Jerry Hatfield

By Jerry L. Hatfield and John H. Prueger

Part of the book: Evapotranspiration

By Timothy J. Gish, John H. Prueger, William P. Kustas, Jerry L. Hatfield, Lynn G. McKee and Andrew Russ

Part of the book: Soil Health and Land Use Management

By Jerry L. Hatfield

Part of the book: Agricultural Science

By Jerry L. Hatfield and Christian Dold

Global climate is changing and will impact future production of all food and feed crops. Corn is no exception and to ensure a future supply we must begin to understand how climate impacts both the phenological development of corn and the productivity. Temperature and precipitation are the two climate factors that will have a major benefit on corn phenology and productivity. The warming climate will accelerate the phenological development because the number of thermal units required for leaf appearance is relatively constant in the vegetative stage. Productivity of corn is reduced when extreme temperature events occur during pollination and is further exaggerated when there are water deficits at pollination. During the grain-filling period, warm temperatures above the upper threshold cause a reduction in yield. Model estimates suggest that for every 1°C increase in temperature there is nearly a 10% yield reduction. To meet world demand, new adaptation practices are needed to provide water to the growing crop and avoid extreme temperature events during the growing season. Climate change will continue to affect corn production and understanding these effects will help determine where future production areas exist and innovative adaptation practices to benefit yield stability could be utilized.

Part of the book: Corn