The impact of weather risks on the yield of corn for grain in the Rostov region

Abstract

One of the reasons for the volatility of agricultural production is poorly predictable weather fluctuations that affect the food security of our country and are a serious problem for agricultural producers. Therefore, it is necessary to develop, justify and use measures that contribute to increasing the stability of agricultural crop yields throughout the territory of agricultural lands. The object of research was the yield of corn for grain and weather conditions during its growing season in the Rostov region. The purpose of the study was to analyze the impact on the stability of corn yield on grain of two main factors: natural and climatic changes represented by fluctuations in moisture supply, both interannual and during the growing season of corn for grain, and human economic activity considered in the aspect of reclamation measures, as well as the development and formulation of proposals to improve this stability. The main factors influencing the sustainable development of agricultural production as a whole are identified by the methods of system analysis and a scheme of relations in the agroindustrial complex is constructed, and the dependences of the corn yield on grain on the experimental fields of the Biryuchekut vegetable breeding experimental station are determined by the methods of statistical analysis –the branch of the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution ≪Federal Scientific Center of Vegetable Growing≫ depends on the amounts of precipitation and temperatures during the growing season, on the basis of which the main directions of land reclamation are formulated that allow optimal use of the agricultural opportunities of the land fund. The paper notes the connection of fluctuations in the yield of corn for grain with the heterogeneity of weather and climatic conditions and the results of human economic activity depending on the level of scientific and technical development in the agricultural sector, as well as with complex solutions to environmental management problems consisting in the rational use of natural resources and the use of various types of land reclamation. It was found that in the period from 2000 to 2019, depending on the amount of precipitation, the yield of corn on the bogar at the representative object varied from 11.8 to 39.5 c/ha, that is, by more than 3.3 times, whereas during irrigation in these years of observation, the yield was from 125.2 to 138 c/ha, respectively, that is, yield fluctuations did not exceed 10 %, irrigation of corn crops in acute arid years increased the yield by 8.6 times, in dry years –by 82.2 %, in favorable –by 71.7 %, and this indicates that in order to obtain a high yield of corn for grain, irrigation should be used not only in dry years, but also in years when 350–00 mm of precipitation falls during the growing season.