A meteorological approach to the identification of drought sensitive periods in field crops

Abstract A procedure is developed to determine plant moisture stress by means of a statistical model. Drought sensitive periods are determined by correlating the number of stress days occurring during selected short periods with growth and yield. Sensitivity is deemed to be proportional to the magnitude of relevant significant correlation coefficients. The applicability of this theory is tested with dryland maize grown under marginal rainfall conditions at 33 different induced levels of water supply. Results indicate that number of stress days is a reliable and accurate indication of drought sensitivity.