ABSTRACT
Climate change and global warming are the greatest concerns of contemporary time. Due to its impact, commercial cultivation of horticultural crops like fruits, vegetables, flowers and ornamentals, spices and plantation crops, and medicinal plants will perform poorly. On one hand melting ice of Himalayas will impact the chilling requirement of temperate crops; on the other hand extremes of temperature will be vulnerable for crop cultivation in open field condition. Besides, pollination will also be hampered because of its effect on pollinators and thus will have significant impact of fruit set and yield. Flowering, crop growth and development, pest and disease infestation will also be influenced due to changing climate. Hence, a sustainable approach is needed to address and mitigate the problem. Conservation, use of renewable energy, reforestation, cultivation of location specific crops suitable in changed climate, resistant and tolerant crops to biotic and abiotic stresses; and hi-tech horticulture involving green houses, shade nets, fertigation, and so on will be crucial for having climate resilient horticulture. Breeding and biotechnological approach for evolving more suitable varieties for stress situations should definitely have to be a thrust area for research.
