پژوهشهای زراعی ایران (Jun 2023)
Agro-ecological Zoning of Iran for Plant Production
Abstract
IntroductionFor optimal production and maintaining its stability, environmental and weather conditions must be determined from the perspective of capabilities and limitations. For this purpose, it requires reliable regional data such as planting date, ripening time, plant density, soil, and meteorological information, which are generally not available for most regions. Obtaining this information is very time-consuming and expensive in many areas and is often simply not possible. Therefore, zoning can facilitate access to this information on a large scale. In other words, if the regions that are similar in terms of climate, soil, and management conditions are identified, the time and cost needed to collect information on a wide scale will be minimal. Materials and MethodsThe present study was conducted for the agro-ecological zoning of the country. In this research, the existing climatic zones of the country were analyzed based on GYGA, and the existing soil zones of the country were analyzed based on the HC27 method.Results and DiscussionThe combination of climatic zones and soil, 198 polygons or agro-ecological zones were obtained for all agricultural lands of the country. The zones in which more than 1% of the country's agricultural lands are located include 28 zones, and in total, about 80% of the agricultural lands are located in these zones. The highest frequency percentage is related to agro-ecological zone 4103-5 with a frequency of 85.11%. Also, the frequency of agro-ecological codes (climate code 5003 with soil code 5) 5003-5 (28.7%) and (climate code 4003 with soil code 5) 5-4003 (93.4%) were placed next. Zoning can facilitate the selection of points for plant studies and other planning.ConclusionEach of these areas has a different climate and soil code, which indicates the specific production conditions of that area. From these agro-ecological zones, to improve studies and make agricultural management decisions, it is possible to prepare and complete the climate and soil information bank in each zone for use in simulation models of plant production, to facilitate the collection of information (such as management information, cultivar information plant) and the implementation of plant production simulation model to be used in studies related to the food security of the country. The current research was conducted to determine the main agro-ecological areas of agricultural production in the country so that simulation studies and other studies can be carried out in the main production location in each province. Therefore, it is necessary to know where the main production centers of each province were, what kind of climate and soil it has, and which meteorological station is the indicator of that region. In this research, the climate zones of irrigated, rainfed, garden, and pasture lands of the country were determined by using the Giga climate map. Based on this, more than 50% of water lands are located in climates 5003, 4003, 5002, 8003, and 6003, respectively. Also, the rainy lands are located in 4103, 4003, and 3103 climates respectively. Also, by using the HC27 soil map, the soil areas in the irrigated, rainfed, garden, and pasture lands of the country were determined. Therefore, more than 50% of water lands in soil codes 5 and 17; Rainy lands in Kodkhak 5 and 12; Garden lands were located in soil codes 5 and 12 and pastures were located in soil codes 5 and 17. By combining climatic zones and soil zones, agricultural-ecological zoning of the country was done, and finally, 198 zones were obtained. The zones in which more than 1% of the country's agricultural lands are located include 28 zones, in total, about 80% of the agricultural lands are located in these zones (Figure 7). The highest frequency percentage (11.85%) was related to the area with agroe-cological code 4103-5, which covered 1789965.8 hectares of agricultural land. Also, after that, the agro-ecological code 5003-5 has the highest frequency (7.28 percent), which covers 1100599.25 hectares of agricultural land in the country. In this research, after the agro-ecological zoning of the country's agricultural lands, several 198 zones were obtained, and after calculating the area covered by each zone, finally, 28 agro-ecological zones have an abundance percentage of more than 1%, and together they are about 80% (11813518.66 hectares). They cover the country's agricultural lands. These climate zones obtained can be used for food security studies and calculating and determining the production capacity of each region. On the other hand, considering that in agricultural studies, extensive and comprehensive information about climate and soil is needed for each region and access to this information is usually expensive and time-consuming, the use of agro-ecological zones resulting from this research can be necessary.
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