ISSN:
1432-1319
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
Notes:
Summary Correlations between spring rainfall and grain yield were determined for four winter wheat cultivars (Triticum aestivum L. em. Thell. ‘Triumph’, ‘Wichita’, ‘Concho’, and ‘Triumph 64’), grown between 1950 and 1977 under dryland conditions at Stillwater, in the East Central region of Oklahoma, and at Goodwell, located in the drier, western part of the state. At Stillwater, all but one of the cultivars exhibited maximum positive correlations between rainfall and yield in the fourth week of March, when stem-extension occurs. Smaller positive correlations were observed in mid-April when flowering. Results at Goodwell were similar except that the correlations between rainfall and yield were lower and occurred earlier than at Stillwater and showed a less marked secondary peak at flowering. These results agree with those of experiments in which irrigation has been applied at different growth stages of wheat, and have shown that both stem-extension and flowering are critical stages of water requirement. As the results of this climatic study show that the peak correlations between rainfall and yield occur at these same two stages, it is suggested that long-term climatic data could be used to determine optimum timing for irrigation of wheat. Such an approach should save water and energy by limiting irrigation to those times when analysis of local records demonstrates the maximum positive correlation between rainfall and yield.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00277629
Permalink
