Shakeel Ahmad

Bahauddin Zakariya University | BZU · Department of Agronomy

Disaster is any natural and man-made (anthropogenic) adverse event that results in mass destruction and the ecosystem as a whole. Disasters like catastrophes, earthquakes, avalanches, cyclones, droughts, landslides, floods, hailstorms and fires occur worldwide due to deforestation, climate change, mining activity, soil erosion and tectonic movement...

Cereals are important food crops all over the world. Cereals are consumed by human beings in one way or another way to get energy. However, due to climate change and other production and environmental effects, the yield is declining yearly. Environmental factors are affecting the phenology of cereal crops all over the world. In order to feed the bu...

Climate change is showing detrimental effect on crop productivity and food security. Adaptive strategies should be implemented to offset the negative impacts of climate change on the maize crop. There is concern that food insecurity will increase in Pakistan due to climate change. Hence, present study was conducted to quantify the response of maize...

Disaster risk could be a serious injury or even loss of human life, destruction or damage of property or assets of society due to exposure to some hazardous events. In contrast, disaster risk reduction is the protection of lives and livelihood of the persons of that society who are most susceptible to disaster, caused by either nature or humans or...

In this chapter, the role of various disciplines of environmental sciences in disaster risk reduction in agriculture is discussed. First, some natural disasters like drought, floods, land degradation, and pest outbreaks are highlighted because agriculture faces a significant portion of these disasters. Then, some management practices for mitigation...

Soil erosion represents one of the main causes of degradation of agricultural land around the globe. Productivity of the agricultural land is decreasing due to the removal of the top fertile layer of soil, hence it is drawing the attention of the world. Global resources are diminishing at the rapid pace while the populations and environmental issue...

Mangroves are shrubs and trees mostly found in tropical and sub-tropical regions along the coastlines. Mangroves being halophytes could survive in soil with high salinity and low oxygen. There are significant number of mangroves species and genera usually found in dense and thickets. In Pakistan mangrove forests are in Sindh and Balochistan provinc...

Emergency Event Database (EM-DAT) reported 432 devastating events during 2021, related to natural hazards, which is much higher than the last year’s calamities (i.e. 357). Amongst all, Asia is most affected continent with 40% sufferings of all continents along with 66% of the total people affected. These catastrophes include drought, earthquake, fl...

Since COVID-19 pandemic affected all sectors of life; agriculture was equally affected during this crisis. The main impact of COVID-19 on agriculture has been in the form of changing demand and supply ratio, labor shortage, and impacts on rural economies. Agriculture is the main source of earning, particularly in low-income countries. The commoditi...

Disasters in agriculture are inevitable; therefore, a disaster risk reduction plan is essential to reduce the hazards. This study aimed to comprehend the fundamentals of agricultural engineering sciences and associated technologies for disaster risk reduction in agriculture. Therefore, the study explored the disasters in agriculture from the viewpo...

This book is related to disaster risk reduction in agriculture particularly under changing climate. Climate change refers to significant, long-term changes in the global climate. There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate. Human activity is the principal cause. The planets average surface temperature has risen to a...

The word climate change is being used as a buzz word in developing countries, and yet its conceptual understanding is not very clear to common people in various parts of the world even among educated communities. To clarify the understanding about climate change, it is being elucidated here: various indicators to know about climate change, its caus...

Both social protection (SP) and climate change (CC) adaptation seek to safeguard the most vulnerable persons as well as to promote resilience. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are combined to identify that action in an area affects outcomes in others and that development must balance economic, social and environmental sustainability. Develo...

At the global level, climate change is a foremost threat for food security. It is extensively recognized that variations in temperature, precipitation, sea water level, and concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the environment will have increasingly distressing influences on both crop production and quality. Global temperature has increased...

Drought stress is a major abiotic factor that frequently suppresses crop growth at various stages. The main ambition behind this current work is to check the influence of foliar applied silicon @50 ppm at flag leaf stage on three oat cultivars (IST, S-85/Sl and PARC) under three different field capacities (100% FC, 75% FC and 50% FC). Data about an...

Inter-row spacing of intercrop species directly affects yield and competition indices such as land equivalent ratio of intercropping. The objectives of this research were to analyze the: (i) analyze the maize and soybean yields under different spatial arrangements in MSR and (ii) the inter-species competition to provide a basis for optimization of...

Environment is the surrounding around a crop and it includes biotic and abiotic components. Environment determines the growth and development of crop which ultimately leads to good or bad crop productivity. Crop environment includes underground and aerial environments. Soil determines the underground environment of the crops. Soil environment inclu...

Understanding the reasons for the yield gap between potential and actual yield can provide insights for enhancing canola production by adapting measures for ensuring food security. The canola yield gap under different management practices (e. g., water, nitrogen, N-, and sowing dates) was quantified using research trials that were conducted at on-s...

Citrus plants face various abiotic stresses like drought during their life span which significantly affect their active growth and development. Tetraploid (4×) plants are more adaptable to environmental constraints than diploid (2×) plants by inducing critical physiological and biochemical processes. In this study, tetraploid and their correspondin...

Climate change has a negative impact on productivity of agricultural crops at local, regional and global levels. Foodstuff security and sustainable livelihood of cotton farmers in conventional region in Punjab, Pakistan is under threat because of decreased yield due to climate change. Quantification of integrated impact assessment of climate change...

The process of agriculture transformation is very high with the application of innovative computer-based technologies for various farming decisions. The agronomy has been transformed with the passage of the time and two latest concepts of agronomy are:1) precision agriculture (1980s) and 2) biotechnological innovations (2000s). Digital agriculture...

Methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) are the two critical greenhouse gases (GHGs) that absorb radiation, affect atmospheric chemistry, and contribute to global climate change. Rice being the second largest cultivated food crop around the world is also a leading anthropogenic source of GHG emissions from agriculture sector. It accounts for 18% CH4...

About 2000 plants have been reported in the world as fiber sources; however, only few are being utilized. Cumulatively fiber crops including cotton, jute, flax, agave, sisal, manila fiber, and ramie are being grown on 34.2 million hectares with the annual production of 29.5 million tonnes. The cotton is the leading fiber crop which shares more than...

Rapid population growth, climate change, and limited natural resources have widened the gap between food production and consumption, contributing to global hunger. Improving cereal crop production is a critical hot spot challenge for closing this gap and ensuring global food security and nutrition. Previous data and findings from published literatu...

Climate change causes different biotic and abiotic stresses to the plants, water stress being one of them. Water stress includes water-logging (flooding) and water deficit (drought). These stresses restrict the plant’s growth, development, and ultimately yield. Approximately 60% of crops, including plants of medicinal importance, are affected by wa...

The swift increase and decrease in temperatures affect the growth and development of the citrus which leads to decreases in its production. Temperature is very much useful for plants to complete their phenological and metabolical pathways. However, an increase and decrease in temperature beyond a certain level will cause a hindrance in its metaboli...

The swift increase and decrease in temperatures affect the growth and development of the citrus which leads to decreases in its production. Temperature is very much useful for plants to complete their phenological and metabolical pathways. However, an increase and decrease in temperature beyond a certain level will cause a hindrance in its metaboli...

PGRs play an important role to maintain plant metabolism under different abiotic stress conditions. Among different PGRs, SA is one of the major regulators which directly involves in plant growth and development and also in tolerance mechanism against different abiotic stresses. SA regulates the genes involved in the plant's physiological, biochemi...

Sustainable increases in crop production require efficient use of resources, and intercropping can improve water use efficiency and land productivity at reduced inputs. Thus, in a three-year field experiment, the performance of maize/soybean strip intercropping system differing with maize plant density (6 maize plants m-2, low, D1; 8 maize plants m...

Salinity is globally considered a widespread problem of the irrigated soils in arid and semi-arid areas. To minimize the negative effect of salinity seed priming technique is proved as a useful by improve germination and seedling growth. Therefore, the current study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different priming techniques on fenugreek u...

Food security and agricultural-based livelihoods of smallholders farmers are under threat due to climate change and political conflicts. However, quality firm data is needed to assess the damages on food security to suggest appropriate adaptive measures. This chapter gives overview about the climate change, agricultural productivity, and food secur...

Climate variability and change is main concern for scientific communities since past decades. This chapter gives overview about the basics of climate change. It firstly provides detail information about climate change and its responsible factors. Techniques that have been used to quantify climate change were discussed. It includes application of Ge...

Soil is under pressure due to climate change. Higher temperature is increasing decomposition and mineralization of the soil organic matter (SOM) thus reducing soil organic carbon which is blood of soil. Furthermore, rise in temperature is causing changes in soil moisture. In addition elevated concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) could cause higher...

Biotic or abiotic stresses reduce leaf area of soybean plants in the intercropping system, especially during critical reproductive growth phase (from pod-initiation to physiological-maturity) of soybean, which finally influences yield and yield components. However, total yield loss due to reduction in soybean leaf area under maize/soybean intercrop...

Adaptations in Cropping System and Pattern for Sustainable Crops Production under Climate Change Scenarios

Dryland agricultural system is under threat due to climate extremes and unsustainable management. Understanding of climate change impact is important to design adaptation options for dry land agricultural systems. Thus, the present review was conducted with the objectives to identify gaps and suggest technology-based intervention that can support d...

Dryland agricultural system is under threat due to climate extremes and unsustainable management. Understanding of climate change impact is important to design adaptation options for dry land agricultural systems. Thus, the present review was conducted with the objectives to identify gaps and suggest technology-based intervention that can support d...

Climate change is a severe threat for productivity of sugarcane crop. Crop models have potential to quantify the climate change, and management practices on development and productivity of sugarcane crop. These models provide simulations as a result of interaction between genotype, management, and environment. The current study was conducted with t...

Rice is an important cereal crop in Asia. It is also used as staple food in various countries. It is mainly produced and consumed in Asia. Its yield is affected by insects, pests, and diseases in the rice growing regions in the world. Several approaches for controlling insects, pests, and diseases have been reported in scientific literature. Howeve...

Climate uncertainty is a serious risk to agriculture sector impacting food security. Soybean crop is not exception to climate change. Crop growth simulation modelling approach has been established as a valuable tool to determine climate uncertainty on soybean yield. However, the crop growth model must be calibrated and evaluated for new regions bef...

Climate uncertainty is a serious risk to agriculture sector impacting food security. Soybean crop is not exception to climate change. Crop growth simulation modelling approach has been established as a valuable tool to determine climate uncertainty on soybean yield. However, the crop growth model must be calibrated and evaluated for new regions bef...

One of the alternative ways of sugarcane sett planting is to sow excised sugarcane buds, popularly called as budchips. Despite the advantages of budchip technology, sugarcane growers are failed to achived higher production under field conditions due to rapid exhaustion of small sized storage tissue (budchip). Evaluate the role of varied concentrati...

Nitrogen management is vital in variable environments having different temperature and intercepted solar radiations (IPAR) with respect to high nitrogen demanding Canola crop. The study explored the significance of nitrogen management to enhance the utilization of incident solar radiation in context to variable climatic conditions. Five nitrogenous...

Determining optimal sowing date, optimal number of irrigation applications, and best-performing cultivars is critical to maximizing achievable sorghum yield in semi-arid and arid environments. Limited research is available on interactive effects of sowing date, irrigation frequency, and genotype at multiple locations. Consequently, this study was c...

Rice is the important food crop for majority of the humans in the world with contribution more than many other cereal crops. However, with changes in world climatic conditions, rice production is adversely affected. Climate change has rapid effects, which can be seen in the form of extreme prevailing weather conditions. Among the adversities of cli...

In rice, Nursery seedlings are grown in a specified area followed by transplanting under field conditions. Different techniques are being used by the rice farmers for raising the nursery seedlings followed by the transplanting across the world. However, each technique of raising and transplanting nursery has its merits and demerits. This chapter co...

Globally, rice is grown in different types of cropping systems, and most common cropping systems for rice are upland rice, lowland rice, irrigated lowland rice, rainfed lowland rice, flood-prone rice and direct seeded rice. Every cropping system and planting technique has different soil management practices like puddling, furrow bed preparation, br...

Rice is the food of more than half of the world’s population which is mostly grown by transplanted method. Nursery management to get better or vigorous seedlings is very important to attain a good crop yield. Plants grown under well-managed fields with proper irrigation and fertilizer adjust easily in the main field. Nursey is uprooted manually fro...

Rice is a dominant food of almost half of the world population. Keeping in view its significance, it is important to develop management practices which are able to maintain higher yields, however, at the same time minimize adverse impacts to environment and optimizing positive benefits. Broader issues of water use, nutrient use efficiency, and emis...

The annual crops are grown in succession with other crops due to different climatic requirements. Such differences make the basis of cropping system, and it appears at regional level. The rice cultivation is mainly followed by wheat and maize in Indo-Pak region and China. All these crops are the main players of food security in the world. On the ot...

This chapter deals with morphological and metabolic changes in rice during its life span. Generally, crop development is completed in a sequence of events and characterized by the appearance of various organs in relation to crop stage. However, metabolic changes also occur in the background, and profiling these metabolites at various developmental...

The conventional methods of screening desired traits from a population are slow and tedious, and their accuracy is highly influenced by working time and manpower professional skills. However, in current era of scientific developments, these tasks are being performed with modern phenotyping techniques. This chapter presents an overview of phenotypin...

Rice is the main staple food crop in different regions across the globe. Among abiotic stresses, salinity stress is the major abiotic stress which is increasing at an alarming rate. It inhibits rice growth and yield as rice is a sensitive crop to salinity stress. It influences various physiological functioning of the rice, which results in retarded...

Nematodes belong to phylum Nematoda, also known as Nemata; due to their moulting nature, they are placed under superphylum Ecdysozoa. They are most ubiquitous multicellular animals on earth. Rice is the vital crop of the world, which attacked by different plant parasitic nematodes (PPNs). Rice parasitic nematodes (RPNs) attack both foliage and root...

Rice growth simulation models are being largely applied by researchers along with policy makers all over the world as a vital and effective research tool in rice-growing regions. Different types of rice growth models have been used during previous and present century for the determination of rice crop comebacks to water shortage, climate warming, a...

Rice is an important cereal in the world. It is a first-order or second-order staple food across the globe. Its productivity and production has a major role for ensuring food security. However, its productivity and production is hampered due to the presence of abundant weeds. Huge losses in yield and quality have been reported in literature. Differ...

Rice leaf folder (Cnaphalocrocis medinalis) is one of the most destructive insect pests of rice crop. It is becoming difficult to control due to insecticidal resistance; therefore, chitin can be considered a soft target to control this notorious insect pest. Chitin is an abundant biopolymer and widespread amino polysaccharide in nature. It is also...

Frequent and prophylactic applications of fungicides on rice are highly toxic to a broad range of organisms, posing a great risk to aquatic biota. Therefore, there is need to adopt ecofriendly management practices against rice diseases for healthy crop and to obtain high yield. Secondary metabolites of a high diversity are produced by plants as a n...

Rice is being used as an important source of food by a large number of people. Its production needs to be maintained to feed the increasing number of people on this planet. Various diseases are affecting this important source of food and decreasing both quality and quantity. Fungal diseases contribute a lot in this regard. Many methods have been ad...

Rice is a cereal grain, staple food, feeding half of the world population. Rice is low fibre and rich caloric food providing one fifth of the calories consumed by the world’s human population. Several value-added rice products and by-products can be made in which stickiness of rice usually works to hold its shape when prepared as sweet dishes, stea...

Rice (Oryza sativa) production systems have faced the two opposing challenges all over the world: the need to increase the production to nourish the world’s increasing population and reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). Nitrous oxide (N2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are the most significant GHG...

Changes in climatic conditions is a significantly risk for agronomic crops and food security at local, regional, and global level. Risky weather circumstances and shifting patterns of rainfall resulted in reduction of rice crop productivity. Heat stress and indefinite rainfall decline the grain production of rice crop through shortening in the phen...

The food insecurity has been haunting the mankind since time immemorial and even continuing to the present age. In the beginning of twentieth century, the greatest efforts were made in the areas of plant breeding, agronomy, and development of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and weedicides, resultantly the productivity of wheat yield increased fr...

Drought is considered one of the leading abiotic constraints to agricultural crop production globally. Present study was conducted to assess the effects of different drought treatments (viz. Control, 10% PEG, and 20% PEG) on seed germination, germination indices, seedling traits, and drought tolerance indices of sesame. Our results showed that maxi...

Silicon (Si) has been identified as a key nutrient in plants to lower the pressures of environmental stress. In pot experiment, seeds of different maize hybrids (Pioneer-1543, Monsanto-6103 and Monsanto-6724) were coated with different concentrations of Si viz. 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 mg kg− 1 seed using H2SiO3. Salinity was imposed by adding NaCl (120...

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has emerged as a novel gaseous signal molecule with multifarious effects on seed germination, plant growth, development, and physiological processes. Due to its dominant role in plant stress tolerance and cross-adaptation, it is getting more attention nowadays, although it has been largely referred as toxic and environmental...

Grain yield stability measurements under varied environmental conditions suggests selection of suitable genotype. Safflower genotypes having different origins were tested for G x E effects on yield using univariate and multivariate statistics in six test environments (three varied climate conditions and combination of years) during 2016–17 and 2017...