ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on climate change, its causes and impact on horticultural crops. Climate change is no more a myth but it is reality. High atmospheric temperature, unpredicted erratic rainfall, rapid soil degradation and evolution of new insect and pests due to climate change will offer new challenge to sustain agriculture. While the clear and holistic idea about impact of climate change on horticultural crops like vegetables and fruits are not well documented especially in developing countries like India. Melting of glaciers and ice cap, increasing sea level due to thermal expansion and ice melting, shorter winter and longer summer, hotter night, frequent extreme weather like flood, drought, frequent occurrence of natural calamities like cyclone are main evidence of present global warming and climate change. Global climate change is resulting in increases in daily, seasonal, and annual mean temperatures, and increases in the intensity, frequency, and duration of abnormally low and high temperatures.
