Effect of Climate Change on Agricultural Production

Introduction

Climate change they are associated with variations in precipitation patterns, temperature increase and CO₂ concentration (Jiang et al., 2020). However, these climate changes are regionally different, for example in Central Europe the increase in temperature will lead to increases in the frequency and duration of the summer drought periods, while in Central and Northern Europe the increase in rainfall during the winter and spring increases the risk of flooding (Kreuzwieser & Gessler, 2010).

As a result of the lack of water, oxygen, or a rise in temperature, the physiological activity of plants will be affected (Kreuzwieser & Gessler, 2010). Thus, agricultural productivity is influenced by these climate changes, particularly by the lack of water, increased temperature, increased CO₂ concentration (Jiang et al., 2020; Neto et al., 2021). While increasing CO₂ concentration can benefit or lessen the effects of drought, increasing temperature could delete that benefit (Neto et al., 2021). Ainsworth et al. (2019) relate that the ability for terrestrial ecosystems to buffer anthropogenic emissions will diminish with rising temperature and drought stress and, consequently, that terrestrial plants absorb each time fewer of CO₂ (Tkemaladze & Makhashvili, 2016).

Physiological changes in plants that occur with climate change are: in photosynthesis, respiration, synthesis of primary metabolites (proteins, carbohydrates and fats) and secondary metabolites (volatile oils, polyphenols, steroids, alkaloids, etc.), a degradation of nitrogenous compounds such as amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids, the consequent accumulation of ammonia in tissues, cells, its intoxication and decomposition of subcellular structures and plant death (Tkemaladze & Makhashvili, 2016). The impacts of climate change on plant nutrient balance occur through interactions between the effects of climate change on nutrient uptake and allocation, which is important for food quality and productivity under global climate change (Wang et al., 2019).

The effects of climate change on plants can be mitigated by simple adaptation strategies that involve cultivation and reproduction techniques. Some of these techniques involve sowing earlier spring crops (Tubiello et al., 2000), or using drought-resistant plants (Tkemaladze & Makhashvili, 2016), or with the exogenous application of growth regulators (Fahad et al., 2016; Jahan et al., 2019).

The main objective of this work is to characterize some effects resulting from climate change on plant metabolism and consequently on production. With this characterization, it was possible to identify some techniques to be used to mitigate the effects of climate change on agricultural production. For the realization of this chapter was based on literature review, our review is based on studies carried out in all around the world published in the period 2000- 2021. The keywords “high temperature”, “drought”, “high CO₂” and “mitigation”, were used in combination with either “climate changes” or “agricultural production”.

The chapter is organized into five sections. The introduction (Section 1) describes the effects of climate change on distinct factors such as carbon dioxide, temperature and water. Section 2 contains a review of the effect of carbon dioxide on agricultural production. In Section 3 the effect of temperature change on plant metabolisms and mitigation measures to try to reduce these effects are studied. In Section 4 the effect of drought on plant production and some mitigation measures to try to reduce these effects are studied. Section 5 presents the main conclusions as well as areas for further research.