Climate Change: Challenges and Opportunities in Agriculture [antikvár]

Budapest, Hungary, 2011___AGRISAFE CLIMATE CHANGE: CHALLENGE FOR TRAINING APPLIED PLANT SCIENTISTS (THE AGRISAFE PROJECT) O. VEISZ Agricultural Research Institute ofthe Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Martonvásár, Hungary E-mail: [email protected] Abstract Agriculture is one of the economic sectors most susceptible to climate change. The success of crop production has a fundamental influence on food security, so the elimination or mitigation of losses caused by climate change is a strategic aim. Basic and applied research on the predicted effects of climate change, using the facilities available in one of the largest phytotrons in Europe, has been underway in the Agricultural Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (ARI HAS) for almost 20 years. A grant from the EU FP7-REGPOT-2007-I programme has transformed the institute into a training and research centre for the Central European region, charged with training scientists, breeders, innovation experts and farmers from Hungary and abroad (primarily from EU countries) to prepare for the consequences of climate change. Key words: research potential improvement, agriculture, plant production, climate change, weather extremes Introduction The last century was marked by increases in the atmospheric CO2 concentration and mean temperature of the Earth, a thinning of the polar ice cap and a rise in the sea level. The cost incurred each year due to increasingly frequent climate anomalies can now be measured in billions of dollars. Numerous factors involved in climate change have an influence on agriculture, especially plant production. Higher mean temperatures accelerate plant development, resulting in a shorter vegetation period and smaller yields. Although the increase in the atmospheric CO2 concentration has an indirect negative influence due to the greenhouse effect, it also stimulates biomass accumulation, thus increasing yields. The more intensive temperature increase in the Carpathian Basin, the decrease in summer precipitation (Bartholy and Pongrácz, 2008; Mika, 1991) and the declining water reserves make the Hungarian climate prone to drought (Huszár et al., 1999). One direct consequence of the increasing CO2 concentration is that the assimilation rate of plants is more intense (Wolf, 1996). Elevated CO2 levels increase both the above-ground and below-ground biomass. The two impacts may interact, as higher carbon dioxide levels aggravate the negative effect of drought on quantitative yield parameters (Bencze et al., 2007). Different varieties have different levels of adaptability which will make it possible to select genotypes which can be grown successfully even under changed conditions (Veisz et al., 2005). The weather extremes most frequently experienced in Central and Eastern Europe are very low or high temperatures, and a deficiency or excess of precipitation. These weather factors fluctuate to a greater extent in this region than in Western Europe. Yield losses of up to 20%, accompanied by a general decline in the stability of ecosystems, are predicted over considerable areas of Europe. Food security is one of the most important components of adaptation to global climate change, so the training of both scientists and farmers in this field is of major importance. New biological materials and production systems that will be viable under the changed circumstances must also be developed. Research and training concept of the project In Eastern Central Europe, where 28 years out of 100 are dry, and where drought.