Geographical variations in yield-weather relationships over a large wheat growing region
✍ Scribed by G.D.V. Williams
- Book ID
- 102979134
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1971
- Weight
- 996 KB
- Volume
- 9
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0002-1571
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✦ Synopsis
WILLIAMS,
G. D. V., 1972
. Geographical variations in yield-weather relationships over a large wheat growing region. Agric. Meteorol., 9: 265-283.
Within a large wheat growing region, the Canadian Prairies, large differences were found in the relationships of wheat yield fluctuations to weather variations. Regression analyses were performed independently on eight non-overlapping groups of districts, using data from the 1952-1966 period and considering each district-year in a group as a separate case. The weather variables included May, June and July precipitation and potential evapotranspiration, pre-season conserved precipitation, and some second-degree variables formed from these. Correlations of yields with weather variables were greatest in the driest areas, where only one weather variable was needed to explain 40 ~o of the yield variance. In the most humid parts of the region at least three such variables were needed, and it appeared that there was often too much moisture for maximum yields. Potential applications and possible improvements in the weather-based yield estimation procedures are suggested. The method could be adapted for other crops and for other regions of the world, and could help in long range planning of land use and short range planning to move grain from areas of surpluses to areas of shortages.