Climate Warming Impacts on Maize Grain Yield: Mitigating Heat Stress During Grain Filling

Maize (Zea mays L.) is a vital crop globally, playing a critical role in ensuring food security (FAO, 2021). The increasing population and climate change have raised concerns about food security in the coming decades (Lobell et al., 2011; Schauberger et al., 2017; IPCC 2021). Climate warming is causing more frequent and severe heat stress incidents that pose a serious risk to crop production (Ben-Air et al., 2018; Kang et al., 2018; Waldhoff et al., 2020; Jägermeyr et al., 2021). Grain yield formation depends significantly on grain weight, which is sensitive to changes in temperature (Gallagher et al., 1976). Therefore, developing robust adaptation and management strategies to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate warming during the reproductive stage, particularly for grain filling, is crucial (Challinor et al., 2016).