Climate change in dry lands of Central Asia: from assessment methods to adaptation strategies

Global climate change is one of the main issues discussed at various international and intergovernmental meetings and consultations. Since the mid-1990s, the issue went beyond the scientific papers and discussions and became the subject of discussions among policy makers. Key issues of climate change impact on the environment, economic development, wellbeing, health and safety of the population, often discussed in various scientific and political forums, and many of them have been set up as priority for coordinated actions. In 1990, the First Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been published, which presented the first systematic scientific views on climate forecasts, assessment of the impact of global warming and measures to adapt to the upcoming changes. The Fourth Assessment Report of the WMO/UNEP Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (lPCC) released in 2007, suggested several adaptation strategies to deal with projected climatic changes which include, changing crop varieties; enhancing more efficient water use; appropriate scheduling of cropping activities; adoption of more effective pest, disease and weed management practices and insurance; and making better use of seasonal climate forecasts to reduce production risks. A comprehensive and integrated approach to planning and implementing the climate change adaptation strategies across the wide range of agroecosystems in different countries in CAC could help both the planners and the local communities to deal effectively with the projected impacts and also contribute to mitigation of climate change

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Not AvailableCropping systems model (CropSyst) was calibrated using the experimental data of crop parameters, soil profile data and observed daily weather data of experimental site for 2012-13 and validated the experimental data of crop growth, yield parameters and soil moisture for 2013-14 for psyllium crop grown at farmer’s field in IGNP stage-II of Bikaner. The results of the present study showed that the CropSyst model calibrated seed yield, above ground biomass and soil moisture reasonably well. The simulated seed yield of psyllium (429 kg ha-1) matched well with the observed yield (462 kg ha-1) with relative error of 7.1%. The observed above ground biomass (AGB) at harvest (1085 kg ha-1) also matched with simulated AGB (997 kg ha-1) with relative error of 8.1%. During validation of the model during 2013-14, prediction of simulated seed yield (597 kg ha-1) was very good and matched well with the observed seed yield (557 kg ha-1) with relative errors of 7.3%. However, the simulated AGB (1894 kg ha-1) of psyllium was over predicted as compared to observed AGB (1395 kg ha-1) with relative errors of 35.8%. The simulated green area index (GAI) was not properly captured by the model. The simulated N-uptake (34.0 kg ha-1) was moderately higher than observed N-uptake (26.0 kg ha-1). Simulated soil moisture was well predicted and excellent matched with observed values in most of the layers. About half of total water applied lost by deep drainage with water productivity of 0.17 kg m-3Not Availabl

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Not AvailableThe study on “Evaluation of Cropsyst model for yield and water productivity of clusterbean” was conducted on farmers field during kharif 2012 at village Mainawali in Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan. The soils of the area are alluvial and calcareous in nature formed under arid and semi arid climate. The soils of site are brown to greyish brown and dark grey in colour, besides being calcareous and slightly alkaline in reaction having 67.7, 11.1 and 21.0 % of sand, clay and silt, respectively in 0-15 cm soil depth with pH 8.09 and low soil organic matter content. The simulate yield of clusterbean were closer to the observed clusterbean yield. Simulations of early clusterbean above ground biomass development matched the field data reasonably well. Final above ground biomass, however, was over estimated by the model. The total water applied in clusterbean was 405.8 mm out of this 326.7 mm consumed in ET. Thus, ET constituted 81% of total water applied and deep drainage constituted 13% and rest 6% stored as residual soil moisture.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableCropSyst is one of the most important process-oriented simulation models largely used for field crops all over the world to study the effect of climate, soil and management practices on crop productivity. In the present study, we have calibrated and validated the CropSyst model for groundnut crop grown at farmer’s field in IGNP Stage-II of Bikaner. CropSyst model was calibrated using the experimental data of crop parameters, soil profile data and observed daily weather data of experimental site for 2012 and validated the experimental data of crop growth and yield parameters for 2013. The results of the study showed that the CropSyst model simulated the crop growth parameter data viz. green area index, seed yield, above ground biomass and N-uptake of groundnut reasonably well. The seed yield, above ground biomass and N- uptake was validated well by the model with relative error of 3.3, 2.2 and 8.4 %, respectively. The total water applied in groundnut was 728.9 and 619.6 mm in 2012 and 2013, respectively out of this 664.9 and 530.5mm consumed in evapotranspiration.Not Availabl