Samiha A. Ouda, Fouad A. Khalil, and Hassan Yousef ( 2009). Using adaptation strategies to increase water use efficiency for maize under climate change conditionsThirteenth International Water Technology Conference, IWTC 13 2009, Hurghada, Egypt
Abstract: The impact of climate change on water use efficiency under climate change conditions and under using three adaptation strategies was tested for two maize hybrids (TWC310 and TWC324) planted in two growing seasons (2007 and 2008) at Giza, Egypt using CropSyst model with two climate change scenarios. These scenarios were A2 (temperature increase by 3.1°C and CO2 concentration is 834 ppm) and B2 (temperature increase by 2.2°C and CO2 concentration is 601 ppm) developed by
Hadley Center for Climate Prediction and Research. CropSyst model was validated using the collected data of maize yield and consumptive use. The scenarios were used to run the CropSyst model and to predict the expected yield in the year of 2038s. Sowing maize two weeks earlier, two irrigation schedules (I1; irrigation every 14 days with a total of 7 irrigations and I2; applying the 2nd irrigation 20 days after planting, then irrigation every 13 days with a total of 8 irrigations) and the interaction between early sowing and irrigation schedules were use as adaptation strategies. The Effective adaptation strategy is the one that increase percent of yield improvement, decrease percent increase in irrigation water and increase water use efficiency. The results indicated that CropSyst predictions for yield and consumptive use were highly accurate. Furthermore, A2 scenario predicted greater reduction in maize yield, compared with B2 scenario in the year of 2038. The results also demonstrated that
under climate change condition, maize hybrid TWC324 was more tolerant to heat stress than TWC310 in both growing season. This result implied that TWC324 possess traits of yield stability under the variability of climate. This stability also reflected by lower deterioration in water use efficiency under heat stress. The two irrigation schedules were effective in reducing yield losses and increasing water use efficiency under climate change without large increase in irrigation amount, compared with early
sowing and the interaction between early sowing and irrigation schedules.
Keywords: (Heat stress, A2 and B2 climate change scenarios, early sowing, irrigation schedules. )
