Assessment of Drought Impact on Main Cereal Crops Using a Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index in Liaoning Province, China

Taotao Chen, Guimin Xia, Tiegang Liu, Wei Chen and Daocai Chi
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Taotao Chen: College of Water Resources, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang 110866, China
Guimin Xia: College of Water Resources, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang 110866, China
Tiegang Liu: State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, College of Water Resource & Hydropower, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
Wei Chen: Water Conservancy and Hydropower Science Research Institute of Liaoning province, Shenyang 110003, China
Daocai Chi: College of Water Resources, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang 110866, China

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 8, issue 10, 1-16

Abstract: Global warming has resulted in increasingly frequent and severe drought and/or precipitation events. Severe drought limits crop water availability and impacts agricultural productivity and socioeconomic development. To quantify drought-induced yield loss during the main crop stages in Liaoning province, China, aspects of drought episodes (magnitude, duration, and frequency) were investigated during the period 1960–2015 using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), respectively. Then the relationship between the SPI/SPEI and the standardized yield residuals series (SYRS), and the drought-induced yield loss were analyzed for maize, rice, sorghum, soybean, and millet. Liaoning underwent a province-wide increase in temperature, reduced precipitation, and reduced reference crop evapotranspiration. As expected, Liaoning experienced province-wide meteorological drying trends during the main crop growth stages, while the drought frequency, duration, and magnitude were not as serious as revealed by using the SPI. As compared to the SPI, the SPEI considering potential evapotranspiration explained 39%–78% yield variability of SYRS and evaluated the drought-induced yield loss more accurately. The increased drought frequency mainly affected the rain-fed crops (maize, sorghum, soybean, and millet), while it did not reduce irrigated rice production. No major impact was exerted on the rain-fed crops caused by mild drought. However, severe drought (SPEI < ?1.0) markedly reduced yield performance, in particular at the anthesis-silking stage for maize, the jointing-booting stage for sorghum, the flowering-podding stage for soybean, and the sowing-milking stage for millet. It is concluded that the SPEI is a more useful measure for the identification of drought episodes and the assessment of drought impact on agricultural production in Liaoning province.

Keywords: yield loss; spatiotemporal variability; drought frequency; drought duration; drought magnitude (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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