Diagnosis of the rainfall-wheat yield relationship in the current and future climate change conditions in Eastern Algeria

Future projections indicate that rain-fed agriculture in North Africa is among the most vulnerable in the world in the context of future climate change. This article aims to diagnose the relationship between rainfall and wheat yield in both current and future climatic situations in a semi arid agro-climatic conditions represented by the region of Bordj Bou Arreridj. For the current situation, we used 15 years (1995–2009) of recorded rainfall and durum wheat yield series. Future rainfall projections (2071–2100) were generated by the MED-CORDEX climate model version CCLM4-8-19 under RCP 6.0 scenario. Simulated data over the observed period and that of the future on the maximum evapotranspiration (ETM) of durum wheat and the water deficit (WD) accumulated over the cycle as well as future yields are obtained using a simple agro meteorological crop simulation model, previously validated. In both current and future situations, precipitations, ETM, WD and yields data are first analyzed, then yields are related by regression to three components of rainfall: annual rainfall, cumulative rainfall over the crop cycle (November–June) and cumulative rainfall during spring (March–May). In the observed climate, annual precipitation averages 382.3 ± 96.3 mm, cumulative rainfall over the crop cycle (November–June) averages 278.3 mm and cumulative rainfall during spring is 101.9 mm. These last decrease to 303.7 ± 99.4, 232.3 and 83.3 mm in the future situation. Observed yields (1995–2009) averages1.9 ± 0.64 q/ha in the observed situation and decrease to 15.5 ± 0.54 q/ha in future climate. ETM are low and WD values are high in the current climate, with a worsening of the situation in the future climate, particularly during spring. The correlation between yields and précitations is always positive in both weather conditions, but the best R2 are 0.65 and 0.82 and concern spring rains. In semi-arid regions, cumulative rainfall towards the end of the growing season is currently impacting the grain yield of durum wheat and will become more decisive in the context of future climate change

Canopy Temperature Efficiency as Indicators for Drought Tolerance in Durum Wheat (Triticum Durum Desf.) in Semi Arid Conditions

Durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) is one of the more widely cultivated crops in the Mediterranean basin, where drought is the main abiotic stress limiting its production. This study was conducted on the experimental site of station ITGC in Setif, Algeria. The objectives of this study were (i) to determine differences in canopy temperature (CT) and canopy temperature depression (CTD) of different durum wheat under both well-watered and moisture stressed conditions and (ii) to correlate canopy temperature (CT) and canopy temperature depression (CTD) with drought resistance indices value and yield of durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) under both conditions. The results of study showed a significant difference between CT and CTD under both conditions and among genotypes. Under dryland conditions, grain yield and mean CTD were correlated positively (r = 0.32**), this correlation is similar to other studies (Blum et al., 1989; Royo et al., 2002). Similar results of correlation between canopy temperature (CT), canopy temperature depression (CTD) and grain yield suggest that the use of CT and CTD in screening for highly tolerant varieties to drought is similar. The significant correlation of CT and CTD with Mean productivity (MP) and Stress tolerance index (STI) suggests that CTD and/or CT can be favorite selection criteria in plant breeding for drought tolerance

Durum Wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) Evaluation under Semi Arid Conditions in Eastern Algeria by Path Analysis

This study was aimed to characterize yield components and plant traits related to grain yield. Correlation and path analysis were carried out in durum wheat genotypes grown under irrigated and non-irrigated field conditions during two cropping seasons (2010/2011 and 2011/2012). In the path coefficient analysis, grain yield represented the dependent variable and the number of spikes m-2, number of grains spike-1, kernel weight and number of grains m-2 were the independent ones. Grain yield showed positive phenotypic correlation with number of spikes m-2 and number of grains per m-2under both conditions and during two cropping seasons.Path analysis revealed positive direct effect of 1000- kernels weight, number of spike m-2 and number of grains per spike on grain yield. These results indicated that the 1000- kernels weight and number of spikes m-2 followed by the number of grains per spike and number of grains per m-2 were the traits related to higher grain yield, under irrigated and late season water stress conditions.

Stability analysis for grain yield and thousand kernel weight of durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) genotypes growing under semi-arid conditions

Abstract. The present study was carried out to select adapted and stable durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) genotypes for grain yield and thousand kernel weight using various stability parameters. Based on the graphical distributions between the parametric indices (Wricke’s ecovalence stability index (Wi²), environmental coefficient of variance (CVi), mean variance component (θi )) and the mean grain yield of tested genotypes, the suitable genotype for the tested conditions was Mexicali 75. Further, the cultivars Oued Zenati and Bousselem were the most adapted with the highest TKW. With non-parametric index was classified genotype Mexicali 75 as the most stable with high grain yield. According to PCA analysis the genotype Altar 84 was classified in dynamic stability group with the highest grain yield in addition, cultivars Bousselem and Oued Zenati were classified in dynamic concept with the highest thousand kernel weight. The results of this study confirmed that the parametric and non-parametric methods are the suitable tools to identify the most stable durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) under semi-arid conditions

The Nice Cube (Nice) nanosatellite project

https://hal.inria.fr/COMPLEX-SYSTEMS_UNIV-COTEDAZUR/page/11-january-2018Proceedings of the Complex Systems Academy of Excellence 2018 (UCA)CubeSats are tiny satellites with increasing capabilities. They have been used for more than a decade by universities to train students on space technologies, in a hands-on project aiming at building, launching and operating a real satellite. Still today, one shortcoming of CubeSats is their poor ability to transmit large amounts of data to the ground. A possible way to overcome this limitation relies on optical communications. Université Côte d'Azur is studying the feasibility of a students'CubeSat whose main goal is to transmit data with an optical link to the ground at the moderate rate of 1kb/s (or better). In this paper, we will present the current state of the project and its future developments