Adaptive Agricultural Strategies for Facing Water Deficit in Sweet Maize Production: A Case Study of a Semi-Arid Mediterranean Region

Abstract

Maize is a crucial global commodity, which is used not only for food, but also as an alternative crop in biogas production and as a major energy-supply ingredient in animal diets. However, climate change is jeopardizing current maize production due to its direct impact on weather instability and water availability or its indirect effects on regional climate suitability loss. Hence, new areas for sweet maize cultivation should be considered in the future. Therefore, this study focuses on the possibility of producing maize in a challenging environment in Southern Italy considering rainfed cultivation and two irrigation regimes (full and deficit). The experiment was conducted during two subsequent growing seasons under semi-arid Mediterranean climate conditions. The overall results indicated a significant difference in biomass and yield between irrigated and non-irrigated treatments, and between full and deficit irrigation. Sweet maize cultivated under deficit irrigation gained less biomass than under full irrigation and its development and fruit maturation were delayed. Under deficit irrigation, the plants gave lower yields and a higher percentage of the panicle weight consisted of kernels. Irrigation water productivity was higher for deficit than for full irrigated treatment. These findings indicate the feasibility of sweet maize production in semi-arid areas of Southern Italy using adaptive agricultural strategies including deficit irrigation and controlled water stress. Given the importance of maize production, understanding of maize growth and productivity in a challenging environment may support future agricultural programming and thereby contribute e to mitigation of the direct and indirect effects of climate change.

Agricultural Drought and Its Potential Impacts: Enabling Decision-Support for Food Security in Vulnerable Regions

“…Droughts typically begin with a lack of precipitation (meteorological drought), which can be aggravated by increased evapotranspiration owing to high temperatures, which can spread to the land surface and result in reduced soil moisture (agricultural drought) and streamflow (called hydrological drought). Water stress during drought slows down crop root growth, delays maturation and reduces agricultural productivity (Ge et al, 2012;Piscitelli et al, 2021). Drought occurrence is critical because crop yield susceptibility to water stress varies by development stage, which is linked to the fundamental biophysical principles of crop growth (Oliveira and Araújo, 2021).…”

A Circular Economy Model to Improve Phosphate Rock Fertiliser Using Agro-Food By-Products

“…The climate was typically Mediterranean, with a monthly average temperature above 25 • C and the absence of precipitation [42].…”

Selection of Hyperspectral Vegetation Indices for Monitoring Yield and Physiological Response in Sweet Maize under Different Water and Nitrogen Availability

“…Crop water balance and irrigation scheduling were managed using an Excel-based model [55] that estimates day by day crop evapotranspiration and irrigation water requirements through the standard procedure proposed by the FAO 56 document [56]. As reported by Piscitelli et al [57], 8 and 12 irrigations were applied in the first and second year, respectively, with the corresponding seasonal irrigation amounts equal to 281 and 291 mm in I 100 treatment. Half of these amounts were applied in I50 treatments.…”