Journal of Earth Science & Climatic Change
Open Access

Research Article

Impact of Climatological Parameters on Crop Water Use of Maize and Sorghum: A Case of Adami-Tulu Jido-Kombolcha woreda, Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia

Gemechu T^*

Department of Natural Resources Management, College of Agriculture and Environmental Science, Debre Tabor University, Ethiopia

*Corresponding Author:

Gemechu T
Department of Natural Resources Management
College of Agriculture and Environmental Science
Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia
Tel: +251 058 778 06 77
Fax: +251 058 771 17 64
E-mail: tsegayeccd@gmail.com

Received Date: August 16, 2016; Accepted Date: November 05, 2016; Published Date: November 10, 2016

Citation: Gemechu T (2016) Impact of Climatological Parameters on Crop Water Use of Maize and Sorghum: A Case of Adami-Tulu Jido-Kombolcha woreda, Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. J Earth Sci Clim Change 7:370. doi: 10.4172/2157- 7617.1000370

Copyright: © 2016 Gemechu T. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

In Ethiopia agriculture is the backbone of the country's economy, with most the population involved in this sector. However, a wide range of climatic and topographical diversities influences it. Climate variables like temperature and precipitation are the important determinants of crop productions. Therefore, this study investigates the potential impact of climatological parameters on the crop water use of main crops, Maize and Sorghum at Adami Tulu Jido Kombolcha Woreda which is situated in 38°25'E and 38 45'E and 7°35'N and 8°05'N, in the central rift valley part of Ethiopia. Penman-Monteith and Hargreaves method were used to estimate current and future crop evapotranspiration of Maize and Sorghum. The regression and correlation analyses were used to examine the impacts of some climate variables on crop water use of Maize and Sorghum using XLSTAT software. It is clearly seen that maximum temperature, minimum temperature and sunshine hours has positive correlation with ETc of both Maize and Sorghum. The regression analysis computed for the climate variables and ETc of Sorghum and Maize have coefficient of determination 0.637 and 0.840, respectively. The results show that in future crop water use of both selected crops will increase in the study area. So, minimizing water loss (evaporation reduction by mulching or rapid crop cover, wind shields, minimum tillage, weeding etc. must be taken over the study area.

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