2°C over the latetwentieth century baseline over most land areas in the mid-21st century under RCP 8.5, and range from greater than 3°C over South and Southeast Asia to more prominent than 6°C over high latitudes in the late-21st century. The ensemble

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mean changes are under 2°C over the late-twentieth century baseline in both the mid and late-21st century under RCP 2.6, except for changes in the vicinity of 2°C and 3°C over the highest latitudes. With unabated environmental change, mean summer temperatures are expected to increment by more than 6oC above preindustrial levels before 21st century's over.

Monsoons Future increases in precipitation extremes related to the monsoon are very likely in East, South, and Southeast Asia. More than 85% of CMIP5 models show an increase in mean precipitation in the East Asian summer monsoons, while more than 95% of models project an increase in heavy precipitation events. All models and all scenarios project an increase in both the mean and extreme precipitation in the Indian summer monsoon (IPCC, 2013). In these two regions, the interannual standard deviation of seasonal mean precipitation also increases. State of the art models projected pronounced increase in frequency and intensity of heavy rainfall events in the region which may thus face more severe flooding if the global temperature continues to rise (ADB, 2017). A study by Levermann et al. (2009) suggests that the Asian monsoon system could abruptly shift from a state with strong rainfall to a weak precipitation state. Since agricultural productivity over the PRC and India is closely linked to monsoon rainfall, such a shift would have profound impacts on regional food security (Krishna Kumar et al. 2004; Tao et al. 2004). However, High-resolution model simulations are necessary to resolve complex terrain such as in Southeast Asia (Nguyen et al., 2012). Table 1: Projected changes in climate in India (2070–99) Region Jan-Mar. Apr.-Jun. Jul.-Sept.

Oct.-Dec.

Change in Temperature (oC) Northeast

4.95

4.11

2.88

4.05

Northwest

4.53

4.25

2.96

4.16

Southeast

4.16

3.21

2.53

3.29

Southwest

3.74

3.07

2.52

3.04

Northeast

9.3

20.3

21.0

7.5

Northwest

7.2

7.1

27.2

57.0

Southeast

32.9

29.7

10.9

0.7

Southwest

22.3

32.3

8.8

8.5

Change in precipitation (%)

Source: Ravikumar, 2010

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Sea Level The increase in global mean temperature has caused a global mean SLR of about 0.19 meters (m) during the last century (IPCC, 2013). This was the largest sea-level increase of the past 25 centuries and is strongly correlated with the anthropogenically induced global temperature increase (Kopp et al. 2016). The primary mechanisms driving global mean SLR in the postindustrial period include thermal expansion of ocean water, the melting of glaciers and continental ice sheets, and ice sheet dynamics (IPCC, 2013). Under the BAU (Business as Usual) scenario, sea level may rise by 1.4 meters. However, if the Paris agreement is fully implemented, sea level rise may be limited to 0.65 m. For every degree of global warming, the world is committed to an eventual sea-level rise in excess of 2.3 meters (ADB, 2017). Flood exposure is apparently increasing in coastal cities due to growing populations and assets, SLR, and subsidence (Hallegatte et al. 2013). Studying the 136 largest coastal cities, the authors estimate that the average global flood losses in 2005 were approximately $6 billion per year and will increase to $52 billion by 2050.

Tropical Cyclones A general understanding is that the strong cyclonic events will increase SLR with increasing temperature. But the models are projecting uncertainties due to lesser availability of understanding the monsoon patterns.

Glaciers and Rivers The glaciers of high mountain regions of Asia have shown measurable recession. However, the changes are more heterogeneous (Gardener, 2013; IPCC, 2013). Available climate change studies have shown both the risk of flooding and water shortages. While flooding risk will increment in the Asian monsoon region because of substantial precipitation and runoff, it is additionally likely that the region will face water deficiencies due to anticipated changes in atmosphere as well as to developing water request from rapid populace and economic development. Option to adapt to water shortage may include integrated river basin management, adaptive management of old reservoirs, development of new repositories, and methods for productive water use, for example, rain water harvesting and water reuse.

Heat Extremes

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Extreme heat events occur more heterogeneously over the region. Some areas, particularly in Southeast Asia could enter into entirely different climate regimes due to frequent occurrence of extreme heat events.

Climate Change Impact on Food Production Systems Climate change is expected to impact on crop production, livestock production, fisheries and aquaculture. There is robust evidence of negative impacts from heat and water stresses on crop yields but much less evidence is available for livestock feed, livestock production, fisheries and aquaculture. South Asia and Southeast Asia have 116 million ha. 99 million ha. rainfed area respectively (Devendra, 2012). By 2050, South Asia, and East Asia crop ET requirements will reach1, 505–2,860 km3, and 1,692–3,215 km3per year, respectively. That is almost double the amounts needed now (Molden et al., 2007).

Impact on Agriculture Warmer temperatures could depress yields of major crops such as rice. However, warmer temperatures could also make some areas more favorable for food production (Lioubimtseva and Henebry, 2009). Increasing CO2 concentration in the atmosphere could lead to higher crop yields (Tao and Zhang, 2013a). Sea level rise will be a key issue for many coastal areas as rich agricultural lands may be submerged and taken out of production (Wassmann et al., 2009b). However, in the longer term, the negative impacts of increases in temperatures beyond 2°C on rice and wheat yields in South Asia would not be offset by CO2 fertilization effects (Lal 2011). Instead, Cereal production in is expected to decline by 4%–10% under a regional warming of 3°C by the end of this century (Lal 2011). Other biological factors, which are likely to get influenced, are nutrient availability in soils and uptake by plants, crop phenology, fruit quality, nutrition value of food, changing cropping systems, land use change, livestock health, and aquaculture.

Crops Although, still there are very limited data available for studying climate change impact on food production systems, but Climate change will have a generally negative impact on crop production Asia, but with diverse possible outcomes (medium confidence). For example, most simulation models show that higher temperatures will lead to lower rice yields as a result of a shorter growing period. But some studies indicate that increased atmospheric CO2 that leads to those

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higher temperatures could enhance photosynthesis and increase rice yields. This uncertainty on the overall effects of climate change and CO2 fertilization is generally true for other important food crops such as wheat, sorghum, barley, and maize, among others (IPCC, 2013). Sea level rise is projected to decrease total arable areas and thus food supply in many parts of Asia. A diverse mix of potential adaptation strategies, such as crop breeding, changing crop varieties, adjusting planting time, water management, diversification of crops, and a host of indigenous practices will all be applicable within local contexts. A systematic review and meta-analysis of data in 52 original publications projected mean changes in yield by the 2050s across South Asia of 16% for maize and 11% for sorghum (Knox et al., 2012). Barnwal and Kotani (2013) observed that while a number of simulation studies using global circulation model (GCM) scenarios predicted increased rice production in India (Mohandass et. al. 1995, Lal et al., 1998, Mall and Aggarwal, 2002). Other more recent studies showed negative impacts (Auffhammer et al., 2006, Cline, 2007, Aggarwal, 2008). An overview of the IPCC Fifth Assessment report (IPCC, 2013) for India suggests that there is still significant uncertainty about yield impacts due to the difficulties in understanding and predicting monsoon behavior (Jayaraman and Murari, 2014). An Asia-wide study revealed that climate change scenarios would reduce rice yield over a large portion of the continent (Masutomi et al., 2009).

Soil Health A number of soil processes can be affected by climate change, resulting in erosion, soil leaching, soil organic carbon loss, salinization and nutrient loss. Climate warming can cause a loss of vegetation and lower the water table within the soil, thus increasing the decomposition of organic matter in the soil and promoting the release of soil carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. These effects differ across regions and are more pronounced in hotspots, such as peatlands where drainage can lead to a large loss of CO2 as a result of the decomposing of soil organic matter. While an increase in CO2 may enhance crop productivity, the extent to which this may occur depends on the limitations of soil nutrients. Climate change can also exacerbate soil erosion by water. According to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) in tropical croplands, it is estimated around 20 tons per hectare per annum of soil are lost, caused by heavier precipitation and drought, reducing canopy cover and increasing soil erosion.

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Substantial precipitation causes phosphorus misfortune and expands the eutrophication risk, impeding water quality and transporting phosphate to drains. Land degradation builds disintegration and phosphorus loss. Low soil moisture from climate change diminishes the uptake of plant phosphorus; in any case, it is conceivable that an ascent in the level of CO2 could counter that impact by expanding the improvement of mycorrhiza population and the uptake of phosphorus. Rising ocean levels threaten coastal soil with vast deltas in Asia. Saline water interruption harms soils in coastal territories and the atmosphere warming and increasing irrigation demand combination request will contrarily impact on the quality of water. The above co-operations between atmosphere, soil and land utilize request the integration of soil status into the yield gap analysis. The global soil assessment issued in 2015 by the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS), as part of the first Plenary Assembly of the Global Soil Partnership, lists several processes that affect land degradation, including soil erosion, decline of soil organic carbon and nutrient imbalance. Desertification is defined under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) as land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and dry, sub-humid areas, climatically defined by their low values (38oC) and brighter sunshine cause sunburn damage on exposed fruits. Choking of bunches is also caused by high temperatures (above 38oC) and drought (Stover and Simmonds, 1972). In sub-tropical climate, temperature is determinant factor for environmental stimulus of flowering in mango and a number of other fruit tree species. In papaya, higher temperatures have caused in flower drops in female and hermaphrodite plants as well sex changes in hermaphrodite and male plants. The increase of stigma and stamen sterility in papaya is mainly because of higher temperatures. It has also been noticed that if flowering takes place under extremely low temperature conditions, flower drop is usual in most fruit crops like mango, papaya, guava and other fruits. Studies revealed that low temperatures promote

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reproductive morphogenesis in mango. Shu and Sheen, (1987) noted that there was an increase of 18 to 100% flowering in auxiliary buds of cultivar Haden when trees were transferred to 31/25°C following 1-3 weeks at 19/13°C. Trees of the cultivar Tommy Atkins flowered within 10 weeks when held at day/night temperatures of 18/10°C, whereas trees held at 30/ 25°C produced vegetative growth and did not flower (Nunez-Elisea et. al., 1993). In grapes, degree-days are important in determining the timing of various phonological events where, a temperature regime of 10°C and temperatures between 28-32°C are most congenial. Differences in temperature cause alterations in the developmental stages and ultimately the maturing time. Under a higher temperature regime, the number of bunches per shoot was greater and the number of flowers per cluster was reduced (Pouget, 1981). In variety Cabernet Sauvignon, maximum fruit set was observed at 20/15°C with no fruit set at 14/9°C or 38/33°C. Kliewer (1977) demonstrated the loss of ovule viability in the varieties Pinot Noir and Carignane at 35°C and 40°C as compared to 25°C. The photosynthesis rate was highest in the temperature range of 20-30°C and the evapotranspiration rate increased with temperature and was highest at 30-35°C (Shiraishiet. al., 1996). The partitioning of photosynthates within the leaf was affected as temperature increased leading to reduction in concentration of starch within the leaves of Cabernet Sauvignon vines (Buttrose and Hale, 1971).

Climate Smart Fruit Crops The fruit crop like dragon fruit, kair, phalsa, pumello, bael, wood apple, aonla, karonda, barbados cherry and pomegranate are believed to be having a less moisture demand and have lesser transpiration rate. Neither are their flowering and fruiting too much affected by fluctuating temperature. Hence, these crops can be the next generation climate smart fruit crop. Dragon Fruit/Pitaya (Hylocereus undatus) This is a new emerging fruit of tropics and subtropics particularly in peri-urban and urban areas. The fruit belongs the family cactaceae and have a high drought tolerance. In this succulent plant, leaves are modified to spine. Hence, the fruit crop has high drought tolerance. The fruit is borne in the junction of cladode when it reaches a certain height. In dragon fruit, the temperature and light intensity may affect the blooming. During warm cloudy days, the flower may open at about 4pm while in cool temperature, the wilting may be delayed till 1 am. If flowers are not pollinated during the night, they remain open until the next morning. Dragon fruit can be grown at a high temperature upto 45OC. Besides that, it can grow in rainfed

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conditions as well. It can be grown in rainfall upto 100-2000mm rainfall, with alternate dry and wet period (Swamyet. al., 2004).

Phalsa (Grewiaasiatica) The phalsa is a subtropical fruit plant but can be grown in wide climatic conditions except high attitude. The plant grows satisfactorily up to an elevation of 1,000 m. The plant does well in the areas of where there is distinct summer and winter. The plants are deciduous and normally shed leaves on the onset of winter season and go on dormancy. But in warmer region plant does not shed leaves and there is no dormancy. It can grow at temperature ranging from 3oC to 45oC. Plant can tolerate light frost. But requires protection from the very low temperatures. Adequate sunlight and warm or hot temperatures are required for fruit ripening, development of appropriate fruit color, and good eating quality. The plant is known for its nutrient rich fruits which are often used as a beverage. Beside that it can tolerate drought up to longer days. This is one of the future crop of arid region, tropics and subtropics. Pumello (C. grandis/C maxima) The pummelo is tropical or near-tropical and flourishes naturally at low altitudes close to the sea. Pummelo can be grown successfully in semi-arid and hot subtropical regions as well. This can be attributed to the fact that among all other citrus species, it is having minimum water requirement. Beside that the flowering does not require critical or exact temperature requirement. It has a high heat requirement and can tolerate drought and heat waves. Pummelo is known to give sufficient fruiting even at 45OC. The best thing with this citrus species is its extensive disease and pest resistance. Mani et. al., 2017 studied diversity of flowering fruiting and physiochemical properties of different pummelo accessions grown in entire North Bengal and observed huge variation in fruit quality. It was concluded from this study that pummelo fruit can be successfully grown in high temperature zones with scares rainfall. Wood Apple Feronia limonia (Linn.) The plant is a native and common in the wild in dry plains of India and Ceylon. The plants are hardy with deep penetrating root system, which makes them survive harsh soil and climatic condition. In India, the fruit was traditionally a “poor man’s food” until processing techniques were developed in the mid-1950s. The fruit is much used in India as a liver and cardiac tonic and, when unripe, as a means to halt persisting diarrhea and dysentery and effective treatment for hiccup, sore throat,

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and diseases of the gums. Wood apple have the basic potential to withstand severe drought stress and can survive in dry soil as well. Wood apple is known to tolerate temperature as high as 45oC. It can flower and fruit profusely even at water sparse condition.

Ber/Indian Jujube Ziziphus mauritiana Lamk. The Indian jujube (ber) of family Rhamnaceae is one of the most ancient cultivated fruit trees in north Indian plains. It grows even on marginal lands or inferior soils where most other fruit trees either fail to grow or give very poor performance. It is regarded as the king of arid zone fruits and also as poor man’s apple. There are three main species found in the country. The Z. mauritiana is the main species of commercial importance with its several varieties. Z. nummularia is prized for its leaves (rich in protein) which provide fodder (Pala) for livestock. The third one, Z. rotundifolia also bears edible fruits but of smaller size. It is used as rootstock for commercial Indian jujube. The seeds contain saponins, jujubogenin (Kawai et al. 1974) and obelin lactone. Jujube fruits contain fairly high amount of vitamin C, besides vitamin A, B, protein, calcium and phosphorus (Jawanda and Bal, 1978). It is a perennial hardy fruit tree which gives income from multiple products such as fruits, fodder and fuel wood even in severe drought conditions to the resource deficient farmers. It is the only fruit crop which can give good returns even under rainfed conditions and can be grown in a variety of soils and climatic conditions ranging from sub-tropical to tropical. The branches are having the physiology to minimize moisture loss. The leaves are also hairy and are perfect to minimize water loss through stomata. Hence it can tolerate long dry spell and can withstand heavy drought condition. Aonla/Indian Gooseberry (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) The Indian gooseberry (aonla) of family Euphorbiaceae is being cultivated in India since Vedic Era. As a result of intensive research and development, it has attained commercial status and also proved to be potential fruit crop for arid ecosystem. It is hardy, prolific bearer and highly remunerative even without much care and can be grown in variable agro-climatic and soil conditions. The fruits are recognized for their nutritive, medicinal and therapeutical values and are rich source of vitamin C (4–9 mg g−1), pectin, iron, calcium and phosphorus. The fruit is the main ingredient in Chayvanprash and triphala used in Ayurvedic medicine. Due to pure deciduous nature and hard physiology, the tree can withstand long dry spell. The leaves are having minimum surface area because of which the moisture loss due to transpiration is also low. Aonla can successfully tolerate frost and can be grown successfully even at temperature nearing 50OC (Chaubey, 2000).

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Pomegranate Punicagranatum L. Pomegranate (anar) of family Lythraceae is an economically important commercial fruit crop of arid and semi-arid regions. Commercial plantations of pomegranate exist in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka owing to its preference for arid climate. Its xerophytic characteristics and hardy nature makes it suitable crop for dry, rainfed, pasture and undulating land, where other fruit crops cannot grow successfully. Besides, being a favorite table fruit, it is also used for preparation of juice and squash. Dried seeds give an important condiment coined as anardana. It also has medicinal value and rind is being used for dyeing cloths. Pomegranate can tolerate temperature upto 50OC during normal season and 42-45OC during peak fruiting season. Beside that it has low water requirement and can withstand long dry spells as well. Kair: Capparis decidua (Forsk.) Edgew Kair is a multipurpose, perennial, woody shrub or small tree of family Capparaceae which grows widely without much care in the Thar Desert of western Rajasthan. It is much branched, leafless bushy and thrives well in the most adverse climatic conditions and in the soils of poor fertility. It is highly suitable for stabilizing sand dunes and controlling soil erosion by wind and water. Due to its xerophytic adaptive nature, the plant grows successfully under harsh climatic conditions. Its berry shaped unripe fruits are rich in carbohydrates, proteins and minerals used as fresh vegetables and in the preparation of pickles. Dehydrated fruits are used in the off season as vegetable either alone or in combination with other dried vegetables. In general, it is highly valued by inhabitants of hot arid areas. Natural propagation occurs through seeds and root suckers, though vegetative propagation through hard wood cuttings has been tried (Meghwal and Vashishtha 1998). Kair is well adapted to semi-arid and arid conditions. It can survive in hot dry summer as well Karonda Carissa carandas L. Karonda is an evergreen spiny shrub or a small tree up to 3 m height and suitable for arid tropics and sub-tropics. It grows successfully on marginal and wastelands. The plant is also useful for making attractive thorny dense hedge around any fruit orchard. It yields a heavy crop of attractive berry like fruits which are edible and rich in vitamin C and minerals especially iron, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus. Mature fruit contains high amount of pectin and, therefore, besides being suitable for making pickle, it can be exploited for making jelly, jam, squash, syrup and chutney, which are of great demand in the international market.

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Its main flowering season is March–April with fruits maturing during August– September which enables the plants to make best use of monsoon rain. However, some varieties/plant types also flower during October–November. Karonda can withstand temperature as high as 45oC. The natural ability of the plant to withstand dry spell is remarkable. The tree can survive drought condition and hot loo without any loss in reproductive vigor in upcoming season.

Bael/Bengal Quince Aeglemarmelos (Linn.) Correa Bengal quince (bael) of family Rutaceae is an indigenous hardy fruit crop and can be grown successfully in dry areas. It is well known for its nutritional and therapeutic properties. The ripe fruits are laxative and unripe ones are prescribed for diarrhea and dysentery and are in great demand for native system of medicine such as Ayurvedic. Various chemical constituents, viz. alkaloids, coumarins and steroids have been isolated and identified from different parts of bael tree such as leaves, wood, root and bark by various workers. The marmelosin content of fruit is known as the panacea of the stomach ailments. Natural thorny nature of the tree enables it to survive even in the harshest of climate. It is found growing vigorously in temperature well above 40oC in dry areas. Conclusion Orchard is a matter of long term investment and hence there is a need of investment in the right type of crop or the right variety that can tolerate drastic climate phenomenon like heavy drought or very high temperature. The rate at which climate is changing is really alarming. To ensure enough fruit availability in future and to ensure nutrient security we need to focus on the drought tolerant fruit trees that not only can survive in drought areas but can also grow fruitfully to give a desirable yield. References I. Balogoun, Ahoton E. L., Saïdou A., Bello O. D. and Ezin V., 2016. Effect of climatic factors on cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) productivity in Benin (West Africa). Journal of Earth Science and Climatic Change 7(2): 329-334. M. R. Dinesh, Reddy B.M.C., 2012. Physiological basis of growth and fruit yield characteristics of tropical and Sub-tropical fruits to temperature. Tropical Fruit Tree Species and Climate Change. 2012, 45. R. Kumar and Kumar K.K., 2007. Managing physiological disorders in litchi. Indian Horticulture 52(1): 22–24.

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J. E. Olesen and Bindi M., 2002. Consequences of climate change for European agricultural productivity, land use and policy. European Journal of Agronomy.16(1):239-262. H. M. Pereira, Leadley P. W., Proença V., Alkemade R., Scharlemann J. P. W. and FernandezManjarrés J.F., 2010. Scenarios for global biodiversity in the 21st century. Science 330:1496-1501. S. Rajan, Tiwari D., Singh V. K., Saxena P., Singh S., Reddy Y. T. N, Upreti K. K., Burondkar M. M., Bhagwan A. and Kennedy R., 2011. Application of extended BBCH scale for phenological studies in mango (MangiferaindicaL.). Jl. of App. Hort. 13(2): 108–114. Rajan S., 2008. Implications of climate change in mango. Impact Assessment of Climate Change for Research Priority Planning in Horticultural Crops. Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla. 2008, 36-42. N. Ramaswamy and V. M. Kumar, 1992. Studies of the effects of flowering and fruiting behavior of south Indian mango cultivate. (In) Fourth International Mango Symposium, Miami Beach, FL 47. R. N. Singh, P. K. Majumder and D. K. Sharma. 1966. Sex expression in mango (Mangifera indica L.) with reference to prevailing temperature. Proceedings of American Society Horticulture Science 89(1): 228-234. R. H. Stover 1972. Banana, plantain and abaca diseases. Commonwealth Mycology Institute London, p 316. D. W. Turner, Fortescue J.A., Thomas D.S., 2007. Environmental physiology of the bananas (Musa app.). Brazil Journal of Plant Physiology 19(2): 463–84. H. Zemni, Souid I., Salem A.B., Fathalli N., Mliki A., Ghorbel A., Hammami M. and Hellali R. 2005. Aromatic potential of grapevines cultivated in Northern and Southern Tunisia. Acta Horticulture. 2005; 689:87-94. Z. H. Shu and Sheen T.H., 1987. Floral induction in auxillary buds of mango (Mangiferaindica L) as affected by temperature. ScientiaHorticulturae 31(2):81-87. R. Nunez-Elisea, Davenport T.L., Caldeira M. L., 1993. Bud initiation and morphogenesis in ‘Tommy Atkins’ mango as affected by temperature and triazole growth retardants. ActaHorticulturae 341(4):192-198. R. Pouget 1981. Action de la temperature sur la differenciaction des inflorescences etdusfleursdurant les phases de pre debourrement et de post debourrement des bourgeons latents de la Vigne. Conn. vignevin 15(2):65-79.

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W. M. Kliewer, 1977. Effect of high temperature during the bloom-set period on fruitset, ovule fertility, and berry growth of several grape cultivars. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 28:215-221. S. Shiraishi, Hisung-Tung C., Shiraishi M., Kitazaki M., Hisung T.C., 1996. Effects of temperature on the photosynthetic rate of grape cultivars. Science Bulletin of the Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University 51(1):1-2. M. S. Buttrose, Hale C.R. and Kliewer W.M., 1971. Effect of temperature on the composition of ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ berries. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 22(4): 71-75. A. Mani, V.K. Yadav, K. Dey and A. Ghosh, 2017. Flowering, fruiting and physiochemical properties of pummelo. Bulletin of Environment, pharmacology and life sciences, 6(4): 432-437. P. R. Swamy, S. E. Ramanujan and P. Venkata, 2004. Dragon fruit- Botany and physiology, Intern. Journal of Ecosystem and sustainance, 11(2): 196-203. R. P. Chaube, 2000. Aonla cultivation in sub tropics and semi-arid, Ecology and Ecosystem, 13(3): 12-17

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Innovative Extension Interventions for Farmers Education Towards Climate-Smart Agriculture Dr. Parisa Punna Rao1, Dr. Laxman M Ahire2, M. Mahadevaiah3 1. Principal Agricultural Information Officer, Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU), Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. [email protected] 2. Assistant Chief Technical Officer & In-Charge Training Unit, ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. [email protected] 3. Research Associate, Media Lab Asia & ANGRAU, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. [email protected]

Climate change is emerging as a major threat on agriculture, food security and livelihood of millions of people in many places of the world (IPCC, 2014). Several studies indicate that agriculture production could be significantly impacted due to increase in temperature, changes in rainfall patterns (Prasanna, 2014) and variations in frequency and intensity of extreme climatic events such as floods and drought. Changes in crop cultivation suitability and associated agriculture biodiversity, decrease in input use efficiency, and prevalence of pests and diseases are some of the major causes of climate change impacts on agriculture. Agriculture production systems require adaptation to these changes in order to ensure the food and livelihood security of farming communities. Climate-smart agriculture is a way to achieve short-and-long-term agricultural development priorities in the face of climate change and serves as a bridge to other development priorities. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an integrative approach to address these interlinked challenges of food security and climate change, that explicitly aims for three objectives: 1. Sustainably increasing agricultural productivity, to support equitable increases in farm incomes, food security and development; 2. Adapting and building resilience of agricultural and food security systems to climate change at multiple levels; and 3. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture (including crops, livestock and fisheries.

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CSA relates to actions both on-farm and beyond the farm, and incorporates technologies, policies, institutions and investment. Farmers Education - A case of ANGRAU, India With available knowledge and experience, it is possible to make agriculture a sustainable livelihood means but this will require intensive efforts at ground level where agriculture exists and it has to be made climate smart. The Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) in Andhra Pradesh state in India, is working for the prosperity of the farming community of Andhra Pradesh state for the last 52 years, duly drawing the appropriate strategies based on climate change and needs of the farmers through its Research, Teaching and Extension activities. Farmers are being educated towards cost reduction and quality enhancement practices by the ANGRAU through its Extension Centers namely District Agricultural Advisory and Transfer of Technology Centers (DAATTCs – 13 no.s), Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs – 13 no.s), Agricultural Information and Communication Center (AI&CC), Electronic Wing and Farmers Call Center (1800 425 0430). The most significant extension activities being undertaken are technology assessment and refinement, diagnostic field visits, capacity building, vocational trainings, front line demonstrations, phone in live programs (TV and Radio), publications (Vyavasaya Panchangam, Vyavasayam), press notes and popular articles, mobile advisories, kisan melas/technology weeks etc. Farmers are information hungry. Though the extension outreach is satisfactory, through the limited extension network, still a large number of farmers need to be covered in the State. Keeping this in view, the Directorate of Extension, ANGRAU has initiated following innovative extension methods since 2010, to enhance the outreach. These initiatives are being used by all the DAATTCs/KVKs of ANGRAU.

Flag Method The DAATTC/KVK Scientists while on tour, visit the road side / nearby farmer’s fields put up the conspicuously seen Flag labeled with Name of the center, Contact number, Date of visit, Crop, Problem identified and Remedial measures, in the farmer’s field with the help of a twig / stick / support of plant material at a strategic point to be visible to the farmer whenever he/she visit the field.

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Whenever the flag is seen by the concerned farmer, he / she reads the message written on the Flag and initiate instant action on the message. If the farmer requires any clarification, he / she calls on the Scientists and clarify his / her doubts. This way the Flag method not only provides immediate solution to the diagnosed field problem even in the absence of the farmer, but also brings awareness and buildup rapport with the Extension Scientists of ANGRAU eventually strengthening the Scientist - Farmer linkage.

Benefits realized by the farmers As seen from the Table 1, providing immediate solutions to the problems, developed a feeling that someone is really concerned about them and their crops and farmers get advisory services at field level even in their absence are the significant benefits reported by the farmers. Table 1: Benefits realized by the farmers due to flag method S.No. 1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6.

Particulars Providing immediate solutions to the problems Farmers get advisory services at field level even in their absence Increased awareness of farmers about DAATTC /KVK services Enhanced contacts among farmers, DAATTC/KVK and Department of Agriculture staff Farmer felt that someone is really concerned about them and their crops Timely actions by the farmers

Farmers

Adarsa Rythus

F

%

F

%

140

93.33

60

100.00

100

66.67

50

83.33

98

65.33

42

70.00

84

56.00

40

66.67

112

74.67

48

80.00

80

53.33

36

60.00

65


Uses of flag in outreach of technology Table 2 revealed that all the respondents opined that Flag method is simple and inexpensive method that helps the Department of Agriculture and ANGRAU in wider outreach. Farmers are able to save time in going to local input dealers for advice where in this way they are getting timely solutions that too by the technically competent scientists. As a result, helping the farmer in correct diagnosis, save cost of plant protection, reducing the indiscriminate use of pesticides, thereby minimizing the crop losses. Respondents have also reported that it leads to increased adoption of correct plant protection measures. Table 2: Uses of flag in outreach of technology S.No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Particulars Minimize the time in going to local dealers for advise Timely solutions Correct diagnosis Minimize crop losses Minimize cost of plant protection Effective utilization of travelling time of DAATTC scientists Increased acquaintance of DAATTC Scientists about the field problems Farmers are able to ask the input dealers the right input Increased adoption of correct plant protection measures Simple and inexpensive method

Farmers

Adarsa Rythus F %

F

%

112

74.67

56

93.33

96 122 82 100 62

64.00 81.33 54.67 66.67 41.33

58 60 44 40 60

96.67 100.00 73.33 66.67 100.00

56

37.33

60

100.00

94

62.67

60

100.00

90

60.00

42

70.00

150

100.00

60

100.00

Developing Farmer Master Trainers In order to enrich the knowledge, skill and attitude of the farmers in a focused way, on a selected crop, an initiative called “Developing Farmer Master Trainers” was introduced in ANGRAU during 2011. It is the process wherein an identified 15-20 farmers selected from accessible villages, will be provided training (knowledge & skills) at critical stages of the identified crop. The training is staggered over the crop season to the same farmers who will be exposed to knowledge and skills at different critical stages of crop cycle, (4-5 trainings of 1 day duration) facilitating the farmers as Master Trainers. They are being used as Resource Persons while conducting trainings in their locality.

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Innovative Farmers’ Network Identified Innovative Farmers Network Coordinator should educate / share his innovations/ experiences/ learnings for about at least 30 farmers (10 in his own village, 10 in his mandal/block and 10 in his district). The progress of the network Coordinators is being reviewed frequently, preferably every crop season. They are also being provided with trainings, exposure visits within and outside the state for updating their knowledge and skills. The functions of IFN Coordinator • Identified Innovative farmer is Coordinator of 30 farmers network in the district. • His efforts in that educational / dissemination process are to be noted in the diary. • He should actively participate in all the University meetings / activities. • He should read the short messages being sent by the University from time to time and share them with others in his network. • He should interact with innovative farmers of other districts frequently. • He should influence the local cable operator to telecast need based timely messages using the crop DVDs developed by the ANGRAU. In recognition of their services, they are being provided due respect and recognition as indicated below. • They are provided with short messages to their mobiles frequently from the ANGRAU, related to the varieties / technologies developed. • They are invited for all University meetings/ activities in that District as a special invitee. • The literature developed by the local KVK / DAATTC is being sent to them from time to time. The opportunity is provided to share their experiences in AIR / TV channels. • Preference is given for State / National level Awards. • They are the resource persons for the farmers training programs conducted in their locality. ICTs in Farm Information Delivery

Annapurna Krishi Prasara Seva (AKPS) – Interactive Information Dissemination System (IIDS) It is an integrated model to address the problems of farmers by using IVRS, Web and Mobile applications. The IIDS is developed under the NAIP sub project,

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undertaken by a Consortium led by Media Lab Asia, New Delhi and partnered by ANGRAU, National Institute of Rural Development and Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad. The IIDS was launched in March, 2013 as an alternative ICT model to meet the information needs of the farmers.

Benefits to the farmers • Farmers’ interaction directly with the concerned district Scientists of KVK/DAATTC over Toll Free number (1800-425-3141) and provided with personalized advisories. • Advisories on Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries. • Farmer can record their queries 24x7 through Toll Free Number. • Farmers are provided with Text & Voice messages in local language (Telugu). • Farmers are provided emergency messages and alerts on their mobile from their KVK/DAATTCs. • Farmers can record their best practices and experiences to share with other friends on toll free number. Farmer should register to get above benefits through IIDS. No registration fees. Concerned district KVK/DAATTC is attending this farmer registration process. As a joint initiative of ANGRAU and Media Lab Asia, the IIDS is being up scaled in all the 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh through KVKs/DAATTCs. The IIDS services are also available through UMANG mobile app (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India i.e. AKPS. It can be downloaded free of cost from Google play store.

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Farmer’s feedback:  Farmers are able to talk to the Scientists directly over a mobile phone.  Farmers are receiving the messages in local language, even with the basic phones.  Farmers are receiving text as well as voice messages on their mobiles.  Farmers are using the text messages as Reference and showing to the input dealers to get the right pesticide from the shop.  Timely information helped in reducing no. of sprays/application of excessive use of fertilizers etc.  Illiterate farmers are also comfortable in receiving messages, since information is given through voice messages.  Messages related to production, protection, post-harvest and weather are sent to the mobiles of farmers.  The Text and voice message facility in IIDS helped the farmers of Srikakulam, during Phailin and Hudhud cyclones.  The weather forecasts helped the farmers, to avoid the unnecessary irrigations before rains, postponing of crop harvests etc.  Short films are loaded in the mobiles of project farmers thereby farmers are accessible to the information with multimedia experience.  Reduced production cost  Increased awareness about use of ICTs in agriculture Impact analysis While interviewing the respondents regarding the perception of IIDS, 98.0 per cent of the respondents agreed that IIDS service is giving clear information on the subjects they required, 91.7 per cent of the respondents agreed that IIDS service is providing the farmers with timely information and 98.3 per cent of the respondents agreed that information provided by IIDS service is easily understandable.  The effect of Scientist-Farmer interaction programme was appreciated by 66.2 per cent of the respondents.  Majority of the respondents informed that usage of chemical fertilizer (88.8 % respondents) and pesticides (91 % respondents) has been reduced due to the fertilizer and pesticide management information provided by the IIDS model.  The shift in the ‘Source of Information was found among the IIDS farmers and it was noted that 92.5 per cent farmers who were earlier dependent for agricultural information on their friends & neighbor is reduced to 56 per

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cent and 68.7 per cent farmers who were dependent on Input dealers is reduced to 35 per cent due to the provision given to the farmers to direct interact to the KVK/DAATTC scientist on Toll Free number. Table 3: Perception about the IIDS Model Sl.

Statements

Agree

Undecided

Disagree

No. 1

IIDS service is giving the clear information.

98.00

0.6

1.4

2

IIDS service providing the farmers timely

91.7

0.00

8.3

1

7.3

information. 3

Information provided by IIDS service is complete.

90.5

4

The information provided by IIDS service is easily

98.3

1.7

understandable. 5

The information provided is practicable / adaptable

97.9

0.4

1.3

in the field conditions. 6

Scientist – Farmer interaction Programs are useful

66.2

30.2

3.6

7

Innovative Farmer to other farmers interaction

69.3

31.2

9.5

program is useful

S. No.

Table 4: Progress in Agriculture due to the IIDS services Item Increased Decreased

No Change

1

Use of chemical Fertilizers

1.7

88.8

9.5

2

Use of chemical Pesticides

2.2

91.2

6.6

3

Marketing information

90.4

7.1

2.5

4

Cost of cultivation for crops

4.5

87.0

8.5

Table 5: Source of Farm Information before & after the initiation of the IIDS service S. No.

Sources

Before

After

1

IIDS service

97.5

2

Friends and neighbors

92.5

56

3

Local input dealers

68.7

35.0

4

Daily News Papers

32.0

17.0

5

Monthly Farm Magazines

21.0

18.0

6

Television

21.7

15.0

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Mobile apps Eruvaka • Provides crop management practices for Rice, Millets, Sugarcane, Pulses, Cotton, Maize and Oil seeds. • Services started in October, 2015. • Available both in Telugu and English languages. • Can be downloaded free of cost from Google play store. Krishi vigyan  Detailed crop management practices (seed selection, seed treatment, varietal characters, fertilizer management, inter cultivation, pest and disease management etc) for Rice, Maize, Blackgram, Greengram and Coconut crops with photographs (in telugu language).  In addition to this, it provides plant population calculator, phone numbers of call canters of Agriculture, Horticulture & Fisheries departments; addresses of university KVKs & DAATTCs and videos of different pest and disease management practices, farmers success stories etc. are uploaded on YouTube.  Services started in June 2016.  Can be downloaded free of cost from Google play store.

Mana Verusanaga • It gives all package of practices of Groundnut crop in telugu language for the benefit of farmers. • Services started on 04th December 2016. • Can be downloaded free of cost from Google play store.

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Greeshma • Disease management practices for Rice, Maize, Groundnut, Sugarcane and Sunflower crops • Services started in November, 2015 • Available both in Telugu and English languages • Can be downloaded free of cost from Google play store. Plantix An easy plant disease diagnostic & monitoring tool developed by PETA, Germany and customizing to Indian condition in association with ICRISAT. ANGRAU partnered with ICRISAT in customizing to telugu clients by Picture acquisition, content development and telugu translation. Main Features Include • AUTOMATED DISEASE DETECTION: Quick and easy detection of plant damages with the help of artificial intelligence just by taking a picture. • DIGITAL LIBRARY: A digital library of plant diseases, pests & their treatments. Offline available for every small-scale farmer in the world. • OPTIONS FOR ACTION: Independent advices on plant diseases, pests & nutrient deficiencies for a sustainable land management. • MONITORING TOOL: Mapping of the spatial distribution of cultivated plants & their damages. Based on the collected information via the camera feature and tagged with GPS coordinates. • GEODATA: A deeper understanding of the relations between geofactors & plant diseases. • PREDICTIONS: Early warning systems & predictions of crop failures based on the processed data and weather forecasts.

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Agritech Hub - Whatsapp • An instant Mobile based ICT Agro Advisory system. • Services started on 16th March 2016. • Farmers’ queries are being answered and sent text and voice messages through Whatsapp (9441670829) • 3 district groups (Chittoor, Nellore and Kadapa) were formed Conclusion The ANGRAU is concentrating on Teaching, Research and Extension efforts focussed on cost reduction, quality enhancing and eco-friendly farm technologies. All such technologies are being disseminated to the farmers through the well established conventional extension methods namely, Farmer-Scientist interactions, Field demonstrations, Trainings etc. In addition to these methods, climate resilient farm practices are being transferred to the farmers of the state through the innovative extension initiatives explained above and these efforts have resulted in to increased outreach and image of the University extension through improved functional linkages. References Anurag, T.S., Punna Rao, P., Madhavarao, V. and Arbind Sinha (2014). Final report of IIDS Project Development of a set of alternative ICT models based on a study and analysis of the major ICT initiatives in agriculture in India to meet the information need of the Indian farmers submitted to the NAIP, ICAR, New Delhi. Ashish Dwivedi; Naresh, R.K; Robin Kumar, Pardeep Kumar & Rakesh Kumar 2017. Climate Smart Agriculture, Chapter-2. ccafs.cgiar.org/climate-smart-agriculture-0 csa.guide/csa/what-is-climate-smart-agriculture fao.org/climate-smart-agriculture Gidda Reddy P., Punna Rao, P., Aruna Sri, I. and Mallika, M. 2011. Effectiveness of ICT initiatives in Agriculture. Indian Journal of Agricultural Library and Information Services, Vol. 27(1), Page No.63-70. Gidda Reddy P., Punna Rao P., Mallika, M. and Aruna Sri, I 2011. Farmer’s perception on usefulness of ICT initiatives in Agriculture. Journal of Agricultural Extension Management. Vol.XII, No.1, January-June, page No. 37-47.

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Gidda Reddy. P., Punna Rao P., Mallika, M. and Aruna Sri, I. 2011. Information needs of farmers. Indian Journal of Agricultural Library and Information Services, Vol. 27(2), Page No. 25-30. Giddareddy, P., and P. Punnarao 2011. Flag method of extension-simple and effective method in transfer of technology. Paper presented in International conference on Innovative approaches for agricultural knowledge management held at New Delhi, India during 9-12 November. Gurumurthy, P., P.Venkatarao and P.Punnarao 2013. Effectiveness of flag method of extension in Vizianagaram district. Poster presented at National Seminar on Futuristic Agricultural Extension for Livelihood Improvement and Sustainable Development held at Hyderabad, India during 19-21 January (Bagged best poster presentation award). Hegde, N. G. 2005. Methods in Modern Agriculture Indian Farming Special issue on World Food Day: 45-47. IPCC Climate Change 2014. Mitigation of Climate Change (eds. Edenhofer, O. et al.) 29, note 4 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014). Madukwe, C. Michael. 2006. Delivery of agricultural extension services to farmers in developing countries. www.Knowledge.cta.int Moris, J. 1991. Extension alternatives in tropical agriculture, London: ODI. Prasanna V 2014. Impact of monsoon rainfall on the total food grain yield over India J. Earth Syst. Sci., 123 (5) pp. 1129-1145. Punna rao, P., P. Venkatrao and D. Chinnamnaidu. 2013. Flag method of extension – an innovative and simple method in transfer of agricultural technology. Research Paper presented in ICSSR 2013 held in Penang, Malaysia during 4-5 June, 2013. Riesenberg, E. Lou. 1989. Farmers' Preferences for Methods of Receiving Information on New or Innovative Farming Practices. Journal of Agricultural Education:7-13. Smith, P. et al. in Climate Change. 2014. Mitigation of Climate Change Ch. 11 (IPCC, Cambridge Univ. Press, (2014). Wilson, M. C. and Gallup, G. 1954. Extension teaching methods, Extension circular 495, US Department of Agriculture.

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Landscape and Supply Chain Approaches to Climate Smart Agriculture Professor B. Laljee, University of MAURITIUS

All agricultural production systems (crops and livestock) moving towards climate-smart objectives, which invariably includes food security, climate change adaptation and mitigation, need to take a landscape approach, i.e. a ‘Climate-Smart Landscapes’ Approach’. Climate-smart landscapes operate on the principles and practices of multifunctionality, and a holistic and integrated landscape management attitude. The landscape approach also invariably includes the supply value chain methodology, i.e. the farm to fork model where all the components and factors of production of food are considered and analyzed in a system model. The supply chain is composed of all the people and institutions that are involved in the whole cycle of crop production, and obligatorily includes the landscape, which is itself composed of several components such as soil, water, air, environment, etc. It can be postulated that the approach is similar, but not identical to, the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of a product. This is my own analysis and concept and there is no reference Life-cycle analysis (LCA), also known as Life-Cycle Assessment, Ecological Balance, and Cradle-to-Grave Analysis, is a technique to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life from raw material through materials processing, manufacture, distribution, use, repair and maintenance, and disposal or recycling. Same analogy can be made for a food production system where we start with land clearing, land preparation, fertilizer application water use pest control harvesting, postharvest management, wholesalers retailers etc. We can also include the concept of food miles in the analysis. which is now a tangible and measurable yardstick and are used by certain institutions like the International Standards Organization (ISO) The term was coined by Tim Lang who says: "The point was to highlight the hidden ecological, social and economic consequences of food production to consumers in a simple way, one which had objective reality but also connotations. "Food that is transported by road produces more carbon emissions than any other form of transported food. Road transport produces 60% of the world's food transport carbon emissions. Air transport produces 20% of the world's food transport carbon emissions. Rail and sea transport produce 10% each

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of the world's food transport carbon emission Another model is the farm to fork model which also addresses the same issues as above. This paper discusses how the landscape approach and the supply chain approaches management can be embedded and integrated into Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) for making the whole approach more effective, inclusive and holistic. The needs and tools for such inclusion are discussed with suitable examples and case studies.

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Climate Smart Agriculture and community participation: Futuristic Approach for combating climate change in India Dr. K. C. Sivabalan* and Dr.S. Nithila ** * Agricultural Consultant and Independent Researcher, Trichy, Tamil nadu. **Department of Crop Physiology,AD AC & RI (TNAU) , Trichy. Tamil nadu

Abstract The monsoon is the lifeline for India’s farm-dependent $2 trillion economy, as at least half the farmlands are rain-fed. The country gets about 70% of annual rainfall in the June-September monsoon season, making it crucial for an estimated 263 million farmers.About 800 million people live in villages and depend on agriculture, which accounts for about 15% of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) and a failed monsoon can have a rippling effect on the country’s growth and economy. The climate change events like monsoon failure, unexpected droughts and depletion of natural resources are the prime factors that drive our farmers out of the farming occupation. New approaches like Climate Smart Agriculture are the need of the hour which warrants community participation. A recent study conducted in Tamil Nadu state warrants capacity building of clientele, climate advisories and multi stake holder approach to combat climate change.

Keywords: Climate Smart Agriculture, GDP, Capacity building and Climate advisories Introduction Agriculture is highly sensitive to variations in climate. The Indian climate is already changing and these changes have a measurable impact on Indian agricultural economy also. India is a land of small cultivators and 80 per cent of its farmers owning less than 2 ha of land. In other words, the land provides livelihood security for 65 per cent of the people, and the small farmers provide food security for 1 billion people. As per latest estimates released by Central Statistics Office (CSO) the share of agricultural products/Agriculture and Allied Sectors in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country was 51.9 per cent in 1950-51, which has now come down to 13.7 per cent in 2012-13 at 2004-05 prices (CSO estimate 2013.) Despite a steady decline of its share in the GDP, it is still the largest economic sector. With large and growing population, emissions of greenhouse gases, India acts both as source of climate change and as a sink for its impacts. There is a national imperative to equip Indian agriculture to be prepared to adapt to climate change.

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Projections of future climate are based on climate models, complicated computer programs that attempt to describe how the atmosphere will behave in future course of time. Stern, (2006) revealed that climatic model results have shown that compared to the pre- Industrial era, the world temperature has warmed by half a degree centigrade. The major causes for this global warming have been attributed to the rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), chloro-and fluorocarbons and a number of other gases. The current level or stock of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is estimated to be equivalent to 430 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide compared to 280 ppm before the industrial revolution. It was predicted that by the end of 2035, there would be a chance of 2°C increase in temperature. The prevailing situation warrants suitable mitigation against climate change both at individual and community levels.

Climate change projections for India Various studies conducted in the country have shown that the surface air temperature in India is rising at the rate of 0.4oC per hundred years, particularly during the post-monsoon and winter season. Models project that mean winter temperatures will increase by as much as 3.2ºC in the 2050s and 4.5º C by 2080s. Summer temperatures will increase by 2.2º C in the 2050s and 3.2º C in the 2080s. Extreme temperatures and heat spells have already become common over Northern India, often causing loss of human life. An annual mean surface temperature rise by the end of the century, ranging from 3 to 5°C under A2 scenario and 2.5 to 4°C under B2 scenario, with warming more pronounced in the northern parts of India. A 20 per cent rise in all India summer monsoon rainfall and further rise in rainfall is projected over all states except Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, which show a slight decrease (Sudha Rani, V. and Shivakrishna Kota, 2013). It is estimated that in 2030, India will surpass China to become world’s largest populated country. The burgeoning population urges the best out of the crop production. In this context Climate Smart Agriculture is an approach for ensuring food security in future. Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is based on three pillars of Climate smart technologies, Adaptation and mitigation strategies. Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an approach to developing the technical, policy and investment conditions to achieve sustainable agricultural development for food security under climate change. It also contributes to the achievement of sustainable development goals. The CSA approach is designed to identify and

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operationalize sustainable agricultural development within the explicit parameters of climate change. (Climate Smart Agriculture Sourcebook. FAO 2013)

It integrates the three dimensions of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental) by jointly addressing food security and climate challenges. It is composed of three main pillars: 1. Sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and incomes; 2. Adapting and building resilience to climate change; 3. Reducing and/or removing greenhouse gases emissions, where possible. Key components of CSA The key components of CSA are 1. Climate smart Technology 2. Climate Information services 3. Capacity Building 4. Stakeholders convergence

Climate smart technologies (i) Management of the agricultural land and grazing land and optimization of breeding farms viz., crop residue management, improvement of the nutrients in the earth using organic methods, zero tillage of the land agro forestry outcropping, sequestration of biochar, water management, improving the productivity and fertilization of the grazing lands etc., (ii) Problem soil management and protection of forests & grasslands. Climate information Services Mobile based agro-advisory services It is imperative to keep our farmers informed with climate change threats and mitigation strategies. The better-informed farmers are better decision makers in

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choosing the crops for the upcoming season as well as taking up suitable crop management practices. The isolated and primitive agriculture can be rejuvenated as profitable and remunerative agriculture through latest communication gadgets. In this context new and advanced Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools such as Computers, Internet and Mobile phones have tremendous potential to facilitate technology transfer to farming community. Through ICT tools people in rural areas can connect with the local, regional and national economy and access markets, banking/financial services and employment opportunities. Presently there are 1164.20 million mobile users in India with 492.57 million belongs to rural areas (TRAI report, Feb, 2017). The telecommunication advancements can be effectively utilized for agricultural and rural development. Recent research reveals that the mobile phone is playing a very useful role in fulfilling the informational needs of farmers, particularly among marginal and small ones. The mobile-phone based agricultural information services are now swiftly becoming popular. These services, through SMS (AMIC & BIC, Trichy) or voicemessages (IFFCO) provide a variety of agriculture related information on cropcultivation, fertilizer use, plant-diseases, pesticides, market-prices, weather and important government policy decisions. Various State Agricultural Universities and ICAR professors have been co-opted in the expert panel of these service providers. The information is provided to farmers in local language, within a specified time and also two-way interaction through customer care centers is available. The farmers who have subscribed to these services have highlighted that they have now been more aware and have also enhanced agricultural earnings. The farmers who are not the subscribers but possess a mobile phone also revealed that the instrument has helped reduce costs and wastages and increased incomes. The popular uses of mobile phone in agricultural operations (when used just as a communication medium) included, getting to know the market-prices of crops at various places; receiving instantaneous solutions regarding seed-variety, fertilizer and pesticide availability/application; calling distant livestock-doctors and so on. Significant saving in both time and money/fuel were reported by farmers on account of mobile communication. The research also provides evidence on the key role that mobile phones are playing in improving the information transfer between farmers and research institutions, government & private input companies, inputdealers, doctors, markets and other farmers. From Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, daily market information were sent to enrolled farmers across the state on daily basis to their mobile handsets itself. The farmer’s queries should always get solved instantly to make quicker decisions. Kisan Call Center (KCC) addresses this very purpose. The

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questions pertaining to agriculture and allied agriculture issues are clarified from 6 am to 10 pm via KCC regional centers. Based on the research study conducted in Tamil Nadu on the preference of mobile advisories by the farmers, it was inferred that market information were preferred most rather than cultivation practices and plant protection. On the other hand, the weather alerts were the least preferred which clearly shows the lack of awareness community over the importance of climate change. (Table. 1 and Figure. 1) Table 1. Preferences of farmers over mobile advisory services (n= 180) Sl. No.

Preferences

User respondents Garrett’s Score

Rank

1.

Market Information

72.32

I

2.

Cultivation practices

65.17

II

3.

Severity of pest & diseases

59.21

III

4.

Farm subsidies

58.55

IV

5.

Farm mechanization

46.89

V

6.

Availability of farm inputs

35.44

VI

7.

Weather

15.03

VII

From the results of the Table 1, it is inferred that nearly three-fourth (72.32 %) of the respondents ranked market information in first place. Though the farmers adopted the latest technologies, the profitability out of farming could be realized only through better market decisions. The market forces viz. middlemen, traders could exploit the price margin of the farmers, if the farmers unaware about the prevailing price and market environment. Hence knowing the price of the commodities and better market details could enhance the market arbitrage and price arbitrage. This might be the reason for ranking market information as the prime spot. The crop cultivation practices and severity of pest & diseases information were preferred by two-third (65.17 %) and less than two-third (59.21%) of the respondents. A little more than half of the respondents (58.55 %) ranked information on farm subsidies on seed, agro inputs and agro infrastructure utilities like greenhouse nets etc. The information on new arrivals of farm machinery and wheeled vehicles were preferred by more than two-fifth (46.89%) of the respondents. Little more than one-third (35.44 %) of the respondents opted availability of farm inputs in the sixth rank whereas only 15.03 per cent of the respondents preferred for weather information. The reason for least preference

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might be due to freely available information about farm inputs and weather in print media, electronic media and face to face communication channels. The results of the present study were in accordance with Ravinder and Joshi (2010) who reported that information in marketing domain was preferred most by the Punjab farmers than production and weather alerts. The present finding is also supported by finding of Mittal and Tripathy (2009) who observed that majority of the respondents (70%) preferred for market information as most important category.

Integrated Agro-meteorological Advisory Service- IAAS Integrated Agro-meteorological Advisory Service was started on 2007 by the joint efforts of Indian Meteorological Department, ICAR and MoA. About 20 lakhs farmers were benefitted and is was estimated that by mobile information services 10-15 % higher yields was attained by the farmers with 2-5 % lower costs. Capacity Building of clientele Though global summits insist on global initiatives on climate change and mitigation, communities are the real time respondents to any agro-climate variations. Therefore, communities should be mobilized and trained to assess their own threats through a participation assessment process. For a better understanding of threats and opportunities, the capacity building of farmers, stakeholders should be up scaled based on the felt need of the people. A case study was conducted at Kanakiliyanallur village of Trichy district to document the people’s mindset on climate change. Kanakiliyanallur village of Lalgudi taluk in Trichy District, Tamilnadu is situated 11 kms. away from Cauvery – Pullampadi canal. The main occupation of the village is agriculture supporting 1500 farm families directly or indirectly. Since the soil is clay loam in nature, getting water bore wells is always an issue for this village. Though near to Cauvery River, Rain fed agriculture is the only resort for crop production. Over the years, the Cropping pattern of the village shifted from paddy to cotton, sorghum, and pulses. Due to vast variation in climate and rainfall, even one crop is uncertain nowadays. Though the residents of the village noticed the changes in temperature, rainfall and groundwater for the past two to three decades, they were not aware of the climate change terminology and mitigation measures. About 120 farmers including 30 women farmers were interviewed by focus Discussion groups (FDG) meetings along with Long interviews and the results were analyzed with descriptive statistics and presented in Table 2 and Figure 2.

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Socio profile characteristics of the respondents About 75 percent of the people completed their school level education. Around 78 percent of the people are coming under the category of Rs 2,000 per month income class. The extension agency contact was also under the poor side, about 63 percent of the respondents had occasional contact with the extension agents. Though the people noticed about the changes in temperature, rainfall and crop yields, miserably around 77 percent of the people were not aware of the term ‘climate change’. More than 50 percent of the people still believes that climate change mitigation steps should be taken only by Government body and 23 percent of the respondents were keen on the NGO / SHG initiatives on mitigation efforts. This clearly shows the need of strong emphasis on capacity building of the clientele in the lines of climate change.

Stakeholder convergence To combat the climate change, there arise the needs of convergence of all players in the rural domain. All stakeholders, not only the farmers group, buyers, input suppliers, rural ICT companies, insurance companies, meteorological agencies, local government functionaries and researchers should be brought under a common umbrella for the coherent efforts. Conclusion Agriculture today must feed a growing population in a world of static or shrinking natural resources and increasing social and environmental constraints. Agricultural information professionals similarly must support agriculture by managing and improving access to a proliferating and increasingly complex array of information resources in a climate of shrinking resources and expanding constraints. To meet out these challenges a dynamic technology generation and transfer of technology system is needed. Hence it is imperative to keep the farmers with profitable and remunerative agriculture through latest communication gadgets. In this context new and advanced Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools such as Computers, Internet and Mobile phones have tremendous potential to facilitate technology transfer to farming community. Through ICT tools, people in rural areas can connect with the local, regional and national economy and access markets, banking/ financial services and also farm based services. The vulnerabilities of local communities are also up scaling due to lack of coherent group efforts. The climate change information needs assessment

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of the communities and linkages among Research- Extension – farmer are some of the areas where top priorities should be given. Table.2 Distribution of respondents based on their socio-economic characteristics

(n=120) Sl. No 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Socio-economic characteristics

No.

%

Young < 25 yrs

30

25

Middle 25- 40 yrs

55

46

Old > 40 Education

35

29

Illiterate

14

12

Functionally literate

12

10

Up to middle School Hr. Secondary

82 8

68 7

Collegiate

4

3

Up to 12,000 per annum

44

37

Rs. 12,000 to Rs. 24,000

49

41

Rs. 24,000 to Rs. 48,000

20

16

> Rs. 48,000

7

6

Yes

95

79

No

25

21

Rare

20

17

Occasionally

76

63

Frequently

24

20

Yes

27

23

No

93

77

Temperature Yes

76

63

No

44

37

Yes

87

73

No

33

27

Yes

68

57

No

52

43

Yes

80

67

No

40

33

24

20

Non – Governmental organization

28

23

Government

68

57

Age

Income

Training attended

Extension agency contact

Awareness on Climate change

Ever noticed changes in

Rainfall

Pest incidence

Farm income

8. Mitigation steps should be taken by Community

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Figure 1. Preferences of farmers over mobile advisory services.

Figure 2. Preferences over sources to take mitigation services

Reference Climate smart agriculture Sourcebook. FAO, 2013. http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3325e/i3325e00.htm. Retrieved on April, 2017. Ravinder, K.D., and V Joshi, 2010. ‘Mobile Phones - Boon to Rural Social System’, Literacy Information and Computer Education Journal (LICEJ), 1(4), 121-125. Stern, N. 2006. Review on the Economic Effects of Climate Change, J. Population and development review, 32(4), 793–798. Sudha Rani. V and Shivakrishna Kota, 2013. Strategies and methodologies for adaptation to climate change. Current Biotica 6(4),527-540. Surabhi Mittal and Mamta Mehar. 2012. How Mobile Phones Contribute to Growth of Small Farmers? Evidence from India. Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, 3, 227-244.

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Breeding and Biotechnological Efforts for Drought Stress Management Parmeshwar Kumar Sahu*, Deepak Sharma, Harsh Mishra and Brajendra Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur - 492012 (C.G.)

* [email protected]

Introduction Drought is one of the most severe production constraints for world agriculture and is projected to worsen with anticipated climate change. Drought is the most devastating abiotic stress affecting crop productivity, which is caused by insufficient rainfall and/or altered precipitation patterns (Toker et al. 2007). The seriousness of drought stress depends on its timing, duration and intensity. Rainfall is the ultimate source of water, affecting production of crops and other biomass by direct falling on the fields as well as supporting surface and ground water irrigation. The frequency and intensity of droughts have increased during the last two decades due to adverse effect of global warming. There are two monsoon systems operating in India (a) the southwest or summer monsoon and (b) the northeast or the winter monsoon. The summer monsoon accounts for 70 to 80% of the annual rainfall over major parts of south Asia. There is a large variability in the monsoon rainfall on both space and time scales. Droughts in the Indian region are mainly due to various kinds of failures of rains from southwest monsoon. Drought is actually a meteorological event which implies the absence of rainfall for a period of time, long enough to cause moisture-depletion in soil and water deficit with a decrease of water potential in plant tissues. But from agricultural point of view, it is the inadequacy of water availability, including precipitation and soil-moisture storage capacity, in quantity and distribution during the life cycle of a crop plant, which restricts the expression of full genetic potential of the plant (Sinha et al., 1986). Drought is one of the major environmental conditions that adversely affect plant growth, physiological, biochemical changes, including changes of the endogenous phytohormone levels and crop yield (Boyer, 1982). It acts as a serious limiting factor in agricultural production by preventing a crop from reaching the genetically determined theoretical maximum yield. Conserve both the quality and quantity of water appropriate strategies will have to be developed to avoid the risk of future water supplies. Inter-disciplinary scientists have been trying to understand and dissect the mechanisms of plant tolerance to drought stress using a variety of approaches; however, success has been limited (Mir et al., 2012).

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Droughts Consequences on Agriculture Indian agriculture still largely depends upon monsoon rainfall where about twothirds of the arable land lack irrigation facilities and is termed as rainfed. The most immediate consequence of drought is a fall in crop production, due to inadequate and poorly distributed rainfall. It is worth mentioning here that the shortfall in agricultural production may be the direct impact of meteorological droughts but the succeeding hydrological and agricultural droughts have a long range and far reaching impact on agriculture. This impact may be in the form of changes in the cropping patterns, impoverishment in cattle and living standard of human beings (FAO, 2015). Role of Conventional Breeding on Drought Tolerance Through conventional breeding, genetic variability for drought tolerance among crops/crop cultivars or among sexually compatible plant species can be identified and the genetic variation so identified can be introduced through different mating designs into cultivars/lines with good agronomic characteristics. As stated earlier, improvement in drought tolerance of a crop through selection and breeding requires a substantial magnitude of heritable variation. If variation in the existing germplasm of a crop is low then wild relatives may serve as a rich source of appropriate genetic variation. A number of drought resistant cultivars/lines of different crops registered so far in Crop Science or reported in other sources. These cultivars can be developed solely using different methods of the conventional breeding approach. This drought tolerant lines of different crops provide a sound testament that conventional plant breeding played a considerable role not only for improving the quality and yield of crops, but also for improving abiotic stress tolerance including drought tolerance. Furthermore, to achieve a desired gain through traditional breeding, a number of selection and breeding cycles may be required. However, improvement in a trait through conventional breeding is not possible if the appropriate genetic variation in the gene pool of a crop is either very low. The limited success in improving crop drought tolerance could be due to the reason that the drought tolerance trait is controlled by multiple genes having additive effect and a strong interaction exists between the genes for drought tolerance and those involved in yield potential (Ashraf, 2010). QTL Mapping and Marker-Assisted Breeding (MAB) For Drought Tolerance

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QTL mapping allows assessing the locations, numbers, magnitude of phenotypic effects, and pattern of gene action. The role of polygenes in controlling a trait has been widely assessed by traditional means, but the use of DNA markers and QTL mapping has made it convenient to dissect the complex traits (Humphreys and Humphreys, 2005). For a QTL analysis, phenotypic evaluation is carried out of a large number of plants from a population segregating for a variety of genetic markers; then a part or the whole population is genotyped; and finally appropriate statistical analysis is performed to pinpoint the loci controlling a trait. Since drought tolerance characters are quantitative in nature, the complete genetic dissection of these complex traits into component genetic factors is a preliminary task. Therefore, molecular genetic markers offer a great opportunity of locating the QTLs controlling these traits. Once it is ensured that molecular markers are tightly linked and tagged with a QTL concerned, selection at early segregating generation can be pursued (Khan, 2012). Thus, MAS saves time and valuable resources by eliminating undesirable phenotypic evaluation. After identification of the molecular markers associated with yield or other morphological traits related to drought resistance, those markers could be used as selection criteria for drought resistance. The application of marker-assisted selection in evolving drought resistant genotypes is in an experimental stage; more specifically just identification of RFLP markers associated with osmotic adjustment, stay green, root traits has been achieved (Hu and Xiong, 2014). Through marker-assisted breeding (MAB) it is now possible to examine the usefulness of thousands of genomic regions of a crop germplasm under water limited regimes, which was, in fact, previously not possible. QTL mapping and MAS for the drought tolerance trait has been done in different crops, the most notable being maize, wheat, barley, cotton, sorghum, and rice. Genetic Engineering for Drought Tolerance The techniques for gene transformation of crop plants have been applied for identification of genes responsible for drought resistance and their transfer. The identification of candidate genes is critical for our understanding of molecular and physiological mechanisms of drought tolerance, as it will enable us to use transgenic approaches in breeding for abiotic stress tolerance. To adapt to drought stress, plants have evolved multiple interconnected chains of signaling processes to regulate different sets of drought-responsive genes for producing various classes of proteins, including TFs, enzymes, molecular chaperones, and other functional proteins. These proteins function accordingly to enhance plant resistance under drought conditions.

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Some of the identified stress-responsive genes are functional genes which encode metabolic components, such as late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins and osmo-protectant synthesizing enzymes (Yang et al., 2010). Most important and well-studied class of transcription factors is drought responsive element binding (DREB) factors especially DREB1A and DREB2A identified in Arabidopsis as well as in cereal crops (Hu and Xiong, 2014). Initial studies with DREB started with Arabidopsis. Over-expression of DREB1/CBF in Arabidopsis resulted in the activation of expression of many stress-tolerance genes and the tolerance of the plant to abiotic stresses was greatly improved. In most of the cases the overexpression of DREB1A is obtained by using constitutive (CaMV 35S) promoter or the dehydration inducible (rd29A) promoter. It is found that in transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpression of CBF3/DREB1A is accompanied by constitutive promoter CaMV 35S which greatly enhance the drought tolerance capacity of plants (Gosal et al., 2009). Similarly, the use of the stress inducible promoter rd29A in conjunction with DREB1 has been found to enhance drought tolerance in tobacco (Kasuga et al., 2004) and wheat (Pellegrineschi et al., 2004). Oh et al. (2005) successfully engineered the rice with transcription factor CBF3/DREB1A from Arabidopsis thaliana. In addition to DREB, another class of transcription factors involved in developmental regulation of plants conferring drought tolerance is stress responsive NAC (NAM ATAF and CUC2) family. More than 100 members of this family have been identified. Hu et al. (2006) found that overexpression of NAC encoding rice SNAC1 gene in transgenic rice showed high yield and tolerance to drought.

Conclusion and Future Prospects There is an urgent need for exploration of the plant genetic resources with attributes related to drought resistance in different crop plants and their characterization to facilitate transfer of desired traits through conventional plant breeding or biotechnological method. It is necessary to identify the traits and genotypes associated with drought tolerance. Concerted efforts are required to fully understand the physiological and genetic basis of drought tolerance. Focus should be on screening resistant germplasm and discovering potential candidate genes. Characterization and mapping of such genes at the physiological and molecular level will be key factors in the application of molecular marker technology to the development of more drought tolerant cultivars (Cattivelli et al., 2008).

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The future contribution of genomics to the release of drought-tolerant cultivars will depend on the capacity to identify agronomically valuable QTL alleles and their use in a MAS-based ‘breeding by design’ approach. To some extent, this could be regarded as an evolution of the so-called ‘ideotype’ breeding, the main difference being that we now can, based on molecular profiles, consciously select and move specific alleles from one variety to another to pyramid the best alleles in agronomically superior genotypes. Transgenic breeding will also have a role in the future and the possibility of cloning stress-related QTLs will enable the simultaneous engineering of multiple genes governing quantitative traits. An interdisciplinary approach combining the knowledge of plant breeders, crop physiologists and molecular biologists would be most appropriate to study and evaluate the complex plant responses to develop drought tolerant crops. In summary, it is essential to integrate crop physiology, genomics and breeding approaches to dissect complex drought tolerance traits, understand the molecular basis of drought tolerance and develop the next-generation crops for our changing climate.

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Diversification of Horticulture as Mitigating Measures for Climate Change Sanjay Kumar Sinngh, Vishal Nath and Mritunjay Tripathi ICAR-National Research Center on Litchi, Muzaffarpur 842 002, Bihar, India

Climate change per se will have impact on horticultural crops, due to erratic rainfall, more demand for water, and enhanced biotic and abiotic stresses. However, the changes will not be only harmful, as enhanced CO2 concentration may enhance faster photosynthesis and increased temperature may hasten the process of maturity. However, measures to adapt to these climate change-induced changes are critical for sustainable production. Increased temperature will have more effect on reproductive biology and reduced water may affect the productivity. The adaptive mechanism like time adjustment and productive use of water shall reduce the negative impact. The strategies must have to identify the gene tolerant to high temperature, flooding and drought, developing nutrient efficient cultivars and production system vis-a-vis diversification of production system and water to mitigate the climate change. Strategies have to address the enhanced water-use efficiency, cultural practices that conserve water and promote fruit production with better quality. Effect of climate change have already started impacting on horticultural productivity in several agro-climatic regions of India. Many fruit and nut crops do not provide a return on investment until several years after planting. If bloom times, frost dates, chilling hours, plant stress, disease incidence, and insect pressure are made uncertain by an unpredictable climate, growers of perennial fruit and nut crops will find it increasingly difficult to stay in business. The likely predicted scenario of climate change on horticulture, locationspecific case studies depicting climate change impacts such as drought, cold and heat waves and required adaptation and mitigation strategies are discussed in the paper.

Introduction Climate change, a global phenomenon, has attracted scientists to contribute in anticipatory research to mitigate probable impacts. The impact can be positive as well as negative both. Considering the scenario of Indian agriculture, to sustain the production level of >250 million tonnes in India, the challenges become more alarming because the impacts of climate variability, invariably, profound influence on production and quality of various commodities. Horticulture is an important component of Indian agriculture and plays a crucial role in Indian food basket. A

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range of horticultural crops are being affected by climate change. An understanding of the impacts and relevant adaptation strategies are of foremost importance to sustain the productivity and profitability of horticulture crops in the climate change scenario, which necessitates synthesis of current knowledge to develop strategies for adaptation and mitigation to achieve climate-resilient horticulture. Climate plays a significant role in plant growth and productivity. As the effects of climate change become more evident, it is essential that growers develop their businesses to adapt to these changes, maximizing the opportunities and minimizing the costs and risks.

Implications of climate change in Horticulture Two major parameters of climate change that has far reaching implications on agriculture in general and horticulture in particular are A. Increasing in temperature and B. Changes in the rainfall (both in terms of quantity and intensity). These parameters necessitate the intensification of research toward abiotic stress. The climate change will have many impacts on horticulture and a few examples are given below. 1. Rise in a temperature of above 1ºC will shift a major area of potential fruit zones. Many suitable areas of fruit crops will become marginally suitable for new areas, which are presently unsuitable. This holds good to a variety of horticultural crops. 2. Production timing will change. Because of rise in temperature, crops will develop more rapidly and mature earlier. For example, Citrus, grapes, litchis etc will mature earlier by a week or fortnight. 3. While temperature rises, photoperiods may not show much variation. Strawberries will have more runners at the expense of fruits. 4. The winter regime and chilling duration will reduce in temperate regions affecting the flowering in temperate crops. 5. The faster maturity and higher temperature induced ripening will make the produce a less storage period in trees. They will overripe. 6. Pollination will be affected adversely because of higher temperature. Floral abortions will occur. 7. Soil and canopy temperature will increase much earlier in spring adversely affect grafting time and callus formation. This can be catastrophic if late frosts occur.

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8. The requirement of annual irrigation will increase, not because of higher evaporation, but because the trees develop more fasters during the 12 month period. Heat Units required will be achieved in much lesser time. 9. Higher temperatures will reduce fruit sizes; anthocyanin production may be affected in apples and capsicum. Specific chilling requirements of Pome and stone fruits will be affected hence dormancy breaking will be earlier. 10. Soil conditions may pose problems with an increase in acidity, alkalinity and salinity are expected. Coastal regions can expect much faster percolation of sea water in inland water tables causing more salinity. As these snapshots indicate, the combined impact of the predicted changes to rainfall and temperature will affect horticultural commodities and regions in a number of ways. 1. Changes in enterprise structure and location — changes to growing conditions will impact on the suitability of regions for different crops. 2. Changes in crop selection — changes to growing conditions will impact on the suitability and adaptability of current cultivars, including the need to match crop selection with optimum growing times. 3. Changes to irrigation management — increased irrigation demand and change to reliability of irrigation schemes and water availability will impact on growers’ irrigation scheduling. 4. Impacts on soil management practices — more intense rainfall events (coupled with warmer temperatures) may result in the increased risk of spread and proliferation of soil borne diseases. 5. Impacts on current integrated pest management — there is the potential for changes in the distribution of existing pests, diseases and weeds, and an increased threat of incursions into new crops. 6. Increased incidence of physiological disorders and associated impacts on product quality and yields — tip burn, blossom end rot, hail damage and soil erosion could all increase with higher incidences and severity of extreme events. 7. Increased public and political pressure on the use of resources — increased competition, reduced reliability and rising costs will all increase pressures to improve on-farm efficient use of natural resources. 8. Increased economic impacts through new requirements for product labelling and other regulatory requirements (both domestically and overseas).

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Negative impacts of climate change are the higher cost of irrigation under hotter conditions and fruit quality impairment due to effects of sunburn and frost. Positive benefits may be earlier maturing crop resulting in a 10 to 14 day jump on competitors into the market.

Opportunities after climate change in Horticulture There is the potential for climate change to provide some opportunities for growers. For instance, increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations will increase the productivity of most horticultural crops. There is a high probability that these benefits will only be felt with the lower-range predicted temperature increases, and that in the long term these potential growth benefits will not continue. Higher temperatures may also lead to shorter/faster breeding cycles for pests and diseases. Further research into plant, pest and disease responses to increased carbon dioxide and varying temperatures needs to be undertaken in order to assess the potential for these benefits to be realized. Other potential opportunities that need to be further researched include • Investigating how increased temperatures may improve growing rates and lengthen the growing season in some areas, • Promoting the opportunities that exist for growers that are open to adapting their systems and stocks in response to climatic shifts, • Developing new products and services to replace drought intolerant species, • Promoting the incorporation of natives into new building design and landscape management strategies for the built environment and highlighting the value of horticultural products with a lower environmental footprint than many other agricultural sectors. This offers opportunities for growers to brand their products and increase market share in light of increasing environmental awareness, and willingness to pay more for environmentally sensitive products amongst consumers.

Diversification as Mitigating Measures to Climate Change Although climate change is a reality, CO2 and methane are likely to increase which may be cause impact in terms of increased temperature, more demand for water and increase biotic and stresses.

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On mid-hill chilling will not be enough to induce flowering in apple and high temperature may cause desiccation in pollen, shriveling of fruits resulting in reduced yield and more failure of the crops. These are the likely impact which causes the concerns. But, there are innumerable examples to cite that, climate has been changing and the technologies have helped in mitigating the problem. As a matter of fact, grape is a temperature fruit, which has been largely grown under cool climate, be it for table purpose or for wine making. But the technological change in plant architecture and production system management has helped to produce grape in tropical situation, with highest productivity in the world. If we look to potato, tomato, cauliflower and cabbage, these are thermo-sensitive crops and were productive only under long day conditions in temperate climate. But development of heat tolerant cultivars and adjustment in production system management has made it possible with very high productivity, even in subtropical and mild subtropical and warmer climates. These are the past experiences, which clearly brings home the point that through innovative research threat of climate change could be converted into the opportunity, but need visualization of likely change, its impact and planning to mitigate its bad impact. In the process of plant establishment and its performance, we believe a healthy, biologically active soil is our best defense against plant disease, pests and climatic challenges.

Application of Organic Matter in the Soil We should incorporate biological farming practices into our management system to achieve our goals. • •

• • • •

We can provide organic matter in a variety of forms such as wood chip mulches, animal manures and vigorous, deep rooting ground covers. High organic matter level helps to maintain good soil structure to enhance water infiltration, holding capacity and root health; nutrient cycling / availability; abundant and healthy soil biological communities; and good organic carbon levels. We should not use highly soluble acidic or salty fertilizers. We should have aim to build organic matter in soils through pasture rotations or by adding composted material; We can use gypsum to improve soil structure and help avoid anaerobic conditions. Options include the production and application of ‘compost tea’, ‘biochar’ or worm castings to improve soil quality, carbon retention and productivity.

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Application of herbicide • •

•

Herbicides should only be used around sprinkler heads. Reduce the reliance on herbicides through a stronger focus on integrated weed management (such as combining various techniques for weed control such as crop competition, grazing management and cultivation in combination with strategic herbicide use). Improve response to new weed issues as soon as they emerge.

Identification and development of tools to assist growers to manage the risks of climate change These tools will need to integrate with existing business management systems and link to appropriate training and extension channels. a) Identifying more adaptable cultivars and a range of cultural practices that enable growers to maintain current production in current locations (i.e. adapt to the ‘new’ climate in the current location), implementing successful adaptation strategies e.g. diversification into shorter duration crops to reduce the potential risks associated with higher temperatures and reduced availability of irrigation water, b) Addressing barriers to adaptation like identifying options for incentives for growers to allow them to meet best policy options (reduce emissions), support for water innovation and security measures, energy efficiency measures, and tax and financing solutions to support infrastructure-based adaptation. c) Adapting production systems, distribution networks and branding and marketing strategies to capitalize on climate change. It is vital that any adaptation responses are integrated with mitigation as the two are intimately linked. Priority areas of Research in Horticulture to reduce climate vagaries The horticulture industry is extremely susceptible to the impacts of climate change/variability and, as a result, is supporting the need for mitigation and reduction of emissions to reduce the potentially catastrophic impacts of climate change. At the same time, it is important for horticultural growers and businesses to undertake a risk management approach to better understand the potential impacts and appropriate actions required to respond to those impacts.

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There must be focus around determining the contribution (“carbon footprint”) that all horticulture (specific regions and commodities) make to methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide emissions. With this information, work can then be undertaken to identify and promote horticulture-specific best management practices that minimize GHG (greenhouse gases) emissions (CH4: methane, CO2: carbon dioxide, N2O: nitrous oxide) and at the same time to promote simultaneous goals of productivity, sustainability, adaptability and abatement. Another focused area should be informing growers, politicians and the community about the impacts of climate change, and to develop simple and helpful information products that promote horticulture specific messages to the community, as well as to industry stakeholders. Once many horticulture information products will be developed, it will provide (1) a clear understanding of climate change and climate variability issues, and (2) sufficient understanding of climate change and climate variability issues for stakeholders to be able to make appropriate risk management decisions.

Diversification to mitigate impact of climate changes One of the challenges for fruit production in the near future will be to increase high quality fruit production in marginal sites where the abiotic environment is the limiting factor. Supra and sub-optimal temperatures, soil factors and water deficits are the most likely environmental factors limiting production. A good management strategy can meet the water demands of the plant in a more efficient manner through improved irrigation technology. Further, plant temperature can be reduced through overhead cooling systems or reflectant materials where ever required. Reduce erosion and other climate change risks, such as the leaching of nutrients, by: retaining stubble; reducing any fallow periods; reducing dry-sowing in high risk areas; and establishing contour banks where appropriate. Inclusion of varieties tolerant to abiotic stress in cropping system Use chemical dormancy breakers to help counteract the lack of suitable chilling hours. Pomegranate hybrid Ruby (drought tolerant), Annona hybrid Arka Sahan (drought tolerant) and Fig selections like Deanna and Excel (drought tolerant) and Dogridge (Vitis champine) was found promising both for improvement in vigor, yield and quality of seedless grapes as well as tolerance to drought and salinity. Development of cropping model for various horticultural crops It has been demonstrated that the crops are less affected by frost if they are growing under the canopy of other cops. In view of this, suitable cropping models

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are required to be developed using either khejri (Prosophis cineraria) or date palmbased cropping models in arid zone.

Development of cultural practices It can be adopted on farmers’ field to reduce the adverse effect of climate change like: a) Ensure soils are well drained to minimize water logging. b) Catchment management may need to be modified to adjust to effects of rainfall on soil drainage. c) Ensure continuous plant cover (between growing seasons and between row crops) to avoid losses of nitrogen. d) Wide row and skip row plantings, while exposing more soil to erosion and leaching risk, can increase yield in low rainfall seasons.

Water management in orchard which is possible through: a) Increase in the proportion of water applied that reaches the root zone, through systems that better monitor soil water conditions to improve timeliness and quantity of irrigation; b) Effective use of water management technologies, i.e. shifting from sprinkler to drip or micro spray irrigation; and c) Use of gypsum to improve/remediate soil structure. d) Increase irrigation efficiency, through enhanced monitoring of soil water conditions to improve timeliness and quantity of irrigation; and effective and efficient use of water management technologies, i.e. upgrading to efficient irrigation systems and enhanced use of monitoring and timing equipment. Adoption of high density planting Trees tend to be vigorous due to the warmer climate. This limits the potential for high density plantings with current technology. For lighter soils row spacing of 10 meters and tree spacing of five meters are recommended. On the heavy clay soils vigor is reduced so row spacing’s of 8 to 9 m may be used with tree spacing of 4 to 5 m. Less vigorous varieties of mango such as Irwin may be planted at a higher density, always consider canopy protection using netting in fruit orchards to increase protection from heat stress, frosts and hail. Fruit varieties can be identified which is photo insensitive.

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Exploitation of benefits of intercropping in orchard Intercropping of coffee and bananas in may help farmers cope with climate change. Coffee is susceptible to expected changes of rainfall and temperature, noting that the areas suitable for Arabica coffee will decrease in the future. The study notes that shade produced by banana plants reduces temperatures significantly, and that banana can be important for erosion control and carbon sequestration. Adoption of multiple cropping (agri-horti-silvicultural) systems There must be endeavor to increase the use of legume-based pastures and leguminous crops and/or add more fertilizer or alternate crop rotations to counteract declines in grain protein. Canopy management Canopy management with improved leaf and fruit exposure can both sustain yields and improve fruit quality. It is suggested that to minimize resource competition and improve physiological processes of crops, canopy management is essential to ensure better yield under poplar-based agri-horti-silvicultural system. Rising levels of atmospheric CO2 will enlarged canopy may offers conducive microclimate, more susceptible tissue, more interception of inoculums, more opportunity for infection, more polycyclic infection and radiation shield for inoculums. Application of chemicals to reduce fruit temperature Consider evaporative cooling as a technique for reducing sunburn, along with shade nets and some commercial kaolin-based coatings that often repel pests as well. Shade nets have the added benefit of preventing hail damage ‘Kaolin’ (Surround®) reflects light irrespective of wavelength but may result in less top color making it more suitable for angle-colored green varieties or early application, and, under temperate climates smaller fruit due to its reflective properties. Raynox® is based on carnauba wax, extracted from alm trees, which selectively filters out UV radiation. Both compounds can be combined with low volume overhead sprinklers, which reduce the fruit surface temperature from 40°C to 34°C. Mechanization of fruit harvest New harvesting technology includes on-site fruit sorting to exclude culls to be developed.

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Integrated pests and disease management Both integrated pest management at a farm-level and area-wide pest management strategies at a regional level are required. We must undertake closer monitoring and more responsive management of diseases and insect pests. Other Adaptation Measures Suggested to Mitigate Climate Change For warmer weather/or drought condition a) Check irrigation systems for its efficiency and function before next use. b) Apply compost to maintain maximum soil moisture. c) Always plant shade/shelter belts around orchard. d) Secure water supplies through farm reservoirs/tube well. e) Emphasis must be given on- farm rainwater harvesting and use. f) Amend irrigation systems to reduce water loss through evaporation (trickle irrigation). g) Spray needs to be done on crops at night to reduce evapo-transpiration. h) Maintenance and management of hedgerows and buffer vegetation strips to provide a barrier against hot desiccating winds. i) Install hail netting for tree fruit crops. j) Improved field drainage and soil absorption capacity under high rainfall moisture condition. k) Consider digging and ensure more drainage ditches under flooded condition. l) Protect wetland habitats which dampen extreme river flows reducing the risk of flooding. m) Manage groundwater abstraction near coastal areas to reduce risk of saltwater being drawn into aquifers. Mitigation measures for horticulturists a) Complete a nutrient budget that includes soil testing and can highlight areas where you can be more efficient. b) Find out the nitrogen content of manure/slurry before spreading to increase efficient soil take up. c) Investigate the use of nitrogen fixing cover crops to increase soil structure and reduce nitrogen fertilizer e.g. red clover, vetch and rye. d) Resilient and adaptive horticultural production systems that are less vulnerable to climate change and climate variability,

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e) Improved resilience to changes in pest and disease incidence, f) Increased ability to capitalize on new market opportunities, regionally specific climate change scenarios tailored for horticulture growers.

Critical gaps with Respect to Climate Change and Horticulture • The database on present climatic conditions, future climate scenarios and likely climatic risks associated with different agro-ecological regions growing horticultural crops must get top priority. • The information on impacts of high temperature, limited and excess moisture stresses, elevated CO2 concentrations and their interaction at critical stages of crop growth of horticultural crops under Indian conditions is scarce and needs urgent attention. • The vast historic data available on weather with respect to crop performance, phenology, yield and incidence of pest and diseases needs thorough analysis. • The documentation on the emergence and incidence of pests and diseases under climate variability is very essential in devising new strategies in the management of pest and diseases. • The integrated resilient adaptation strategies for specific critical stages of crops, seasons and agro-ecological regions under climate change situations need to be developed. • Quantification of the carbon emission through the production, protection and post-harvest management of horticultural corps and sequestration potential of perennial crops and horticulture production systems needs priority. • There is need to develop eco-friendly and green technologies for production, protection and post-harvest management of horticultural crops and landscaping practices to mitigate the emission of greenhouse gasses. Future Strategies Depending on the vulnerability of individual crops and the agro-ecological region, the crop-based adaption strategies need to be developed, integrating all available option to sustain the productivity. To enhance our preparedness for climate change and to formulate sound action plan, we need to identify gaps in vital information, prioritize research issues from farmers point of view policyplanners, scientists, trade and industry. It is imperative to deliberate upon the likely changes which can happen in next 50-100 years, how these changes could affect growth, development and quality of horticultural crops, what are the technologies

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which shall help to mitigate the problem and what kind of innovative research should be done to overcome the challenges of climate change. Thus, policy issues, adaptation strategies and mitigation technologies could be worked out and challenges could be converted into opportunity with updation of (1) priority of education, research and development, and policy implications for enhancing adaptive capacity of Indian horticulture to climate change, (2) capacity assessment of Indian horticulture for mitigation of greenhouse gases, and appropriate short and long-term action plan to mitigate the impact of climate change in horticulture. Enhancing the adaption of tropical production system to changing climate condition is a great challenge and would require integrated efforts and an efficient and effective strategy to able to deliver technologies that can mitigate the effects of climate change on diverse crops and production systems. Knowledge of carbon sequestration especially through perennial horticulture needs to be enhanced, which could be utilized for enhancing the income through trading of carbon. Research must address all the strategies efforts with effectiveness and efficiency would definitely make us stronger to face the challenges and meet the everincreasing demand for food.

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Soil Seed Bank in Indian Arid Rangeland: An Appraisal N. K. Sinha1*, V. P. Bhadana1, S. R. Meena1, S. P. Giri2 and Brajendra3 1ICAR-Indian

Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, Ranchi, Jharkhand, INDIA Research Station, Masodha, Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh (224 133), India 3ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research, Rajendra Nagar, Hyderabad (500 030), 2Crop

Introduction Soil seed bank plays a vital role in long term survival of an individual species, as well as plant communities in any arid rangeland of the world. Similar to the other arid regions, the arid Western Rajasthan of India is characterized by sparse vegetation, meager amount of annual rainfall with erratic behavior ( 80), extreme of temperature (- 4C to 48C), high wind speed during hot summer months (mean daily wind speed 18 km hr -1) and very high rate of evapotranspiration (10-15 mm day-1 during summer months). The soils are sandy in texture and hence have low water holding capacity. More than 80 per cent of total annual rainfall of the region occurs during monsoon season (July– September) in 7-8 rain fall events. Thus, the region has a length of growing period for only 60-80 days. In spite of many above mentioned vagaries of nature, the region is diversified with several vegetation species. Many annual and perennial plant species have adapted to such situations. They complete their life cycle in such short period and provide fodder for large animal population of the region. The important grass species of the extreme desert included Lasiurus sindicus, Panicum antidotale, Aristido spp. and Cenchrus biflorus . However, Lasiurus sindicus predominating the scenario among the grasses present in the region. Lasiurus sindicus is one of the principal species of Dichanthium – Cenchrus – Lasiurus grassland ecosystem which may grow in less than 125 mm rainfall. It is one of the most palatable grass species of the region and thus one of the first to disappear under the impact of the grazing (Satyanarayan, 1964). This arid region of India has largest animal population density and mostly depends on rangeland of Lasiurus sindicus for their feed. However, excessive anthropogenic interventions during last few decades have significantly changed the species dynamics of rangelands. Lasiurus sindicus is the dominant species of existing rangelands in Indian Thar desert especially in extremely arid parts covering Jaisalmer, Barmer and Bikaner districts of western Rajasthan. It thrives well under moisture stress on sandy plains, low dunes and hummocks of this region. The extensive root system of Lasiurus sindicus with binding capacity of 4-5 m3 of soil per tussock enables it to withstand severe drought (Singh and Singh, 1997). It was critically observed that during last few

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decades Lasiurus sindicus is slowly disappearing from the rangelands, which is replaced by non-climaxed and presently uneconomic vegetation. For example, the tussock density of Lasiurus sindicus has reduced from 1560 per hectare to just 700 per hectare during last 25 years. It might be due to excessive grazing pressure and low regeneration of this grass species through seed, which is considered as the most drought tolerant plant form of the plant. It has also been found that the seed of several annual and perennial vegetation of this arid region get buried in the soil for many years and emerge as soon as receives the congenial environment. Thus, the buried seeds under surface soil, which is known as soil seed bank, can play a key role in conservation of vegetation and revival of rangelands in this region. The reduction in soil seed bank of Lasiurus sindicus might be one of the reasons for disappearing of this grass species in rangeland of western Rajasthan. Hence, before starting restoration program of Lasiurus sindicus, the study of viable species accumulation in the form of soil seed bank is necessary which may be useful to policy maker in reclamation of degraded arid rangeland of India. Keywords: Rangeland, Lasiurus sindicus, Soil seed bank

Scenario and Future Need The seed emergence in the soil seed bank is influenced by the conducive factor of temperature, humidity, and air held in the different strata of the soil. The variation in the factors affected seed germination in the soil surface causing degradation of vegetation in the rangeland. The germination strategy used by a particular plant species is a part of the complementary set of adaptation made to suit the particular habitat (Went, 1949; Gutterman, 2002). During the period of seed development and maturation, seed germination is affected by environmental factors as well as maternal factor whose influences may increase the phenotypical plasticity of seed germination. Therefore, only a small portion of the seed of the plant species in the seed bank may be ready for germination after a particular rainfall event. The phenomenon of phenotypical plasticity of the seed germination was observed in the seeds of certain plant species with dispersed by wind as well as by rain (Gutterman, 2002). Strong wind regime is yet another characteristic feature of the arid rangeland ecosystem, especially during summer besides extreme dry condition prevails. Together these two, results in the occurrence severe wind erosion and dust storm. Dusting facilitates sand movement from unstabilized sand dunes (Ramakrishna et al., 1990) causes the deposition of seed in form of sand flux for years. The seed formation of L. sindicus and Cenchrus ciliaris is also affected due to uneven rainfall

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in their growing periods causing lesser seed production (Mertia and Nagarajan, 1999) in these important rangeland grasses. Due to changes in desert environments and species dynamics some variation in seed bank status is also expected (Sinha et. al., 2014). The phenomenon is conspicuous by poor tussock density in the range land. Considering these points, it become imperative, to know status and quality of soil seed bank so that proper corrective measure could be taken to maintain sufficient regeneration in range land and conservation for future generation. Further, establishment of selected species in degraded range land would possibly change the community structure of the area thereby improving the productivity of rangeland. Therefore, focus should be given on generating a reference database on seed bank for arid rangeland which would be used in future to study the changes in scenarios. Study would be comprised with; i. present status (vertical and horizontal) of soil seed bank in Lasiuras sindicus climax land utilization type of arid region, ii. dynamics of seed of soil seed bank and biotic-abiotic factors influencing it, and; iii. temporal changes in quality of soil seed bank.

Action plan and activities The study will require laboratory as well as field experimentation under different land utilization types viz., a) protected; b) unprotected; c) cattle grazed farm; d) sheep and goat browsed farm; e) reserve rangeland

Activity 1 Soil samples would be collected month wise after the onset of monsoon. Collected soil samples would be kept in petri dish / petri plate saturated with tap water and then put in growth chamber preadjusted at 25±1C. after the germination of seed, species wise identification would be done for variability study. The same methodology will be repeated for different rangelands and other systems of arid region.

Germination and quantification in laboratory

Collected soil samples from different layers

Species identification

Variability study

Same methodology will be repeated for different rangeland and other system of arid region

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Activity 2 Vertical sampling of seed disposed by air will be done using sample collector. Collected soil samples will be kept in petri dish lined with filter paper. The petri dishes / petri plates will be saturated with water and put under growth chamber for germination, quantification, characterization and variability study.

Vertical sampling of eroded soil Quantification of seed materials in collected soil samples Germination of seed materials present in the soil samples in laboratory Characterization of germinated seed through identification of species Variability study

Activity 3 Earmarked all sampling locations by visit and revisit for the study of soil environment viz., soil temperature at different depths at different weather situations, soil moisture regime, terrain features and existing vegetation densities. This may be repeated for all selected rangeland ecosystem. It is observed that the arid range land bears a good rainy season which falls after every five years and may be called as normal rainfall year. It means the plant of the region bears good flowering and fruiting in the normal rainfall year. The seed formed in this period may have some survival mechanism to combat drought lying within every five years. However, Sinha et. al., (2014) reported the species dynamics of the three land utilization types of rangelands viz., fully protected; controlled and open grazing rangelands. Further, it is highly required to study all other types of prevailing Indian arid rangelands.

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References Gutterman, Y. 2002. Survival strategies of annual desert plants. Adaptation of desert organisms. Springer, Berlin, Germany, 348. Mertia, R.S., and Nagarajan, N., 1999. Present status and future research priorities on grass seed germination in desert regions. In: Managemnt of Arid Ecosystem (Eds. A.S. faroda, N.L. Joshi, S. Kathju, and Amal Kar), Scientific Publishers Jodhpur, 339-342. Ramakrishna, Y.S., Rao, A.S., Singh, R.S., Kar, A., Singh, S. 1990. Moisture, thermal, and wind measurements over two stable and unstable sand dunes in the Indian desert. J. Arid Environment, 19, 25-38.

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Vishesh Dhar, TEDEX (Note)

What is the scariest ride you have ever been on? Possibly a roller coaster at Six Flags, Disneyland, or some other amusement park, right? The scariest ride I have ever been on, is sitting in a taxi in New Delhi, India. A couple years ago while on this trip to India, and sitting in the back of this taxi, a thick layer of smog filled the air and made visibility only a couple yards. Vehicles seemed to just appear out of this smog, and the taxi driver veered left and right to avoid them, all the while I was sitting in the back, frozen in terror. Then, all of a sudden, the red taillights of a truck appeared, and the driver slammed on the brakes. The taxi skidded to a halt just inches away from the truck in front of us. That was the first time that I experienced the dangers of smog. For those of you who don’t know what smog is, it is created when fog combines with smoke and other atmospheric pollutants to create a dense, almost brownish layer of air that is extremely unhealthy to breathe. Experiencing this pollution angered me and showed me how much carbon dioxide we humans are dumping into the atmosphere. I was frustrated so once I got back to the US, I set out to learn more about pollution and soon realized that smog wasn’t the only effect. Carbon emissions from factories, automobiles, and power plants are melting the polar ice caps which is in turn increasing sea levels. I learned that as carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere, seawater becomes more acidic, which then kills coral. These dying coral are home to millions of species of fish that feed almost 1 billion people on this earth. But, this is old news for most of you. You’ve all probably seen the pictures of stranded polar bears and the smokestacks dumping tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, yet at the end of the day most of us forget about the changing climate, because we have the privilege of doing so. However, all around the world there are people who are suffering from the preliminary effects of climate change, such as the people in the Marshall Islands, whose homes are swept away by the rising sea levels, or the Indian farmers whose crops are completely destroyed due to extreme rainfall. These people don’t have the privilege to forget about climate change, because it affects them every day of their lives. But what saddens me the most, is that these people barely contribute any CO2 to the atmosphere, and yet they are the ones that are paying the biggest price.

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After understanding the true scope of climate change, I wanted to get involved in the solution. I started out small, and at my own home by trying to manage my electricity usage, because electricity production is the largest emitter of greenhouse gasses of any industry in the US. But for me, turning off the lights more often, or unplugging electronics wasn’t enough. All the energy was still coming from fossil fuels in power plants. I wanted a source of clean, renewable energy powering my home, so I convinced my dad to invest in rooftop solar power. Having solar panels on my house for the past few months has got me thinking about how cool renewable energy really is. It can never run out, no matter how much we use it. Take solar power as an example; solar power is useful until the sun burns out in 5 billion years. That means we have 5 billion years’ worth of energy just waiting for us in the sky. Using a nonrenewable resource like coal seems laughable in comparison, but sadly the reality is that our world runs on fossil fuels right now and the emissions from them are polluting our world. Let’s look at the emissions from this school, Phillips Academy Andover, for example. We use about 13 million kWh of electricity annually. That is enough electricity to support about 1350 homes for a year and the carbon emissions are equivalent to burning 9,700,000 pounds of coal. I am thankful that we have initiatives on this campus to address emissions but think of the carbon footprint of all the high schools and colleges around the country. What if these places of learning could be powered by solar panels? Imagine the positive impact that would make on the environment, and on the minds of students around the country. But before we can install solar panels on every school in the country, the national mindset surrounding global climate change needs to be repaired. It should not be the subject of debate, because scientists have proven it countless times. Yet still certain lawmakers and politicians claim that climate change is not real. In fact, legislators have passed regulations to make rooftop solar power a scarcity in Florida, the Sunshine State! The only way to stand up to these types of lawmakers, is by causing a shift in culture in society. The politicians that run the country follow the will of the people, so if the people declare climate change a central issue, they will have no choice but to address it. But, if we don’t start cutting back our emissions now, in just 25 years, we will reach the point of no return, where global climate change becomes irreversible. Our society needs to stop debating and start acting before it is too late.

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To take action, we need leaders who can inspire a movement. I believe that young people can be those leaders. In fact, I would argue that young people are the solution to global climate change. We are the future of the country, so if climate change is an important issue for us, it will eventually become an issue for the nation. But we don’t have to wait until we are adults, we can still make a difference now. Our generation is connected like no other because of the internet and social media. Whether it is the bottle flipping craze, or beneficial trends like the ALS Ice Bucket challenge, our generation has mastered the art of spreading the word. Now imagine if you combined that level of connectivity with the credibility of scientific data…that right there is a powerhouse of change. So, I urge you to go out in your community and educate those who don’t understand the severity of the situation, get involved with sustainability projects, or start those projects yourself. Enough is enough with the political rhetoric. Our generation of young people needs to start taking responsibility of the world it will soon inherit and make sure that the generations to come have a safe world to live in. In 100, 200, 300 years I want people to have to still be able to see the beautiful blue sky that we see, and not have a smoggy haze full of toxic pollution. We have 25 years to prevent this…and the time to change is now! Quoting the Cree Indian Prophecy, “Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish been caught, and the last stream poisoned, will we realize we cannot eat money.”

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Background The world is endowed with 70% of water amounting 1400 Mio Cu Km. Since, 97.5 % of this water is salty, only 2.5% of this can be consumed as freshwater or used for cultivation, amounting to 35 Mio Cu Km. Out of the available freshwater, 68.7% is frozen in Ice Caps, 30% stored underground and only 0.3% available on the surface. Agriculture uses 69% of this available freshwater, Industry uses 19% and Households about 12%. It is obvious that if we need to sustain the water availability of our earth we have to have mechanisms for using water judiciously and wherever possible recycle it. Zeba is a technology which helps make sustainable use of water for Agriculture. Product Zeba Developed from Corn Starch with an innovative patented technology, the Zeba granule absorbs water about 400 times its body weight. In response to the root demand of water, Zeba releases up to 95% of the water absorbed. The reversible process of absorption and release continues for about five months in the soil, before Zeba is completely degraded by soil micro-organisms. On biological degradation in soil Zeba behaves similar to Farm Yard Manure. Benefit In the process of absorption, Zeba imbibes all the solutes in the available water and releases them when required by the plant. This helps the Zeba treated plant maintain a water and fertilizer reservoir at its root zone. Insecticides and fungicides applied with water are retained in the plant root zone by Zeba, significantly reducing their loss by leaching, evaporation and improving overall efficiency. Zeba creates a rhizosphere in the plant root zone where there is availability of Water, Nutrients, Soluble Pesticides and Beneficial Micro-organisms, and hence can be aptly described as. “Plants’ own Water and Nutrient Battery”. Application Zeba dose recommended is 5 Kgs per Acre for most crops. However, with large plants(Age) and depending on plant population per acre the dose can be increased. The application of Zeba is flexible and makes the product versatile. Nursery- Mixed with Cocopit at 2-5 Gm per Kg and used to raise nursery

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(Veggies) In-Line Sowing Before seed planting, application of Zeba in a line mixed with fertilizer and covered with 4-inch soil layer(Veggies) Drip Pits Application of Zeba at recommended ratesin drip pits. If the plant is having two drippers, below each drip nozzle dig about 3-4 inches and apply half the doseper pit, cover with soil and run drip. (Fruits) Broadcast Zeba & Incorporate in Soil with fertilizer at 4 inches depth with a rotovator, plank, create ridges and plant on the ridges(Potato) Mix Zeba with Fertilizer and use through a fertilizer cum seed drill (Cotton) Create a Basin (ring) around the plant/ tree, apply Zeba with fertilizer, irrigate. (Coconut etc .) Zeba can be integrated to any crop cultivation practice, however the extent of success lies in placing Zeba in the root zone at an early crop stage.

Crop

Plant Population/ Acre

Zeba (Gms/Plant)

Mango, Oil Palm, Litchi, Cashewnut, Date Palm, Sapota, Coconut Almond, Apple, Citrus, Kinnow

50-70

100-70

80-140

60-40

Fig, Cocoa, Rubber

160-180

30

Pomegranate

320

15

Arecanut

500

10

900-1235

7.5-5

Grape, Banana, Papaya, Coffee

Benefit to Plants Zeba helps to maintain a constant soil moisture and hence Zeba treated plants show significant reduction in flower drops, have better green foliage and produce more large fruits. The overall plant health improves due to the plant being able to cope with various forms of stress. For plants growing underground (Potato, Carrots etc..), the application of Zeba makes the soil friable and porous leading to creation of large sized tubers/bulbs. Every single crop has a different way of reacting to the Zeba treatment. Product Property Zeba is an off-white, dry granule which is odorless and non-volatile. No specific precautions are recommended during the use, however Zeba is not for consumption as food. Wash immediately if it reaches your eyes. Store is a cool dry

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place away from water and fire. On proper storage Zeba has a shelf life of more than two years. Packing & Pricing Zeba is available in two packs of 5 Kgs and 1 Kgs. The cost is Rs.550/- per Kgs for 5 Kg pack and Rs. 575/- for a 1 Kgs pack. Do Not– Keep unused mixtures of Zeba with fertilizers as the mixture turns hygroscopic or use Zeba through drips as it is not water soluble. Zeba is a technology, delivering value by improving water and nutrient use efficiency and Liberating the Plant Potential. More Info Prasun Sarkar (#8879630397), Mail – [email protected] Dr.Nitin Bhonsle (# 7506796546), Mail – Nitin.Bhonsle@ uniphos.com