Warming Leads to Lower Rice Quality in East Asia
Abstract Rice quality, which is intricately connected to market value and human nutrition, is sensitive to weather conditions. However, the relative importance of the different climatic factors is poorly understood, and the impact of climate change on rice quality has been little studied on a large scale. Here, using more than 35 years of rice quality data, we present the first effort to determine the key climate variables driving rice quality in China and Japan. Results show a significant decline in high quality rice rate (HRR, an indicator of rice quality), mainly driven by warm nighttime temperatures when they exceed a critical threshold estimated at 18°C and 12°C in China and Japan, respectively. Climate projections suggest a continuing decreasing trend in HRR under moderate and high emission scenarios by 2100. These findings emphasize the importance of breeding new heat tolerant cultivars to maintain stable rice quality in the future.
Authors
- Xianfeng Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6576-0711)
- Philippe Ciais (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8560-4943)
- David Makowski
- Juan Liang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3833-106X)
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (FR)
- AgroParisTech (FR)
- Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR)
- Université Paris-Saclay (FR)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR)
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (FR)
- Shaanxi Normal University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Published
- 2024-11-03
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2024gl110557
- Citations
- 10
- Primary Topic
- Climate change impacts on agriculture
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 10.29
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology
- Social Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
- Key Research and Development Projects of Shaanxi Province