Improvement of water Productivity in Wheat Production for a Mediterranean climate

Abstract

Climate change is a pertinent topic of discussion in everyday life and exerts a massive impact on the social and economic status of many countries. Especially in dry areas of the Mediterranean region, extreme weather conditions – enhanced by climate change – are a major problem for agriculture and water storage. With the purpose of adapting the use of water resources to specific environmental conditions, the aim of this master thesis was to evaluate the effect of supplemental irrigation (SI) on wheat production in Morocco. The impact of different irrigation management methods on water productivity (WP) in wheat production, two trials – examining different genotypes of bread wheat and durum wheat –, was investigated at Merchouche Experimental Station. From May to July 2018 the soil water content were regularly measured. With the collected data of soil water content and the trial’s harvest results, a comparison between growing season 2017/18 and 2016/17 was conducted. The development of selected wheat genotypes was simulated in the crop growth model AquaCrop. The obtained results from this thesis lead to the assumptions that while crops produced higher yields under cool and wet weather conditions, their WP decreased and showed better results during drier seasons. Due to the exceptional weather conditions of the growing season 2017/18, SI did not show any significant effect on yield and WP. The observation of durum wheat’s development lead to the conclusion that late sowing should not only be favoured under wet and cool weather but can also be taken into consideration for drier seasons. The gained knowledge on crop performance under different environmental conditions can not only enhance the security of a stable yield, but also provide a base for a crop development model. It can be concluded that the preference should be given to crops that have similar results under different environmental conditions, rather than a crop that performs well in a specific environment.