Climate change is a scientific issue of global interest and Africa is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world strongly affected by its consequences in water resources for agriculture. Adaptation to climate change is one of the fundamental measures for human beings. Therefore, extensive researches on dew process have been carried out worldwide. Based on articles and relevant documents on the subject, this paper reviews the latest researches achievement in several domains of science, including measurements technics and dew possible contribution in plants water requirement satisfaction. A case study in Benin climate (West Africa) compares the probable amount of dew that can be harvested by maize canopy as water during the main stages of its growth cycle. Evaluation of dew amount and maize water requirements are done using the Penman-Monteith equation. The theoretical results show that dew can contribute for about 9 to 10% in the IZEE-W-SR-(ODE-TUWE) corn variety’s water requirements. So, future researches on dew can be performed in arid and semi-arid areas as alternative water for agriculture.

Maize plants have different aerial roots from those that serve as an anchor and develop on the stem and live in the atmosphere. Much literature has reported that aerial roots are able to absorb moisture from the air, and even reduce water loss. But very little is known about the exchange of condensed atmospheric water between the aerial roots and the surrounding air. The main purpose of this article is to simulate the absorption of condensed atmospheric moisture by the aerial roots of corn plants. The evaluation of the amount of dew deposited on the roots and the radial water flow through the root is made using the Penman-Monteith equation and the Fick’s law correlated with the Ohm’s law respectively. The various simulations prove that the aerial roots condense atmospheric humidity and that the latter have expressed the transpiration function for certain angles of inclination with a particularity for the inclination of 30° which, from a certain amount of dew expressed the function of dew absorption. On the other hand, for other inclinations, the roots expressed the function of the absorption of humidity with an optimization for the inclination of 60 °. The absorption and transpiration mechanism needs further studies in the future about the characteristics of the radial conductivity through the parameters which influence the coefficient of radial conductivity in the terminal parts of the root than in the lateral parts. In addition, the comparative study of the Priestley-Taylor and Penman-Monteith models is necessary to better understanding of the specific parameters.