Climate Change and Agriculture—Sustainable Plant Production

Climate change has a great impact on plant growth and agricultural production, especially on the growing season, growth rate, and growth distribution. Climate change can prolong the plant growing season and expand the areas suitable for crop planting [1], as well as promote crop photosynthesis thanks to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. However, an excessive carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere may lead to unbalanced nutrient absorption in crops and hinder photosynthesis [2], respiration, and transpiration, thus affecting crop yields [3,4]. Irregular precipitation patterns and extreme weather events such as droughts and floods can lead to hypoxia and nutrient loss in the plant roots [5]. An increase in the frequency of extreme weather events directly damages plants and expands the range of diseases and pests [6]. In addition, climate change will also affect soil moisture content, temperature, microbial activity, nutrient cycling, and quality, thus affecting plant growth [7]. Plants are the basis of agricultural production, and the uncertainty of climate change brings challenges and opportunities to the sustainable production of plants. Therefore, it is important to understand the mechanisms through which climate change impacts plants and agriculture and take adaptive measures to promote sustainable agricultural development.

This Special Issue of Agronomy, “Climate Change and Agriculture—Sustainable Plant Production”, focuses on the interaction between climate change and agriculture. The collection features a total of ten papers, six of which (including two reviews) deal with crops and four of which discuss soils. The research included in this Special Issue covers the impact of temperature/climate change on the yield and quality of rice, wheat, and olive oil; the adaptation strategies of crops in the face of climate change; the impact of climate change on soil nutrient cycling; and the spatial–temporal characteristics and influencing factors of the normalized vegetation index (NDVI), which are analyzed using various models. Moreover, the mechanism of early maturing of short-season cotton, high-yield cultivation methods, and carbon planting strategies of organic vegetables are discussed in detail.

The first two articles included in this Special Issue focus on the impact of environmental factors on soil and vegetation. Based on previous studies on the stoichiometric relationship of C:N:P, Zhang et al. compared the spatial distribution of the stoichiometric relationship of C:N:P:K between farmland and grassland soils at different scales in the agropastoral ecotone of Inner Mongolia. The authors then explored the influence of environmental factors on soil stoichiometry, combining their results with Spearman correlation analysis. They concluded that there are differences in C:N:P:K stoichiometric relationships between farmland and grassland soils. The average annual precipitation has a significant influence on the soil stoichiometric relationship in farmland, while the soil stoichiometric relationship in grassland is more significantly affected by the average annual air temperature. The study reveals the important effects of land use patterns and environmental factors on soil nutrient cycling. In the future, based on this research result and combined with the C:N:P:K stoichiometric relationship between farmland soil and plants, the stoichiometric relationship mechanism of different agricultural management methods and its effects on biomass distribution can be studied to improve agricultural production efficiency [8]. Meanwhile, Hou et al. focused on the climate warming and aridification which have been ongoing in Maowusu Sandland for the past 20 years. The authors explored the impact of climate warming and aridification on vegetation change and predict future vegetation growth trends using a deep learning model. This improved prediction accuracy and provided new perspectives for sustainable agricultural development [9].

With the intensification of global climate change, both high and low temperatures will harm crop yield and quality. It is therefore crucial to study the impact of climate change on crop growth, yield, and quality. Rice, wheat, and olive oil are major agricultural products under threat from climate change. Oh et al. evaluated the growth of and physiological processes in rice using plant height, chlorophyll, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and maximum photosynthetic rate (Amax). The authors used the heating degree day index to evaluate the effect of heat stress on yield. The growth, ripening, and senescence of rice during the whole growing season were studied under high-temperature conditions. The results show that rice was not affected by heat stress during the tillering stage, but there was a cumulative effect during the booting stage. At 3 °C above AT (AT + 3 °C), the photosynthetic capacity of rice was maintained for a long time in the grain-filling stage [10]. Zhang et al. found that current studies on the growth and development of winter wheat mainly focus on the formation stage of heading and yield after flowering, while relatively few studies discuss the jointing stage. Therefore, Zhang et al. focused on the changes in the physiological characteristics of the typical variety “Ji Mai 22” under different low-temperature conditions and different durations in view of the low-temperature stress endured by winter wheat during the jointing stage. The results show that under low-temperature stress, the photosynthetic parameters, aging characteristics, and endogenous hormone levels of the leaves of “Ji Mai 22” showed varying degrees of change, and it was found that the lower limit of growth temperature during jointing was −3 °C [11]. The influence of climate change on the quality and composition of vegetable oil, a daily necessity, cannot be ignored. Bortoluzzi et al. studied how climatic conditions affect the composition of olive oil produced by centenarian olive trees. In their study, 25 centenarian olive trees located in the Côa Valley region of Northern Portugal were evaluated for two consecutive years. It was found that changes in climate conditions significantly affected the composition of olive oil. Among them, the results of the second-year evaluation showed that the proportion of palmitic acid in the olive oil increased significantly, while the content of stearic acid and arachidonic acid decreased. In addition, the concentrations of β-tocopherol, hydroxytyrosol, and tyrosol also changed significantly. These preliminary results lay a foundation for future studies to explore the response of olive oil components of century-old olive trees to different climate change scenarios [12].

Under conditions exacerbated by climate change, heat stress seriously threatens plant growth and yield in warm environments. It is crucial to study genes related to heat tolerance, especially for plants that typically lack the ability to resist high temperatures. In light of this, Wang et al. chose the bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl.) as their research object and compared the gene expression characteristics of two varieties—“Mei feng” (heat-resistant) and “Lv long” (heat-sensitive)—under heat stress conditions. Through transcriptome analysis and other methods, the differential expression of a series of key genes was found. Genes related to the MAPK signaling pathway and bHLH transcription factor were up- or down-regulated especially significantly. Subsequently, the expression patterns of these genes were verified by quantitative real-time PCR, further confirming the reliability of the RNA-Seq results. The transcriptome analysis conducted in the study revealed some key genes that may be related to plant heat resistance, providing new research ideas for the future improvement of heat-resistant vegetable varieties and a fresh perspective on the molecular mechanisms of plant heat resistance. The study provides an important foundation for coping with the challenge of heat stress caused by climate change [13].

As an important factor supporting plant growth, soil is crucial to agricultural production and sustainable land use. Jiang et al. took quaternary red soils under different land use patterns as the research object and quantitatively analyzed the evolution characteristics of soil nutrients, thus providing an important reference for selecting and optimizing land use patterns and improving soil productivity and management levels. Nutrient change is related to vegetation type, coverage rate, fertilization method, and species [14]. In addition, based on the Cornell Soil Health Assessment system, the authors established a quaternary red soil health evaluation system and found that land use patterns had significant effects on soil health. In general, the health status of quaternary red soils under different land use patterns was better than that of buried quaternary red soil without human activity influences, showing a trend of evolution towards healthy soil. This indicates that human land use activities promote the healthy development of quaternary red soils to a certain extent [15].

The remaining two articles collated in this Special Issue focus on innovative approaches to agriculture, focusing on short-season cotton and carbon farming, respectively. Qi et al. provided a detailed overview of the early-maturing mechanism of short-season cotton, including its morphology, physiology, and molecular biology, and discussed its applications in the fields of planting pattern optimization, saline–alkali soil planting, machine picking, and cultivation without plastic cover. With the continuous progress of breeding technology, the lint rate and fiber quality of the new generation of short-season cotton varieties have been significantly improved while maintaining early maturity, high yield, and stress resistance [16]. On the other hand, Avasiloaiei et al. systematically reviewed the literature to assess the impact of carbon agriculture strategies for organic vegetable cultivation on carbon sequestration, soil health, and crop productivity, revealing the potential of carbon agriculture practices for improving the sustainability of organic agriculture systems. Carbon sequestration rates can be effectively improved through cover planting, reduced tillage, and composting application. The findings of the systematic review are a key foundation for the promotion of sustainable agricultural development [17].

Collectively, these studies focus on the effects of climate change on soils, vegetation, and crops, as well as exploring adaptation mechanisms in different ecosystems. Through stoichiometric relationship analysis, deep learning modeling, and transcriptome analysis, the challenges imposed by climate change on agricultural production are revealed. The adaptation mechanisms of plant growth and the various physiological processes and gene expression changes in the face of climate change and heat stress are also discussed. In addition, the establishment of a soil health evaluation system and the impact of different land use patterns on soil health are also emphasized, highlighting the importance of evidence-based land management to improve soil productivity and ecosystem stability. Overall, these studies provide important references for the improvement of agricultural production efficiency in the future, emphasize the key role of scientific management in addressing the challenge of climate change, and provide theoretical and practical guidance for achieving sustainable agricultural development.