ABSTRACT

Abstract ................................................................................................. 180 11.1 Introduction ................................................................................ 180 11.2 Climate Analysis for Citrus ........................................................ 181 11.3 Climate Change and Citrus ........................................................ 183 11.4 Soil Fertility Dynamics .............................................................. 186 11.5 Climate Versus Soil Microbial Dynamics .................................. 188 11.6 Climate Versus Nutrient Dynamics ............................................ 193 11.7 Combating Climate Change Induced Soil Fertility Changes ..... 195 11.8 Way Forward Approaches .......................................................... 206 Keywords .............................................................................................. 208 References ............................................................................................. 208

ABSTRACT

Climate change is now an established phenomenon, irrespective of weather or not, it is anthropogenic or nonanthropogenic in nature. The story of climate change is an incomplete exercise unless the dynamics of soil fertility is addressed. Soil fertility is the basis of all life, its origin and the place of its continuous renewal compels us to see dynamic changes taking place in soil fertility via climate change. In addition to food security, nutritional security through fruit crops has become a core agenda of extreme scientific debate. Of them, citrus holds a place of prominence to fulfill these objectives on one hand, and on the other hand, makes it highly imperative to undertake an incisive analysis as how climate change is dictating the performance of citrus through soil fertility changes. Elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration and consequent rise in temperature will trigger the simultaneous increase in soil temperature, with the result, dynamics of microbial community structure and diversity both will be influenced, and hence, available pool of nutrients in soil to varying magnitude as per available limited studies. These changes need to be mitigated through some soil carbon sequestering techniques like long-term organic manuring, use of microbial consortium, integrated nutrient management instead of exclusive chemical fertilizers, etc. With more databases accruing through researches on these issues, complexities involved in unraveling the soil fertility-climate change nexus will be eased out in the larger benefit of citriculture in the years to come. Since citrus is globally grown across 153 countries, in the context of uncertainties associated with global climate change (direction, rate, seasonal and geographical distribution), such exercise, however, needs appropriate accelerated efforts.