Remus PRĂVĂLIE¹, Igor SÎRODOEV², Cristian Valeriu PATRICHE³, Georgeta BANDOC¹ & Daniel PEPTENATU^4
1Bucharest University, Faculty of Geography, Center for Coastal Research and Environmental Protection, Meteorology and Hidrology, 1 Nicolae Bălcescu str., Romania; e-mail: pravalie_remus@yahoo.com, geobandoc@yahoo.com
²University of Bucharest, Interdisciplinary Centre for Advanced Researches on Territorial Dynamics, 4-12 Regina Elisabeta str., Bucharest, Romania; e-mail: ingvarri@gmail.com
³Romanian Academy, Iaşi Divison, Geography Department, 8 Carol I str, Iaşi, Romania; e-mail: pvcristi@yahoo.com
⁴Bucharest University, Faculty of Geography, 1 Nicolae Bălcescu str., Romania; e-mail: peptenatu@yahoo.fr

THE ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CLIMATIC WATER DEFICIT AND CORN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY IN THE DOBROGEA PLATEAU

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This paper attempts to analyze the potential relationship between the climatic water deficit of the vegetation period of corn (April-September) and its agricultural yield, recorded in the Dobrogea plateau between 1990 and 2003. The data included in this study comprise spatialized climatic water deficit values (mm) (computed as the difference between precipitation and potential evapotranspiration), obtained through interpolation methods based on ten regional weather stations and corn crop yield data (t/ha/year) in 99 territorial administrative units, almost entirely overlapping the analyzed geographical region. The study essentially aims to identify the statistical connection between the independent variable (climatic water deficit) and the dependent one (agricultural yield) over 14 years - to this end, a series of detailed statistical correlations were applied to both variables. The results showed a statistically significant relationship especially in the plateau’s central-southern region, where agricultural productivity is obviously dependent to a higher extent on climatic conditions, compared to the northern study area where, according to statistical results, there are additional factors significantly influencing crop yields. Regarding the quantification of the statistical relationship in the central-southern area in the analysed period, an average dependence of approx. 40% of corn yields was found in relation to climatic conditions, with regional differences ranging from 23% to 51%. Also, while an 8.3 kg/ha/year average decrease of corn productivity was observed for a 1 mm climatic water deficit increase, in certain areas (south-western sectors) values go as high as 11 kg/ha/year (which is rather high given that, for instance, for a 100 mm humidity deficit increase, agricultural productivity-related losses reach 1.1 t/ha/year).