Together with 106 farmers who started growing Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.) in 2004–2006, this research sought to increase the knowledge around the real‐life experience of Jatropha farming in the southern India states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Launched as an alternative for diesel in India, Jatropha has been promoted as a non‐edible plant that could grow on poor soils, yield oil‐rich seeds for production of bio‐diesel, and not compete directly with food production. Through interviews with the farmers, information was gathered regarding their socio‐economic situation, the implementation and performance of their Jatropha plantations, and their reasons for continuing or discontinuing Jatropha cultivation. Results reveal that 82% of the farmers had substituted former cropland for their Jatropha cultivation. By 2010, 85% (n = 90) of the farmers who cultivated Jatropha in 2004 had stopped. Cultivating the crop did not give the economic returns the farmers anticipated, mainly due to a lack of information about the crop and its maintenance during cultivation and due to water scarcity. A majority of the farmers irrigated and applied fertilizer, and even pesticides. Many problems experienced by the farmers were due to limited knowledge about cultivating Jatropha caused by poor planning and implementation of the national Jatropha program. Extension services, subsidies, and other support were not provided as promised. The farmers who continued cultivation had means of income other than Jatropha and held hopes of a future Jatropha market. The lack of market structures, such as purchase agreements and buyers, as well as a low retail price for the seeds, were frequently stated as barriers to Jatropha cultivation. For Jatropha biodiesel to perform well, efforts are needed to improve yield levels and stability through genetic improvements and drought tolerance, as well as agriculture extension services to support adoption of the crop. Government programs will ‐probably be more effective if implementing biodiesel production is conjoined with stimulating the demand for Jatropha biodiesel. To avoid food‐biofuel competition, additional measures may be needed such as land‐use restrictions for Jatropha producers and taxes on biofuels or biofuel feedstocks to improve the competitiveness of the food sector compared to the bioenergy sector. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Plants are a highly advanced kingdom of living organisms on the earth. They survive under all climatic and weather variabilities, including low and high temperature, rainfall, radiation, less nutrients, and high salinity. Even though they are adapted to various environmental factors, which are variable, the performance of a crop will be compensated under sub/supra optimal conditions. Hence, current and future climate change factors pose a challenge to sustainable agriculture. Photosynthesis is the primary biochemical trait of crops that are affected by abiotic stress and elevated CO2 (eCO2). Under eCO2, the C3 legumes could perform better photosynthesis over C4 grasses. The associated elevated temperature promotes the survival of the C4 crop (maize) over C3 plants. In the American Ginseng, the elevated temperature promotes the accumulation of phytocompounds. Under less water availability, poor transpirational cooling, higher canopy temperatures, and oxidative stress will attenuate the stability of the membrane. Altering the membrane composition to safeguard fluidity is a major tolerance mechanism. For protection and survival under individual or multiple stresses, plants try to undergo high photorespiration and dark respiration, for instance, in wheat and peas. The redox status of plants should be maintained for ROS homeostasis and, thereby, plant survival. The production of antioxidants and secondary metabolites may keep a check on the content of oxidating molecules. Several adaptations, such as deeper rooting, epicuticular wax formation such as peas, and utilization of non-structural carbohydrates, i.e., wheat, help in survival. In addition to yield, quality is a major attribute abridged or augmented by climate change. The nutrient content of cereals, pulses, and vegetables is reduced by eCO2; in aniseed and Valeriana sp., the essential oil content is increased. Thus, climate change has perplexing effects in a species-dependent manner, posing hurdles in sustainable crop production. The review covers various scientific issues interlinked with challenges of food/nutritional security and the resilience of plants to climate variability. This article also glimpses through the research gaps present in the studies about the physiological effects of climate change on various crops.

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Grapevine downy mildew caused by Plasmopara viticola is an explosivedisease that causes severe damage to leaf, flowers and fruits of the vine.In the present study, an epidemiological model was developed to supportthe vine-growers to reduce the number of fungicidal sprays and protect theenvironmental hazards besides saving the input cost. To record the weatherdata, an automatic weather station was installed at Mathampatti Village,Coimbatore, India and the weather parameters such as relative humidity,minimum, maximum and night temperatures, rainfall, leaf wetness, dew fall,solar radiation etc., were recorded at once in a 10 minutes interval during2014-17. A logistic equation was designed based on the biological data(disease incidence, weather parameter and crop age) and its mathematicalanalysis was shown in this paper. The critical weather parameters werestudied using logistic equation with the support of “Curve expert programme”.The mode described the development of the infection and infection ratethrough computation-based analysis. The Decision Support Systems (DSS)were arrived using the disease progress curve obtained from the logisticequation. The DSS indicates the first two sprays during the congenial phaseof the disease from 25 to 45 Days After Pruning (DAP). Then the secondphase, ie rapid growth stage was termed as ‘Exponential phase’, in which twosprays on 55 and 65 DAP (flowering and fruiting stage) were carried out. Inthe final plateau phase (66 DAP to till harvest), the management strategiesapplied would not be cost-effective and no spray was recommended. Thefield experiment was carried out using the findings of the logistic equationwith different management modules for validation. The number of spraysof fungicide was reduced from 15 to 5 times in the logistic equation-basedtreated plot.

At present plants had to face adverse climatic fluctuations which are often detrimental for their growth in order to cope up with this situation, they develop certain adaptive tactics like synthesis of new proteins, micro RNAs, compatible solutes/ osmolites and radical release to avoid its adverse effects. Of these study on compatible solutes such as polyamines (PAs) gained popularity among researchers. In plant, they are involved in a wide variety of regulatory and cellular processes under normal conditions. During these stresses they acts by activating biosynthesis of signaling molecules like NO, H2O2; affects abscisic acid synthesis; Ca2+ homeostasis; ion channel signaling or even apoptosis in severe conditions. Over expression of PAs is reported in various stresses due to the presence of stress-responsive elements in the promoters of PA biosynthetic genes. This review paper, summarizes the effect of polyamines in boosting plants growth during abiotic stress and its mechanisms of action.