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Empirical analysis of dry spells during growing season with respect to maize crop in Nigeria

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Abstract

Dry spell analysis during growing season with respect to maize crop is performed in nine stations in Nigeria. The main data used are daily rainfall, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and sunshine hours (1971–2013) from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Lagos. The same data set (excluding rainfall and sunshine hours) from 0.125° ERA INTERIM Reanalysis (1979–2013) and daily 0.25° horizontal resolution 3B42 rainfall from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (1998–2013) are obtained to serve as useful supplement to NiMet data. The daily reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is computed using the methodology described in the FAO Irrigation and Drainage Publication 56 with the Penman-Monteith equation. Dry spells frequency and average maize crop evapotranspiration (ETc) for the initial, mid-season, and late season stages for 118 day maize crop variety are computed. Critical onset dates, lengths, and trends are determined during the mid-season growth stage. Mann-Kendall tests are performed on the onset dates and lengths to ascertain statistically significant trends. In the 9 stations, more (less) critical dry spells occurrence of lengths 5–10 and 11–15 days during the mid-season and 5–10 days only during initial stages leading to less (more) maize yield are generally associated with El-Nino (La-Nina) years. The percentage frequency of mid-season spell lengths of category 5–10 days ranges from 4 to 31% for the nine stations. The number of days maize farmers in all the stations could expect first and second critical dry spell occurrences after planting ranges from 35 to 82 and 50–86 days respectively. This finding will aid strategic planning of agricultural operations for enhanced crop yield.

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Acknowledgments

We are indebted to Dr. Gbode Imole and Mr. Igwe Okoro for their guidance regarding the ERA Interim Reanalysis data downloads. Drs. Gbode and Balogun also deserve our thanks for the extraction of the TRMM data. We place on record Dr., Adeyeri’s assistance on data homogenization. The Director of the West African Science Center for Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL), The Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria, deserves our appreciation for granting permission for the use of its Internet facility. We also place on record the good advice of Professor E. C. Okogbue in this work. We thank immensely the Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) for the provision of data used for this work. The efforts of the anonymous reviewers to get this work published are also acknowledged.

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  1. Department of Meteorology and Climate Science, The Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 704, Akure, Nigeria

    Nnadozie O. Nnoli, Ahmed A. Balogun & Jerome A. Omotosho

  2. Department of Crop, Soil and Pest Management, The Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 704, Akure, Nigeria

    Samuel O. Agele

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Nnoli, N.O., Balogun, A.A., Omotosho, J.A. et al. Empirical analysis of dry spells during growing season with respect to maize crop in Nigeria. Theor Appl Climatol 142, 525–542 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-020-03327-9

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