IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN INDIAN HORTICULTURE- A REVIEW

Abstract: Global warming and climate change is the greatest concern of mankind in 21 st century. The established commercial varieties of fruits, vegetables and flowers will perform poorly in an unpredictable manner due to aberration of climate. Melting of ice cap in the Himalayan regions will reduce chilling effect required for the flowering of many of the horticultural crops like Apple, Saffron, Rhododendron, Orchid, etc. Commercial production of horticultural plants particularly grown under open field conditions will be severely affected. Due to high temperature physiological disorder of horticultural crops will be more pronounced eg. Spongy tissue of mango, fruit cracking of litchi, flower and fruit abscission in solanaceous fruit vegetables, etc. Air pollution also significantly decreased the yield of several horticultural crops and increases the intensity of certain physiological disorder like black tip of mango. Hence there is a need to protect these valuable crops for sustainability against the climate change scenario. The most effective way is to adopt conservation agriculture, using renewable energy, forest and water conservation, reforestation etc. To sustain the productivity, modification of present horticultural practices and greater use of greenhouse technology are some of the solutions to minimize the effect of climate change. Development of new cultivars of horticultural crops tolerant to high temperature, resistant to pests and diseases, short duration and producing good yield under stress conditions, as well as adoption of hi–tech horticulture and judicious management of natural resources will be the main strategies to meet this challenge