摘要：World population is increasing at an alarming rate and is expected to reach about six billion by the end ofyear 2050. Increased hunger and malnourishment are challenging issues for all nations, especially thosewho are resource poor. Feeding of hunger-laden people of the world not only requires food in quantity butquality as well. Vegetables are protective foods embedded with vitamins, micronutrients, pharmaceuticaland nutraceutical compounds, which are necessary for correction of diseases and disorders. Moreover,cultivation of vegetables provides livelihood security through employment. But the complex process of growthand development is significantly affected by different agro-climatic factors and therefore, any environmentalaberration due to climate change can impose unprecedented stress on this group of plants which may leadto complete failure of the crop in a grower’s field. Usually extreme temperatures, limited soil moisture,reduced availability of irrigation water, repeated flooding, increased acidity or salinity and soil erosion, highwind speed, increase in occurrence of hails and thunderstorms, frost damage and tsunamis etc., are themajor limiting factors for optimum productivity besides the quality and consumer acceptance. Sudden changein climate also influences the status of soil fertility, occurrence of pests and diseases, host-pathogeninteractions, soil microbial population and behaviour of the pollinators. Reduced production and productivitydue to the development of genetically weakened seeds is the ultimate outcome of climate change which mayinvite a crisis in food reserve in the future. All these have significant effects on the total vegetable cultivationsystem on the planet, affecting the economic yield, which is of prime importance from grower’s point of view.Hence, there is a need to develop an understanding of the impacts and implications of climate change onvegetable cultivation for timely intervention to ameliorate its harmful effects.
