The Climate Variability Of The Agricultural Year 2016-2017 Case Study: The South-West Oltenia Region, Romania

The agro-climatic resources, especially the thermic and precipitation resources of a territory, are the main natural factor influencing the health status of the vegetation and the productivity of a crop. The main objective of this study is to analyze the thermic and precipitation resources of the agricultural year 2016-2017(01.09.2016-31.08.2017), for the South-West Oltenia Region, in relation to the value of the barley and the two-row barley crops. The analysis will be carried out using the climatological data from 15 meteorological stations belonging to the National Meteorological Administration and the production data from the National Statistics Institute. The methods used in the data analysis are logical, spatial and comparative analyzes, operations in GIS environment and climatic indices (spring arrival Index). The 2016-2017 agricultural year, from a thermic point of view, was a warm year, with an annual average of 10.3 degrees C for the entire region. The spring 2017 was excessively early with the average spring arrival index of 464.4 degrees C. In terms of precipitation, throughout the agricultural year 2016-2017, there were six months of excessively droughty. As a whole, the agricultural year was droughty in most of the region, with an average annual rainfall of 587.4 mm. On this climatic fund, in the study area, there was an average production per hectare, for barley and two-row barley crops of 4,438 kg/ha. The variability of the main thermic and water parameters, of each agricultural year, determines the fluctuation of the crops. The analysis of these resources represents the sine qua non conditions for an efficient agricultural management.