Management of Abiotic Stress in Forage Crops

Abstract

Forage plays a key role in rearing ruminants and protecting the environment. Apart from serving as the primary source of food for domestic and wild animals, forages also contribute to human civilization in different ways like protecting soil through crop over and fertility by addition of organic matter. It also provides habitat for wild animals. A survival strategy plays a more important role than a growth strategy to improve the sustainability of forage production, especially in extreme environmental conditions . Climate change is likely to affect the forage production and nutritional food security for domestic animals. Long-term rainfall data in India indicate that rainfed areas experience 3 to 4 years of drought in every 10 years. Of these, one or two of it occur in severe form. Forage crop production is largely affected by abiotic factors related stress such as drought, salinity, etc. There is need to adopt various conventional and genetic approaches to improve stress tolerance of forage crops.