Assessment of Climate Change Impact on Maize Production in Serbia

Abstract

Climate factors have an impact on plant life cycle, yield, productivity, economy and profitability of agricultural production. There are not a lot of studies on understanding of influence of climate factors variation on maize yield in agro-ecological conditions of Serbia. The aim of this paper is analysis of variation of climatic factors over a long-time period, as well as assessment of impact of the examined climate parameters on maize yield in two localities in the Republic of Serbia. For the analysis of climatic factors (temperature, precipitation, sunshine, humidity) in the region of Central Serbia and Vojvodina, the data of meteorological stations Kragujevac and Sombor during two thirty-year periods (1961–1990 and 1991–2020) were used. In order to determine the existence and strength of the relationship between the observed climatic factors and maize yield, a correlation analysis of these indicators for the period 2005–2020 years, was performed. In the period 1991–2020, the average values of temperature were annually increased for 0.046 °C in Kragujevac and for 0.05 °C in Sombor, and in the same period the average value of sunshine on an annual level was increased for 1.3 h in Kragujevac and for 5.01 h in Sombor, 2020 in comparison to average values in period of 1961–1990. The humidity was decline annually for 1.3 in Kragujevac and for 3.4 in Sombor in period 1991–2020 in comparison to average humidity in period of 1961–1990. The results of the correlation analysis showed that the maize yield was significantly lower in the years with expressed high temperatures and precipitation deficit. Based on these studies, established effect of climate change on maize yield and that this demand developing adaptation agricultural practice through creating maize hybrids and varieties with greater adaptability and improvement of agrotechnic measure.

Influence of climate conditions on maize yield in Oltenia (1990-2021)

“…As July temperature is significantly increasing, we may assume that maize crops will be even more affected as exposure to high temperature during the grain-filling phenophase shortens this period and determines greater rates of senescence and, consequently, lower yields (Hatfield, 2016;Dawood et al 2020). Low to moderate negative correlations between July mean temperature and maize yield were also identified in South-Eastern Europe (Lopes, 2022), Serbia (Petrović et al, 2020;Petrović et al, 2023), the Czech Republic (Maitah et al, 2021), while in Hungary, Czibolya et al (2020) highlighted a strong positive correlation with August mean temperature. In Romania, different researchers emphasized the negative impact of high summer temperatures on maize yield (strong negative correlation) -Bonea & Urechean (2020) in the central part of Oltenia and Șimon et al (2023) in the Transylvanian Plain.…”

Edible corn oil: A holistic exploration from processing to market dynamics

“…[94][95][96] Factors, such as weather conditions, crop yields, and global supply and demand dynamics, can influence the price and availability of corn. [97] Fluctuations in raw material costs may impact the profitability of corn oil producers and production expenses. [98] The processing of corn oil poses challenges in achieving optimal extraction efficiency, with solvent extraction, particularly using hexane, being a prevalent method due to its ability to ensure higher oil yield.…”

Application of Unconventional Tillage Systems to Maize Cultivation and Measures for Rational Use of Agricultural Lands

“…Climatic conditions and technological factors are particularly important elements for any crop [62,83], but they are especially important for achieving a good maize yield [84]. Although the maize plant has a deep root system and can reach considerable soil depths, during the first phenophases, it still has high requirements for soil tillage.…”