IMPACT OF CLIMATIC FACTORS ON CROP PRODUCTION - A REVIEW

Agriculture always faces the risks due to various reasons. Among that climatic risks are the most important one as there are unavoidable and unexpected. Increased temperature, changed precipitation conditions and increased CO2 content in the atmosphere are the major climatic factors affecting crop production. Rise in atmospheric temperature will lead to loss of soil moisture and will increase the crop demand for water. The amount and availability of water stored in the soil will be affected by changes in both the precipitation and seasonal and annual evapotranspiration regimes. Changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration can cause uncertainty in crop yields. So­lar radiation also has considerable effect on photosynthesis and crop yield. The effect of interrelationship between the climatic factors like temperature, rainfall, solar radiation, CO2 concentration, etc and crop yield need to be understood to take necessary adaptation measures to maintain the crop production. This paper presents an overview of the impacts of various climatic factors on crop production.