Rise in Temperature Impacting India's Wheat Production: Study

London: The recent rise in temperature, especially during night time, is having a negative impact on India's wheat production, according to a new study that warned of "serious implications" to the country's food security.

Geographers at the University of Southampton in the UK have found a link between increasing average temperatures in India and a reduction in wheat production. More specifically, they found a rise in night time temperatures is having the most impact.

Researchers Dr John Duncan, Dr Jadu Dash and Professor Pete Atkinson have shown that recent warmer temperatures in the country's major wheat belt are having a negative effect on crop yield.

"Our findings highlight the vulnerability of India's wheat production system to temperature rise, which is predicted to continue in the coming decades as a consequence of climate change," Duncan said.

"We are sounding an early warning to the problem, which could have serious implications in the future and so needs further investigation," he said.

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The researchers used satellite images taken at weekly intervals from 2002 to 2007 of the wheat growing seasons to measure "vegetation greenness" of the crop - acting as an indicator of crop yield, the study said.

The satellite imagery, of the north west Indo-Gangetic plains, was taken at a resolution of 500m squared - high enough to capture local agricultural practices, it added.

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The data was then compared with climate and temperature information for the area to examine the effect on growth and development of the crop.

Warmer temperatures during the reproductive and grain-filling (ripening) periods had a significant negative impact on productivity and warmer minimum daily temperatures (night time temperatures) had the most significant impact on yield, the study said.

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In some areas of the Indian wheat belt, growers have been bringing forward their growing season in order to align the most sensitive point of the crop growth cycle with a cooler period.

However, the researchers showed that in the long-term, this would not be an effective way of combating the problem, because of the high level of average temperature rise predicted for the future.

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Currently 213 million people in India are food insecure and over 100 million are reliant on the national food welfare system, which uses huge quantities of wheat.

This underlines how crucial it is to consider what types of wheat need to be grown in the coming decades to secure production, the study said.

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India is the second largest producer of wheat in the world and last year the country produced a record 95.85 million tonnes.