Impact of climatic variability on durum wheat (Triticum durum L.) yields in North Western of Algeria

Abstract

In semi arid region of the South West of the Mediterranean basin, low rainfall, and thermal fluctuations cause water stress situations affecting at different levels, with varying intensities, the development of durum wheat yields. This work aims to study the major climatic factors that determine water environment of durum wheat in its reproductive period and assess their trend related to yields of the grain. Comparing diagrams of Bagnoul and Gaussen, established for two periods (1913-1937 and 1977-2014), highlighted an increase in the duration of the dry season due to rising temperatures, especially summer and a decrease in volume of the seasonal rainfall involving therefore water stress during the reproductive phase of cereal. The analysis of water regime in the past three decades, for the months of March, April and May, through the application of the approach of UNESCO-FAO, highlighted a very large variability in intensity of water stress during grain development period during the last years and also the tendency of the spring season months to be more drought. This reflects the complexity of the selection for yield components in this region.

Effect of Water Regime on Growth Performance of Durum Wheat (Triticum Durum Desf.) During Different Vegetative Phases

“…It is obvious that the first water supply at the stage of heading allows improvement and stabilization of this yield component and consequently later improves the grain yield of wheat. These results are close to those reported by Baroudi et al (2016).…”

“…To mitigate the occurrence of water stress and thus improve the overall efficiency uses of both rain and irrigation water, it is necessary to adopt an irrigation strategy that depends on the state of soil moisture (Malek and Verburg, ). Scheduling and time planning of irrigation water inputs are therefore of definite benefit for crops and soil‐associated microorganisms, because they allow favourable moisture in the rhizosphere and surficial soil layers to be maintained for a long period, which ensures steady water nutrition of cultivated plants (Baroudi et al, ), and subsequently increases growth and yield (Boudjabi et al, , ).…”

“…The decision to irrigate crops in semi‐arid areas depends on the climatic regime and the availability of irrigation water, as well as the cost resulting from the application of one or more irrigations (Baroudi et al, ). Moreover, supplementary irrigation targets the optimization of yield in areas where the water deficit is occasional and of short duration, and also to optimize available natural limits and irrigation resources (Daroui et al, ; Karrou, ; Chebil et al, ).…”

“…Most cereal crops in North Africa are rainfed and suffer from drought and insufficient rainfall, which limit the potential for wheat cultivation. The period of growth of a wheat crop is limited by insufficient moisture at the beginning and end of the plant cycle due to water and heat stresses (Adjabi et al, ; Baroudi et al, ). To mitigate the effects of climate, effort is mainly focused on the management of crops and intercrops to improve the value of rainfall (Chamekh et al, ).…”