How to minimize drought impact on food crops

The worldwide demand for legumes, one of the world’s most important agricultural food crops, is growing; at the same time, their production has been adversely affected by drought. In an Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis research paper published today in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers provide information that could help agricultural planning and management to minimize drought-induced yield losses.

Legumes, which include peas, beans, peanuts and alfalfa, are grown in almost every climatic region and are second only to cereals in terms of contribution to food security.
World demand for legumes is expected to grow in the foreseeable future, not only in developing countries but also in the developed nations, given the trend toward healthy dieting. Frequent intake of legumes, which are rich in protein and soluble fiber, has been associated with reduction of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, digestive tract disease and obesity. But many regions of the world have experienced significant shifts in the pattern and amount of rainfall, raising concerns about a growing water scarcity problem and increasing crop failure.
It has been unclear, however, how the effects of drought co-vary with legume species, soil condition, agroclimatic region and drought timing, said Lixin Wang, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences in the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and the corresponding author of “Global synthesis of drought effects on food legume production.”
To address those uncertainties, the researchers collected literature data from 1980 to 2014 that reported legume yield responses to drought under field conditions, and they analyzed this large data set using meta-analysis techniques.
The researchers were particularly interested in how different variables influenced the yield responses. The variables of interest include legume species; location, such as tropic or non-tropic; climatic region, such as dryland or non-dryland; drought timing; and soil texture.
“By synthesizing the results of field studies across the globe, we wanted to better characterize the factors that determine the magnitude of yield loss in legumes due to drought stress, which must be considered in agricultural planning to increase the resilience of legume production systems,” Wang said. “Our results could facilitate the development and selection of existing legume species, as well as better management for drought-prone regions by testing whether these species become more or less sensitive to climate variations, particularly drought.”