articleGlobal Change BiologyApr 29, 2019HYBRID OA

Excessive rainfall leads to maize yield loss of a comparable magnitude to extreme drought in the United States

YLYan LiKGKaiyu GuanGSGary SchnitkeyEHEvan H. DeLuciaBPBin Peng

Illinois Department of Natural Resources · University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · +2 more institutions

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Abstract

Increasing drought and extreme rainfall are major threats to maize production in the United States. However, compared to drought impact, the impact of excessive rainfall on crop yield remains unresolved. Here, we present observational evidence from crop yield and insurance data that excessive rainfall can reduce maize yield up to -34% (-17 ± 3% on average) in the United States relative to the expected yield from the long-term trend, comparable to the up to -37% loss by extreme drought (-32 ± 2% on average) from 1981 to 2016. Drought consistently decreases maize yield due to water deficiency and concurrent heat, with greater yield loss for rainfed maize in wetter areas. Excessive rainfall can have either…

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Topics
Keywords
  • Yield (engineering)
  • Environmental science
  • Crop yield
  • Crop
  • Agronomy
  • Yield gap
  • Soil water
  • Crop insurance
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