Abstract

MONTIEL-GONZALEZ, Cristina et al. Agro Climatic analysis for rainfed agriculture in Michoacan, Mexico. Ecosistemas y recur. agropecuarios [online]. 2019, vol.6, n.17, pp.307-316. ISSN 2007-901X.  https://doi.org/10.19136/era.a6n17.1972.

Michoacán is among the states with higher rainfed agriculture production in México, and has substantial impact on the national economy. Despite the agricultural importance of this state, no agroclimatic studies have been perform to identify the Length of the Growing Period (LGP), which is the number of months when the climatic conditions are suitable for the establishment of rainfed agriculture. In the present study, we aimed to perform an agroclimatic analysis for the state of Michoacán to determine the LGP for bioclimatic zones. In order to achieve our objective, we calculated the LGP for 112 meteorological stations located within Michoacán. We calculated the humidity index (HUi) using evapotranspiration by two methods: 1) Thornthwaite (ET0-T) and 2) Hargreaves (ET0-H). The values with a HUi higher than 0.5 were used to determine the number of months with continuous rainfall, which constitute the LGP; these data were extrapolated to a map of bioclimatic zones. As a result, the agroclimatic analysis to determine the LGP, allowed us to identify the zones with 6, 5, 4 and 3 months of continuous rainfall. Based on the resulting map, we can to recommend areas with climatic potentials suitable to the requirements of the crops. Our map could also prove useful in the face of climate change by allowing us to relocate the rainfed crops to the zones with an adequate number of months of continuous rainfall.

Keywords : Agroclimatic index; continuous rainfall; rainfed agriculture; length of the growing period.