Agriculturae Conspectus Scientificus, Vol 76, No 1 (2011)

Suitability of Soil and Climate for Oilseed Rape Production in the Republic of Croatia

Milan POSPIŠIL, Marina BRČIĆ, Stjepan HUSNJAK

Pages: 35-39

Summary


The paper describes the suitability of soil and weather conditions for oilseed rape production in the agricultural region of the Pannonian Plain in the Republic of Croatia. Soil suitability was estimated on the basis of the existing soil properties. There are 1,169,626 ha of soils suitable for oilseed rape production in the Pannonian agricultural region of the Republic of Croatia, of which 229,839 ha are highly suitable soils (class S-1), 351,392 ha are moderately suitable soils (class S-2), and 588,395 ha are marginally suitable soils (class S-3). On marginally suitable soils oilseed rape should not be grown. To satisfy the planned raw oil requirements of the Republic of Croatia, 60,000- 70,000 ha should be allotted to oilseed rape production. Suitability of climate conditions for oilseed rape production was assessed on the basis of the analysis of weather conditions for seven locations in the Pannonian agricultural region over 30 years (1971-2000). Oilseed rape had almost optimal temperature conditions for good emergence and strong initial growth and autumn growth (mean monthly air temperature 15.4°C). In the winter period (November, December, January, February), mean monthly air temperature was 2°C, and mean minimum air temperature was -1.5°C. In the spring period, mean monthly air temperature was 8.4°C. In the last part of the growing period (May, June), mean monthly air temperature was 17.3°C. From 528 mm (Osijek) to 718 mm (Sisak) of precipitation was recorded over the growing period, which fully satisfies water requirements of oilseed rape. The analysis clearly shows that, under the agroecological conditions prevailing in the Republic of Croatia, there are no expressly critical parts of the growing period with regard to lack of precipitation. The most critical period is the sowing-emergence time, since very dry August and September, i.e. lack of moisture for satisfactory and uniform emergence of oilseed rape, were recorded in eastern Croatia in some years.

Keywords


oilseed rape; soil properties; weather conditions; Croatia

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