Investor Presentaiton
Climate 2020, 8, 46
2 of 16
The consideration of both climatic and hydrologic factors is important in order to increase crop
yields. Skillful and effective exploitation of favorable weather and climate conditions and overcoming
harmful conditions is one of the main objectives of modern agriculture (e.g., [4]). Currently, efforts are
being directed toward projecting changes in agro-climatic conditions related to crop production
including sugar beet (air and soil temperature regimes, the amount and mode of precipitation, the
duration of the growing period, changes in soil fertility, carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere, etc.)
(e.g., [5–7]). The determination of these factors and their impact on the dynamics of crop yields is the
subject of many recent studies (e.g., [6–8]).
In this regard, there is the agrometeorological problem of determining the degree of influence
of climate-related variability and changes in environmental factors on plant life cycle and crop
yields (e.g., [9] and references therein). They [9] demonstrated that interannual variability (e.g.,
El Nino and Southern Oscillation-ENSO) and interdecadal variability of local climate strongly
contributed to variability the corn and soybean yield in the Midwestern USA. References [10–12]
examine climatological factors such as drought, sowing time, and light absorption on sugar beet yields
in particular. An assessment of these variables is necessary for optimal crop allocation and production
planning [13-15].
Agro-climatic factors, the most important of which are temperature and precipitation, play a
decisive role in determining what crops are planted and crop yields regionally, although quantitative
estimates of this impact are ambiguous. The main industrial crops in the Belgorod Region, which is
within the Central Chernozem Region in southwest and central Russia, are sugar beet and sunflower.
The yield dynamics for these industrial crops within the region are influenced significantly by the
specifics of the material and technical conditions for growing these crops, the observed changes in
regional climate and agro-climatic resources, and increasing anthropogenic impacts on the environment.
Thus, the aim of this research is to study the effect of heat and moisture availability on the yield
and sugar content of sugar beets, and compare these results to studies conducted in other regions.
In particular, the study will focus on the weather and climate conditions during the sugar beet growing
season and relating the variability in weather and climate to the sugar beet yield character.
2. Data and Methods
In order to meet the objective of this research, the temperature and precipitation characteristics
within the Belgorod Region (southwest Russia) (Figure 1) during the vegetated period or the
growing season for sugar beet will be examined. The meteorological and agrometeorological data set
(temperature, °C, and precipitation, mm) was provided by the Belgorod Center for Hydrometeorology
and Environmental Monitoring (BCHEM) at six stations for the period from 1954 to 2018, or 65 years.
The BCHEM also provided the calculated characteristics and methodologies for assessing the
agricultural productivity of climate, i.e., the bioclimatic potential (BCP) using the methodology
of [16], which accounts for the thermal character of the region as well as the seasonal humidity deficit.
In addition to the BCP, the moisture index in [17] was also calculated. Reference [14] used both of these
quantities to study and compare yield potential for the central United States and southwest Russia.
Additional material used in this research was the catalog of Northern Hemisphere (NH) circulation
regime classifications (called essential circulation mechanisms or modes―ECM) as proposed by [18] in
1946 and used widely in later studies (e.g., [17,19,20]) and discussed in detail by [20-22].
The Hydrothermal Coefficient (HTC) is also an indicator of moisture content published by the
Soviet climatologist G. T. Selyaninov [23]. The HTC is determined by the ratio of the precipitation
amount (r) (mm) during the period with average daily air temperatures above 10 °C to the sum of
temperature (ΣT*) during the same time-period (multiplied by 0.1), that is:
HTC = r / (0.1 Σ T*)
(1)View entire presentation