Long-term changes in wind speed and direction at Swift Current: 1955-1964 and 1996-2005

Non-Peer Reviewe

Long-term changes in incoming solar radiation on the Canadian prairie

Non-Peer Reviewe

Average annual and seasonal wind speed and direction at Swift Current for 1953-2005

Non-Peer Reviewe

Yield and water use of paired-row versus conventionally seeded spring wheat at Swift Current

Non-Peer ReviewedFrom 1986 to 1989 at the Swift Current Research Station, a hard red spring wheat (cv. Leader) was planted in north-south rows with row spacings of: a) 25 cm (conventional seeding-CS), and b) two rows 10 cm apart with 50 cm between the centre of each paired-row (paired-row seeding-PR) . Seed and fertilizer were applied at recommended rates for stubble seeding in the Brown Soil Zone. There were no differences in grain yield, water use or days to maturity between CS and PR seeding. The data suggest that under the environmental conditions of the Brown Soil Zone in southwest Saskatchewan paired-row seeding would have no agronomic advantage over conventional seeding

Modeling growth stage of two spring wheat cultivars – Neepawa and HY320: II. Model development and performance

Non-Peer Reviewe

Long-term trends in heavy metal and metalloid levels in a Saskatchewan prairie soil

Non-Peer ReviewedGlobal heavy metal and metalloid pollution has increased during the last few decades accompanied by marked increases in global population and a rapid increase in metal production. Since the mid-1990s, higher-than-desired levels of some metals have been found in crops, increasingly so. Atmospheric deposition might play a role in these developments. We compared soil samples derived from within a shed that was erected in the 1950s in a semiarid, agricultural location within the Brown soil zone of south-western Saskatchewan with soil samples from the adjacent open prairie, simulating environmental conditions then and now. With this setup, we were able to examine long-term changes in soil heavy metals and metalloid concentrations. We found that chromium, strontium, and vanadium have significantly increased between 1950 and 2007, while cobalt has significantly decreased during this same time frame. With regards to soil parameters, alkalinity and conductivity have increased. Differences in all other heavy metals and metalloids remained insignificant

Modeling growth stage of two spring wheat cultivars – Neepawa and HY320: I. Phenological development characteristics

Non-Peer Reviewe

Seasonal and spatial patterns of rainfall trends on the Canadian prairie

Non-Peer ReviewedWe used regression analysis to establish linear trends of annual and seasonal rainfall amounts and number of events at 140 stations with 40 years of record from 1956 to 1995 across the Canadian Prairie. There has been a significant increase in the rainfall amounts and number of events. Increase in annual rainfall was 51 mm or about 16% of the 40 yr mean while the number of rainfall events increased by 17 or about 29%. Spring (January to April) experienced proportionately the largest increase, with amount and number increasing by 46% and 64%, respectively. This may be related to the conversion of snow to rain as a result of climatic warming during this period. The increase in rainfall amount and number of events during summer (May to August) were similar to the annual patterns. There was no significant increase in rainfall amount and number of events during the fall season (September to December). The increases in rainfall amount and number of events were not uniform across the prairies, with the least increase in rainfall amount and number of events in southern Manitoba, and the largest increase in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Little or no change in amounts occurred in the northern portion of the prairie provinces. The results confirmed that the prairies are not getting drier, however, there are seasonal and spatial differences in rainfall trends

Lower moisture limit for three crop species grown on a medium textured soil in southwestern Saskatchewan

Non-Peer Reviewe

Precipitation trends on the Canadian prairie

Non-Peer ReviewedThe amount and timing of precipitation on the Canadian Prairie is critical to grain production. Information on the precipitation trend is therefore vital to this region. Regression analysis was used to establish linear trends of precipitation amounts and number of precipitation events at 37 stations with 75 years of record (prior to and including 1995) across the Canadian Prairie. There has been a significant increase in the number of precipitation events mainly due to an increase in the number of low-intensity events. As such precipitation events are not getting more intense. From 1921 to 1995 on the Canadian Prairie, the number of precipitation events (excluding events that are 0.5 mm or less) has increased by 16 events, and precipitation and rainfall amounts have increased by 0.62 mm and 0.60 mm per annum, respectively. During the period from 1921 to 1960 the trends in precipitation, rainfall and snowfall were not statistically different from zero. However, from 1961 to 1995, snowfall has declined by 0.95 mm per year. The trends in the most recent period (1961 to 1995) were also significantly different from those in the 1921 to 1960 period for snowfall. The difference in trends between the two periods for snowfall, combined with the inverse relationship in the rainfall-snowfall trends suggest that these trends may be related to climate change