Influence of climatic factors on productivity of major cultivated crops of Perambalur district, Tamil Nadu
Abstract
Agricultural productivity is significantly influenced by climatic factors, including temperature, rainfall, and seasonal variability. This study analyzes the impact of climate variability on the productivity of major cultivated crops in Perambalur district, Tamil Nadu, over five consecutive years (2015-16 to 2019-20). Perambalur, a predominantly rainfed district, is a major producer of maize and cotton, with agriculture serving as a primary livelihood for the population. The study employs statistical methods such as trend analysis, correlation and regression to assess the relationship between climatic variables and crop yield. This study indicate that annual rainfall in the district varied between 529.44 mm and 1004.73 mm, with an average of 766 mm, while maximum and minimum temperatures exhibited a descending trend over the years. Correlation analysis revealed that rainfall had a greater influence on yield variation than temperature for most crops, accounting for over 50% of the yield variation in crops like rice, red gram, sorghum and pearl millet. However, minimum temperature significantly impacted cotton yield (77.5%), while maximum temperature influenced maize yield (75.7%). The study concludes that climate variability, particularly rainfall distribution, plays a crucial role in determining agricultural productivity. Understanding these climatic influences is essential for developing adaptive strategies to mitigate climate-induced risks and enhance crop resilience in the region.
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Introduction
Agricultural production is highly perceptive to weather and climate. Temperature, precipitation, timing of frost, growing season length, soil moisture, pest pressures, and numerous other climate and climate-related variables influence agricultural productivity and agricultural management decisions [5] . Agriculture is the most predominant segment of the economy of Tamil Nadu. About, 60 -65% of state's population depends on agriculture and other activities for their livelihood. Agriculture is the main occupation of Perambalur district of Tamil Nadu. Perambalur district occupies 1,75,739 ha of geographical area, of which 93,581 ha is grossed cropped area. Perambalur district receives average annual rainfall of 861 mm. Maize and Cotton is the important crops of Perambalur district which accounts 80% of the total cultivated area. Perambalur district stands first in Maize and Cotton cultivation in Tamil Nadu. Being a rainfed district, Perambalur produces in an average of 4.0 lakh metric tons of food grains per year [6] . The district is divided into 4 taluks (Perambalur, Veppur, Veppanthattai and Alathur). Cauvery is the major river flowing in the region (https://perambalur.nic.in/agriculture/). Crop production is highly sensitive to climate and often affected by long-term trends in average rainfall and temperature, inter-annual climate variability, shocks during specific phenological stages and extreme weather events. Crops are most sensitive to high temperatures at the reproductive stage and grain-filling/fruit maturation stage [2] . The amount and temporal distribution of rainfall is generally the single most important determinant of interannual fluctuations in national crop production levels [1] . The rainfall, one of the most important natural input resource for dryland agricultural production system, is erratic and temporal in nature [3] . According to VonBraun, (1991) [4] for instance, a 10% decrease in seasonal rainfall from the long-term average generally translates into a 4.4% decrease in the country's food production. Then the analyses that follow show the correlation and regression between rainfall and crop yield as well as temperature and crop yield. Crop-wise yield data and weather parameters were obtained from the Joint Directorate of Agriculture, Department of Agriculture, Perambalur District of Tamil Nadu.
Review of literature
The study reported that the temperature trend was beneficial for maize yields, but detrimental for sorghum and soybean yields, whereas observed precipitation trend was beneficial for all three crops. Climate change is likely to affect yield and yield quality, not only directly due to impacts on crop physiology but also indirectly due to alterations in nutrient mineralisation and availability for crops, resulting in negative impacts on yield production [7] . The during dry spells, annual crop yield production for maize and beans fall below average of 1.44 tons/ha and 0.78 tons/ha while sorghum and millet were above average of 0.94 tons/ha and 1.61 tons/ha respectively. He also revealed that rainfall variability and dry spells have serious impacts on food security, massive crop failure, reduced livestock production and death [9] . There is a significant relationship between rainfall (2020) and Jollu percentage (r = 0.386) in robusta coffee. He also stated that the variation in climatic conditions such as excess rainfall and continuous soil moisture led to more vegetative growth than reproductive growth [10] . High temperature stress usually activated heat shock proteins, mediated by nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen species, decreased electrolyte leakage, relative water content and chlorophyll (chl) levels with reduced activities of antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase and glutathione reductase) [8] .
Materials and Methods
The study was conducted under Agriculture Project Work (APW), Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu. Crop-wise yield data and weather parameters were obtained from the Joint Directorate of Agriculture, Department of Agriculture, Perambalur District of Tamil Nadu five consecutive years from 2015-16 to 2019-2020. The various statistical methods were used for statistical analysis like mean, Standard Deviation, trend line analysis, coefficient of variation and regression for measuring relationship between climate variability on productivity of major cultivated crops of Perambalur district of Tamil Nadu.
Results and Discussion
Climate is the most important factor influencing the suitability of a crop to a particular region. The yield potential of the crop mainly depends on climate. More than 50 per cent of variation of crops is determined by climate. The most important climatic factors that influence growth, development and yield of crops are solar radiation, temperature and rainfall. In about (12.5%) of the analysis, minimum temperature showed higher influence in the explanation of variation in crop yield than rainfall and maximum temperature. ▪ Minimum Temperature explains (77.5%), Maximum Temperature (15.1%) and rainfall (20.7%) of the cotton yield.
In about (12.5%) of the analysis, Maximum Temperature showed higher influence in the explanation of variation in crop yield than rainfall and minimum temperature. ▪ MaximumTemperature explains (75.7%), Minimum Temperature (63.45%) and rainfall (1.67%) of the maize yield.
Conclusion
The study concluded that the rainfall explains the larger portion of crop yield variation than the other climatic factors of minimum and maximum temperature. However, in the case of cotton, minimum temperature holds higher influence in yield whereas maximum temperature influenced the yield of maize.
The fluctuating climatic factors occur within the favorable basic climatic requirement for the production of cotton, maize, rice, sugarcane, groundnut, sorghum, pearlmillet and redgram. Increase in climate variability affects the netcrop production by influencing biochemical and metabolic processes.
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