Agro-climatic resources and their effects on crop productivity (on western soums of Selenge Province, Mongolia)

The paper presents the agro-climatic resources in western soums of Selenge Province. They include Baruunburen, Zuunburen, Orkhontuul, Orkhon, Tsagaannuur, Tushig, Khushaat, Sant and Saikhan soums. They are located in the north part of Mongolia, bordering with Bulgan, Orkhon-Uul, Darkhan-Uul and Central provinces, and with Russia as well. The territory of western soums of Selenge Province covers 19,900 km . It accounts for 44.8 % of all territories (areas) of Selenge Province. As for agro-climatic zoning, the region belongs to the temperate zone. Summers are rainy and winters are dry. Arable farming is possible during warmer months throughout the year. Wheat, potatoes and vegetables are major crops; fruit and berries dominate in the warmer part. The climate plays an essential role in crop production. It largely determines the average productivity, its inter-annual variability, and the spatial structure of the national and global agricultural production. Climate and weather conditions significantly affect agricultural production. Integrated hydro-meteorological indicators that determine the growth and development of cultivated plants are widely used in agro-meteorological developments. The article demonstrates the results of the study of meteorological data of the three meteo stations of Selenge Province: Orkhon, Orkhontuul and Tsagaannuur with the calculation of hydrothermal coefficient (HTC), coefficient of moisture expansion (CME), index of biological effectiveness of the climate (BEC) as well as correlated dependent productivity with HTC. HTC is more closely connected with precipitation than air temperature. Correlation coefficient between productivity of cultivated plants and HTC has been 0.34 in Orkhon soum, 0.49 in Orkhontuul soum, 0.15 in Tsagaannuur soum, i.e. the weather conditions have an effect on productivity formation. For the period under study on average the correlation coefficient of grain yields with the annual precipitation has been 0.34; with precipitation in the period of May-August 0.36; with temperature in the period of May-August 0.43; i.e. the greatest role in formation of the harvest belongs to moisture in the first half of the vegetation growing season. Correlation coefficient between productivity of crops and HTC has been 0.45 for crop, 0.43 for potatoes, 0.25 for vegetables in the region.

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