Shakeel Ahmad

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor at Bahauddin Zakariya University

Climate change, which has an impact on people's health, natural ecosystems, food supply, etc., is one of the most important environmental problems facing humanity today. Due to climate change, extreme weather events including hurricanes, cyclones, floods, and droughts are occurring more frequently and with greater intensity all across the planet. T...

Sweet corn is a trending agronomic crop in Pakistan. Due to the lack of awareness regarding suitable time and variety in a specific locality, farmers could not obtain the desired production and handsome profit. Therefore, a study was conducted to assess the optimum sowing date and most suitable variety for sweet corn in terms of higher grain and bi...

Fruits and vegetables play a crucial role in addressing food security challenges posed by the growing global population. Citrus fruits are among the most widely cultivated crops worldwide; however, their production is steadily declining due to climate change. Among the various biotic and abiotic stresses affecting citrus production, water scarcity...

An increasing amount of land is becoming unsuitable for citrus cultivation, mainly due to water scarcity. This study evaluated the physiological and biochemical performance of trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata) and rough lemon (Citrus jambhiri) seedlings subjected to water deficit for 12 days. Under these conditions, trifoliate orange was more...

Nitrogen (N) is the most significant nutrient affecting crop growth and development for all types of crops, except legumes. The goal of this study was to optimize the N level for cotton grown in a semi-arid environment to enhance growth and development, determine N status, and increase seed cotton yield and biomass. Two independent field experiment...

Grain yields in wheat can be limited by the assimilate supply (source) or by the carbohydrate demand of the grains (sink). Recently, there have been questions regarding the capability of crop models to simulate the physiology of source-sink interactions in crops; however, crop models scarcely tested with source-sink partitioning. DSSAT_CERES_Wheat...

Grain yields in wheat can be limited by the assimilate supply (source) or by the carbohydrate demand of the grains (sink). Recently, there have been questions regarding the capability of crop models to simulate the physiology of source-sink interactions in crops; however, crop models scarcely tested with source-sink partitioning. DSSAT-CERES-Wheat...

Climate change in the form of heat waves, torrential rains and floods is showing impact on the food security in Pakistan. Potato is the main cash crop of the region affected by climate change. However, impact assessment of climate change for the potato-potato cropping system has not been studied yet. Hence, in the present study, we studied the impa...

Climate change is an important concern worldwide. This huge change is causing a negative impact on crop productivity throughout the whole world and shows some drastic effects on sensitive crops including sweet pepper and other kinds of chilies. These stresses have a negative effect on vegetable growth, fruit quality, and fruit yield. Besides these...

Crop simulation models are valuable tools for decision making regarding evaluation and crop improvement under different field conditions. CSM-CROPGRO model integrates genotype, environment and crop management portfolios to simulate growth, development and yield. Modeling the safflower response to varied climate regimes are needed to strengthen its...

Important cropping system in Pakistan, India, China, and other nations is the maize-maize cropping system. The burgeoning populations in developing nations, especially in Asia and Africa, are fed by this cropping system. South Asia is the main region covered by this cropping technique. The productivity of this farming method is currently declining...

Global climate change will have an influence on agriculture and, as a result, the availability of food. The plant growth, time of flowering, pollination, fruit set, and development of vegetable crops can all be negatively impacted by the rapid rise in temperature and erratic rainfall at any stage of crop development, reducing crop production. One o...

The potato is a staple crop for many people around the world, and it plays a vital part in achieving Millennium Development Goals of ending hunger, poverty, and malnutrition. CO2 levels in the atmosphere are expected to rise, which gives a chance to boost potato harvests. This, however, can only happen if the crop is resilient enough to endure the...

Sugarcane is an important cash and energy crop in the world. Overall, the major component of sugar is being extracted from this crop. However, the water and fertilizer requirements of this crop are more as compared to other agronomic crops. It is a water-loving crop. The crop phenology and productivity of sugarcane are affected by husbandry practic...

Guar is a drought-hardy, deep-rooted, legume crop grown in summer months. It can be grown as fodder, vegetable, and green manuring. Its industrial usage includes highly viscous novel agrochemical, galactomannan gum, which makes this crop a gold crop. It is useful as a cooling agent, digestive aid, laxative, and appetizer. Guar offers an environment...

On the basis of predicted responses of crop to managing, weather, and soil procedures, models for groundnut and canola crops may be used for estimation variations in future productivity. Crop models are practical tools for examining how climate change may affect crops and developing effective adaptation measures. Projected crop yields, however, are...

Alfalfa is an important fodder crop in the world. It is also called as “queen of fodder.” It is a multi-cut and perennial crop. It is a deep-rooted crop. It is being used as fresh fodder as well as silage. This crop has a significant contribution in the international trade. The yield and quality of alfalfa are currently affected by climate change....

Cropping systems based on pulses, such as chickpeas and mung beans, are significant all throughout the world. Chickpeas and mung beans are two of the most significant pulse crops all over the world, and they are high in protein. High-temperature stress is becoming a severe hazard to the chickpea and mung bean cropping systems as a result of global...

Cotton-wheat system (CWS) is an important rotation in many countries of the world. This cropping system ensures food and fiber security of increasing population in developing and developed countries in the world. The productivity of CWS is low and also stagnant. There are many reasons for this lower yield and yield stagnation. Among the major reaso...

Deterioration of land due to intensive agriculture is creating trouble for food security. Hence, appropriate measures should be taken to prevent land from destruction. This includes adoption of sustainable cropping systems under changing climate through the aid of process-based models. Cropping systems and application of models are closely intertwi...

C4 summer cereals are important fodder crops across the world. These cereals are being grown during the summer season in South Asia. The crops included in this group are maize, millet, and sorghum. These fodder crops are being grown in the following cropping systems, i.e., maize-sorghum, maize-millet, maize-maize, sorghum-millet, sorghum-sorghum, a...

Since the industrial revolution, the fast rise in worldwide atmospheric carbon dioxide as well as other greenhouse gas emissions has resulted in climate change and a disruption in global rainfall pattern in soybean-soybean cropping systems. All of these fluctuations in climatic circumstances affect the growth, development, production, and quality o...

Comprehending impacts of climate trend, genotype, and management practices on sunflower phenological stages, phases, and yield in a sunflower-sunflower cropping system are critical for adapting to the rising temperature trend in the future decades. Climate change affects the biochemical, biological, and morphogenetic process of sunflower in the sun...

Rice-wheat system (RWS) is an important rotation in many countries of the world. This cropping system ensures food security of the burgeoning population in developing countries and particularly in Asia and Africa. The major area under this cropping system is located in South Asia. Nowadays, the productivity of this cropping system is stagnant. Ther...

The world’s burgeoning population is a concern to economists, social scientists, and agriculturists seeking to feed the world and ensure food security. Productivity of individual crops and various cropping systems are moving against the sustained production levels, and climate change and climate variability are key reasons. However, less importance...

Ratooning of rice (Oryza sativa L.) is process of obtaining grain from tillers that grow from crop stubbles that have already been harvested. Ratooning has gained attention since it has a potential for obtaining yield with conventional techniques. Field experiment was conducted during 2021–2022 at the research farm, Institute of Agronomy, Bahauddin...

Crop growth models can be valuable tools for researchers, academia, extension educators, and policy makers/planners for the evaluation of sustainable and long-term husbandry practices. Determining the optimum sowing window, which can be determined using crop growth models, is imperative under changing climate conditions. Thus, the main objectives h...

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...

Soil is a major inhabitant of a vast range of microbial species. Soil microbes play crucial roles in various soil biochemical activities like nutrient cycling, and improving soil fertility and productivity. Fruit plants like citrus are widely dependent on soil for their optimum growth and productivity due to their short root hairs. For satisfying t...

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 irrigation is sensible application of watering to plants in agriculture, landscapes that aids in meeting current survival and welfare needs. Sustainable irrigation management can help with climate change adaptation, labor, energy savings, and the production of higher-value and yield of crops to achieve zero hunger in water-scarce world....

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...