Drought Causes

Periods of drought are characterized by a shortage or abnormally low amount of water in the environment. There are numerous causes of droughts. The most common cause is a scarcity in rainfall. An extended duration without rain will lead to a region to drying out. With human beings continually procreating, the world’s population is rapidly increasing. With more people populating the earth, more food will be needed. The human race is destroying and devastating the Earth of all of its natural resources in the attempt to satisfy the insatiable hunger and greedy desires of the growing population. Destructive human activities such as deforestation and over-farming lead to erosion in the soil. This has a direct correlation on the capability of the

Drought-induced loss in crop yield exceeds losses from all other natural disasters. Drought stress reduces leaf size, stems extension, and root proliferation, disturbs plant water relations and reduces water-use efficiency. (Farooq, 2009). This ultimately leads to a reduced plant size. Without a sufficient amount of water, plants are not able to perform the necessary biological processes, such as photosynthesis, that are required to maintain homeostasis in plants. Reduced photosynthesis is directly proportional to diminished growth in

All of the pots had the same ratio of water to soil—2.27 g water per g of dry soil. After the relocation, the plants were withheld water as the purpose of the experiment is to evaluate plant growth under conditions of drought. Each pot represented the control, moderate drought, or severe drought. The control pots were dried down to 1.82^g^g-1. The pots that would be testing for drought stress were further dried to 0.72^g^g-1 for the moderate drought and 0.45^g^g-1for severe drought. The pots’ weights were examined every day, and when water was added, it was added to the outer edges of the pot. Water was only added after the target weight had been reached. Only enough water was added to readjust the pot weight to the target level. After two to three days, the second leaf appeared; another three days later, the third leaf emerged. Nearly all plants grew synchronously, and the third leaf of plants within the same experiment always appeared within a 24-hour time window (Bertolini,