RECENT RESEARCH

Global climate change may result in reducing available water and a rise in air temperatures. All these changes will be major limiting factors to future sustainable food and vegetable production largely in the tropics and subtropics. These changes impact the overall growth and development dynamics of crop species and
understanding the physiological responses involved holds the key to estimating ‘cause-effect’ relationships between environment and yields. To address this critical challenge, the World Vegetable Center South Asia is exploring physiology based screening approaches for identifying elite mungbean accessions for high temperature tolerance under field and controlled growth conditions. Promising selections have been further subjected to elevated CO2 environments to determine their physiological responses, growth and yield abilities to help select lines with greater adaptability to the likely climates of the future.