From an agricultural point of view Bulgaria has insuffi cient and uncertain water resources. For the last decades, the potential vegetation period temperature sums submit to a positive tendency and the rainfall sums – to a negative one almost all over the country. This is evidence for the current drought processes determined by the global climate change. The increasing atmospheric drought impacts negatively water content in soil, especially that one available for plants. The paper deals with the impact of the contemporary climate changes upon the available soil water under winter wheat - one of the most important of our country crops for the food balance. The data processed have been gathered from 24 sites and refer to six soil types all over the agricultural territory. They cover the period of the “contemporary climate” (1961-2000). Actualized zoning of the soil water resources and maps of the changes in the availability of soil water have been elaborated. The results obtained allow development of adaptation farming strategies for management of the irrigation scheduling and maintaining of the other agricultural practices according to the climate changes. They will also be used for working out new standards for irrigation network design.

winter wheat; availability of soil water; cotemporary climate; zoning; Bulgaria

Published by University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagreb, CROATIA
Sponsored by Ministry Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia