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By the end of this century, the average global temperature is predicted to rise due to the increasing release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere. This change in climate can reduce agricultural yields, resulting in food insecurity. However, agricultural activities are one of the major contributors of GHGs and lower yields can trigger increased activity to meet the demand for food, resulting in higher quantities of GHGs released into the atmosphere. In this paper, we discuss the growth requirements and greenhouse gas release potential of staple cereal crops and assess the impact of climate change on their yields. Potential solutions for minimizing the influence of climate change on crop productivity are discussed. These include breeding to obtain cereals that are more tolerant to conditions caused by climate change, increased production of these new cultivars, improved irrigation, and more effective use of fertilizers. Furthermore, different predictive models inferred that climate change would reduce production of major cereal crops, except for millets due to their ability to grow in variable climatic conditions, and in dry areas due to a strong root system. Moreover, millets are not resource-intensive crops and release fewer greenhouse gases compared to other cereals. Therefore, in addition to addressing food security, millets have an enormous potential use for reducing the impact of agriculture on global warming and should be grown on a global scale as an alternative to major cereals and grains.

This work was supported by the Spanish Government (PID2019-105924RB-I00 MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and RED2018-102407-T) and the Castilla-La Mancha Government (SBPLY/17/180501/000287 and SBPLY/21/ 180501/000033) to CE. The laboratory received support from UCLM intramural funds, and ÁM-G was recipient of a PhD grant from Fundación Tatiana Pérez de Guzmán el Bueno. EU FEDER funds complemented all the grants.

Mechanical stimulation, including wind exposure, is a common environmental factor for plants and can significantly impact plant phenotype, development, and growth. Most responses to external mechanical stimulation are defined by the term thigmomorphogenesis. While these morphogenetic changes in growth and development may not be immediately apparent, their end-results can be substantial. Although mostly studied in dicotyledonous plants, recently monocot grasses, particularly cereal crops, have received more attention. This review summarizes current knowledge on mechanical stimulation in plants, particularly focusing on the molecular, physiological, and phenological responses in cereals, and explores practical applications to sustainably improve the resilience of agricultural crops.

This study investigates the impacts of climate change on yield of selected cereal crops (wheat and maize) in the northern climatic region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province of Pakistan for the period 1986–2015. The first-generation unit root tests such as the Levin, Lin, and Chu (LLC), augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF)–Fisher, and the second-generation unit root tests such as cross-sectional augmented Im-Pesaran-Shin (CIPS) and cross-sectional ADF (CADF) are used to check stationarity of the series. The cointegration among the variables is discovered via Pedroni test and Westerlund method. The long- and short-run impacts of climatic variables (average precipitation, maximum temperature, and minimum temperature) on yield of wheat and maize crops are assessed through the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. The empirical findings reveal that average precipitation has a significantly positive impact on yield of both crops in long- as well as short-run. The results further reveal that the effect of average minimum temperature on both crops is insignificant in long-run. However, the short-run effect of average minimum temperature is significantly positive on yield of maize crop but insignificant on yield of wheat crop. In long-run, an increase in average maximum temperature negatively affects crop yield. In short-run, however, it positively affects the yield of wheat and maize crops. The study recommends that increase in area under cultivation, development of advanced irrigation system, and farmers’ access to metrological information will help in lowering the drastic impacts of climate change on crop productivity.

Carbon dioxide emission and climatic variation have a detrimental influence on the atmosphere as well as on agriculture production. The key aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of carbon dioxide emission on livestock, cereal crops production, rainfall and temperature in China by utilizing the vector autoregressive model and Granger causality test for the period 1988–2017. Variables stationarity was verified by using ADF, P-P and KPSS unit root tests. The outcomes through long-run dynamics exposed that agriculture value added and rainfall have a positive influence on carbon dioxide emission, while cereal crops production, livestock production and temperature have an adverse interaction with carbon dioxide emission. Similarly, the results of the short-run analysis also demonstrate that agriculture value added, cereal crops production, livestock production, rainfall and temperature have a significant influence on carbon dioxide emission with their p -values (0.0488), (0.0885), (0.0263), (0.0096) and (0.5141) respectively. Furthermore, the Granger causality test outcomes also exposed a unidirectional linkage amid the variables. In order to improve agricultural productivity, the Chinese government should take potential steps to minimize the carbon dioxide emission from various industries that trigger climate change.

Main conclusionDue to harsh lifestyle changes, in the present era, nutritional security is needed along with food security so it is necessary to include underutilized cereal crops (UCCs) in our daily diet to counteract the rising danger of human metabolic illness. We can attain both the goal of zero hunger and nutritional security by developing improved UCCs using advanced pan-omics (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, nutrigenomics, phenomics and ionomics) practices.Plant sciences research progressed profoundly since the last few decades with the introduction of advanced technologies and approaches, addressing issues of food demand of the growing population, nutritional security challenges and climate change. However, throughout the expansion and popularization of commonly consumed major cereal crops such as wheat and rice, other cereal crops such as millet, rye, sorghum, and others were impeded, despite their potential medicinal and nutraceutical qualities. Undoubtedly neglected underutilized cereal crops (UCCs) also have the capability to withstand diverse climate change. To relieve the burden of major crops, it is necessary to introduce the new crops in our diet in the way of UCCs. Introgression of agronomically and nutritionally important traits by pan-omics approaches in UCCs could be a defining moment for the population’s well-being on the globe. This review discusses the importance of underutilized cereal crops, as well as the application of contemporary omics techniques and advanced bioinformatics tools that could open up new avenues for future study and be valuable assets in the development and usage of UCCs in the perspective of green system biology. The increased and improved use of UCCs is dependent on number of factors that necessitate a concerted research effort in agricultural sciences. The emergence of functional genomics with molecular genetics might gear toward the reawakening of interest in underutilized cereals crops. The need of this era is to focus on potential UCCs in advanced agriculture and breeding programmes. Hence, targeting the UCCs, might provide a bright future for better health and scientific rationale for its use.

High-amylose cereal starches provide many health benefits for humans. The inhibition or mutation of starch branching enzyme (SBE) genes is an effective method to develop high-amylose cereal crops. This review summarizes the development of high-amylose cereal crops through the inactivation of one or more SBE isoforms or combination with other genes. This review also reveals the causes of increase in amylose content in high-amylose crops. A series of changes, including amylopectin structure, crystalline structure, thermal properties, and hydrolysis properties, occurs as amylose content increases. The different morphological starch granules nominated as heterogeneous starch granules or differently stained starch granules are detected in high-amylose cereal crops. Detailed studies on four heterogeneous starch granules in high-amylose rice, which is developed by antisense RNA inhibition of SBEI/IIb, indicate that granules with different morphologies possess various molecular structures and physicochemical and functional properties. This variation diversifies their applications in food and non-food industries. However, current knowledge regarding how these heterogeneous starch granules form and why they exhibit regional distribution in endosperm remain largely unknown.

In the face of escalating global challenges—population growth, climate change, and limited arable land—enhancing the yield and quality of cereal crops has become a cornerstone of sustainable agriculture. By balancing phenotypic extremes and genetic diversity, this approach maximizes statistical power in association studies, enabling efficient mining of rare alleles for traits like yellow rust resistance. Conflict of interest The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Afghanistan frequently faces drought and other climate change-related challenges due to rising temperatures and decreased precipitation in many areas of the country. Therefore, acquiring a thorough comprehension of the implications of climate change on the cultivation of key cereal crops is of the utmost importance. This is particularly significant in the context of Afghanistan, where the agricultural sector plays a pivotal role, contributing close to a quarter of the country’s national gross domestic product and serving as the primary source of employment for 70% of the rural workforce. In this paper, we employ a panel regression model to evaluate the relationship between climate change and cereal productivity in Afghanistan’s agro-climatic zones. Temperature had a significant negative impact, implying that a mean temperature increase of 1 °C decreased wheat and barley yields by 271 and 221 kg/ha, respectively. Future medium- and high-emission scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively) for the period 2021–2050 were considered for future yield predictions. To project future climate change impacts, the estimated panel data regression coefficients were used to compute the projected changes in cereal yields. During the period 2021–2050, the mean yield of wheat is projected to decrease by 21 or 28%, the rice yield will decrease by 4.92 or 6.10%, and the barley yield will decrease by 387 or 535 kg/ha in the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 emission scenarios, respectively, further emphasizing the need for targeted actions to tackle the effects of climate change on agriculture in Afghanistan in alignment with SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 13 (Climate Action).

Anthropogenic activities causing climate change and other environmental effects are lowering crop yield by deteriorating the growing environment for crops. Rice, a globally important cereal crop, is under production threat due to climate change and land degradation. This research aims to sustainably improve rice growth and yield by using Rhodopseudomonas palustris, a plant growth-promoting bacteria that has recently gained much attention in crop production. The experiment was set up in two fields, one as a control and the other as a PNSB-treated field. The foliar application of treatment was made fortnightly until the end of the vegetative stage. Data on the growth, yield, and antioxidant enzymes were collected weekly. The results of this experiment indicate no significant differences in the plant height, root volume, average grain per panicle, biological yield, grain fertility, and antioxidant enzyme activity between the PNSB-treated and untreated plants. However, a significant increase in the tiller number, leaf chlorophyll content and lodging resistance were noted with PNSB treatment. Likewise, PNSB-treatment significantly increased root length (25%), root dry weight (57%), productive tillers per plants (26%), average grains per plant (38%), grain yield (33%), 1000 grain weight (1.6%), and harvest index (41%). Hence, from this research, it can be concluded that foliar application of PNSB on rice crops under field conditions improves crop growth and yield, although it does not affect antioxidant enzyme activity.