Development and water requirements of cowpea under climate change conditions in the Brazilian semi-arid region

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the impacts that climate change may cause on the development and evapotranspiration of cowpea, in semi-arid climate region of Northeast Brazil. The study was conducted in the municipalities of Apodi, Ipanguaçu and Mossoró, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. In order to evaluate the influence of climate change on crop water consumption, changes in air temperature and relative humidity were simulated using the PRECIS climate model. Two scenarios of emissions were evaluated based on the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: a pessimistic named A2 and an optimistic B2. The duration of the crop cycle showed an average reduction of 14 and 23 days for the optimistic and pessimistic scenarios, respectively. Temperatures will be well above the limit tolerated by crop, which could have a negative impact on its development and yield. There will be a decrease in total evapotranspiration of 4.8%, considering the optimistic scenario, and 8.7% in the pessimistic scenario.

Impacts of climate changes on risk zoning for cowpea in the Amazonian tropical conditions

“…In other regions, such as northeastern Brazil, cowpea will be impacted in similar ways due to climate change, where increased temperature could reduce the area with low climate risk (Silva et al 2010). A decrease on the time the crop needs to reach physiological maturity is also expected in different warming scenarios (Cavalcante Junior et al 2016). Even small changes in the sowing date could drastically reduce the aboveground biomass (Matoso et al 2018), number of pods per plant and number of grains per pod, which results in lower yield (Almeida et al 2017).…”

“…Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata Walp. ), an annual herbaceous legume, is one of the crops possibly threatened by climate changes (Cavalcante Junior et al 2016), even though its use has been proved to be a feasible strategy to guarantee food security in situations of climate change (Kimiti 2019). Researchers have found that cowpea has been used in crop rotations due to https://doi.org/10.…”

“…Climate changes may cause severe impacts for cowpea cultivation in Brazil, such as in northeastern Brazil, where increased temperature could cause significant reductions in the area that has climate conditions favorable to cowpea growth (Silva et al 2010). Decreases in evapotranspiration and in the duration of the crop cycle for rainfed cowpea are also expected in different warming scenarios (Cavalcante Junior et al 2016). Angelotti et al (2020) found in a controlled growth chamber that some cowpea cultivars show higher dry matter production and number/weight of seeds under elevated CO 2 concentration (500 ppm).…”

Cowpea speed breeding using regulated growth chamber conditions and seeds of oven-dried immature pods potentially accommodates eight generations per year

“…In addition, a recent report on the optimum conditions for cowpea cultivation in growth chambers shows that temperatures outside the range we adopted in our study negatively impact different stages of cowpea development and reproduction [ 30 ]. Although increase in temperature can reduce the length of cowpea life cycle [ 31 ], exposing cowpea to high temperatures results in flower abortion and significant reduction in pod formation [ 30 ]. Cultivation of air-dried immature seeds greatly reduced the reproductive duration of soybean [ 25 ].…”

Methods to analyze spatio-temporal rainfall variability: application to the Pajeú river basin, Pernambuco, Brazil

“…These PBMC percentages are climate prognoses estimated in mean values based on IPCC optimistic and pessimistic scenarios, which point to an increase of 1-3°C and 2-4°C, respectively (Montenegro et al, 2010;Cavalcante Junior et al, 2016). This paper aims to present a method to analyze spatio-temporal rainfall variability in the Pajeú river basin as a tool to support action planning that could mitigate negative impacts and reduce conflicts over water use.…”