Assessing Climate Change Impacts on Irrigation Water Requirements under Mediterranean Conditions—A Review of the Methodological Approaches Focusing on Maize Crop

Abstract

Climate change is a challenging fact influencing diverse sectors in society including the agricultural one, which is heavily dependent on natural resources and climate. In the Mediterranean region, climate change-related increases in air temperature, and in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as droughts, boost the pressure on the agricultural systems and affect crop yield potential. The growth of the world population implies that production needs to increase in a sustainable manner. Therefore, this study focuses on the maize crop due to its importance for food security and because it is a crop with significant water consumption that occupies a large worldwide area. In order to study climate change impacts on crop production, plant water requirements, and provide farmers guidelines helping them to adapt, it is necessary to simultaneously evaluate a large number of factors. For this reason, modelling tools are normally used to measure the future impact of climate change on crop yield by using historical and future climate data. This review focuses on climate change impacts on maize crop irrigation requirements and compares—by means of critical analysis—existing approaches that allow for the building a set of mitigation and adaptation measures throughout the study of climate.

Crop water requirement and irrigation scheduling under climate change scenario, and optimal cropland allocation in lower kulfo catchment

“…Climate change denotes significant and enduring shifts in Earth's climate, driven by human activities due to emitting of greenhouse gases like CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O, and altering temperature, precipitation, and wind patterns [ 6 ]. The estimation of climate change's impact on crop water requirement is used to suggest possible mitigation measures for sustainable water resources development [ 7 ].…”

Deficit Irrigation Applied to Lemon Trees Grafted on Two Rootstocks and Irrigated with Desalinated Seawater

“…By 2050, irrigated food production will expand by more than 50%, which will require a 10% increase in water used for agriculture [ 1 ]. However, CC generates considerable uncertainty about future water availability in many regions of the world, where increased water scarcity will pose a major challenge to climate adaptation [ 2 ]. Under Mediterranean conditions, and on average, irrigation water needs will increase by 7.4% [ 3 ], which will lead to greater pressure on water resources, aggravating the situation in arid and semi-arid areas that suffer from water stress already [ 4 , 5 ].…”

Morphological performance and seasonal pattern of water relations and gas exchange in Pistacia lentiscus plants subjected to salinity and water deficit

“…The escalation of both the frequency and magnitude of water stress and salinity is foreseen to manifest in numerous global regions within the framework of ongoing climate change ( Chaudhry and Sidhu, 2022 ; Soares et al., 2022 ). Rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns are projected to exacerbate existing water scarcity issues, while sea level rise and changing groundwater dynamics are expected to increase the incidence of salinity intrusion in coastal areas ( Asif et al., 2023 ).…”