Climate change impact assessment on three major crops in the north-central region of Bangladesh using DSSAT

The potential consequences of climate change emanated from global warming are very alarming;the greatest concern is the potentially disastrous consequences on crop agriculture and food security in many parts of the world.Bangladesh is a country highly susceptible to climate change,but information in this regard is still inadequate.This study investigated the effects of climate change on three major crops-wheat,potato and rice-in the north-central region of Bangladesh.Two climate change scenarios,A2 and B2,of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC)were generated by employing MAGICC/SCENGEN model together with the observed climate data of the region.The growth and yield of the crops were simulated using DSSAT CERES-Wheat,SUBSTOR-Potato and CERES-Rice models under the present and projected future changing climatic conditions.For a predicted 5.32℃ increase in temperature in the year 2100,the yield of wheat,rice and potato would decrease by 47.6%,67.8%and 38.6%,respectively.The increased temperature would accelerate physiological maturity of the crops as reflected by their reduced length of growing season(LGS)by 1.20%to 18.5%.The reduced LGS would reduce seasonal evapotranspiration(ET)of the crops by shortening time-span for ET generation.Due to dominant yield reduction over ET reduction,the water use efficiency(WUE)for grain/tuber and biomass yields would decrease with the changing climate.The reduced crop yields are an indicative of a potential future risk of food security in Bangladesh.The results of this study can therefore guide to adopt coping mechanisms in the light of climate change to ensure future food security of the country.

Effects of Conservation Agriculture on Land and Water Productivity in Yellow River Basin, China

In the dryland regions of North China,water is the limiting factor for rainfed crop production.Conservation agriculture(featuring reduced or zero tillage,mulching,crop rotations and cover crops)has been proposed to improve soil and water conservation and enhance yields in these areas.Conservation agriculture systems typically result in increased crop water availability and agro-ecosystem productivity,and reduced soil erosion.To evaluate the potential of conservation agriculture to improve soil water balance and agricultural productivity,the DSSAT crop model was calibrated using the data of a field experiment in Shouyang County in the semi-arid northeastern part of the Yellow River Basin.The average annual precipitation at the site is 472 mm,75%of which falls during the growing season.The site had a maize-fallow-maize rotation.data from two crop seasons(2005 and 2006)and four treatments for calibration and analysis were used.The treatments were:conventional tillage(CT),no-till with straw mulching(NTSM),all-straw incorporated(ASRT)and one-third residue left on the surface with no-till(RRT).The calibration results gave satisfactory agreement between field observed and model predicted values for crop yield for all treatments except RRT treatment,and for soil water content of different layers in the 150 cm soil profile for all treatments.The difference between observed and predicted values was in the range of 3%-25%for maize yield and RMSE was in the range of 0.03-0.06 cm^(3)/cm^(3) for soil water content measured periodically each cropping season.While these results are encouraging,more rigorous calibration and independent model evaluation are warranted prior to making recommendations based on model simulations.Medium-term simulations(1995-2004)were conducted for three of the treatments using the calibrated model.The NTSM and ASRT treatments had similar or higher yields(by up to 36%),higher crop water productivity by up to 28%and reduced runoff of up to 93%or 43 mm compared to CT treatment.