Impact of Abiotic Factors on the Developmental Stages of Maize Crop

Alina Șimon, Ovidiu Adrian Ceclan, Florin Russu, Marius Bărdaș, Felicia Chețan, Alin Popa

Staţiunea de Cercetare-Dezvoltare Agricolă Turda

Keywords: climatic conditions, corn, crop development.

Abstract: Climate change has become the biggest global challenge, being a real danger to agricultural crops and an inevitable threat to food security. The regional climatic conditions of an area are a key function in the stability over time of crops. In the period 2012-2021, the water reserve in the soil determined for maize cultivation was above the limit of the minimum ceiling (1734.8 m³/ha) in the spring months, but fell below this limit in the months when water consumption for maize it is the highest, but without reaching the wilting index (1202.8 m³/ha). The duration of sunlight, during the vegetation period of maize, decreased significantly from 1655.5 hours (2012) to values between 1174.6 and 1296.7 hours, with a significant decrease in this parameter. In the last three years (2019-2021) it was observed that the temperatures in May were lower than the multiannual average of this month, with a negative impact on the optimal emergence and development of plants in the early stages of vegetation. During the studied period all the analyzed parameters (temperature, precipitation, water supply in the soil, duration of sunshine) deviated from the multiannual average, with negative variations compared to the characteristics of the corn crop. Climatic conditions, especially during the growing season, have a significant influence on the production of a crop, especially when the interaction of several parameters is manifested.
Therefore, the main purpose of this study was the identification of the main climatic parameters that may be involved in the development of the crop, their influence on the stages of development and the stability of production.