Maize yield projections under different climate change scenarios in different districts of Punjab

Abstract

The study aimed to find out possible changes in climatic data (temperature and rainfall) from the regional climate model viz. PRECIS(Providing Regional Climates for Impact Studies)under different SRES scenarios (A1B, A2 and B2 scenario) by the mid (2021-2050) and end (2071-2100) century at six locations of Punjab representing different agroclimatic zones and to study their impact on maize yield using the crop growth simulation model.The results revealed that the different zones of the state are expected to be warmer during the mid century and this trend has been projected to continue by the end of century because of increase in maximum and minimum temperature at all the locations.The CERES-Maize simulated significant decrease in duration and grain yield of maize crop under projected climate scenarios. The reduction in the crop duration and grain yield was found to be more under the A1B and A2 scenario (high emission scenario) followed by B2 scenario (low emission scenario)due to adverse effects on crop physiology.

Keywords

• Maize,
• climate change scenario
• crop duration
• yield,
• Punjab