Modeling yield and biomass responses of maize cultivars to climate change under full and deficit irrigation

With as much as 4.8°C increase in air temperature by end of 21st century, new crop cultivars are needed for adapting to the new climate. The objective of this study was to identify maize (Zea mays L.) cultivar parameters that maintain yield under projected climate for late in the 21st century under full and deficit irrigation in a semi-arid region. The Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM2) was calibrated with four years of maize data from northeastern Colorado, USA, under various irrigation conditions and was then used to simulate climate change effects on maize production with current management practices. Results showed that projected climate change decreased yield by 21% and biomass by 7% late in the 21st century (2070–2091) under full irrigation, compared to yield in the current climate (1992–2013). Under deficit irrigation, the corresponding reductions were 14% and 3%, respectively. Using the cultivar parameters calibrated with RZWQM2 for southern Colorado condition did not show yield decrease under future climate, but it simulated much lower yield under current climate in northeastern Colorado. A cultivar from the DSSAT (Decision Support Systems for Agrotechnology Transfer) crop database (GL 482) produced similar yield to experimental data under current climate and increased yield by 4% at full irrigation under future climate in northeastern Colorado. Using Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS), we also identified 70 cultivars with longer maturity duration (between silking and physiological maturity) and higher grain filling rate for mitigating climate change effects on maize production. These two identified traits can guide plant breeders in developing cultivars for the future.