Yield–rainfall relationships in cereal cropping systems in the Ebro river valley of Spain

Abstract

Wheat and barley yields from three farms in the Ebro river valley are shown to be strongly dependent on seasonal rainfall, particularly that during November–January and March–May of the cropping season. In the driest farm, in Monegrillo, Zaragoza province (seasonal rainfall, 251 mm), yields increased by c. 5.9 (wheat) and 9.4 (barley) kg ha −1 per mm of extra rain during the entire cropping season, taken as October–May inclusive. The other farms, at El Canós and Selvanera in Lleida province, had seasonal rainfalls of 364 and 334 mm, and yields of barley increased by 4.3 and 9.0 kg ha −1, respectively, per mm of extra rain in the cropping season, taken as September to May inclusive. In Monegrillo, cereals are grown in a cereal–fallow rotation. Normal fallowing (duration 17 months) compared to minimum fallowing (5 months) increased the calculated water content of the top 100 cm of the dominant soils by 19 mm. This extra water was estimated to benefit yield by 7.0% (wheat) and 6.2% (barley), raising the average yields of crops greater than 300 kg ha −1 to 1222 and 1522 kg ha −1, respectively. Agronomic practices in Monegrillo during the fallow should focus on means of increasing the proportion of the rain stored in the profile during the fallow. At all three locations, decreasing water evaporation from the soil during the cropping season would likely benefit yield.