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Comparison of winter wheat yield sensitivity to climate variables under irrigated and rain-fed conditions

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Abstract

Crop simulation models provide alternative, less time-consuming, and cost-effective means of determining the sensitivity of crop yield to climate change. In this study, two dynamic mechanistic models, CERES (Crop Environment Resource Synthesis) and APSIM (Agricultural Production Systems Simulator), were used to simulate the yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under well irrigated (CFG) and rain-fed (YY) conditions in relation to different climate variables in the North China Plain (NCP). The study tested winter wheat yield sensitivity to different levels of temperature, radiation, precipitation, and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration under CFG and YY conditions at Luancheng Agro-ecosystem Experimental Stations in the NCP. The results from the CERES and APSIM wheat crop models were largely consistent and suggested that changes in climate variables influenced wheat grain yield in the NCP. There was also significant variation in the sensitivity of winter wheat yield to climate variables under different water (CFG and YY) conditions. While a temperature increase of 2°C was the threshold beyond which temperature negatively influenced wheat yield under CFG, a temperature rise exceeding 1°C decreased winter wheat grain yield under YY. A decrease in solar radiation decreased wheat grain yield under both CFG and YY conditions. Although the sensitivity of winter wheat yield to precipitation was small under the CFG, yield decreased significantly with decreasing precipitation under the rainfed YY treatment. The results also suggest that wheat yield under CFG linearly increased by ≈3.5% per 60 ppm (parts per million) increase in CO2 concentration from 380 to 560 ppm, and yield under YY increased linearly by ≈7.0% for the same increase in CO2 concentration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Agricultural Water Resources, Hebei Key Laboratory for Agricultural Water-Saving, Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang, 050021, China

    Dengpan Xiao, Yanjun Shen, Yongqing Qi, Hongwei Pei & Yucui Zhang

  2. Institute of Geographical Sciences, Hebei Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang, 050011, China

    Dengpan Xiao, Rende Wang & Huitao Shen

  3. Institute of Geographical Sciences and Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    He Zhang

  4. School of Technology, Njala University, Njala, Sierra Leone

    Juana P. Moiwo

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  1. Dengpan Xiao
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  2. Yanjun Shen
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  3. He Zhang
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  4. Juana P. Moiwo
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  5. Yongqing Qi
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Correspondence to Yanjun Shen.

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Xiao, D., Shen, Y., Zhang, H. et al. Comparison of winter wheat yield sensitivity to climate variables under irrigated and rain-fed conditions. Front. Earth Sci. 10, 444–454 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-015-0534-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-015-0534-3

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