Climate and weather of the Southern Urals and their influence on agronomy

The Orenburg Federal Research Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Department of Geoecology, 460014 Orenburg, Russia

^* Corresponding author: geoecol-onc@mail.ru

Abstract

Changes in climate, precipitation and air temperature in the Southern Urals over the past 133 years are considered. A decrease in the climatic norm of atmospheric precipitation by 24 mm and an increase in the air temperature in the region by 1.2 º C were revealed. The main decrease in precipitation occurred during the growing season of early crops, and air temperatures in the autumn-winter period, which significantly changed the conditions for agronomy. The increasing aridity of the climate has worsened the conditions for growing spring crops. The applied system of rain-fed agriculture in Orenburg region provides the use of only 30–40% of annual precipitation. Early winter sowing of spring wheat in frozen ground with snow cover up to 10–15 cm is proposed. With them, seed germination, seedlings and tillering of plants are well provided with moisture and have favorable temperature conditions in April-May. Plants with a strong root system can get soil moisture up to 1.5 meters deep and effectively use small precipitation in June and July, which mainly moisturizes the soil to a depth of 5 cm. Early winter sowings of spring wheat are less susceptible to droughts, Favorable soil moisture and air temperature in the spring provide early shoots, plant development and 1.5–2-fold increase in yield. With early winter sowings, the efficiency of using annual precipitation increases to 50–55%.