Estimation of the drought sensitivity of Hungarian soils based on corn yield responses

Abstract

During our soil-specific drought sensitivity research, an aim of ours was to ascertain how drought, a stress factor caused by the lack of precipitation, affects soil fertility. We used the five-year-long (1985-1989) soil and corn yield data of the National Pedological and Crop Production Database (NPCPD). We assigned the annual Pálfai Drought Index (PaDI) to the annual corn yield data of the NPCPD in order to identify drought-free corn yields and production areas. We determined the drought sensitivity of soils by comparing drought-free and annual yields. Based on the results of our statistical analyses, we created a seven-point drought sensitivity scale of soil types, based on which we produced a national soil-specific drought sensitivity index map. Our results may provide a good starting point for constructing large-scale (1: 10,000) climate sensitivity soil maps of agricultural lands, which can assist with soil-specific crop production that also adapts to climate change.

Experiences of soil physical measurements with laser diffractometer and their application possibilities in soil water management research

“…The most important input parameters for water management models using different 'climate scenarios' for the future are measured or estimated hydrophysical parameters. The results of the model runs also support the empirical observations that the same weather conditions on different soils and with different crops grown on them can have various consequences depending on the soil properties ('sensitivity to drought or waterlogging') (Kocsis et al 2020;Steinfeld et al 2020). In the field of agriculture and the environment, the combined environmental effects of, for example, physically and biologically degraded, nutrient-poor soils during drought, or soils saturated with water and contaminated with some pollutant at the same time, are of particular importance (Makó-Hernádi 2012).…”

Human Impact Promotes Sustainable Corn Production in Hungary

“…Extreme weather events cause unequal rainfall distribution on Hungarian land and negatively influence soil fertility through natural water supply. Different soils react differently to the stress effects evolved as a result of lacking precipitation, so their drought sensitivity will not be the same [17]. There is a marked tendency that drought and heat stress have become more common, which had a strong negative impact on corn yields in several years [18,19].…”