1. Why and how the following weather elements are important and influence the growth and development of crop plants and yield? a. Rainfall b. Relative Humidity c. Sunshine d. Air-Temperature e. Wind velocity After successful completion of 5 Lessons in this Module, you have learned to answer: Virtual Academy for the Semi Arid Tropics Course on Crop-Weather Relationships Module IV: Weather and Plant Growth

2. Lesson 1: Rainfall and plant growth Lesson 2: Relative humidity and plant growth Lesson 3: Sunshine and plant growth Lesson 4: Air-Temperature and plant growth Lesson 5: Wind and plant growth The 5 Lessons in this Module are: Virtual Academy for the Semi Arid Tropics Course on Crop-Weather Relationships Module IV: Weather and Plant Growth

3. Virtual Academy for the Semi Arid Tropics Lesson 5- Wind and plant growth Course on Crop-Weather Relationships Module IV: Weather and Plant Growth After successful completion of this Lesson, you will be able to answer: 1. Why wind velocity is important for crop plants? 2. How plants respond to high winds? 3. Why plants show wilting symptoms on a hot day with high winds? 4. When light winds also damage crops?

4. Virtual Academy for the Semi Arid Tropics Lesson 5- Wind and plant growth Course on Crop-Weather Relationships Module IV: Weather and Plant Growth Why wind velocity is important for crop plants?  Wind affects the growth and development of agricultural crops.  Plants of modified form and reduced size are common in windy areas.  High winds are experienced in association with cyclones, depressions and thunderstorms which damage crops.  Evapo-transpiration rates are affected by wind. Evapo-transpiration

5. Virtual Academy for the Semi Arid Tropics Lesson 5- Wind and plant growth Course on Crop-Weather Relationships Module IV: Weather and Plant Growth How winds affect crop plants?  Warm and dry winds cause greater losses of moisture through evaporation and result in water stress. evaporation  High winds cause mechanical damage to crops, such as breaking or lodging.

6. Virtual Academy for the Semi Arid Tropics Lesson 5- Wind and plant growth Course on Crop-Weather Relationships Module IV: Weather and Plant Growth How winds affect crop plants?  Wind direction and high winds interfere with timely spraying operations to control pest and diseases.  Light winds blowing from colder parts will bring about a drop in temperature and create frosty conditions, which in turn damage the crops.

7. This concludes Lesson 5 on Wind and plant growth, and also this Module. To assess your understanding of weather and plant growth, please click on “Exercise” button in Module IV contents. Next, Module V is about climatic requirement of few crops. Select Module V from Course contents Virtual Academy for the Semi Arid Tropics Course on Crop-Weather Relationships Module IV: Weather and Plant Growth

8. Evaporation is loss of water vapor from water surface or wet surface. Measurements of evaporation from free water surfaces and the soil are of great importance in agricultural and in the design and operation of reservoirs, irrigation and drainage systems, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. Evaporation Transpiration and evaporation in plants are sometimes combined in scientific language, and are called "evapo-transpiration".