EFFECTS OF RAINFALL SHORTAGE AND CLIMATIC WATER BALANCE CHANGE ON AGRICULTURE

This paper assesses of climatic water balance (CWB) in the 2000-2018 vegetation seasons and the rainfall requirements of selected crops. Extreme values and the range of variation for that time period are given emphasis to, paired with statistical significance of the slope of linear trends. The study found that the biggest difference in climatic water balance between 2018 and the 2000-2017 period was recorded in June (29 mm). Water shortages for cereals occurred in all months of the growing seasons both form 2000 to 2017 and in 2018, but in May 2018 water deficit was much larger than in the multiannual period. In the case of maize the last months of the 2018 growing season exhibited high deficiency of rainfall. For early potato varieties water shortages were not higher in 2018 than the average of the multiannual period. However, significant rainfall shortages for sugar beet were recorded in May and August 2018. In the 2000-2017 period the highest average monthly rainfall deficiencies for meadows and pastures were in July. In the same month there was also a statistically significant increase in the CWB value, on average, by about 6.4 mm per 10 years.